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The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts: A Riveting Investigation Into Channeling and Spirit Guides
Mediumship dates back to the Greek Oracles and beyond, but millennia later nobody yet knows for certain what transpires when a medium enters a deep trance. Today, the practice of channeling spirit guides through hypnotized mediums is hotly debated. This strange phenomenon is either dismissed as a dubious parlor trick, or regarded as a form of communication between this world and the next. Many view "the guides" as a source of love and wisdom…but are they? For five years, Joe Fisher painstakingly investigated the claims of channelers and the mysterious voices that speak through them. The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts is his gripping journey into a realm of darkness and deception.
313 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1990
34 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
About the author
Joe Fisher
46 books9 followersJoe Fisher, 53, author of The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, died on Wednesday, May 9, 2001, by jumping off a limestone cliff at Elora Gorge, near his hometown of Fergus, Ontario, Canada. A variety of personal problems, including a growing list of unpaid bills for the writer, appeared to have pushed him over the edge. In one of his last communications with his editor-in-chief, Patrick Huyghe at Paraview Books, Fisher noted that the spirits were still after him for having written his final book.
Joe Fisher was an investigative writer specializing in metaphysical topics. His books had sold more than one million copies in 22 languages.
Andrew Joseph Fisher was born and educated in England; he held dual citizenship with Canada, his home base since 1971. He regularly gave workshops and seminars based on his explorations into the supernatural.
A veteran broadcaster who gave more than 200 radio and television interviews on his work, Fisher started his career as a junior reporter on The Staffordshire Advertiser where he became, at 22 years of age, the youngest news editor in England. After emigrating to Canada, he worked as an investigative reporter and feature writer for both The Toronto Sun and The Toronto Star. His journalistic stints were interspersed with excursions to Greece, Ireland, Ecuador, Morocco and Peru where he pursued personal writing projects. At Ecuador's Colegio Americano in Quito, he taught English and composed journals which were later edited for the book Cotopaxi Visions: Travels in Ecuador.
In 1981, Joe Fisher left daily journalism to concentrate on writing books and freelance articles. Since then, he has traveled widely (Australia and Antarctica are recent destinations) and contributed to periodicals ranging from Canada's national dailies, The National Post and The Globe & Mail, to magazines including Outpost, Equinox, Ocean Drive and Life & Soul.
Joe Fisher's books included the contemporary metaphysical classics The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, Life Between Life, The Case For Reincarnation and Predictions. While His Holiness The Dalai Lama wrote the preface to The Case For Reincarnation, film rights to Hungry Ghosts have been optioned to a Los Angeles film company which is moving towards production.
For five years, Fisher painstakingly investigated the claims of channelers and the mysterious voices that speak through them. The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, his last book, is his gripping journey into a realm of darkness and deception. The revised edition includes a new foreword by Colin Wilson, and an epilogue that updates events since the book was first published in the U.K. a decade ago.
In 1987, Fisher was presented with The Leask Award by The Spiritual Science Institute of Canada for "making an outstanding contribution to the field of spiritual awareness."
Many in the publishing community, as well as friends of Fisher's, are expressing shock at his death. A Fergus-area friend, writer Sheila O'Hearn said: "He believed in giving of himself for other people. He felt, for him, that's what life was all about." Her husband, Ray Krzyzanowski remarked: "He's going to be really missed. He was my only real friend here. I'm going to miss him.'
Fisher's family have decided there will be no services.
--Loren Coleman
http://www.anomalist.com/milestones/f...
Joe Fisher was an investigative writer specializing in metaphysical topics. His books had sold more than one million copies in 22 languages.
Andrew Joseph Fisher was born and educated in England; he held dual citizenship with Canada, his home base since 1971. He regularly gave workshops and seminars based on his explorations into the supernatural.
A veteran broadcaster who gave more than 200 radio and television interviews on his work, Fisher started his career as a junior reporter on The Staffordshire Advertiser where he became, at 22 years of age, the youngest news editor in England. After emigrating to Canada, he worked as an investigative reporter and feature writer for both The Toronto Sun and The Toronto Star. His journalistic stints were interspersed with excursions to Greece, Ireland, Ecuador, Morocco and Peru where he pursued personal writing projects. At Ecuador's Colegio Americano in Quito, he taught English and composed journals which were later edited for the book Cotopaxi Visions: Travels in Ecuador.
In 1981, Joe Fisher left daily journalism to concentrate on writing books and freelance articles. Since then, he has traveled widely (Australia and Antarctica are recent destinations) and contributed to periodicals ranging from Canada's national dailies, The National Post and The Globe & Mail, to magazines including Outpost, Equinox, Ocean Drive and Life & Soul.
Joe Fisher's books included the contemporary metaphysical classics The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, Life Between Life, The Case For Reincarnation and Predictions. While His Holiness The Dalai Lama wrote the preface to The Case For Reincarnation, film rights to Hungry Ghosts have been optioned to a Los Angeles film company which is moving towards production.
For five years, Fisher painstakingly investigated the claims of channelers and the mysterious voices that speak through them. The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, his last book, is his gripping journey into a realm of darkness and deception. The revised edition includes a new foreword by Colin Wilson, and an epilogue that updates events since the book was first published in the U.K. a decade ago.
In 1987, Fisher was presented with The Leask Award by The Spiritual Science Institute of Canada for "making an outstanding contribution to the field of spiritual awareness."
Many in the publishing community, as well as friends of Fisher's, are expressing shock at his death. A Fergus-area friend, writer Sheila O'Hearn said: "He believed in giving of himself for other people. He felt, for him, that's what life was all about." Her husband, Ray Krzyzanowski remarked: "He's going to be really missed. He was my only real friend here. I'm going to miss him.'
Fisher's family have decided there will be no services.
--Loren Coleman
http://www.anomalist.com/milestones/f...
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February 24, 2017
This book really was riveting, but not for good reasons. Author Joe Fisher impressively takes the reader through his initial sessions with 'Aviva Neumann', the unwitting medium whose chanelling began when she was attempting to battle her leukemia by undergoing hypnotic suggestions to become well (in addition to conventional chemotherapy treatment, I must add). During these trance sessions, she initially began conversing through an 'alter-conscious', and eventually, a fully-fledged personality emerged, than of a nineteenth-century sheep farmer named Russell who claimed to be her spirit guide. Aviva, though she is unaware of what is said while in trance, and speaks a range of accents and languages that she herself does not know, winds up attracting a small group of loyal devotees, whose spirit guides slowly learn to speak through Aviva as well.
