Pet Ghosts: Animal Encounters from Beyond the Grave

by Joshua P. Warren

Is your pet really dead?

Paranormal investigator Joshua Warren thought his dachshund was, but for weeks after her death he still heard her shrill, desperate whining haunting his home. Using an array of high-tech equipment, he searched for her presence. What he found led him on an exploration of ghostly animals throughout history. That exploration is here, in Pet Ghosts.

Ancient and medieval texts from all cultures are filled with references to spectral creatures, from witch's familiars like ominous cats and owls, to giant hellhounds and werewolves. Some beasts, such as fire-breathing dragons, Bigfoot, and Mothman, may even be spirits of mysterious extinct animals.

Today, reports of "phantimals" are as abundant as ever. In Pet Ghosts, Warren recounts many real-life experiences: a man haunted by the cackling calls of his dead African Gray, a "Christmas dinner hog" pursuing the farmer that killed him, a snake that slithers between this world and the next.

Many animals can sense information beyond human ability. Dogs and cats can hear more, birds can see more, and some fish even have a sixth sense for magnetism. What makes the relationship with your pet so special? Perhaps that's what often keeps them around long after death.

Also included in Pet Ghosts:
* Interviews with animal experts, such as cryptozoologist Loren Coleman
* Simple tools and techniques for you to find and record your pet's spirit
* Theories on how "phantimals" manifest
* Tips on how to contact your deceased pet

From known creatures to unknown, ancient to modern, anecdote to scientific theory, in text and pictures, Pet Ghosts is a comprehensive look at how animal spirits relate to humans, for better or for worse, and how you can document them on your own.

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Born in Asheville, North Carolina, Joshua P. Warren has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains his entire life, but traveled widely. At the age of 13, he wrote his first published book. Since then, he has had ten more books published, including the regional best-seller, Haunted Asheville, and How to Hunt Ghosts, and is the president of his multimedia productions company, Shadowbox Enterprises, LLC. His articles have been published internationally, and he has been covered by such mainstream media as CNN, Fox News, Southern Living, Delta Sky, FATE, New Woman, The New York Times, FHM and Something About the Author; and made the cover of the science journal, Electric Space Craft. A winner of the University of North Carolina Thomas Wolfe Award for Fiction, he wrote columns for the Asheville Citizen-Times from 1992 to 1995. His first novel, The Evil in Asheville, was released in 2000.

An internationally-recognized expert on paranormal research, Warren was hired by the famous Grove Park Inn Resort to be the first person to officially investigate the Pink Lady apparition in 1995 (the same year he founded L.E.M.U.R. paranormal investigations, of which he is president). Warren also led the expedition that captured the first known footage of the elusive Brown Mountain Lights, eventually resulting in scientific breakthroughs, via experiments Warren led in the lab, that help explain most of the lights and many mysterious, natural plasmas (such as ball lightning) that occur around the world. His work has been praised by the Rhine Research Center, The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (or NCCAT, for which he gives annual presentations) and numerous scholars such as New York Times best-selling author Dr. William R. Forstchen, Dr. William Roll, Dr. Andrew Nichols, and legendary researchers such as NASA engineer Charles A. Yost, Oak Ridge National Laboratory engineer David Hackett, and authors/researchers Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe.

Warren has appeared on the National Geographic Channel, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Sci-Fi, Animal Planet, and numerous networks affiliates of NPR, ABC, NBC, and CBS. He is frequently asked to be a guest on radio shows around the world, especially Coast to Coast AM with George Noory/Art Bell. Warren is also an international award-winning filmmaker (including Hollywood.com's Top Underground Filmmaker of 1998), having worked on many sets, such as Warner Brother's My Fellow Americans, Universal's Patch Adams, Paradise Falls, Inbred Rednecks, Songcatcher, and Sinkhole.

Warren works as a radio host for Clear Channel, the largest radio corporation in the world, hosting a weekly paranormal program, Speaking of Strange, airing Saturday nights on News Radio 570 WWNC. It's rated no. 1 in the region Saturday nights, reaching up to four states and streaming live worldwide on the internet.