This book needs to be made into a serious full length movie on the order of "Gandhi".

According to this book and other information available on the Web:

Arigo was a Brazilian peasant, with no formal medical training, or other schooling past 3rd grade. He was able to diagnose and cure virtually any malady. He did diagnosis at a glance and prescribed modern pharmaceuticals -- often in combinations and doses that made no sense in conventional terms, but which worked in virtually all cases where this could be followed up by investigators. Arigo performed operations of kinds which have apparently never been duplicated by conventional physicians. For example, he commonly excised even those metastatic tumors that extensively infiltrated vital organs, amid blood vessels and nerves. He regularly removed cataracts with a kitchen knife by scraping the cornea and removing the lens -- and his patients were able to see well afterwards. Most operations were done within 5 to 60 seconds, without anesthesia or antiseptics, yet without pain or damage or infection to patients. He commonly treated up to 300 patients/day.

This sounds like a fairy tale, but was extensively documented by highly respected physicians and other scientists from America (led by Henry Puharich) and Brazil. They made detailed films, and performed on-the-spot diagnoses and examination of patients before and after treatment by Arigo. His "instant" diagnoses agreed with their diagnoses at least 96% of the time.

This is not only among the best-documented records of psychic healing, but among the most intruiging sets of evidence for psychic phenomena in general. Instead of just rehashing the same o same o notions of telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. it opens up entire new phenomena. In particular, it suggests a radically new perspective on the nature of disease and healing.

Granted, this perspective has something in common with notions of the so-called etheric body and how it can be operated on -- an approach common in Brazil, where physicians commonly combine so-called spiritist practices with modern medicine. (But Arigo's skill and the intelligence underlying it went far far beyond that of his peers.)

This is the so-called intellectual Karcec school of medicine, and is reputedly practiced by hundreds if not thousands of physicians who have graduated from top ranking medical schools [including American and European schools] and who publish regularly in professional journals.

The Kardec approach involves consultation with spirit physicians -- discarnate beings that were allegedly once alive on Earth -- through mediums. Arigo was unusual in that he was his own medium. His spirit helpers either gave him advice or used him like a puppet to perform treatments -- at which time he was in a trance.

Although this sounds extraordinarily far fetched, the documentation is good enough to warrant serious thought. Alas, Arigo was killed in a car wreck before his work could be studied in enough detail for his methods to be passed on to other healers. Many healers aspire to emulate him, but apparently none has equalled his prowess and gentleness.

This is the kind of book I've been waiting for for 30 years. I only wish that the films and detailed medical records were available too.

According to James (The Amazing) Randi, most if not all of what Arigo accomplished was mere sleigh of hand (magic) tricks with perhaps some of the placebo effect involved (people's expectations being met). While I tend to agree, I am puzzled as to some things which can't be explained away such as the thoracic surgery performed on Senator Betancourt, some leukemia cures on babies, and Arigo's use of the German language.

I have read this book several times over the years, and it holds my interest all the way to the end each time. It reads easily and quickly, and yet gives great detail to the horrific events of Friday, May 31st, 1985. This book is even more important to me because I live about 43 miles away from where the nearest tornado hit- Newton Falls, Ohio. If you are a severe storm and/or tornado buff, or just want to learn more about this particular tornado outbreak, this book is for you.

This is truely the best tornado book I ever read. I lived not far from several of where these tornadoes struck. An F4 tornado just passed south of my hometown, Warren PA, and struck Tionesta and Northern Forest County, killing 7. I found out about this rare, yet fascinating outbreak in PA. I recommend this book to be read by any tornado enthusiast.

This is the best tornado book that I have ever read. This incident happened about 50 miles from my hometown which makes it more exiting yet.The author's chronological story from the start to end keeps the reader's interest through out the whole book. I am currently looking fo a copy of this book

I grew up in the area, my dad died of a brain tumor associated with nuclear fallout in Nevada, Classmates and friends in school died of a Leukemia rate 500% higher than national averages. This book also gives relevant dates and times concerning the deaths by eventual cancer of almost everyone involved in the making of "The Conquerors" Staring John Wayne, Agnes Moorehead etc. which was shot on location in So. Utah shortly after the blast and fallout. I read this book in college in Salt Lake in the 70's and it was WIDELY available then. I find it quite odd that it is impossible to find a copy of it in any library or any booksearch I have repeatedly attempted over the course of the last two years. The book also details and suggests fallout patterns from weather anomalies that affected Los Angeles and Las Vegas, that resulted in "smog" advisories for LA way ahead of its truly smoggier years. We used to be notified of blast times and would go upstairs to watch the blast wave spill water out the end of the pool and all the swag lamps swing. Fun Hunh?

VERY spooky book and its unavailability spookier.

Read the book years after my own experiences with fall-out in both northern and Southern Utah. Fuller tackles his subject with depth and emotion, caring for the subjects he interviews and writes about. This book was a thin wedge which finally opened the US Government's files on Atomic Testing and the low-level and high-level fall-out we all live with. Particularly liked the way the book begins with an ordinary day or what had become an ordinary event --- the explosion of a nuclear bomb in Nevada. His focus on the little people working in mines, ranches, and local farms. He makes us feel that they are important and that what happened to them is just as important as the election or assasination of a president. I found it quite moving the way the ranchers and sheepmen held out hope that this was an accident and that their government would, of course, do the right thing. Fuller follows these people from the original event (a bomb called Dirty Harry) to the interviews with the Department of Energy, the reports back and forth and the subsequent lawsuits. This is a MUST book because it is this case which led to a ruling by Judge Jenkins that there had been a gross mis-carriage of justice in the original trials because crucial information had been deliberately with-held from the defendants. His ruling in turn led to the Compensation Act which grants some money to surviving victims of a few couties in Utah if they have the right kind of cancer and can prove they were in the area at the time Dirty Harry.

