Thirty Years Among the Dead, first published in 1924, details Swedish-American GP and psychiatrist Carl Wickland’s experiences as a psychical researcher. After moving to California in 1918, Wickland began to turn away from conventional medical psychology and moved toward the belief that psychiatric illnesses were the result of influence by spirits of the dead. He came to believe that a large number of his patients had become possessed by what he called "obsessing spirits", and that low-voltage electric shocks could dislodge them. His wife Anna acted as a medium to guide them to "progress in the spirit world". Spiritualists considered him an authority on "destructive spirits", prompting Wickland to write this book.

Carl August Wickland (1861 - 1945) was a psychiatrist, a paranormal researcher and a non-fiction author. Wickland was born in 1861 at Liden, Norland Province, Sweden. His father taught him cabinet making in his youth. Later he studied watchmaking. In 1881 he arrived in St. Paul, Minn. after having emigrated from Sweden the year before. He married Anna W. Anderson in 1896 and they moved to Chicago so that he could attend Durham Medical College from which he graduated in 1900. He became a general practitioner of medicine and specialized in researching mental illnesses. In 1909, Wickland became chief psychiatrist at the National Psychopathic Institute of Chicago. He continued in that position until 1918 when he and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California. Wickland, in collaboration with his assistants, Nelle Watts, and Celia and Orlando Goerz, wrote and published in 1924, Thirty Years Among the Dead a book that detailed their experiences in abnormal psychology. Wickland believed that the doctrine of reincarnation was incorrect: The theory of reincarnation can undoubtedly be traced to early stages of mankind when departed spirits took possession of the bodies of sensitive individuals and lived and acted through them, thus seemingly indicating reincarnation. But in reality this was only spirit obsession or possession.

A CLASSIC IN PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY THE ONLY COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED EDITION Learn how a medical doctor and psychiatrist working in conjunction with a spiritualist medium cured many psychogenic abnormalities and removed obsessions and supposed "curses" from those among the living who were undergoing fits of mental suffering and physical maladies This is the only unabridged edition of this classic work that caused a sensation when originally published and for decades after. For many, including those in the psychiatric profession, this book offered solutions to problems and situations that could NOT be found using any other forms of treatment. THIRTY YEARS AMONG THE DEAD details the work of Dr. Carl A Wickland and his wife, medium Anna Wickland who cured many obsessed persons, persuading discarnate spirits to give up their hold on their victims, thus restoring their patients to normal, happy lives. Together, for more than a quarter of a century they "conversed" with spirits of the dead who had lead less than exemplary lives while inhabiting a human body. They had been the worse lowlifes - criminals, alcoholics, drug users, wife beaters, and the all around depraved. The Wickland's theorized that these demented spirits of the dead liked to hang around the living "like a sponge" so that they could continue their vulturine activities. In essence they would leach onto those who were prone to similar fits of debauchery, or were well on their way to a life of unabated revelry and eventual damnation. Many of Dr Wickland's patients had given up all hope of a normal, sane life. They accepted methods of treating and possibly curing such aberrant behavior through neurological and conventional medical concepts did NOT hold much weight with the doctor and his spiritualist spouse who could communicate with those on the other side of the veil. One doctor from the Mental Section of the American Medical Association, might have been overstepping his bounds when he declared: "I often see the spirits who cause insanity. . . At times, I even hear their voices. Insane persons who are spoken of as hopelessly insane are frequently lost under the overwhelming control of a spirit or crowd of spirits. We frequently find by postmortem examination that no physical disorder exists in the brain or nervous system of such persons." Here is the eerie paranormal "truth" as Dr Wickland saw it, about: Spirits and Crime. - Spirits and Suicide. - Spirits and Narcotics, Insobriety and Amnesia - Tormented Spirits. - Marriage Disturbances. - Opposition To The Use Of The Ouija Board. - The Use Of The Wimhurst Generator In Treating Patients. And much more! Perhaps with all the madness we see in the world and all those who suffer in silence and walk the streets with mental illness - hearing voices that tell them to kill - suffocating their lives and affecting us all in a very negative manner - we should take another look at Dr Wickland's controversial theories - for it is he who for thirty years walked among the dead!

Carl August Wickland (February 14, 1861 - November 13, 1945) was a psychiatrist, a paranormal researcher and a non-fiction author. Wickland was born in 1861 at Liden, Norland Province, Sweden. His father taught him cabinet making in his youth. Later he studied watchmaking. In 1881 he arrived in St. Paul, Minn. after having emigrated from Sweden the year before. He married Anna W. Anderson in 1896 and they moved to Chicago so that he could attend Durham Medical College from which he graduated in 1900. He became a general practitioner of medicine and specialized in researching mental illnesses. In 1909, Wickland became chief psychiatrist at the National Psychopathic Institute of Chicago. He continued in that position until 1918 when he and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California. Wickland, in collaboration with his assistants, Nelle Watts, and Celia and Orlando Goerz, wrote and published in 1924, Thirty Years Among the Dead a book that detailed their experiences in abnormal psychology. Wickland believed that the doctrine of reincarnation was incorrect: The theory of reincarnation can undoubtedly be traced to early stages of mankind when departed spirits took possession of the bodies of sensitive individuals and lived and acted through them, thus seemingly indicating reincarnation. But in reality this was only spirit obsession or possession.

In offering this volume to the public, there is no desire to promulgate any ism or cult, but to present the records and deductions of thirty years experimental research in the science of normal and abnormal psychology, as the same pertains to the obscure problems of a life hereafter and its relation to human affairs, which all thinking minds must recognize as being of utmost importance. – From the Introduction