Who On Earth Is Dr. Morgan Spence?

[FrKadash]

I was listening to an old (5/31/01) episode of Coast to Coast AM today, the subject was shadow people and Art Bell’s guest was one Dr. Morgan Spence, a slightly posh, British sounding woman who presented herself as an expert on the phenomenon. I decided to look up her book (Shadow Beings - Reality Unveiled by Dr. Morgan Spence and Dr. C. A. Reed) that is mentioned in the interview, I couldn’t find anything that matched that title on amazon, or anything even close to it. And to cut a long story short I couldn’t find anything on Dr. Spence, nothing, no further information on google and no mention of her co-author and colleague ‘’Dr. C. A. Reed’’. The only matching search results were an episode listing and a various brief mentions of that episode.

That episode listing gives a short biography for Dr. Spence, https://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/spence-morgan/6032

‘’Dr. Morgan Spence was born in the Northwest U.S., raised by her Australian father and Irish mother. Dr. Spence's father disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1985 and has never been seen since. She received her Ph.D. in paranormal research from the International Research Academy and has dedicated her life to gaining a better understanding of paranormal phenomena. She has studied the "shadow beings" phenomenon for over 11 years.’’

Sounds a bit iffy I know...
So has anyone heard of Dr. Spence or ever seen a copy of the book? I know that the show has had its fair share of dubious guests but this ‘’Dr. Spence’’ sounded pretty genuine at times during the interview, at least she seemed to know her stuff.



I did find what is apparently a brief excerpt from this elusive book,

‘’Why doesn't anyone believe me? This is a question I'm frequently asked by
subjects I've interviewed. Part of the problem is that humans tend to assume
that if they haven't experienced something that sounds this strange, it
can't possibly be real. Not everyone experiences childbirth firsthand, and
yet we accept that childbirth does occur because it is quite common.
Unfortunately, the less common something is, the more difficult it is for
those who have not experienced it to accept it as reality. Indeed, the only
reason this phenomenon is looked upon as "strange" at present is because it
hasn't been all that common until now. (Or at least it hasn't been commonly
discussed until now.) Therefore, it is imperative that we overcome our fear
of judgment and find others with which it is safe to discuss this
phenomenon, which will tend to be others who have encountered similar
experiences to our own.’’

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.folklore.ghost-stories/6OUcu9BTqyM

 

[EnolaGaia]

In this 2008 c2c forum thread:

http://www.fantasticforum.com/1res/viewtopic.php?t=33572&start=210

... member shirleypal mentions a replay of the May 2001 interview with Spence, states Spence's website is under construction, and that she cannot locate the alleged book.

Spence's website:

http://morganspence.com

... is still 'under construction' almost 11 years later.

I can't find any references to the alleged book that don't simply refer back to the May 2001 c2c show where the book was mentioned.

My guess is that the book was never actually published, or else was published privately or so informally that it's not included on any formal (e.g., ISBN) databases.

 

[ramonmercado]

Perhaps Spence was an invented person, Bell mischievously participating in a hoax.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I've only been able to identify a single female Morgan Spence listed as a 'Dr.' or 'PhD'. However, the one I found didn't receive her baccalaureate degree until almost a decade after the 2001 c2c interview.

Another possibility occurred to me ... It's conceivable a book was eventually published, but not under the title given in the c2c interview. However, I can't locate any trace of any other book authored by a female Morgan Spence.

If it weren't for the match with the c2c-cited website name, I'd suspect someone misstated her name.

 

[FrKadash]

Here is the full episode,

https://soundcloud.com/z718%2F2001-05-31-coast-to-coast-am-with-art-bell-shadow-people-dr-morgan-spence

 

[James_H]

She received her Ph.D. in paranormal research from the International Research Academy

Sounds legit.

 

[FrKadash]

Sounds legit.

And a bit convenient how her co-author is too nervous about public speaking to join the programme...