One Man’s Search For The Truth About Ghosts

Indeed! For Will Storr has written an engagingly funny, often creepy, but insightful book on the paranormal and those who populate it. I was snared from the first sentence of the prologue and from there carried on cross continent journeys with so called “demonologists”, druids, psychologists, parapsychologists, victims, dilettantes, mountebanks and wankers!

However, this is no mere romp through leftovers of the X-files. Storr has not compiled a collection of sensationalized incidents for some tabloid. Our journalist finds himself not only questioning what unfolds in front of him, but his personal beliefs as well. Perhaps even to a fault.

From his first encounter with the supernatural, Storr falls into an age-old dilemma faced by those indoctrinated into the dogma of an established orthodoxy. Fortunately, reason and journalistic skills prevail; to his credit, he has done an admirable job exhaustively researching both the history of paranormal and that of the established scientific community. The reader is furnished with enough information that will satisfy both believer and skeptic alike. I even feel like something of an expert as Storr elaborates on everything from The Stone Tape Theory, Electronic Voice Phenomena, to Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Questionable indeed! For in Storr’s doggedness to find an answer to these ghostly conundrums and life’s knottier questions, he finds that the truly scary entities are the mortals who chase their supernatural pipe dreams. He witnesses a videotaped exorcism in Alabama that appears to be a case of child abuse. The scariest thing about the paranormal are the people who pursue it, and it leaves one wondering who can be trusted, for not all of these “experts” and ghost hunters dwell in the fringes of society.

I was greatly taken aback by the backward opinions from a priest in the Vatican, while impressed by the skepticism expressed by the paranormal researcher, the late Maurice Grosse. He is best known for his association with the Enfield Poltergeist case. In fact Grosse offers a most trenchant admonition, “If you’re looking for answers you aren’t going to get any. You’ll only get answers from charlatans.” This is advice Storr obviously took to heart and passes along to you.

In the end, Storr has the sense and journalistic integrity to leave it to you to draw your own conclusions. I’ll only add this: whether you are a skeptic or true believer in the supernatural, don’t read this book late at night, alone!