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The Case for Ghosts: An Objective Look at the Paranormal
What are ghosts? Can anyone become one? How do they interact with time and space? Stripping away the sensationalism and fraud linked to this contentious topic, J. Allan Danelek presents a well-researched study of a phenomenon that has fascinated mankind for centuries. Analyzing theories that support and debunk these supernatural events, Danelek objectively explores hauntings, the ghost psyche, spirit communication, and spirit guides. He also investigates spirit photography, EVP, ghost-hunting tools, ouija boards, and the darker side of the ghost equation-malevolent spirits and demon possession. Whether you're a ghost enthusiast or a skeptic, The Case for Ghosts promises amazing insights into the spirit realm.
220 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2006
2 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
J. Allan Danelek
19 books4 followersA native of Minnesota but a resident of Colorado since 1969, my life has been a journey that has taken me down many different paths—some good and some not so good—but all of them useful in my journey. After a stint in the Navy (as a navigator and, briefly, an air traffic controller) I attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, specializing in illustration and graphic design. Since then, I have worked for a wide array of employers, from the public school system to the aerospace industry. I even worked for a couple of years laying out an international magazine for a local televangelist (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty). After doing a gig as a part-time driving instructor (lotsa fun and a very educational experience) I'm back in the graphics industry once again while I wait for my "ship to come in"—whenever that might be. In the meantime, I continue to keep my hand in free-lance graphics, teach classes as various Front Range community colleges and other venues, and work on my tennis game—unfortunately with little success. I currently live in Lakewood, Colorado (a suburb of Denver) with my wife, Carol.
Besides writing, my hobbies include—but are not necessarily limited to—tennis, biking, and chess. I am also into political history (I can name all 44 presidents along with the years they were president and what party they were, none of which has proven useful to date), world and military history, religion and spirituality, science fiction (huge Star Trek fan even though I don’t own any uniforms), numismatics (coin collecting) paleontology, astronomy, and such Fortean subjects as Bigfoot, UFO's and things that go bump in the night. I enjoy writing both fiction and non-fiction, much of it with decidedly spiritual, religious, cryptozoological, historical and/or paranormal overtones, and consider writing to be my life's passion.
I'm ashamed to admit I didn't pursue my writing career with the prerequisite determination until fairly recently (I like to think of it as a progressive learning thing) with my first published feature article appearing in the March, 2002 issue of Fate magazine. Striking up a good relationship with Fate's parent publisher, Galde Press, I decided to submit an entire manuscript for consideration and in September of 2003, I was blessed with my first book, Reconsidering Atlantis: A New Look at a Prehistoric Civilization (now out of print). While the book proved to be a financial failure (Galde being a small subsidy press that lacked promotional and distribution capabilities) the experience gave me the confidence to pursue other larger publishers with some other ideas I had been working on. Eventually Llewellyn International out of St. Paul, Minnesota—a publisher known for its astrological and paranormal-themed products—picked up The Mystery of Reincarnation and my career as a “real-life” author began to gain traction. Over the next four years I added six more titles to my repertoire and have branched out to include books on aviation history and even co-authored a book about alien abductions!
Throughout it all I never gave up my first-love, which is novel writing. With a half-dozen unpublished—and largely unseen—manuscripts languishing on my computer hard-drive, I finally approached the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press out of Kempton, Illinois, David Hatcher Childress (yes, that David Hatcher Childress) who had been kind enough to pick up my book on aviation history, to see how he felt about putting out some fiction. David proved to be receptive to the idea and even gave me the opportunity to not only submit a science horror trilogy, but even allowed me to do the layout and cover designs as well, which is a rare thing for publishers to do nowadays. (In fact, I can't think of any full service publishers who do that! As such, my metaphorical hat goes off to David for letting me take the book from concept to final product and, especially, for the faith he has shown in permitting me th
Besides writing, my hobbies include—but are not necessarily limited to—tennis, biking, and chess. I am also into political history (I can name all 44 presidents along with the years they were president and what party they were, none of which has proven useful to date), world and military history, religion and spirituality, science fiction (huge Star Trek fan even though I don’t own any uniforms), numismatics (coin collecting) paleontology, astronomy, and such Fortean subjects as Bigfoot, UFO's and things that go bump in the night. I enjoy writing both fiction and non-fiction, much of it with decidedly spiritual, religious, cryptozoological, historical and/or paranormal overtones, and consider writing to be my life's passion.
