PHANTASMATA: Illusions And Fanaticisms Of Protean Forms Productive Of Great Evils. Complete Edition, Volumes I & II

First published in the early 19th century, Phantasmata is R. R. Madden’s sweeping exploration of the dark illusions, delusions, and destructive fanaticisms that have haunted human history. In two powerful volumes—now united in this complete edition—Madden examines the strange forces of superstition, visions, witchcraft, and religious obsession, exposing how these phantasms of the mind gave rise to fear, persecution, and ruin.

Part occult chronicle, part historical indictment, Phantasmata traces the many protean forms of belief and fanaticism—from spectral apparitions and prophetic dreams to mass hysteria and the cult of witch trials. Madden’s purpose was not mere fascination, but warning: to reveal how the unseen and the irrational, when unbridled, become engines of great evil in the world of men.

Unsettling, erudite, and richly detailed, this complete edition preserves a landmark work in the literature of the supernatural and the psychology of belief. To read it is to confront not only the ghosts of imagination, but the darker truths of history itself.

Complete edition: both Volumes I & II in one book

Explores superstition, fanaticism, witchcraft, illusions, and apparitions

A rare 19th-century study of the destructive power of belief

Essential for students of occult history, folklore, and cultural psychology

Phantasmata is more than a book of strange tales—it is a mirror held to the terrors of the human mind, where illusion becomes evil and belief becomes a scourge.