Books about fortean phenomena tend either to examine the study from the cold, dispassionate distance of the sociologist, or from the blinkered, tunnel-visioned insider’s perspective of the believer or sceptic. It’s rare for an author to take the position of what we could call Schrödinger’s Fortean, in which one can study the field simultaneously from within and without, thus gaining an intimate understanding of the unusual, often bizarre dynamics of our chosen arena while also being aware of its relationship to the wider culture.

In his book The Trickster and the Paranormal, George Hansen manages to do this admirably, and with enough gusto and enthusiasm to carry the reader through 400 pages that encompass trickster mythology, all manner of paranormal phenomena and their attendant personalities, sociology, anthropology, folklore, semiotics, even literary theory.