Nick Madrid isn't exactly thrilled when his best friend in journalism - OK, his only friend in journalism - the "Bitch of the Broadsheets," Bridget Frost, commissions him to spend a night in a haunted place on the Sussex Downs, and live to tell the tale. Especially as living to tell the tale isn't made an urgent priority.<BR>But fortunately, or unfortunately, Nick stumbles on a hotter story when he discovers a dead man hanging upside down - a la Tarot card - from an ancient oak. It's quite possible that the nearby New Age Conference Center has something to do with it, or to The Great Beast, the Hollywood movie about Aleister Crowley, filming down in Brighton.<BR>New Age meets the Old Religion as Nick is bothered, bewildered, but not necessarily bewitched by pagans, satanists, and a host of assorted metaphysicians. Seances, sabbats, a horse-ride from hell, and a kick-boxing zebra all come Nick's way as he obstinately tracks a treasure once in the possession of Crowley.