The material the guides speak of is interesting and unconventional (the guides differentiate 'spirits'/souls from 'entities' -- the latter have guides; the former do not), but it quickly becomes apparent that something is amiss: it quickly becomes easy to see how the group is controlled by this unusual dynamic; those who might question the belief, or break apart the group, are conveniently labelled as 'souls', and not 'entities'; thus, they have no spirit guide to speak to, and so their interest usually peters out. This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the deception goes.
Fisher manages to quickly become emotionally entrenched with the group, thanks in no short part to his supposed 'spirit guide', an eighteenth-century peasant named Filipa. Fisher eventually becomes obsessed with her, seeing her as an unconditional loving force, one who knows him more intimately than even he knows himself -- a belief that costs him his marriages and several relationships afterward.
As an outside observer, it is tragic to see how his personal relationships slowly deteriorate, as he becomes wrapped up closer and closer with the spiritualist group that meets every Friday night. Clearly, by the time of writing the book, he had realized much the same thing, but to see the descent into madness (for lack of a better term) is heartbreaking: this is a man who clearly wanted something in his life that he wasn't getting...except through Filipa.
And yet, the spell is slowly broken, bit by bit. Interpersonal tensions between Roger, the man who initially put Aviva in trance to give her hypnotic healing suggestions, and the supposed guides lead to his dismissal as Aviva's hypnotic therapist; his role is assumed by a man named Sanford, whose healing powers are supposedly critical for Aviva to live. As we later find out, the guides, lead by the indomitable 'Russell', privately encourage, intimidate, and threaten Sanford -- nearly costing him his own marriage, and straining relations between him and the waking Aviva. His story seems eerily similar to Fisher's, and while a chapter was devoted to what happened in private, it feels like there could have been more there.
But the spell only really starts to be broken when Fisher, in his journalistic pursuit of the truth, attempts to verify some of the information given, particularly of Ernest, a supposed WWII pilot in England; of Harry Maddox, a cable-runner in the trenches of WWI; of Russel himself; and finally, his beloved Filipa. To that end, he travels frequently to England and Greece to search records, and it is here where the book truly delves into some of its most mysterious, frustrating, and engaging material.
The guides freely mix truth with outright fabrications.
For example, Ernest Alfred Scott gave information about 99 Squadron that, according to interviews with the actual surviving members, no one could know unless they were there, such as having to sleep in a stadium due to no other accommodations being available. His lengthy discussions about the types of planes and weapons they carried is spot on. BUT, any attempt at searching the records -- and Fisher clearly did his research -- shows there is no one by that name in the Squadron.
There WAS a Malcolm Scott, and upon playing some of the records of Ernest speaking, one of the former Squadron members comments that the intonation and language sound like it could be Malcolm Scott, but Ernest never mentioned anything about a Malcolm. The street he supposedly lived on doesn't exist. The street he supposedly died in, in 1944 Coventry, doesn't exist. When Fisher confronts Ernest with this, there is suddenly quite a lot of talk about him needing to reincarnate; he even gives information about what his birth name and date will be. Eerily enough, there IS a baby born by that name, on the date he said, and although the city is wrong, the city listed is very close to the one Ernest claimed. (Although Fisher contacts the parents, they wisely opted not to get involved because they didn't think it best for their son; I have to wonder if the baby -- who would now be fully grown -- has seen this book, and wonder what he must think.)
This infuriating mixture of unfailingly accurate detail mixed with falsehoods comes to a head when he researches Filipa, or attempts to: the spot where he thought her village might be, initially assuming it has changed names since then, turns out to not be it. There is no one with her surname ever in that village. The 'big village' that she took five days to walk to, Alexandropolis, is actually a dingy little port on the north-eastern part of Greece...and was only founded in 1850. All the details are there, but nothing adds up. The most intriguing part of all of this is when he brings the tapes to a Greek scholar at the University of Toronto, who says that all of the details would only be accurate for someone in Greece from the period of around 1912-1920, during the Balkan Wars -- a far cry from the eighteenth-century that she claimed!
It is absolutely tragic to see Fisher's faith in these guides slowly shaken -- for now the veil has been lifted, and he is able to see how the guides have been master manipulators all along, charming the group with warnings against manipulators while themselves using the same methods to create an almost cult-like atmosphere: true to form, he is not believed, blamed for not trying 'hard enough' (Russell even feigns outrage that no one thought to record his information down in the register!) When he finally breaks free, it doesn't even feel like a relief, but almost just like another disappointment, made even worse by the fact that he attempts to investigate other mediums and comes to the same shaky conclusion -- even the case of George Chapman and his 'guide' Dr. William Lang, whose existence was all but verified by his still-living relatives (Chapman even owned several items belonging to Dr. Lang, donated by his daughter.) Yes, even a case that seems strong on the surface seems shaky and inconclusive once Fisher has turned his gaze on it.
Not that that's a bad thing. If these spirits are claiming authority on a subject matter that we currently know nothing about, then it is good to put them to the test. Indeed, many even welcome it initially. It looks good that way. But then information doesn't check out and there's always an excuse, always an apology... Fisher eventually concludes that much channelling is done by so-called 'hungry ghosts', malevolent forces desperately trying to feed off of the living, and using all manner of flattery and 'true lies' to make themselves seem credible. (In some cases -- there is also quite a lot of talk about things such as Atlantis as well, possibly because it is what the sitters want to hear.)
Using this rubric, a lot of what happened during Aviva's channelling makes a lot more sense (hungry ghosts apparently have a great need or craving for sex, because several channelled guides, from different mediums, make subtle and overt sexual overtones -- such as Russel haranguing Sanford to leave his wife and 'confess his feelings' for Aviva). The frustrating thing is that this casts a pall of suspicion over every single medium and every single guide. Fisher does not seem to question that these entities are something otherworldly -- after his experiences it is difficult not to agree with him -- but he does question if any truly 'ascended' entity would ever communicate through a human. This leaves the second half of the book with a sort of despondent, negative tone . Certainly, Fisher is free from their influence, and ironically, the guides did help him by forcing him to become resilient and to never stop searching for the truth, but it doesn't feel victorious in the slightest. At best, it just is.
