In “The Case for Possession” Miss Pettiward suggests that morbid states, both of mind and body, are sometimes induced by agencies outside the psychological pesonality-structure. She believes that there are grounds for assuming that this hypothesis is worth studying. Her belief arises not only from the case-histories she has investigated but from personal experience and observation. She summarizes some of the evidence pointing to possession by discarnate human entities- the ‘earthbound’ dead. In order to sustain this thesis it is inevitable that belief in survival of bodily death be accepted, and Miss Pettiward is as much concerned to bring forward the evidence for survival as to study the case for possession. The book is intended as a spur to further research by persons qualified to delve in morbid psychiatry. Epilepsy in particular, the author believes, should be looked into with this possibility in mind. The essay does not pretend to be a book of reference: it aims only at providing a stimulus to thought.
ISBN: 0901072184