I'm ashamed to admit I didn't pursue my writing career with the prerequisite determination until fairly recently (I like to think of it as a progressive learning thing) with my first published feature article appearing in the March, 2002 issue of Fate magazine. Striking up a good relationship with Fate's parent publisher, Galde Press, I decided to submit an entire manuscript for consideration and in September of 2003, I was blessed with my first book, Reconsidering Atlantis: A New Look at a Prehistoric Civilization (now out of print). While the book proved to be a financial failure (Galde being a small subsidy press that lacked promotional and distribution capabilities) the experience gave me the confidence to pursue other larger publishers with some other ideas I had been working on. Eventually Llewellyn International out of St. Paul, Minnesota—a publisher known for its astrological and paranormal-themed products—picked up The Mystery of Reincarnation and my career as a “real-life” author began to gain traction. Over the next four years I added six more titles to my repertoire and have branched out to include books on aviation history and even co-authored a book about alien abductions!
Throughout it all I never gave up my first-love, which is novel writing. With a half-dozen unpublished—and largely unseen—manuscripts languishing on my computer hard-drive, I finally approached the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press out of Kempton, Illinois, David Hatcher Childress (yes, that David Hatcher Childress) who had been kind enough to pick up my book on aviation history, to see how he felt about putting out some fiction. David proved to be receptive to the idea and even gave me the opportunity to not only submit a science horror trilogy, but even allowed me to do the layout and cover designs as well, which is a rare thing for publishers to do nowadays. (In fact, I can't think of any full service publishers who do that! As such, my metaphorical hat goes off to David for letting me take the book from concept to final product and, especially, for the faith he has shown in permitting me th
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 22, 2014
I picked up this book with a genuine curiousity for an argument on whether ghosts do or don't exist. I got about 25 pages of argument for ghosts about abotu 200 pages of the authors opinions of heaven, hell, demons, god, etc. His ideas were contradictory and nonsensical. I'm very disappointed in this book.
July 1, 2010
This book was terrible. It wasn't really "The case for ghosts" there were only a few pages that weren't just the authors opinions. The author kept contradicting himself. First he says he is a Christian, and then talks about his experiences with Spirit Guides. I wouldn't recommend to anyone. If you have an interest in ghosts there are MUCH better books then this one
October 5, 2023
Aha! Ghosts exist, there is an ethereal realm beyond the material, and our brains are essentially radios that intercept our souls (which are radio waves), and upon death those waves can bounce away, extant outside the confines of the radio that had intercepted them.
Source: Trust me bro.
The only thing this book actually makes a case for is the fact that no genuine evidence for ghosts exists, unless you willingly believe in contradictory, biased, unscientific information. I hadn't hoped to open this review with an anecdote about my own expectations, but when you name your book "A Case for (something)," I assume you're genuinely going to make a case for it. Instead, what this book actually is, is an incessant ramble of somewhat related but wholly unprovable information about the typical paranormal schtick -- personalities (psychosis, hallucinations, the power of suggestion -- call this example A), orbs (dust), demons (example A), spirit mediums (grifters, example A), spirit guides (example A), and pages upon pages of speculation about the universe with no genuine scientific backing whatsoever. He admits parapsychology is not taken seriously, and admits much of the book is speculation, but simply admitting does nothing.
Even as an atheist, I don't worship science, because it's a creation of man and is ever growing, evolving, and developing; thus, it is flawed. There is actually a fine example of this in the book, regarding how leeches and bloodletting used to be common medical practices due to the ill-informed idea of "poisoned blood," and how today it's seen as ridiculous. Modern examples of this, which I will not get into here, are certainly abound in today's science, and I wouldn't claim to assume we know everything about death and the universe. But instead of referring to actual scientific studies to make a case for the possibility of life after death, the author just speculates about it, using either a sparing reference to already illogical information (such as other sources in parapsychology), or just makes things up on the spot.