I didn't go into this completely blind, however: I think my knowledge of what happened to the author after the book casts everything in a negative light. Unfortunately, my version lacks the epilogue that explains what happened to him, but in Fisher's own conclusion, he recounts a story, just after parting ways with the guides in 1988, where he had a painful abscess on his abdomen. Several doctor visits prove fruitless, until he is finally in too much pain to deal with it any more: he eventually winds up climbing the ridge by his isolated cabin to get to his car, and drives to Picton to get to a hospital. He is diagnosed with omphalitis, a condition that normally affects newborns, as the navel is a potential port of entry for infection. The small, pyramid-shaped abcess in Fisher's abdomen is extracted successfully, but the doctor cannot find any explanation for why -- usually in adults, the condition is caused by some sort of injury to the navel area, which does not apply in his case. Fisher can't help but wonder if this was, in some way, the guides' attempt at punishing him for criticizing them.
Although he had long since cut off contact with the guides, and supposedly freed himself from their grasp, they seemed to haunt him well after the book was complete. He committed suicide in May 2001, apparently (from my knowledge) convinced that they were still around in some way. Knowing that he felt so desperate enough to do something like that really casts a gloom over this book that might not otherwise be there -- or perhaps that is because this book does not attempt to provide any easy answers.
Fascinating oddities happen that cannot be easily explained, like a woman he didn't know having a dream of Filipa stabbing him in the back, or Claire Laforgia, another medium he investigated, calling him after he woke up from surgery to remove the abscess to ask how he was doing (despite no one else knowing he was there). These oddities are mixed in with the obvious deception and manipulation on the part of the guides -- there's just enough there that you can't really make up your mind, and I suppose that's the whole point of it. There are no easy answers when you're dealing with the supernatural, and it makes sense that would bleed out in this book, but it's bizarrely fascinating to witness nonetheless.
I also 'enjoyed' hearing the guides speak directly; Fisher quotes them when relevant (particularly a lengthy diatribe about manipulation), but there are not that many quotes from them directly -- there is a lot of material to cover and at least five years' worth of channeled material by the time of writing, so I don't blame him for being judicious in what he included and left out, but I thought seeing their own words would be intriguing.
Overall, I think the best way to read this would be primarily as a tragedy, not only for Joe Fisher, but for the many other people who might have found themselves in a similar situation -- but through tragedy we can learn a lesson to be cautious. That caution, I think, would be wise for anyone interested in the paranormal...because not every spirit is good.
The material the guides speak of is interesting and unconventional (the guides differentiate 'spirits'/souls from 'entities' -- the latter have guides; the former do not), but it quickly becomes apparent that something is amiss: it quickly becomes easy to see how the group is controlled by this unusual dynamic; those who might question the belief, or break apart the group, are conveniently labelled as 'souls', and not 'entities'; thus, they have no spirit guide to speak to, and so their interest usually peters out. This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the deception goes.
Fisher manages to quickly become emotionally entrenched with the group, thanks in no short part to his supposed 'spirit guide', an eighteenth-century peasant named Filipa. Fisher eventually becomes obsessed with her, seeing her as an unconditional loving force, one who knows him more intimately than even he knows himself -- a belief that costs him his marriages and several relationships afterward.
As an outside observer, it is tragic to see how his personal relationships slowly deteriorate, as he becomes wrapped up closer and closer with the spiritualist group that meets every Friday night. Clearly, by the time of writing the book, he had realized much the same thing, but to see the descent into madness (for lack of a better term) is heartbreaking: this is a man who clearly wanted something in his life that he wasn't getting...except through Filipa.
And yet, the spell is slowly broken, bit by bit. Interpersonal tensions between Roger, the man who initially put Aviva in trance to give her hypnotic healing suggestions, and the supposed guides lead to his dismissal as Aviva's hypnotic therapist; his role is assumed by a man named Sanford, whose healing powers are supposedly critical for Aviva to live. As we later find out, the guides, lead by the indomitable 'Russell', privately encourage, intimidate, and threaten Sanford -- nearly costing him his own marriage, and straining relations between him and the waking Aviva. His story seems eerily similar to Fisher's, and while a chapter was devoted to what happened in private, it feels like there could have been more there.
But the spell only really starts to be broken when Fisher, in his journalistic pursuit of the truth, attempts to verify some of the information given, particularly of Ernest, a supposed WWII pilot in England; of Harry Maddox, a cable-runner in the trenches of WWI; of Russel himself; and finally, his beloved Filipa. To that end, he travels frequently to England and Greece to search records, and it is here where the book truly delves into some of its most mysterious, frustrating, and engaging material.
The guides freely mix truth with outright fabrications.
For example, Ernest Alfred Scott gave information about 99 Squadron that, according to interviews with the actual surviving members, no one could know unless they were there, such as having to sleep in a stadium due to no other accommodations being available. His lengthy discussions about the types of planes and weapons they carried is spot on. BUT, any attempt at searching the records -- and Fisher clearly did his research -- shows there is no one by that name in the Squadron.
There WAS a Malcolm Scott, and upon playing some of the records of Ernest speaking, one of the former Squadron members comments that the intonation and language sound like it could be Malcolm Scott, but Ernest never mentioned anything about a Malcolm. The street he supposedly lived on doesn't exist. The street he supposedly died in, in 1944 Coventry, doesn't exist. When Fisher confronts Ernest with this, there is suddenly quite a lot of talk about him needing to reincarnate; he even gives information about what his birth name and date will be. Eerily enough, there IS a baby born by that name, on the date he said, and although the city is wrong, the city listed is very close to the one Ernest claimed. (Although Fisher contacts the parents, they wisely opted not to get involved because they didn't think it best for their son; I have to wonder if the baby -- who would now be fully grown -- has seen this book, and wonder what he must think.)
