BRUCE HOOD

Would You Take This Fateful Voyage?

26th November 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Would you believe that a British Travel agency are offering places on cruise to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic Disaster. Miles Morgan travel are offering passage on board the MS Balmoral that will set sail on 8th April 2012 and follow the exact ill-fated journey of the RMS Titanic. They will arrive at the Titanic site on April 14th/15th at exactly 100 years after "the night to remember"...

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The Essential Suitcase

20th November 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

In my book, I talk about the fact that sentimental objects can have a very powerful effect on people. Such objects are deemed to have an essential quality that is integral and irreplaceable. One of the most moving stories I describe is of the bizarre events surrounding a suitcase. Michel Levi-Leleu last saw his father Pierre in 1943 carrying a cardboard suitcase when he left the safety of a refuge in...

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Teddys New Life

27th October 2009 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Apparently one in five traveling salesman sleep with one. No I am not talking about their secretaries. Rather a poll by the motel chain "Travelodge" in 2007 found that 20% of salesman had a childhood teddy bear. I surveyed 100 first year students at the University of Bristol last week and found that 75 also still had their childhood attachment object.

I find these sentimental objects absolutely fascinating and have dedicated...

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Voodoo Love

9th October 2009 | 3 comments | 2 people like this

Could you easily cut up a photograph of a loved one? Could you stab him or her through the eyes with the scissors? How much would I have to pay you to do it? £10?... £100?… £1000? Even though it is just an image, most people would refuse to do this. Why? It’s only a piece of paper. You might say that you don’t want to be seen to be...

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Fresh-Faced and Fancy-Free

30th September 2009 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this

It’s Fresher’s week here at Bristol University and I just took a stroll in the Indian summer sunshine among the sea of new students milling around the campus. Actually, Bristol University doesn’t have a campus, but with over 23,000 students, the streets of Redland have been taken over, so it feels like one big urban student sprawl.
The average age of this part of Bristol has just dropped below 25 years...

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Brains Born to Believe

24th September 2009 | 5 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

A couple of weeks ago, the Sunday Times wrote an article based on my research and book entitled "We are born to believe in God." It caused quite a stir in the media and I even got a few minutes on BBC's The One Show where my ideas were dismissed by Anne Robinson who was a guest on the show. She said that she was not born a Catholic but...

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Hello From a Supernatural Scientist

21st September 2009 | 7 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

No, I don't really do scientific studies into the supernatural, but I am really interested in why so many adults in today's modern world believe in the supernatural. According to the last large Gallup poll back in 2005, three out of every four Americans believe in some aspect of the paranormal - everything from haunted houses, ghosts, telepathy, pre-cognition or communication with the dead. Actually that figure must be higher...

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