More interesting is the author's continual contradiction with himself. He calls himself a Christian, but then talks on and on about wooey spiritualism that no actual Christian would bother with at best, or ever dare consider at worst. Furthermore, he goes on a bit of a diatribe about the existence of Hell, Satan, and demons, and how they couldn't possibly be real if God is all knowing and all loving. What strikes me as strange is that his reasoning is, of course, sound; obviously none of this DOES exist, and that (among other examples) is the exact talking point atheists use to criticize religion in the first place. So, in entertaining this, he admits either partial ignorance or partial refusal of his own doctrine. Cherry-picking is of course is not unusual for Christians, or people of any other faith, but I found it quite interesting that he even bothers calling himself a Christian at all if he so obviously rejects what is a necessary and primary facet of the belief. He cites the Bible often, too, so I don't think he hasn't read the thing. He, like many, just picks what he wants to believe and sticks with that, while filling in the gaps with his own speculation. Needless to say, this is not the approach one should use to make a case for anything. When did ghosts appear in our evolutionary history? The Cambrian period? When we developed agriculture? As he said later in the book about the power of the mind, are they simply a product of our imaginations? Can I get one to make me a sandwich?
This book probably deserves one star, but for a great deal of it I was entertained by his mental gymnastics, and fascinated by his philosophies, so I won't bother giving it a hate-score. I obviously can't recommend it, for the most part it's just a waste of time, but I learned some interesting things about what Danelek believes, at least, and in my profession that counts for something.
Source: Trust me bro.
The only thing this book actually makes a case for is the fact that no genuine evidence for ghosts exists, unless you willingly believe in contradictory, biased, unscientific information. I hadn't hoped to open this review with an anecdote about my own expectations, but when you name your book "A Case for (something)," I assume you're genuinely going to make a case for it. Instead, what this book actually is, is an incessant ramble of somewhat related but wholly unprovable information about the typical paranormal schtick -- personalities (psychosis, hallucinations, the power of suggestion -- call this example A), orbs (dust), demons (example A), spirit mediums (grifters, example A), spirit guides (example A), and pages upon pages of speculation about the universe with no genuine scientific backing whatsoever. He admits parapsychology is not taken seriously, and admits much of the book is speculation, but simply admitting does nothing.
Even as an atheist, I don't worship science, because it's a creation of man and is ever growing, evolving, and developing; thus, it is flawed. There is actually a fine example of this in the book, regarding how leeches and bloodletting used to be common medical practices due to the ill-informed idea of "poisoned blood," and how today it's seen as ridiculous. Modern examples of this, which I will not get into here, are certainly abound in today's science, and I wouldn't claim to assume we know everything about death and the universe. But instead of referring to actual scientific studies to make a case for the possibility of life after death, the author just speculates about it, using either a sparing reference to already illogical information (such as other sources in parapsychology), or just makes things up on the spot.
More interesting is the author's continual contradiction with himself. He calls himself a Christian, but then talks on and on about wooey spiritualism that no actual Christian would bother with at best, or ever dare consider at worst. Furthermore, he goes on a bit of a diatribe about the existence of Hell, Satan, and demons, and how they couldn't possibly be real if God is all knowing and all loving. What strikes me as strange is that his reasoning is, of course, sound; obviously none of this DOES exist, and that (among other examples) is the exact talking point atheists use to criticize religion in the first place. So, in entertaining this, he admits either partial ignorance or partial refusal of his own doctrine. Cherry-picking is of course is not unusual for Christians, or people of any other faith, but I found it quite interesting that he even bothers calling himself a Christian at all if he so obviously rejects what is a necessary and primary facet of the belief. He cites the Bible often, too, so I don't think he hasn't read the thing. He, like many, just picks what he wants to believe and sticks with that, while filling in the gaps with his own speculation. Needless to say, this is not the approach one should use to make a case for anything. When did ghosts appear in our evolutionary history? The Cambrian period? When we developed agriculture? As he said later in the book about the power of the mind, are they simply a product of our imaginations? Can I get one to make me a sandwich?
