Read a 2012 Huffington Post article about the Vatican’s decision to create a checklist of conditions to discern the authentic Virgin Mary Sightings from the fake.

Read a Nov. 17, 2004, story from BBC News report of a 10-year-old’s partially eaten toasted cheese sandwich with the image of Mary that drew big attention on eBay.

Check out The Ultimate Vamp-List wesbite for over 4,500 titles of books on vampires and the paranormal.

Read a June 7, 2013 Westword Book Club interview with Lynda Hilburn, author and psychotherapist, about the popularity and therapeutic relief of reading books on the paranormal, vampires and erotic fiction.

Steven Heine is professor of religious studies and history and director of the Asian studies program at Florida International University in Miami, where he specializes in Japanese Buddhism and can also speak about contemporary Buddhism in the West. He is the author of White Collar Zen: Using Zen Principles to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Your Career Goals.

Yechiel Shalom Goldberg teaches in the Jewish studies program at California State University, Long Beach, where he specializes in the study of Jewish mysticism.

Mira Amiras is a professor of humanities at San José State University in California. She teaches courses in Judaism, Zionism and the state and Jewish mysticism, among others.

Shmuel Shepkaru is an associate professor of Judaic history at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, where he teaches a course on Jewish mysticism.

David Ruderman is director of the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also a professor of modern Jewish history. Contact 215-238-1290.