I am sad to write that Peter Underwood, legendary researcher and author upon the supernatural passed away on the morning of 26th November 2014 aged 91 years of age. He leaves behind his son Chris and daughter Pamela. Peter was chairman of The Ghost Club for over thirty years, and contributed a vast amount of research material and opinion to the ever developing area of paranormal research throughout his lifetime.
Peter’s views conflicted vastly with mine on the true origins of paranormal phenomena in the Highgate area, as did his research techniques, and it would be mawkish to claim the opposite upon his demise. However, Highgate disregarded I share the sensibilities of many of my friends in the paranormal community who saw (and see) him as a forerunner to their own research in the field generally. Many of us remember fondly our childhood associations with Peter’s works as our first forays into what would become lifetime occupations. In particular I know that authors Paul Adams, Eddie Brazil and Darren Ritson are mourning Peter’s loss on a personal level, having met, corresponded and spoken with Peter in recent times and even in the last week.
I know that Peter was pleased that the Borley bell found a happy home with Paul Adams. Peter spent his life truth-seeking, and now perhaps he can see the truth sans the toolkit of a paranormal investigator. Let’s hope that if the afterlife (and mysterious physical world) which Peter spent his life dedicated to researching have validity, then he sees fit to pop back from time to time. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say.
Della Farrant 29th November 2014
Very sad to hear of his death, and kicking myself that I didn’t ‘get round to’ putting my experiences on file with him ten years go.
Whatever the controversies, Peter was a legend, and an entertaining writer, and, he seemed to have been always with us. Sadly, no more… perhaps.
Hi,
mixed feelings about this one. I always considered Underwood to be capable of the most shameful plagiarism. He was also capable of gross misjudgement regarding the veracity of certain ‘cases’. That aside, like many of his contemporaries [ Maple, Haining, Perrot et al], he did a lot to keep the subject of paranormal research in the public eye, never stooping so low as the ‘Acorah’ generation do now. I’m sure that he was as decent a human being as this world allows, and he certainly gave me a lot of reading pleasure in my halcyon days. Rasing my glass as another one joins the ghostly cavalcade
R Milne