HAUNTED is the type of ghostly chronicle that permeated my teen years. After experiencing several “events” that could not be satisfactorily explained, I became obsessed with reading every ghost tale I could get my hands on. I became a devout fan of the writings of Elliot O’Donnell, Ghost Hunter extraordinaire.
Of course years later I found out that O’Donnell was not above stretching the truth about his experiences with things that bump in the night and, in fact, outrightly lied about some of his investigations. This information did not deter me in my search for others who’d had the dubious pleasure of encountering things that weren’t of a solid substance.
As I got older, I read other authors who would also be “discredited” in their tales of supernatural occurrences, most notably were the chronicles of the Amityville Horror by several writers who may or may not have been pulling the proverbial wool over the public’s eyes. This “high-profile” haunting in a house that already had a tragic and obscenely violent past was thrust into international prominence when a “true” account was published in the 1970’s about a family driven from their home by evil and scary apparitions.
Despite the continued debunking of most of these stories of poltergeist, ghostly apparitions and unexplained sightings, I kept on searching for more books on the unexplained.
As I got older and I continued to experience things that could not be explained easily (if at all) and hearing first hand accounts from people who seen and felt things scarier than I had, I kept reading. Oddly enough, I stopped after it appeared that I was among a minority of people who even cared about the supernatural and/or paranormal aspects of our world.
Books were becoming difficult to find and the ones you could glean from the sparse supply out there were from supposed “clairvoyants, mediums and psychics.” The quotation marks are there because I do not have a lot of faith in professions that are rife with charlatans.
Now with the popularity of such television programs as TAPS Ghost Hunters, Most Haunted, Ghost Hunters International, et al; books are popping up that are stepping back. Back to the days of my youth and Elliot O’Donnell. The main difference is that these “new” relayers of urban myths and legends are more often than not, skeptics themselves. They aren’t of the same flamboyant ilk as O’Donnell and prepared to pad out their recounting of ghostly happenings.
They just relay the facts and show the readers the photographic evidence (if there is any) and leave up to us whether to believe or not.
*This must be the longest preface to a review ever.*
Author John Pinkney is a skeptic (like many other chroniclers of ghosts and ghouls) and he is careful to not overindulge his scepticism. In this book, he relays stories of well-known and not so well-known ghosts in “the land down under” aka Australia ‘cobber.’ His collection of tales include the old favourites: theatrical ghosts, TV and radio spectres, Cinema creatures and residential poltergeist as well as the non-residential sort. He also visits legendary haunting sites; such as the Aboriginal Drowning Pool where tourists mustn’t even think of taking a dip in this pool for if they do, they most likely will not live to talk about it.
I have just finished reading a trio of paranormal parables and Pinkney’s was the last one. Looking on Goodreads, his books seem to have a bit better rating than most. I imagine it has to do with his presentation. He is very good at making the interviewees out to be normal people, which of course, they are. His sources include, town politicians (I know that no politician can be trusted but most will not willingly make themselves look foolish), pillars of the community, vicars, priests, military men, et al.
He also allows the humour and the tragic pathos to lie cheek and jowl beside one another. His stories reveal a depth that is only fitting for such a richly diverse and fascinating country. While some of the stories give off the odour of urban legend, it has been adapted to fit the landscape of its occurrence.
His choice of tales also ranged from the 1800’s to present day. A nice range of time periods and a broad spectrum of ghostly rumblings to fill the pages of his paranormal publication.
If you care to look at John Pinkey’s Goodreads author page you’ll see that he’s written at least ten books on the subject of unexplained events. Considering the care and effort that went into this book alone, I think it is fair to assume that he has expended the same writing traits in his other works. I will be hunting down and reading all his titles.
Although, I may be a bit smarter in future and read them in the safe light of day instead of in my darkened bedroom with the small reading lamp being my only source of light. One does start to feel a bit uncomfortable after a while and those familiar shadows take on a different feel altogether.
I’ve given this book a 4 star rating. I loved it, but, according to the “Goodreads star template” I did not find it amazing. I think that old Irish ghost hunter Elliot O’Donnell was the last supernatural chronicler who was able to amaze me and I was a lot younger in those days.
If you are interested in things that go bump in the night, give it a try. Just remember to leave a lot of lights on if you decide to do your perusal after dark.
Related articles
- Top 10 Haunted Cities in America – Rent.com | The Shared Wall (rent.com)
- Spooks in Savannah, caught on camera! (6mosthaunted.wordpress.com)
- York England the Most Haunted City in the World (epages.wordpress.com)
- Haunted Mirror Sells For $155 On EBay (huffingtonpost.com)
- Paranormal Corner: Investigator got started after having premonitions (nj.com)
- Haunted Cemetery Mausoleum Ghost Hunters Video LSF Vault 2008 (livescifi.tv)
- ‘Ghost Hunters’ investigate the Belle of Louisville on upcoming show (whas11.com)
- Couple haunted after ghost caught on CCTV (video)Reblog from Weird World News (6mosthaunted.wordpress.com)
Great minds think alike! I’ve always found that film to be the absolute best adaptation of Jackson’s brilliant novel!! 😀
I guess we’ve all had some kind of inexplicable encounters. I’ve never found any satisfactory explanation for mine, but one of my favorite movies is the original “The Haunting” — a pretty faithful retelling of Shirley Jackson’s “Haunting of Hill House.” It may not a proper account of a real haunting, but it has always felt very real to me.
We lived in a house that had some very strange things that happened! I’ll have to do a proper post about it. Plus there were two episodes in England; I have written about those in my Arkansas Razorback posts. 😀
Mike, a most interesting preface!! I’m curious about some of those “events of your youth”. Nifty review. Thanks!!
Oh my. I must get my hands on this. To be quite honest our house scares the life out if us sometimes. Have to get this thanks for sharing.