I just finished this awesome book and let me tell you...it is a must-read for those who are serious about paranormal research!
The title is "Ghost Hunters" but if you're reading this for the latest techniques, you'll be sadly disappointed. In fact, there's scarcely a mention of spooks in most chapters. First and foremost, the book chronicles the beginning of serious scientific research on the paranormal.
Any ghost hunter can tell you the derision we face from all manner of skeptics. The pioneers in the field faced no less a challenge. The founders of the British and American Societies for Psychical Research were college-educated men of science. Psychologists, physicists, and chemists made up the motley crew. They experienced lifelong criticism from their colleagues and even their respective universities for even considering such "frivolous work". And all this at a time when the Spiritualist movement was spreading like wildfire across America.
You'll meet all manner of thieves, tricksters and frauds claiming to be legitimate mediums. You will get to know these dedicated scientists who risked their careers to make sense of the ethereal.
You'll witness in-fighting that threatens to destroy the whole endeavour. (A common thread even in today's ghost hunting community.)
In the end you'll understand the challenge these men had before them; how to make scientific sense out of random paranormal events. The interesting theories put forth in the book will put a new spin on ghost hunting as well as spirit communication.
The experiments of mediumship and life after death will strike fear in some and cause others to rethink their beliefs about the subject.
This book was published in 2006, so you may be lucky enough to find a copy at the local library.
Whatever the case, it is an interesting read and fascinating peek into the little known history of paranormal research.
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