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Audiobook edition · 13 h 14 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What turns a shadow into a spirit, or a strange dream into a warning?
In Demonologia, J. S. Forsyth explores beliefs in spirits, omens, witchcraft and haunting. Sickness, storms and sudden death become reasons to fear unseen powers. Behind these beliefs lies a human need to explain what feels mysterious, threatening or beyond control.
Strange tales meet plain explanations as Forsyth considers fear, fever, poor light, memory and imagination. The book traces ancient ideas into later folk custom and asks why they endure. What makes a vision feel real, and why does an omen keep its hold even when reason offers another answer?
What you’ll discover
- The roots of fear Explore how sickness, storms and bad luck become signs of unseen beings at work.
- Ancient beliefs that linger Trace spirits of the dead, guardian powers and unlucky days into later folk custom.
- Mysteries in ordinary light Consider how poor light, fever and memory can turn ordinary experiences into apparent visions.
- The force of imagination Look at the habits of mind that make strange sights feel convincing and immediate.
- Wonder meets reason Explore why omens and hauntings retain their hold even when natural explanations are available.
Who will love it
This book will delight readers who love curiosities, folklore, ghost stories, witch trials and the history of religion and science, and anyone who enjoys sharp-tongued commentary on human belief.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Fear and hope seek answers
- Successful guesses do not prove astrology
- Charms can act through expectation
- Grand promises can hide empty results
- Unclear signs can fit any outcome
- Prediction needs history and human character
- Strange experiences need their circumstances
- Witch beliefs caused real suffering
- Ask what keeps a belief alive
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Demonologia
by J. S. Forsyth · 1827
Ordeals by fire, stars that rule your birth, and an invisible drummer at Tedworth fill this tour of old fears.
Challenging5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if a charge of theft meant carrying a red-hot iron bar in your bare hand? For centuries, judges and priests called that a judgment of God.
Demonologia at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 35 min6 h fast, 9 h slow
- Length
- 107,800 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1827by J. S. Forsyth
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Ordeals served as crude law in unlettered ages
Forsyth begins with the trials that once decided guilt. Suspects held red-hot bars, plunged an arm into boiling water, or walked blindfold among burning plowshares. Priests ran the rites with prayers, and everyone called the result a judgment of God. Forsyth sees them as the rough law of people with no written code.
Some cases are almost comic. Pepin the Short settled a quarrel between a bishop and an abbot by making two men stretch out their arms in the shape of a cross, and the first to tire lost the case.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1827
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Forsyth, J. S. Demonologia. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/demonologia.
Forsyth, J. S. (2026). Demonologia. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/demonologia (Original work published 1827)
Forsyth, J. S. Demonologia. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/demonologia.
@book{forsyth2026demonologia,
author = {Forsyth, J. S.},
title = {Demonologia},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/demonologia},
note = {First published 1827}
}
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What is Demonologia about?
It is a dictionary-style collection of old superstitions and their histories. Entries cover ordeals, astrology, amulets, alchemy, magic, divination, dreams, ghosts, witches, demons, the Inquisition, saints and relics, with stories, quotations and Forsyth's own comments.
Who was J. S. Forsyth?
J. S. Forsyth is the author and compiler of the book. The text shows a widely read writer with a rationalist, Protestant outlook who gathered traditions and anecdotes from earlier authors, though little else about his life is given here.
What was the Demon of Tedworth?
It is a famous haunting story from 1661. After Mr. Monpesson took a drum from a vagrant drummer, his Wiltshire house echoed with drumming, scratching and moving objects. Forsyth reprints the full account and invites readers to weigh it.
The author
J. S. Forsyth
Writer
J. S. Forsyth compiled Demonologia as a collector of popular traditions and curiosities, and no more is certain from the record given. The book shows a widely read author, quoting Cicero, Lord Bacon, Reginald Scot and many older writers, who held a Protestant, rationalist outlook and believed that reason and the Reformation had driven most superstitions into retreat.
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