Books About the Paranormal

Johnny Be Goode

What are the best books that you have read in relation to the Paranormal (or indeed the books that most annoyed you about the Paranormal).

Professor Richard Wiseman's book, "Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there" at first was a little irritating to read; on one hand it tries to give rational explanations as to paranormal occurrences (which could be useful when de-bunking and keeping perspective on things) but it was the almost 'sneering' attitude he appears to have towards the possibility of the paranormal existing i.e. it is in my view very one-sided. He is clearly a (and indeed a self professed) skeptic. This attitude seems to be the 'back-drop' of his work but it is worthwhile reading whether you are a skeptic, a 'believer' or somewhere in-between.

JBG ….

sambuka41

I loved a book called The Ghost Next Door by Mark Alan Morris. Its real ghost stories from regular people (I think the blurb on the front is exactly that!) What I like most about it is that there is no judgement from the author, sure some of the stories might be more readily explained away but I like the respect he gives the people and their experience.

I don't know how I came across it, I lost my first copy but loved it so much I bought it again!!

Annoying books- The Amityville Horror book was ridiculous

Johnny Be Goode

Thanks for that. I'm sure I saw that on the shelves of HF's today. Ended up getting NASA Conspiracies instead and that I'll post in other forum thread!

I Am_Not_Ice

sambuka41 wrote: »

Annoying books- The Amityville Horror book was ridiculous

Couldn't agree more. When I finally got around to reading The Amityville Horror a few years ago I was astonished by how badly written it is.
FYI to any budding horror writers: Ending practically every sentence with an exclamation mark is not an adequate means by which to convey spine-chilling terror.

mrmorgan

I Am_Not_Ice wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. When I finally got around to reading The Amityville Horror a few years ago I was astonished by how badly written it is.
FYI to any budding horror writers: Ending practically every sentence with an exclamation mark is not an adequate means by which to convey spine-chilling terror.

i actually watched a docu this morning on netflix about the amitville horror.

for years i kind of believed it as ed and lorraine warren were involved, but after watching that. i think it was all a scam

faceman

The Rite by Matt Baglio is an excellent read.

Johnny Be Goode

faceman wrote: »

The Rite by Matt Baglio is an excellent read.

Yes, definitely worth reading. Must read it again.

I Am_Not_Ice

I really don't think Amityville was a scam; something happened to the Lutzes, but the media circus surrounding the events blew the whole thing out of proportion.

mrmorgan

I Am_Not_Ice wrote: »

I really don't think Amityville was a scam; something happened to the Lutzes, but the media circus surrounding the events blew the whole thing out of proportion.

i thought the same, but after watching that docu, i look at it differently. considering all the people that have lived there since and there has been no stories of anything happening.

if it is a scam, it was a brilliant idea

maccored

there is no way I am going to mention Haunted Carlow, Haunted Kilkenny or Banshee (with Barry Fitzgerald) as thats just self promotion. And I certainly wont mention Haunted Tyrone being published in October. No way. You'd never hear me saying things like that. Nor that they are all based on modern day accounts freshly researched and never published before.

maccored

We interviewed the son one day on TAPS Family Radio. He was either mad in the head or purposely trying to sell stories, mainly because he doesnt get a penny from the Amityville franchise. Either way, he just wasnt convincing.

mrmorgan wrote: »

i thought the same, but after watching that docu, i look at it differently. considering all the people that have lived there since and there has been no stories of anything happening.

if it is a scam, it was a brilliant idea

Johnny Be Goode

maccored wrote: »

there is no way I am going to mention Haunted Carlow, Haunted Kilkenny or Banshee (with Barry Fitzgerald) as thats just self promotion. And I certainly wont mention Haunted Tyrone being published in October. No way. You'd never hear me saying things like that. Nor that they are all based on modern day accounts freshly researched and never published before.

LOL I didnt see that one coming starting the thread! If they are any good, we want to hear about it!

Johnny Be Goode

maccored wrote: »

there is no way I am going to mention Haunted Carlow, Haunted Kilkenny or Banshee (with Barry Fitzgerald) as thats just self promotion. And I certainly wont mention Haunted Tyrone being published in October. No way. You'd never hear me saying things like that. Nor that they are all based on modern day accounts freshly researched and never published before.

So you guys want to give a talk and about your experiences as investigators?(see Meet ups thread) JBG

maccored

Such self advertising is against boards rules, afaik

Johnny Be Goode wrote: »

LOL I didnt see that one coming starting the thread! If they are any good, we want to hear about it!

maccored

if the meetings were ever in the carlow/kilkenny/laois direction I'd have no problem popping along. Dublin's too far up the road.

Johnny Be Goode wrote: »

So you guys want to give a talk and about your experiences as investigators?(see Meet ups thread) JBG

maccored

all the books are basically first hand, modern accounts from people who had the experience. Then I change the name and the address and create a ghost story around the central paranormal experience that was told to me. Anything paranormal is left as it was told, and unbelished. The rest though, is all made up - which is fine as they are the unimportant information, plus it makes sure no-one's house is being harassed by ghost hunters and no-one (bar me and the person who had the experience) will know where the story came from. I just have to make sure its in the right county

Johnny Be Goode

maccored wrote: »

if the meetings were ever in the carlow/kilkenny/laois direction I'd have no problem popping along. Dublin's too far up the road.

How many people out there would attend a meeting in Carlow town sometime or Kildare?

maccored

No idea. Theres plenty of people interested in the paranormal since plenty go on the haunted carlow walk and over the past year Ive had a good few people with me when checking out the shopping centre. Not too sure though how many would be bothered joining a team though.

Johnny Be Goode wrote: »

How many people out there would attend a meeting in Carlow town sometime or Kildare?

