Ghosts and demons are very different creatures, but sometimes they keep company…

When I wrote a book about Hell, I never dreamed the demons would come after me.

Now, two decades later, dark spirits I had unwittingly riled have descended on Charleston, South Carolina, intent on revenge. Led by the malignant spirit of an executed murderess, the unholy alliance has set its sights on my only daughter, Abby.

Will help from an exorcist, a former cult member, a root doctor, and other preternatural sources be enough to stop the evil? Or will saving my family require a blood sacrifice?

• The young mother who went to heaven and asked for a little more time—and got it—so she could write letters to her daughters for all their milestones
• The widow who discovered the captions “I love you” and “I will always love you” had miraculously appeared on old photos of her husband
• The grandma with dementia who was never told about her granddaughter’s death, but who announced that her granddaughter visited her regularly, and then related details of her death unknown to the rest of the family
• The woman at her friend Nancy’s funeral who asked her to send a hug, and minutes later was approached by the priest, who embraced her and whispered, “Here’s a hug from Nancy.”
• The man struggling to write a eulogy for his brother—killed in an accident along with a friend—who goes for a walk and finds his shadow is accompanied by two distinctly different human shadows that don’t match his body or movements
• And 96 more incredible stories!

• Sheila, who suspected she was adopted, and then on vacation was randomly seated next to a fellow traveler who turned out to be her biological sister.
• Tiffany, whose inner voice warned her to go home instead of seeking shelter from a rainstorm under a car dealer’s awning. The car dealership ended up being destroyed minutes later by a tornado.
• Susan, whose daughter was on her way to buy drugs when she almost had a car accident. In a miraculous coincidence, the other driver turned out to be her Narcotics Anonymous sponsor, who then saved her.
• Judee, who refused to remarry after a divorce, but then had a dream in which she envisioned herself walking down the aisle. Later, she met the same man and had the exact same wedding she had seen while asleep.
• The U.S. soldier’s daughter in Germany who called her grandfather’s cell phone on 9/11 to make sure he was okay. This caused him to step out of the line to enter the Pentagon—moments before the airplane hit.

The Encyclopedia of Hell is a comprehensive survey of the underworld, drawing information from cultures around the globe and eras throughout history. Organized in a simple-to-use alphabetic format, entries cover representations of the dark realm of the dead in mythology, religion, works of art, opera, literature, theater, music, film, and television. Sources include African legends, Native American stories, Asian folktales, and other more obscure references, in addition to familiar infernal chronicles from Western lore. The result is a catalog of underworld data, with entries running the gamut from descriptions of grisly pits of torture to humorous cartoons lampooning the everlasting abyss. Its extensive cross-referencing also supplies links between various concepts and characters from the netherworld and provides further information on particular theories.

Peruse these pages and find out for yourself what history's greatest imaginations have envisioned awaiting the wicked on the other side of the grave.

• The African American woman who takes comfort in recalling that her mother, as a child in the segregated South, was welcomed to the front of the bus by her white neighbors.
• The friendship that developed between a Florida mosque and the elderly Jewish residents of a highrise next door after a hurricane knocked out power and members of the mosque carried food and water to the stranded residents for days.
• The injured football coach who gave half the proceeds from a town fundraiser for his benefit to another injured resident who needed the money as well.
• The Ferguson, Missouri restaurant that was protected from looting by a chain of its customers standing arm in arm.
• The couple who bought a gift card for a struggling military family in a restaurant, only to discover other patrons had already done the same.
• The Latin American immigrant who cleaned houses and scraped together money for her education, becoming California State Teacher of the Year.