Georgess McHargue (June 7, 1941 – July 18, 2011) was an American writer and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

Biography

McHargue was born in New York City. After working at

Golden Press Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...

, she became an editor at Doubleday. She had a long career working as an author; she published 35 books including children's fiction and nonfiction works on

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

, history,

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

and

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

studies. She also wrote about

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...

and the occult. She was nominated for a

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

for ''The Beasts of Never'' (1988) and she wrote many reviews for ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

''. McHargue eventually moved to

Groton, Massachusetts Groton is a town in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, within the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 11,315 at the 2020 census. It is home to two prep schools: Lawrence Academy at Groton, founded in 17 ...

where she edited reports on archaeology and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

for the Michael's Institute for Conservation Archaeology at Harvard's Peabody Museum and for their historic preservation company Timelines Inc. Her book ''Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist Movement'' (1972) was a

skeptical Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

study of

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) b ...

. The book exposed fraudulent

mediums Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

and was described in one review as a "well researched and intriguing case study in human gullibility.""Facts, Frauds and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist Movement. By Georgess McHargue". ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

''.

972 Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recen ...

Undated online
at KirkusReviews.com. Retrieved 2017-03-20.

Published books

Fiction

* ''Elidor and the Golden Ball'' (Dodd, Mead & Company, 1973) * ''Private Zoo'' (Viking, 1975) * ''Stoneflight'' (Viking, 1975) * ''Funny Bananas: The Mystery in the Museum'' (Holt, 1975) * ''The Talking Table Mystery'' (Doubleday, 1977) * ''The Horseman's Word'' (Delacorte, 1981) * ''The Turquoise Toad Mystery'' (Delacorte, 1982) * ''See You Later, Crocodile'' (Delacorte, 1988)

Nonfiction

* ''The Beasts of Never: A History Natural & Un-natural of Monsters Mythical & Magical'' (Bobbs-Merrill, 1968) – 112 pages, * ''Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist Movement'' (Doubleday, 1972) * ''The Impossible People: A History Natural and Unnatural of Beings Terrible and Wonderful'' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972) * ''Mummies'' (Lippincott, 1972) * ''The Beasts of Never'' (Delacorte, 1988) – revised and expanded edition, x+118 pp, * ''A Field Guide to Conservation Archaeology in North America'' (1977)

References

External links

Books by Georgess McHargue
(latest 2006) at UUGroton.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:McHargue, Georgess 1941 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women American children's writers American editors American skeptics American women children's writers American women poets Critics of Spiritualism Writers from New York City