By Eric Grundhauser
Turn on just about any distribution channel of American TV between 1987 and 1991 , and there was a pretty good chance you would be treated to strange tales of self-generated psychical connection that were “ DISMISSED AS COINCIDENCE . " Or a normal - sounding guy talking about a thaumaturgist ’s honeymoon in the Great Pyramid , before harping on his booster to “ learn the book ! ” You might even see a vernal Julianne Moore recount a story about an out - of - torso experience .
These were all commercials for Time - Life’sMysteries of theUnknownseries , a mail social club book serial that not only blanketed the air with unforgettable commercials , but enchant the zeitgeist of a burgeoning New Age burst . The playscript serial was a collection of thin , black volumes that delved into every recess of the orphic , metaphysical , and paranormal . But for all of their admirably in - depth geographic expedition of everything from “ Earth energy ” to “ Mysterious Creatures , ” one closed book rest : how did they get so popular ?
Fittingly enough , it may have just been fated in the star .
TheMysteries of the Unknownphenomenon began in 1987 when Time - Life Koran began to test the waters for a serial publication of books on the paranormal . Time - Life Books , a conglobation of the two titular magazines , sold books via monthly subscriptions . Their serial and titles usually focused on broad historical or utilitarian subjects likeThe OldWestorHome Repair and Improvement , and were mainly sold like a shot to the consumer via boob tube ads that blanketed the cable and program airwave . They were the kinds of book one ’s dad or grandparent might buy .
Even within Time - Life , the series was nicknamed “ books as furniture , " says Tom Corry , former Product Manager for Time - Life Books , who help spring up the extrasensory series and the ad campaign that date it take off . According to Corry , who is now CEO of his own party , Healthcare Data Insights & Analytics , the roots of theMysteriesseries are actually pretty unremarkable . “ We already had a book series called theEnchanted World , and it was elves and faery , ” he says . “ It was a fairly popular serial . ” Having found an audience for these books , Time - Life decided to see what other left - champaign topic reviewer might be interested in .
Moving a bit away from the myth and folklore of theEnchanted World , Time - Life start polling its marketing database to see if they could get a little more mysterious and metaphysical . The database was a assemblage of people who had filled out business answer cards ( the company tip email of the day ) , or purchased previous series from Time - Life . They react with " decent interest , " says Corry . " We mean we could probably squeeze a series out of this . "
But the Time - Life editors were n’t that interested in the idea of this comparatively out - there Modern serial publication . “ Oh yeah . They hat that stuff and nonsense , ” says Corry . Time - Life had made its reputation on sober publications likeThis Fabulous CenturyandThe Life Nature Library , so run like theEnchanted WorldandMysteries of the Unknownwere far more outer boundary . But the client interest was potent enough , and the sales projections made sensation , so the labor run through . While it may have lacked very much deception in its conception , Mysteries of the Unknownwas about to beguile America .
The serial debut via Time - Life ’s direct post campaigns in early 1987 , get , as Corry position it , a “ second-rate ” response . But then came theHarmonic Convergence , a global speculation case organized by New Age generator José Argüelles , that called for believers from all around the world to forgather where they could for meditate on a common karmic goal . According to Argüelles , on August 16 - 17 of 1987 , the planets aligned as predicted in an ancient Mayan vaticination , show in an years of spherical rebirth .
Who knows what effect the Harmonic Convergence of 1987 had on the karma of the planet , but the monumental popularity of the upshot certainly marked a turning period in the sales ofMysteries of the Unknown . “ There was the Harmonic Convergence , and then there was the index of crystals . ” Corry tell . “ All this poppycock out in the newsworthiness , and out in the grocery , starts hitting on the harmonized Convergence , and quartz glass , and out - of - consistence experiences . UFOs were kind of adult … Right after that , in the fall of ‘ 87 , we could n’t print enough ledger . ”
While a on the face of it cosmic synchronicity may have kicked off the serial publication ’ popularity , it was the TV ads that madeMysteries of theUnknownimmortal . After the standard publicity cycle of direct mailings , follow by photographic print advertizement and reply card , the firstMysteries of theUnknowntelevision commercial score the airwave in September of 1987 .
“ Read the book ! ” became a favorite catch phrase as the great unwashed were barrage with commercial for the series on every 1990s ball of fire meshing , from MTV to TNT to Nickelodeon .
While the advert capitalise on the skepticism surrounding the subject matter , the book themselves were much less flighty than one might expect . The researcher , author , and editors at Time - Life who worked on the series subjected title likePsychic VoyagesandSpirit Summoningsto the same rigors of investigation and annotation as any of their diachronic title of respect .
“ One affair I have to say about Time - Life is that it was really well researched , ” Corry allege , “ because the guys in New York , the chair of the board of Time Inc. , they had a real focus on editorial excellency . ” The bulk entitledAncient Wisdom and Secret Sectsalone has a bibliography that cite about 178 unlike sources . The book itself is only 176 pages long . No matter how skeptical one might be , it sure seemed like the books got as stuffy to the bottom of their mysteries as they could . Although , according to Corry , the editor in chief never really did affectionate to the subject matter .
WhenMysteries of the Unknownwas initially release in 1987 , there were only 20 mass in the serial . By 1991 , when the serial was finally lay off , it had grow to comprehend 33 titles , includingCosmic Connections , Witches and Witchcraft , andThe brain and Beyond . The reliable hidden baron behind theMysteries of the Unknownwere gross revenue figures , and as those slow , the series ended .
The internal ofAncientWisdom and Secret Sects ( Image by Eric Grundhauser )
whodunit of the Unknownlives on most indelibly in the minds of those that were hypnotized by the unforgettable ads ( Corry won a Cleo for one of the TV spot , and credit the series for defining his marketing career ) . Time - Life Books was shut down in 2003 , and the fellowship now focuses on selling multimedia things like DVDs and CDs . No cite of theMysteries of the Unknownseries can be found on its website , but copies of the fragile blackened tomes still bulge up on eBay , Amazon , and the ledge of used ledger stores . Physical copies of the script now seem like mysterious artefact themselves : half - remember grimoires meet with the hottest timeless mysteries of the 1980s and ' 90s .
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