The very first written testimony about an encouter between human beings and alien civilisation can be found in the bible (the anciant testament is very rich in details if read and interpreted in a logical way and not in the "spriritual-traditional" way). The second written testimony, and the last one so far, is the "interrupted journey". The "interrupted journey" is according to me much more than a book. It's a real testimony which goes beyond the common question "do you believe in UFO", because a UFO is "just" an unidentified object and it doesn't say much. In the Betty and Barney Hill's case, it goes far beyond the "simple" unidentified flying object. There is a real encouter and a conversation between a human being and a civilisation which is obviously NOT from our world, which is obviously NOT from our planet. And it means A LOT. During her conversation with the alien crew "boss",she was told while she was staring at the map, that some planets (or stars) where regularly,frequently or occasionaly visited by them. It also seems that commercial exchanges between alien civilisations themselves are quite common. How about us, habitants of the planet earth, what do we represent for those civilisations? I haven't heard so far that we're making trade with extra-terrestrials. But it doesn't mean that they have no interest in our planet. We could even easily suppose that alien civilisations have visited us thousands of times and not only during this century but for many,many centuries.........and probably more. In conclusion, if we admitt that our planet have been visited for ages by aliens like the ones of "the interrupted journey", then we may ask ourselves "In which ways the alien intervention in the history of the Manhood has influenced our believes and in which way the alien intervention will influence the future of the Mankind".

I'd like to read a review of this book but can't seem to find one. Can anyone help me? Thanks.

This book caught my eye in the college library while I was researching the topic. I didn't put it down for the two days it took me to read it. It covers not only "historical ergotism" (which has been deemed the culprit of the Salem Witch trials and other witch hunts by some) but also the case of the 1950's Pt. St. Esprit poisoning in France, which was attributed by the local authorities to a mercury pesticide. Read it, be absolutely amazed, not only at the events, but at the "official judgement" and subsequent injustice of the later rulings towards the poisoned survivors of that fateful night. I also recommend Mary Matossion's Poisons of the Past for more info on historical ergotism.

This is an amazing book. The historical account is fascinating. I am also floored by how well Fuller wove in a multitude of personal stories, gave a rich account of a very complex incident, then beautifully encapsulated the 15-year legal tragedy that followed the original tragedy. You don't come across stories like this every day, and you certainly don't often come across treatments of them that are this good.

It's not written at a sixth-grade level -- a plus for me -- but nowadays I doubt an editor would let Fuller get away with all the French phrases and excerpts he put in the book. Back then I suppose authors could assume they had a more sophisticated readership. I liked the sprinkling of French, sometimes even original letters (translated to English, of course), but if you don't know any French at all, you might want to read this with a dictionary at hand.

This is an extensive analysis by a journalist of the outbreak of ergot poisoning in Pont St.Esprit, France (Provence) in 1951. It is based on personal interviews and documents, as well as on discussions with the doctors involved. It is perhaps the most complete case study of mass ergot poisoning in literature. It is very valuable to any historian wishing to understand one of the most feared and puzzling diseases of the Middle Ages.

Based on a true story about Eastern's Flight 401 that crashed in the Everglades in 1972. The book covers not only technical aspects of an airplane disaster, but also covers the human side. Sightings of the pilot, Captain Bob Loft, and the flight engineer, Don Repo, on planes with recycled parts of the doomed, 401 flight are reported by respected airline crew members as well as passengers. Eastern, of course, denied all. But the author was able to speak with many individuals in the airline industry and came to believe what he was hearing. Whether you believe in the after-life or not, this book raised many questions that there's not always an answer too.

Very good book. I read it because I was supposed to be on this flight but for some unexplainable reason my mother (I was 3) decided to leave a day earlier.

This real-life supernatural incidint book is about an Eastern Airlines L-1011 crash in the Everglades in the early 70's. All cockpit crew was killed. Leter, two pilots from the crash start showing up on the plane. They often give info on a problem that may occur on the plane, and tells one of the flight crew. Information was gathered about many incidents happening on the Eastern planes. Eventually, enough informatin was gathered to ground the L-1011 Jumbo Jet

A chilling account of the 1976 industrial disaster which changed forever the lives of the inhabitants of Seveso, Italy. An explosion at a Hoffman-La Roche affiliated chemical plant, released a deadly cloud containing dioxin, a close relative to "Agent Orange". Details of the event and efforts by authorities and scientists to identify the chemical (with little help from Hoffman-La Roche), made for a gripping book. Fuller recounted the despair and pain of the hundreds of people who lost everything they've build and visited with life-long debilitating conditions, cancers and birth mutations. This book should serve as a warning to us who live with thousands of chemicals, most of which whose effects on the population and the environment are unkown. With profit-orientated industries and lax regulations, there are countless Sevesos waiting to happen.