Magical Treasure Hunting in Europe and North America: A Historical Study of Witchcraft and Magic | Explore Occult History for Research & Collectors

This is a dark and fascinating book. I read it through in two days, which is a first for me when it comes to history books. You want to know about dragons, ghosts and demons, dwarves, fairies, witches and wizards, James Bowie from Texas and Heinrich Himmler from the Nazi Party? This book has them all and some Mormons on top of that. What do they all have in common? A fascination with treasures. Some of the history of treasure hunting is dark: Treasure hunting led often enough into the realm of spirits and devils. Too many treasure hunters paid with their lives for their greed, curiosity and thirst for adventure. The book delivers hard historical facts and pulverizes a couple of pseudo-historical myths. The book depicts the evolution of treasure hunting from the early Middle Ages to the `Indiana Jones' days, piling fact upon fact and story upon story. It does address a number of religious questions critically, but always in a thoughtful and respectful way. At the end, the author sums up his results and presents his own explanation for the changing traditions of treasure hunting. It is like the solution of a dark riddle. I `m familiar with Dillinger's other books on magic but he has outdone himself with this one. He works with a huge mass of British and American sources on top of the Continental European ones he evidently has on his finger tips.