[2] The book was heavily criticized by Leonard Woolf as an amusing and credulous study.
According to Woolf, the book blindly accepted psychic claims at face value and lacked critical thinking.
According to a review of the book it is a "collection of all the dubious matter on which the cult and business of Spiritualism is based.
"[6] One of these cases was the 3 June 1871 incident which involved the alleged transportation of the medium Agnes Guppy-Volckman out of her own house in Highbury three miles away to a séance room table in Lamb's Conduit Street.
[7][8][9] Holms attributed alleged poltergeist cases to the effects of mischievous spirits.