How to Be a Ghost Hunter
By Richard Southall
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (September 2003)
Pages: 216 – Price: $12.95
Ghostvillage.com review
Richard Southall of West Virginia gives workshops on ghost hunting and is actively involved in ghost investigations. In his well-written nonfiction book, How to Be a Ghost Hunter, he introduces readers to approaches for discovering authentic evidence of paranormal happenings. Southall, along with Susan Sheppard, is the co-creator of the Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours in West Virginia. There are many photographs in the book.
This is both a memoir and a handbook from the author as he shares personal stories of ghost-hunting, how he went about it, and what he found. He gives helpful information to those interested in pursuing ghost-hunting on their own.
The introduction, “Why A Ghost-Hunting Guide?,” is well worth the reader’s time and an excellent look at just what ghost-hunting is about. Chapter 1 is “Ghosts, Spirits, and Poltergeists Defined,” Chapter 2 is “Researching a Suspected Haunted Area,” Chapter 3 is "Paranormal Photography,” Chapter 4 is “Electronic Voice Phenomenon,” Chapter 5 is “Your Ghost-Hunting Kit,” and the concluding Chapter 6 is the highly informative “Forming a Paranormal Group.”
Additionally, there are two helpful appendix listings on “Forms and Questionnaires,” and “Useful Websites for Ghost Hunters.” The conclusion of the book contains a glossary, bibliography, and index.
This is one of the most useful, up-to-date guides on how to become a ghost hunter published in the past several years. Concise, entertaining, and accurate would be the best three words to describe How to Be a Ghost Hunter for readers interested in the paranormal. There is never a dull moment in this interesting book.
There is reference to the Mothman and the Silver Bridge collapse in 1967 at Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Most readers remember the big box office movie hit The Mothman Prophecies starring actor Richard Gere.
Chapter 1 is a first-rate approach to ghosts, spirits, and poltergeists and how they are defined. Fascinating reading, it is also sound reference data to have on hand. Each chapter instructs and explains in an enjoyable fashion. This is the type of book hard to put down as it is written in a nice, straight-forward approach. This book is highly recommended reading on how to become a ghost hunter.
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