As well as Hallowe'en, today is also Reformation Day - commemorating the beginnings of the Reformation in 1517 - so today may be a good time to explore how the Reformation had an impact on beliefs about the supernatural One major impact was the abolition of purgatory in reformed territories; purgatory had been at the heart of Luther's dispute with the papacy, but was also at the heart of medieval belief in ghosts - so Hallowe'en and Reformation Day are more linked than you might think!

It's back to 'Spooky Church History' this morning with @DrFrancisYoung. To kick off the morning of Hallowe'en - who was the spookiest church historian? Pictured above are the contemporaries Herbert Thurston (1856-1939) and Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), one a Jesuit scholar and the other the father of modern 'Christian archaeology' in Britain

Back to 'Spooky Church History' with @DrFrancisYoung... This morning I was introducing my research into English Catholic attitudes to the supernatural, the subject of my PhD and first book - but this was just the start of my explorations of the macabre side of church history... One thing I realised during my research was that no-one had written a book in English that was focussed on the practice of exorcism - plenty on the phenomenon of possession, but the nuts and bolts of exorcism were largely unexplored...

So, how did I get interested in #spookychurchhistory? My first article to touch on supernatural beliefs was an exploration of Catholic exorcism in post-Reformation England, largely inspired by the work of @odavies9 cambridge.org/core/journals/… Possession and exorcism are, of course, only one aspect of the Church's engagement with the supernatural, and my subsequent PhD research focussed on English Catholic attitudes to ghosts, miracles, superstition, witchcraft and exorcism (published in 2013) routledge.com/English-Cathol…