Johnny Be Goode

maccored wrote: »

No idea. Theres plenty of people interested in the paranormal since plenty go on the haunted carlow walk and over the past year Ive had a good few people with me when checking out the shopping centre. Not too sure though how many would be bothered joining a team though.

Thanks. I have replied in the Meet up thread. I believe that there is a good book on Carlow hauntings etc!

maccored

Indeed. I also heard theres one on Kilkenny and one on Tyrone on the way. Theres also the Legend Seekers coming out in hardback in the Autumn, but they are stories of myth and legend rather than ghosties (though ghosts could well be myth and legend).

Milly33

The Dark Sacrament: True Stories of Modern-Day Demon Possession and Exorcism - Christina McKenna quite a good read, some interesting stories in it..I have'nt finished it yet but will have to do some research to find some of the places mentioned although it will be hard and name sand places are changed it says

Another one was An Exorcist Tells His Story I defiantly did not finish this I just got annoyed with it as twas full of religious righteousness.. Might try again but not worth it

Johnny Be Goode

Milly33 wrote: »

The Dark Sacrament: True Stories of Modern-Day Demon Possession and Exorcism - Christina McKenna quite a good read, some interesting stories in it..I have'nt finished it yet but will have to do some research to find some of the places mentioned although it will be hard and name sand places are changed it says

Another one was An Exorcist Tells His Story I defiantly did not finish this I just got annoyed with it as twas full of religious righteousness.. Might try again but not worth it

I read The Dark Sacrament, wasn't that the one wish Irish cases only? If it is, then it is good. One of the cases in particular mentioned is awful to read.

The second one mentioned i heard of but didn't read. At the end, please post your comments!

I mention in earlier posts "Deliverence, Psychic Disturbances and Occult Involvement' which originally was/is a kind of handbook for Church of England ministers dealing with paranormal and occult. It is actually a very common sense book that is a good template for other paranormal investigations ...

Milly33

yep thats them defo dont bother with the second one..

Deliverence I am sure i had that on my list at one stage might try for it again see if i can pick up a copy

Johnny Be Goode

Milly33 wrote: »

yep thats them defo dont bother with the second one..

Deliverence I am sure i had that on my list at one stage might try for it again see if i can pick up a copy

will I PM you the ISBN for Deliverance?

Milly33

Perfect thank you I got the pm..

Perkinstock

i am not really into a paranormal books, but the last one I enjoyed about paranormal genre is Karen Marie’s Morning Fever Series.

Johnny Be Goode

Perkinstock wrote: »

i am not really into a paranormal books, but the last one I enjoyed about paranormal genre is Karen Marie’s Morning Fever Series.

Haven't heard of that author, must keep an eye out for it next time i'm in the bookshop … thanks … JBG

Perkinstock

you need to check it, i won't spoil you more, but its worth reading

PHIRE

Jonny i got a load of great books about irish sightings and hauntings, real stories going back centuries if you want a lend of

Johnny Be Goode

Yeah. Sounds good Phire. Thanks. JBG

Loughc

As we don't have a general thread, does anyone know why Johnny B Goode closed his account? He went from being all over this forum to closed.... seems strange.

I dont think there are many books out there that you can depend on. The subject is getting diluted with absolute bull crap, due to people wanting to make a name for themselves. The internet is the best thing to look at. Sometimes you wade through the crap and you might find a little gem, then that will lead you to something else.

Not2Good

Deleted User wrote: »

I dont think there are many books out there that you can depend on. The subject is getting diluted with absolute bull crap, due to people wanting to make a name for themselves. The internet is the best thing to look at. Sometimes you wade through the crap and you might find a little gem, then that will lead you to something else.

Yeah, the internet has been a game-changer in research/reading. More information spread around quicker. Hopefully it makes for better investigators.

Not2Good

Reading 'The Black Book of Modern Myths, True stories of The Unexplained' by Alasdair Wickham at the moment. Interesting book, worth reading.

Its chapter on 'The Movies Curse' is interesting covering the alleged curses of 'Poltergeist' film, older 'The Omen' movies, 'Rosemary's Baby' and touches on the Superman movies (excluding the last recent ones). He didn't cover the Bruce Lee curse nor 'Apocolypse Now' (if that was rather very bad luck?) but did mention the rebel without a cause James Dean and his cursed car!

Not2Good

As Dre said above, I am sure you would get more than enough on the internet on these topics!

Not2Good

Loughc wrote: »

As we don't have a general thread, does anyone know why Johnny B Goode closed his account? He went from being all over this forum to closed.... seems strange.

That is me. I got 're-incarnated' on boards.ie (with their blessing!) New name, and also, I have to get the meet-ups up and running again .. thanks for asking though.

Had to change my email and thought I had to close account (which I now believe I did not have to). I think I could have been able to do this without closing 'Johnny Be Goode'. The two stars seem far away again!

Cheers

Not2Good

Reading 'The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits by John and Anne Spencer 1992 publication. A lot of common sense approaches given for investigations and nice selection of case studies...

Not2Good

Not2Good wrote: »

Yeah, the internet has been a game-changer in research/reading. More information spread around quicker. Hopefully it makes for better investigators.

I dont think so, I have just seen investigators just get worse and worse over the years. They are in it because they think they are going to make millions on a TV show.
I have seen one group completely sell out over and over again. They now call themselves "Experts"

I have seen another group that is not so bad but the guy in charge, if he is not getting enough attention will throw himself on the ground as he is getting attacked by a ghost.

I have seen another guy investigate 10 places in 2 years then release a book.

I have seen a group that is "completely scientific" sell out really bad on a TV show, rob somebodys photo of a lens flair on facebook and pass it off as a ghost on the same TV show.

I have seen groups throw members out for being too skeptical and questioning the "leader"

Good investigators are few and far between.