This infuriating mixture of unfailingly accurate detail mixed with falsehoods comes to a head when he researches Filipa, or attempts to: the spot where he thought her village might be, initially assuming it has changed names since then, turns out to not be it. There is no one with her surname ever in that village. The 'big village' that she took five days to walk to, Alexandropolis, is actually a dingy little port on the north-eastern part of Greece...and was only founded in 1850. All the details are there, but nothing adds up. The most intriguing part of all of this is when he brings the tapes to a Greek scholar at the University of Toronto, who says that all of the details would only be accurate for someone in Greece from the period of around 1912-1920, during the Balkan Wars -- a far cry from the eighteenth-century that she claimed!
It is absolutely tragic to see Fisher's faith in these guides slowly shaken -- for now the veil has been lifted, and he is able to see how the guides have been master manipulators all along, charming the group with warnings against manipulators while themselves using the same methods to create an almost cult-like atmosphere: true to form, he is not believed, blamed for not trying 'hard enough' (Russell even feigns outrage that no one thought to record his information down in the register!) When he finally breaks free, it doesn't even feel like a relief, but almost just like another disappointment, made even worse by the fact that he attempts to investigate other mediums and comes to the same shaky conclusion -- even the case of George Chapman and his 'guide' Dr. William Lang, whose existence was all but verified by his still-living relatives (Chapman even owned several items belonging to Dr. Lang, donated by his daughter.) Yes, even a case that seems strong on the surface seems shaky and inconclusive once Fisher has turned his gaze on it.
Not that that's a bad thing. If these spirits are claiming authority on a subject matter that we currently know nothing about, then it is good to put them to the test. Indeed, many even welcome it initially. It looks good that way. But then information doesn't check out and there's always an excuse, always an apology... Fisher eventually concludes that much channelling is done by so-called 'hungry ghosts', malevolent forces desperately trying to feed off of the living, and using all manner of flattery and 'true lies' to make themselves seem credible. (In some cases -- there is also quite a lot of talk about things such as Atlantis as well, possibly because it is what the sitters want to hear.)
Using this rubric, a lot of what happened during Aviva's channelling makes a lot more sense (hungry ghosts apparently have a great need or craving for sex, because several channelled guides, from different mediums, make subtle and overt sexual overtones -- such as Russel haranguing Sanford to leave his wife and 'confess his feelings' for Aviva). The frustrating thing is that this casts a pall of suspicion over every single medium and every single guide. Fisher does not seem to question that these entities are something otherworldly -- after his experiences it is difficult not to agree with him -- but he does question if any truly 'ascended' entity would ever communicate through a human. This leaves the second half of the book with a sort of despondent, negative tone . Certainly, Fisher is free from their influence, and ironically, the guides did help him by forcing him to become resilient and to never stop searching for the truth, but it doesn't feel victorious in the slightest. At best, it just is.
I didn't go into this completely blind, however: I think my knowledge of what happened to the author after the book casts everything in a negative light. Unfortunately, my version lacks the epilogue that explains what happened to him, but in Fisher's own conclusion, he recounts a story, just after parting ways with the guides in 1988, where he had a painful abscess on his abdomen. Several doctor visits prove fruitless, until he is finally in too much pain to deal with it any more: he eventually winds up climbing the ridge by his isolated cabin to get to his car, and drives to Picton to get to a hospital. He is diagnosed with omphalitis, a condition that normally affects newborns, as the navel is a potential port of entry for infection. The small, pyramid-shaped abcess in Fisher's abdomen is extracted successfully, but the doctor cannot find any explanation for why -- usually in adults, the condition is caused by some sort of injury to the navel area, which does not apply in his case. Fisher can't help but wonder if this was, in some way, the guides' attempt at punishing him for criticizing them.
Although he had long since cut off contact with the guides, and supposedly freed himself from their grasp, they seemed to haunt him well after the book was complete. He committed suicide in May 2001, apparently (from my knowledge) convinced that they were still around in some way. Knowing that he felt so desperate enough to do something like that really casts a gloom over this book that might not otherwise be there -- or perhaps that is because this book does not attempt to provide any easy answers.
Fascinating oddities happen that cannot be easily explained, like a woman he didn't know having a dream of Filipa stabbing him in the back, or Claire Laforgia, another medium he investigated, calling him after he woke up from surgery to remove the abscess to ask how he was doing (despite no one else knowing he was there). These oddities are mixed in with the obvious deception and manipulation on the part of the guides -- there's just enough there that you can't really make up your mind, and I suppose that's the whole point of it. There are no easy answers when you're dealing with the supernatural, and it makes sense that would bleed out in this book, but it's bizarrely fascinating to witness nonetheless.
I also 'enjoyed' hearing the guides speak directly; Fisher quotes them when relevant (particularly a lengthy diatribe about manipulation), but there are not that many quotes from them directly -- there is a lot of material to cover and at least five years' worth of channeled material by the time of writing, so I don't blame him for being judicious in what he included and left out, but I thought seeing their own words would be intriguing.
Overall, I think the best way to read this would be primarily as a tragedy, not only for Joe Fisher, but for the many other people who might have found themselves in a similar situation -- but through tragedy we can learn a lesson to be cautious. That caution, I think, would be wise for anyone interested in the paranormal...because not every spirit is good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2018
Amazing writer, but possibly paranoid delusional / conspiracy theorist
One of the most riveting non-fiction (?) books I've read.
Many of the reviewers here are taking the book at face value.
Yet there is another interpretation:
Joe Fisher greatly enhanced any negativity that may have been present, by interpreting everything from a rigid point of view that ALL spirit communication *must* be from either Earthbound spirits or cunning demons.
Perhaps there was always within Joe the seeds of paranoid delusion... I'm not sure how much to trust the wisdom of someone who ultimately commits suicide.
"You will know them by their fruits."
What if instead of doubling-down on the fear of hungry ghosts, we instead source ourselves in mindfulness, knowledge, and love, so that we become increasingly immune to their siren calls?
Check out what Thich Nhat Hanh has to say about it:
"Hungry ghosts long to be loved, but no matter how much we love and care for them, they may not have the capacity to receive it. They may understand in principle that there is beauty in life, but they are not capable of touching it. Something seems to be standing in their way preventing them from touching these refreshing and healing elements of life. They want only to forget life, and so they turn to alcohol, drugs, or sex to help them forget. If we say "Do not do that," they will not respond. They have heard enough admonitions.
What they need is something to believe in, something that proves to them that life is meaningful. We all need something to believe in. To help a hungry ghost, we have to listen to him or her in mindfulness, provide him with an atmosphere of family and brotherhood, and then help him experience something good, beautiful, and true to believe in."
--Thich Nhat Hanh, from the book "Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living"
One of the most riveting non-fiction (?) books I've read.
Many of the reviewers here are taking the book at face value.
Yet there is another interpretation:
Joe Fisher greatly enhanced any negativity that may have been present, by interpreting everything from a rigid point of view that ALL spirit communication *must* be from either Earthbound spirits or cunning demons.
Perhaps there was always within Joe the seeds of paranoid delusion... I'm not sure how much to trust the wisdom of someone who ultimately commits suicide.
"You will know them by their fruits."
What if instead of doubling-down on the fear of hungry ghosts, we instead source ourselves in mindfulness, knowledge, and love, so that we become increasingly immune to their siren calls?
Check out what Thich Nhat Hanh has to say about it:
"Hungry ghosts long to be loved, but no matter how much we love and care for them, they may not have the capacity to receive it. They may understand in principle that there is beauty in life, but they are not capable of touching it. Something seems to be standing in their way preventing them from touching these refreshing and healing elements of life. They want only to forget life, and so they turn to alcohol, drugs, or sex to help them forget. If we say "Do not do that," they will not respond. They have heard enough admonitions.
What they need is something to believe in, something that proves to them that life is meaningful. We all need something to believe in. To help a hungry ghost, we have to listen to him or her in mindfulness, provide him with an atmosphere of family and brotherhood, and then help him experience something good, beautiful, and true to believe in."
--Thich Nhat Hanh, from the book "Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living"
April 27, 2020
An amazing insight into mediumship and channelling giving a real insight into the trials and tribulations of dealing with discarnate beings whether truthful of malevolent. This is a must read if you have any interest into paranormal activities and any interest in mediums. I found this impossible toput down and the investigative skills of Joe Fisher into the paranormal was enlightening and exciting as well as unnerving. I would highly recommend this book to all supernatural and paranormal enthusiasts as a true insight into the workings of the astral plane.
May 27, 2008
This might be the scariest book I've ever read...
Read
February 14, 2024Disclaimer: I'm going to write as if the events in the book really happened. I'm not saying that I believe they really happened, or that I disbelieve them. I'm being neutral here. I'm writing as if the events really happened because it's easier to write that way than to throw scare quotes around everything.
So, the premise of this book is that the author, Joe Fisher, became deeply involved in spiritism. Spiritism, loosely speaking, is a body of practices that arose in the 19th century related to contacting spirits. Spiritism involves the use of things like Ouija boards, cards, mediums, and so on.
(One thing I found very interesting was the fact that spiritism became popular around the same time that Romanticism became a formidable component of Western art. Spiritism, from that perspective, is a reaction against the Enlightenment. You could see it as the collective psyche reassuring itself of the existence of an afterlife, or of "other planes" that were not beholden to the eye of Enlightenment rationalism. For my part, I don't see this as a bad thing, so much as unnecessary. We found out during the 20th century that much of this world is not readily quantifiable, with the failure of the social sciences.)
The primary mode of contact with spirits in this text is the use of a medium. A medium is a person who enters a trance state and allows a spirit to speak through them. The author is adamant that he really spoke with discarnate entities, speaking through mediums. So far as I can tell from a quick websearch, Joe Fisher did not suffer from any major mental illness. He appeared to be quite sane, although he did eventually commit suicide. Plenty of sane people kill themselves, however.
That being said, the author entertains several possibilities. Fisher does retain a certain amount of skepticism, to his credit. He asks if the discarnate spirit guides could be simply the mediums putting on a persona. He dismisses this possibility. He also asks if perhaps the spirit guides could be parts of the mediums' subconscious minds. He dismisses this possibility as well. He claims that the guides must truly be discarnate entities (that is, entities lacking physical bodies) because they gave him information that the mediums would have no way of knowing. The reader may review the text and judge this for themselves. For my part, I'm not totally convinced. A well-read person could have known much of what the spirit guides related to Fisher. On the other hand, while it wasn't impossible for the mediums to know all the things that the guides spoke through them, it certainly does seem unlikely.
This points to a thorny issue with the paranormal, which is the standard of evidence. What counts as evidence, and what counts as proof? I distinguish "evidence" from "proof" like this: if you were in the same room as a person who was murdered at the time they were killed, then that's (indirect) evidence that you killed them. We know you were there. But if I see you stab them with my own eyes, then that's proof. Evidence makes it more likely that something is true. Proof compels you to believe that it's true.
If a spirit guide speaks through a medium, and the spirit guide can speak Greek, but the medium can't speak Greek, then is that evidence of the existence of a spirit guide? Is that evidence that the spirit is real? A true believer will say that it not only counts as evidence, but as downright proof. But a die-hard skeptic would say no. The skeptic would say that the medium may secretly know Greek. And since the medium might know Greek, we must assume that they actually do. The fact that the spirit spoke Greek doesn't prove anything. In fact, it's not even evidence.
The true believer could argue that the skeptic is rejecting the paranormal a priori, which skews the skeptic's standard of evidence. The true believer would assert that, unless we have reason to think that the medium is lying about knowing Greek, we must assume that they're telling the truth. If there is no evidence that the medium knows Greek, then we must assume a spirit was speaking Greek through them. The skeptic could reply, paraphrasing Carl Sagan, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The true believer could assert that speaking Greek out of nowhere is extraordinary evidence. The skeptic could say it's not extraordinary enough, and demand levitation or prediction of tomorrow's winning lottery numbers.
(The reveals the subjective underbelly of such discussions: how "extraordinary" does it have to be?)
Me? Well, if my hypothetical friend took up channeling, and began to speak Greek out of nowhere, I would be astonished. I wouldn't uncritically assume it was a spirit. On the other hand... What if a skeptic came to me and said, "Your friend was just lying. Really, he's been studying Greek for years. He'd been hiding it this whole time". I don't know if I would buy that, either. I suppose I would count this as evidence (although not proof) of the existence of spirits and the reality of mediumship.
This book is quite tragic, and not only because the author committed suicide. During the course of his paranormal investigations, the author falls in love with the spirit of a deceased Greek woman named Filipa. He falls deeply in love with her, to the point of obsession, and a large part of the book consists of Fisher running around Greece, looking for evidence that Filipa existed. In the end, he concludes that Filipa was lying the whole time. She's a real spirit, but she was lying about being a deceased Greek woman who was deeply in love with him. It's similar to the stories you hear about men falling in love with anime girls or literary characters. Just sad to read about.
Ultimately, Fisher concludes that the spirit guides are real spirits, but not benevolent ones. Instead, they're a metaphysical scam, an attempt by either demons or ghosts of humans to deceive, mislead, and destroy the living to satisfy their own malice. It's a sad story all around, because the author seems to have dedicated years of his life to investigating this sort of thing. It leads me to ask what his motivations were, and what drove him to spend so much time on the paranormal.
A determined skeptic can poke holes in much of what Fisher reports, but the book is at least useful as a mental exercise. It made me think deeply about what I believe and why. I'm accustomed to dismissing this sort of thing as hogwash, but the book was at least persuasive enough to make me throw brackets on my skepticism and ask me why I thought that way. To that end, I can definitely recommend to this anyone interested in the subject.
So, the premise of this book is that the author, Joe Fisher, became deeply involved in spiritism. Spiritism, loosely speaking, is a body of practices that arose in the 19th century related to contacting spirits. Spiritism involves the use of things like Ouija boards, cards, mediums, and so on.
(One thing I found very interesting was the fact that spiritism became popular around the same time that Romanticism became a formidable component of Western art. Spiritism, from that perspective, is a reaction against the Enlightenment. You could see it as the collective psyche reassuring itself of the existence of an afterlife, or of "other planes" that were not beholden to the eye of Enlightenment rationalism. For my part, I don't see this as a bad thing, so much as unnecessary. We found out during the 20th century that much of this world is not readily quantifiable, with the failure of the social sciences.)
The primary mode of contact with spirits in this text is the use of a medium. A medium is a person who enters a trance state and allows a spirit to speak through them. The author is adamant that he really spoke with discarnate entities, speaking through mediums. So far as I can tell from a quick websearch, Joe Fisher did not suffer from any major mental illness. He appeared to be quite sane, although he did eventually commit suicide. Plenty of sane people kill themselves, however.
That being said, the author entertains several possibilities. Fisher does retain a certain amount of skepticism, to his credit. He asks if the discarnate spirit guides could be simply the mediums putting on a persona. He dismisses this possibility. He also asks if perhaps the spirit guides could be parts of the mediums' subconscious minds. He dismisses this possibility as well. He claims that the guides must truly be discarnate entities (that is, entities lacking physical bodies) because they gave him information that the mediums would have no way of knowing. The reader may review the text and judge this for themselves. For my part, I'm not totally convinced. A well-read person could have known much of what the spirit guides related to Fisher. On the other hand, while it wasn't impossible for the mediums to know all the things that the guides spoke through them, it certainly does seem unlikely.
This points to a thorny issue with the paranormal, which is the standard of evidence. What counts as evidence, and what counts as proof? I distinguish "evidence" from "proof" like this: if you were in the same room as a person who was murdered at the time they were killed, then that's (indirect) evidence that you killed them. We know you were there. But if I see you stab them with my own eyes, then that's proof. Evidence makes it more likely that something is true. Proof compels you to believe that it's true.
If a spirit guide speaks through a medium, and the spirit guide can speak Greek, but the medium can't speak Greek, then is that evidence of the existence of a spirit guide? Is that evidence that the spirit is real? A true believer will say that it not only counts as evidence, but as downright proof. But a die-hard skeptic would say no. The skeptic would say that the medium may secretly know Greek. And since the medium might know Greek, we must assume that they actually do. The fact that the spirit spoke Greek doesn't prove anything. In fact, it's not even evidence.
The true believer could argue that the skeptic is rejecting the paranormal a priori, which skews the skeptic's standard of evidence. The true believer would assert that, unless we have reason to think that the medium is lying about knowing Greek, we must assume that they're telling the truth. If there is no evidence that the medium knows Greek, then we must assume a spirit was speaking Greek through them. The skeptic could reply, paraphrasing Carl Sagan, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The true believer could assert that speaking Greek out of nowhere is extraordinary evidence. The skeptic could say it's not extraordinary enough, and demand levitation or prediction of tomorrow's winning lottery numbers.
(The reveals the subjective underbelly of such discussions: how "extraordinary" does it have to be?)
Me? Well, if my hypothetical friend took up channeling, and began to speak Greek out of nowhere, I would be astonished. I wouldn't uncritically assume it was a spirit. On the other hand... What if a skeptic came to me and said, "Your friend was just lying. Really, he's been studying Greek for years. He'd been hiding it this whole time". I don't know if I would buy that, either. I suppose I would count this as evidence (although not proof) of the existence of spirits and the reality of mediumship.
This book is quite tragic, and not only because the author committed suicide. During the course of his paranormal investigations, the author falls in love with the spirit of a deceased Greek woman named Filipa. He falls deeply in love with her, to the point of obsession, and a large part of the book consists of Fisher running around Greece, looking for evidence that Filipa existed. In the end, he concludes that Filipa was lying the whole time. She's a real spirit, but she was lying about being a deceased Greek woman who was deeply in love with him. It's similar to the stories you hear about men falling in love with anime girls or literary characters. Just sad to read about.
Ultimately, Fisher concludes that the spirit guides are real spirits, but not benevolent ones. Instead, they're a metaphysical scam, an attempt by either demons or ghosts of humans to deceive, mislead, and destroy the living to satisfy their own malice. It's a sad story all around, because the author seems to have dedicated years of his life to investigating this sort of thing. It leads me to ask what his motivations were, and what drove him to spend so much time on the paranormal.
A determined skeptic can poke holes in much of what Fisher reports, but the book is at least useful as a mental exercise. It made me think deeply about what I believe and why. I'm accustomed to dismissing this sort of thing as hogwash, but the book was at least persuasive enough to make me throw brackets on my skepticism and ask me why I thought that way. To that end, I can definitely recommend to this anyone interested in the subject.
December 22, 2024
I don't normally read this genre, but it was recommended on my Twitter feed. I've always had some interest in strange esoteric things so I picked this up and devoured it over a day. Interesting read. Epilogue leaves a strong impression. Makes me think of DH Lawrence's pagan creed:
This is what I believe:
‘That I am I.’
‘That my soul is a dark forest.’
‘That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest.’
‘That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back.’
The existential hunger people have for transcendent experiences becomes its own trap. ouija boards, mediums, seances, channelers, spirit guides are no bueno. If you take the materialist view, getting too deep into this kind of stuff can make you go crazy. If you take a more spiritual view, these things are probably demonic. Either way, it's bad.
This is what I believe:
‘That I am I.’
‘That my soul is a dark forest.’
‘That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest.’
‘That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back.’
The existential hunger people have for transcendent experiences becomes its own trap. ouija boards, mediums, seances, channelers, spirit guides are no bueno. If you take the materialist view, getting too deep into this kind of stuff can make you go crazy. If you take a more spiritual view, these things are probably demonic. Either way, it's bad.
March 25, 2014
The author of this book investigates channeling and mediums. The spirits coming through the channelers claim to be guides and also claim to have incarnated on Earth before. Although he is able to find records for the time these spirits claim to have lived, he finds no evidence that they ever did live. In addition the spirits coming through various mediums sidestep questions, evade close scrutiny and break the law of free will by attempting to manipulate their listeners. One even said there are entities and souls on Earth. Entities should not live with souls and so on. This is another theory I have never heard of.
This sounds to me like Ouija boards of which I have never really approved. I have never been to seances, have no interest in mediums or communicating with unknown spirits.
Even those who have the "gift" say earthbound spirits seem hungry for the life they have left.
Regarding angels and guardian guides, I do believe we all have them but they do not interfere with free will and if they have a message they wish to impart, it is my experience they are more likely to appear in our dreams than through a medium.
So --- the conclusion is to avoid ouija boards, seances, mediums and people who say they are channeling as this often leads to many problems for the participants plus the author never found any proof that was said had any validity.
This sounds to me like Ouija boards of which I have never really approved. I have never been to seances, have no interest in mediums or communicating with unknown spirits.
Even those who have the "gift" say earthbound spirits seem hungry for the life they have left.
Regarding angels and guardian guides, I do believe we all have them but they do not interfere with free will and if they have a message they wish to impart, it is my experience they are more likely to appear in our dreams than through a medium.
So --- the conclusion is to avoid ouija boards, seances, mediums and people who say they are channeling as this often leads to many problems for the participants plus the author never found any proof that was said had any validity.
May 29, 2015
Wow.
I guess the first place to start is it appears that even from the very beginning that Joe Fisher was NOT as objective as he had intended to be. Which is probably how most things of this nature get started. Individuals *feel* as though they're being objective and even skeptical (when in fact they aren't) and are easily swept up in what's happening. In my opinion Joe wasn't skeptical until he started his actual fact checking into the 'guides' and even then he seemed to blame himself for any discrepancies.
What I found most disturbing about the book-believe it or not-was the epilogue. The idea that this type of thing is happening all over to so many people is beyond me. I especially liked a thought provoking letter from another 'victim' that was shared in this section.
Then of course, there's the unfortunate knowledge of Joe Fishers suicide. (without knowing the specifics) I wish I had read this before I was aware of this. Then taken the time to read it a second time. I have no doubt it would have had an entirely different impact both times. As it stands however, I only have this time to go on. Overall an interesting book.
I guess the first place to start is it appears that even from the very beginning that Joe Fisher was NOT as objective as he had intended to be. Which is probably how most things of this nature get started. Individuals *feel* as though they're being objective and even skeptical (when in fact they aren't) and are easily swept up in what's happening. In my opinion Joe wasn't skeptical until he started his actual fact checking into the 'guides' and even then he seemed to blame himself for any discrepancies.
What I found most disturbing about the book-believe it or not-was the epilogue. The idea that this type of thing is happening all over to so many people is beyond me. I especially liked a thought provoking letter from another 'victim' that was shared in this section.
Then of course, there's the unfortunate knowledge of Joe Fishers suicide. (without knowing the specifics) I wish I had read this before I was aware of this. Then taken the time to read it a second time. I have no doubt it would have had an entirely different impact both times. As it stands however, I only have this time to go on. Overall an interesting book.
September 29, 2014
A fascinating account of what began as a man's rather detached journalistic reportage of a "spirit" group in Canada, a group that met regularly with a medium to contact loved ones and spirit guides, but which became an utterly compelling, involved, and ultimately lethal entanglement.
If you have an interest in communication beyond the grave, or if you know a sensitive or medium, this book can be absolutely fascinating and chilling at the same time.
Like other books of its kind it never offers indisputable evidence of communication, but rather just enough to make you seriously wonder; that is if you haven't already shut your mind off completely to such possibilities.
Rather than being a wispy New Agey wish-fulfillment bundle of fluff, this book can be read as a real-life thriller.
If you have an interest in communication beyond the grave, or if you know a sensitive or medium, this book can be absolutely fascinating and chilling at the same time.
Like other books of its kind it never offers indisputable evidence of communication, but rather just enough to make you seriously wonder; that is if you haven't already shut your mind off completely to such possibilities.
Rather than being a wispy New Agey wish-fulfillment bundle of fluff, this book can be read as a real-life thriller.
November 20, 2020
Excellent and terrifying
The beginning of the book is interesting, but the middle tends to drag as the author details the history of spiritualism. But the promise of more compelling content starts to come through about midway through and is worth the wait! Don't skip the compelling epilogue. The book fascinated me and I finished it in two days! Which I rarely do. Great ride through the world of channeling and spiritual entities!
The beginning of the book is interesting, but the middle tends to drag as the author details the history of spiritualism. But the promise of more compelling content starts to come through about midway through and is worth the wait! Don't skip the compelling epilogue. The book fascinated me and I finished it in two days! Which I rarely do. Great ride through the world of channeling and spiritual entities!
February 3, 2016
A must read for anyone interested in the paranormal, particularly around the new age 'love and light' crap that seems to surround channeling and mediumship. This was a particularly poignant book for me, as I found out Joe took his own life. RIP Joe, who helped so many see the truth.