This book probably deserves one star, but for a great deal of it I was entertained by his mental gymnastics, and fascinated by his philosophies, so I won't bother giving it a hate-score. I obviously can't recommend it, for the most part it's just a waste of time, but I learned some interesting things about what Danelek believes, at least, and in my profession that counts for something.
September 24, 2019
As someone without a pronounced interest in the paranormal/ghosts/etc., this book was great as a sort of introductory handbook to thoughts on what ghosts might be. Danelek writes in a straightforward, friendly way and logically takes the reader through concepts such as universal consciousness, telekensis, and the afterlife and how they relate to the entities we commonly classify as ghosts. The author isn't especially pedantic one way or the other and simply seems interested in laying out the various arguments for curious readers.
I love books like this and wish there was a similar handbook for everything I don't know a lot about*. Fortunately this seems to be the author's forte, as he has written other books with a similar approach to other controversial phenomenon. I'm not a spiritual person at all but this book offered a lot of thought-provoking material on things that any human will find him- or herself pondering at one time or another.
(*A book similar in approach but unrelated in subject matter is "The Anthropology of Obesity in the United States" by Anna Bellisari.)
I love books like this and wish there was a similar handbook for everything I don't know a lot about*. Fortunately this seems to be the author's forte, as he has written other books with a similar approach to other controversial phenomenon. I'm not a spiritual person at all but this book offered a lot of thought-provoking material on things that any human will find him- or herself pondering at one time or another.
(*A book similar in approach but unrelated in subject matter is "The Anthropology of Obesity in the United States" by Anna Bellisari.)
April 17, 2020
A friend of mine gave me this book because I don't believe in ghosts. She was trying to convince me otherwise. This isn't the right book to convince anyone. The author tries to sound scientific, saying things like a ghost can draw energy from a generator, but it's all his opinions, nothing scientific about it at all. Then the book takes a detour into demons and guardian angels. I had the feeling that the ghost part was too short and the editor made the author add another hundred pages to pad it out.
If you want a real scientific look into the afterlife and ghosts, read Mary Roach's Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. She's an actual science writer, speaking to actual scientists, and she's funny, too. It's science but not academic sounding.
If you want a real scientific look into the afterlife and ghosts, read Mary Roach's Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. She's an actual science writer, speaking to actual scientists, and she's funny, too. It's science but not academic sounding.
October 3, 2025
Far from objective, but interesting enough. Danelek exhaustively covers every aspect of ghosts, spirits and "extra-celestials." The most useful part of the book is frankly the very end where he speculates on what would happen if empirical proof of ghosts/the afterlife were to eventually to be discovered.
August 1, 2013
Even though he says he is trying to have an 'objective' view of paranormal I think he is being more objective of what actually classifies as a paranormal event. He definitely believes in paranormal but this book is more on cases for what types of paranormal are out there and what qualifies as 'fact' scientific evidence. I enjoyed the book and appreciated his insight and the good points he made about what counts as scientific. I recommend this to anyone who wants to have a clear view of what paranormal really means and what false information that is getting put out there in TV and media.
December 26, 2010
In spite of typos and some grammatical and spelling problems, I enjoyed the gist of this book. I am interested, in an open-minded/skeptical way, in the paranormal. I like the author's take on things and agree with most of what he says. I was a bit dissatisfied with his section on animal spirits. I think animals have souls and are part of the universal consciousness.
June 22, 2009
I was expecting case studies and scientific evidence, but it merely ended up being a background about what paranormal scientists (and the author) know/hypothesize about ghosts. I shouldn't have finished reading it, but I kept waiting for it to get better!
September 20, 2008
One of the less nutty books I have read on this topic (although still unsatisfying).
December 16, 2008
loved it. very informative book on paranormal research and investigation.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews