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The Haunting of Alma Fielding

2021 book by Kate Summerscale

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ106866677 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story is a 2021 book by Kate Summerscale that examines the workings of Nandor Fodor in 1930s London.

Synopsis

The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story examines the case of Alma Fielding, a London housewife who was the subject of media attention in 1938 following reports of poltergeist activity in her Thorton Heath home. The events attracted the attention of paranormal investigator Nandor Fodor of the International Institute for Psychical Research, who conducted a series of investigations into the alleged haunting.

The case develops in the broader social and political atmosphere of 1930s Britain. Summerscale discusses spiritualism, psychoanalysis, gender roles, and pre-World War II anxieties. The book discusses differing explanations for the reported phenomena, including fraud, psychological trauma, and paranormal interpretations.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Haunting of Alma Fielding” as 2021 book by Kate Summerscale. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Haunting, Alma and Fielding.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2021, 1938—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Haunting, Alma and Fielding providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Haunting of Alma Fielding”, the useful work is to connect “2021 book by Kate Summerscale” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q106866677. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2021 and 1938.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Haunting of Alma Fielding”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Haunting of Alma Fielding primary sources, The Haunting of Alma Fielding archive and Haunting research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Haunting of Alma Fielding”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Haunting of Alma Fielding” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.