March 17, 2023
Very interesting read but seemed to drag at times. Took me awhile to get through.
August 5, 2024
A fascinating entry into one of my new favorite genres of literature: "True" paranormal accounts which function as engaging narrative in the form intended by the author, but double as fascinating accidental self portraits of how belief systems shape us. Up there with Streiber's COMMUNION.
In essence, this is the story of a guy who is correctly skeptical about some aspects of a paranormal claim while continuing to buy in hard to other aspects. He does what a skeptical debunker would do, thoroughly investigating bogus claims by "channelled entities" and eventually determining that they are constantly wrong about stuff.
But here's where it gets interesting: rather than allowing this to disabuse him of his belief in channelling, he instead continues to be convinced that the spirits are real, and that they are lying to him deliberately.
It's part mystery thriller, but all the suspects are played by one person who is thanked in the acknowledgements and never regarded with suspicion at all. It's part skeptical debunking of proveably false paranormal claims, but the debunking is performed by a guy who holds psychic surgeons and fucking JZ Night/Ramtha in high regard. It's a moving portrait of a loss of faith that hinges on a fundamentalist belief in unprovable spiritual concepts. It's new age book that ends up quoting the Pope and an article in Christianity Today, even as it suggests that all spiritual experiences and religions across human history have been shaped by literal demons or, at the very least, horny dead guys.
An absolutely fascinating contradiction, which, above all, demonstrates the danger of unquestioned belief even as it fallibly attempts to thoroughly question belief. A bad book on it's own terms, but one which accidentally ends up being fascinating and coming to some psuedo-skeptical conclusions I can broadly agree with and which I am glad to see represented in literature of this kind. Profoundly strange.
In essence, this is the story of a guy who is correctly skeptical about some aspects of a paranormal claim while continuing to buy in hard to other aspects. He does what a skeptical debunker would do, thoroughly investigating bogus claims by "channelled entities" and eventually determining that they are constantly wrong about stuff.
But here's where it gets interesting: rather than allowing this to disabuse him of his belief in channelling, he instead continues to be convinced that the spirits are real, and that they are lying to him deliberately.
It's part mystery thriller, but all the suspects are played by one person who is thanked in the acknowledgements and never regarded with suspicion at all. It's part skeptical debunking of proveably false paranormal claims, but the debunking is performed by a guy who holds psychic surgeons and fucking JZ Night/Ramtha in high regard. It's a moving portrait of a loss of faith that hinges on a fundamentalist belief in unprovable spiritual concepts. It's new age book that ends up quoting the Pope and an article in Christianity Today, even as it suggests that all spiritual experiences and religions across human history have been shaped by literal demons or, at the very least, horny dead guys.
An absolutely fascinating contradiction, which, above all, demonstrates the danger of unquestioned belief even as it fallibly attempts to thoroughly question belief. A bad book on it's own terms, but one which accidentally ends up being fascinating and coming to some psuedo-skeptical conclusions I can broadly agree with and which I am glad to see represented in literature of this kind. Profoundly strange.
December 18, 2025
Another account of the paranormal that will seriously frustrate believers and not go far enough for skeptics - the best kind, in my opinion. Joe Fisher did his research for this, that's for sure. Even if the content of his experiences are dismissed, there's treasure in the bibliography and in the quotations he includes from seminal thinkers in theology, psychology, philosophy of religion and religious figures throughout history. And these support his content, which can be read as an excellent 1980's slow-burn horror story if you don't share his interest (i.e. ultimately fatal obsession) with discarnate voice mediumship.
But ultimately The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts is a personal recounting of (alleged) actual events, and so does not work flawlessly as a story - mostly because the author cannot, by necessity of structure, get out of his own way. For example, I loathed the flagrant reaching in the postscript about how his omphalitis was a 'psychic attack' because the origin of the term is omphalos, Greek for 'centre' or 'hub', and therefore the entities were infecting his very core - but New Agers will New Age, and Joe's presence is essential, warts and all.
Also raises questions about the loss of selfhood experienced by people who place their wills in the hands of a non-human intelligence perceived to be all-knowing and caring, and how that can instigate profound psychological vulnerability (AI psychosis, anyone?)
But ultimately The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts is a personal recounting of (alleged) actual events, and so does not work flawlessly as a story - mostly because the author cannot, by necessity of structure, get out of his own way. For example, I loathed the flagrant reaching in the postscript about how his omphalitis was a 'psychic attack' because the origin of the term is omphalos, Greek for 'centre' or 'hub', and therefore the entities were infecting his very core - but New Agers will New Age, and Joe's presence is essential, warts and all.
Also raises questions about the loss of selfhood experienced by people who place their wills in the hands of a non-human intelligence perceived to be all-knowing and caring, and how that can instigate profound psychological vulnerability (AI psychosis, anyone?)
May 24, 2025
This is like the 90s equivalent of a guy leaving his girlfriend for ChatGPT 😭 I'm glad Rachel got out early on 🫶🏻
I see no difference between this man earlier chapters and the people mentioned in this article "People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies" https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...
I'm giving it 3 🌟 because I do value the research and the investigation he took on and the common sense of the later chapters.
Gaslighted by spirits. Damn.
I see no difference between this man earlier chapters and the people mentioned in this article "People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies" https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...
I'm giving it 3 🌟 because I do value the research and the investigation he took on and the common sense of the later chapters.
Gaslighted by spirits. Damn.
March 2, 2025
Depressing AF. In the first half of the book, Joe describes falling in love with his “guide,” Filippa…and I’m like, WTF is going on here? I really do not get the appeal of these channeled entities — they don’t seem to say anything particularly brilliant and Joe is just enthralled.
The second half, where he investigates the truth of the various stories he’s been told is really interesting.
Finding out how the story turns out a decade later was somewhat heartbreaking.
The second half, where he investigates the truth of the various stories he’s been told is really interesting.
Finding out how the story turns out a decade later was somewhat heartbreaking.
July 26, 2024
Interesting read but I feel like it drug on. Probably could have been a 250 page book and would have accomplished the same thing. The main topic is very interesting but it was hard to finish because I feel like there was a lot of filler forcing it to the 300 page mark.
September 28, 2025
Excellent book. A must read for anyone interested in channeling
September 16, 2014
Disturbing.
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