Ghost Hunters: Real Stories of Paranormal Investigators

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Why settle for a ghost who merely knocks on the wall or for skeletons in
the cellar when you can have a phantom who smokes Mexican cigars or who
hurls golf clubs? Do you prefer your ghosts to appear as violent
poltergeists or a gentle ectophasmic mist? Are you drawn to hauntings by
angry children or obese old men? You have a choice. Asfar’s collection
of stories about the adventures of ghost hunters presents a wide range
of encounters with the spirits of the dead.

In a series of “reports,” he describes incidents encountered by
paranormal researchers and investigators throughout Canada and the
United States. He describes how these ghost hunters attempt to connect
with the spirit world, measure ethereal energy, and record the voices of
the restless dead. These “researchers” take us to cemeteries, a
machine shop, an old hospital, houses, theatres, and battlefields.
Ghosts, it seems, will haunt any place. There’s a brief history of
ghost hunting, insider methodologies are shared, and to bring all this
up to date, the ghostbusters use websites while the ghosts resort to
email.

Are we to take this seriously? The publisher’s disclaimer labels it
as “entertainment”—not to be confused with scientific research.

Thay’s work carries a similar disclaimer. His subject is the other
end of the spooky spectrum. While ghosts and hauntings are post-death
events, premonitions are pre-disaster occurrences. The people
experiencing the signs, omens, or psychic warnings are alive to be
interviewed and claim the events described actually happened. Yet all
claim anonymity so Thay has little choice but to call the reports
“just stories.”

The fascination with premonitions and warnings from psychics is that
knowing the future gives a sense of control. Thay’s reports detail
examples of psychics who foretell death, career changes, marriages,
divorce, accidents, crimes, and other major life events. Other glimpses
into the future come in the form of dreams, intuition, or “cosmic
coincidence.”

Both books share a plodding, repetitious writing style: surely ghost
stories and accounts of premonitions shouldn’t be this flat.