Need to know what this book was!

[abigailthespiderinthehat]

A book from the 70s/80s was recently mentioned in another thread- it comes up occasionally and it's driving me nuts. It was a book full of photos of weird creepy phenomena,including otzi the iceman, spontaneous human combustion and the cottingley fairies. I loved this book as a child although it absolutely terrified me! Any ideas what it was?

I don't know but we had it in our junior school library i was terrified of spontaneous human combustion for years
Kids today don't know they're born, I tell you

This is the one we had back then. Is it the one you're thinking of?

www.amazon.com/Mysteries-Unexplained-Readers-Digest/dp/0276380037/ref=pd_lpo_14_img_0/145-8317177-4192340?psc=1&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_wg=xXkaZ&pf_rd_r=X7CHGYJ0SH506XDZGKCP&pd_rd_i=0276380037&pd_rd_w=gz3BY&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&refRID=X7CHGYJ0SH506XDZGKCP&pd_rd_r=407c8b04-f0d6-43d8-a9cf-8a9561e24e4b

No but I need to know. I keep buying books that I think are it and they never are

Spontaneous Combustion was THE big thing that scared the shit out of us kids! I remember that book. It was fantastic.

Fatcat - not sure don't look familiar - wish I could take a look inside

Arthur c Clarke World of Strange Powers? Mine had a glowing green skull on the cover I think. Also had sections on two girls thrown around their room by a poltergeist (scared me witless) and stigmata.

There were lots of "unexplained" books around then, though. I had one myself (1980ish) that had that burnt leg picture in... but so many others did too.

I think the Readers Digest one is one of the ones I bought in the quest to find mine. When DS remembers where it is I'll have a look and take some photos

@TheFormerPorpentinaScamander

I think the Readers Digest one is one of the ones I bought in the quest to find mine. When DS remembers where it is I'll have a look and take some photos

That would be great!

It has a chapter on spontaneous combustion, which goes through all the 'known' cases but I can't find anything on the other 2 things you mention. But it's not easy to find stuff in.

The chapter introduction pages look like this:

Usborne Book of the Unexplained? (Something like that...)

Someone on my original thread has linked to the isbourne book.

@CormoranStrike

Someone on my original thread has linked to the isbourne book.

No wasn't that one- didn't have monsters or anything in it

It's not one of these books is it? I had a weird flashback to these - I remember getting the whole set in one of those bargain book shops in the early 1990s. It definitely had the spontaneous combustion leg picture in one of them!!

www.amazon.co.uk/Worlds-Greatest-Mysteries-Gerry-Brown/dp/0753706164?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

We had that Reader's Digest one - I was obsessed with it as a kid!

No, I'm thinking now it might have had the Iceman on the cover.. maybe?

That’s sounds familiar, did it have a black cover with white writing? It might have (bizarrely) been an M&S book, I’m sure I had an unexplained and/or ufo book published by M&S.

I remember the Readers Digest one, it’s exactly as you describe.

Wow, I found it on eBay!

My brother used to get a magazine back then called 'the unexplained' or something like that and had all these pictures and stories in. I remember the spontaneous combustion picture, men in black, stick type people, the Enfield poltergeist and so on. Really scary but also fascinating.

I remember the same/a similar book and was also ridiculously scared of spontaneously combusting
Black and white photo of some left behind legs. Was there a ghost on motorbike? I have a strong memory in the same episode of fear of being scared of motorbikes too.
Why did all the schools in the land have this freakishly scary book!

It would make sense to be the readers digest one because our house was full of them. But the Cottingly fairies don't seem to be in it and they were definitely in the book I had. I think it was a hard back and seem to remember it was quite big

Yes it was a large hardback book. I think i might just order these books mentioned- I'm totally interested in all this stuff now!

Ooh Spontanious Combustion and Stigmata used to give me the willies.

I think origami has the one I remember, I was terrified but repeatedly drawn to the spontaneous combustion pictures.

I was also obsessed with a book about ghosts, it had like a stairway, Hall, or church with a blurry white ghost on the front I think.