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Ghost Hunting: A Survivor's Guide
The Roman scholar Pliny the Younger wrote about ghost hunting—2,000 years later and the hunt still goes on. For all the thousands of hours spent by investigators in cold, dark houses, ghosts remain elusive and unproven. This book sets out to be a practical guide to show how ghost hunting can be done to best effect. Examining cases of ghost hunting in the past and present (including examples good, bad, and sometimes amusing), this guide asks if it is possible to find the answer to the age-old question of ghosts—and if so, how can progress be made on this intriguing and sometimes addictive quest? Packed with practical advice from John Fraser, the Vice Chair (Investigations) of the Ghost Club and now spontaneous case coordinator for the Society for Psychical Research, it is an essential purchase for all would-be ghost hunters.
- GenresNonfiction
192 pages, Hardcover
First published March 9, 2010
About the author
John Fraser
3 books22 followersJohn Fraser is a member of the Council of the Society for Psychical Research, and has been’ Vice Chair Investigations’ of the Ghost Club – the two oldest groups in the country that study the subject. His topics of study have been as varied as hypnotic regressions and vampire folklore, as well as more conventional paranormal research.
John joined the SPR in the late 1990s and, in 2003, became a member of the Spontaneous Cases Committee, where he worked to widen its accessibility to the general public through the Society’s website. He was invited to join the Council in 2008.
John’s active interest in the paranormal dates from the 1980s, when he participated in a long- running series of hypnotic regression experiments, assisting in the co-ordination of sessions and being trained in hypnotic regression techniques. As with many such experiments, despite some impressive results, it was inconclusive.
In 1988, following a research project regarding supernatural occurrences at Sandwood Bay in Sutherland, he was invited to join the Ghost Club, where he became the ‘Vice Chair’ (with investigations portfolio) 1998-2004.
His 2010 ‘Ghost Hunting, a Survivors Guide’ was one of the first UK books published about the subject since it re-popularisation by TV. Since 2015 John has been working on an extended project of witness testimony regarding the well-publicised phenomena occurring at The Cage in St Osyth Essex, also assessing the validity of witness testimony in spontaneous ‘paranormal ‘ cases.
John has appeared in a number of media discussions of the paranormal - including Japanese and Scottish Television, and national BBC radio.
John joined the SPR in the late 1990s and, in 2003, became a member of the Spontaneous Cases Committee, where he worked to widen its accessibility to the general public through the Society’s website. He was invited to join the Council in 2008.
John’s active interest in the paranormal dates from the 1980s, when he participated in a long- running series of hypnotic regression experiments, assisting in the co-ordination of sessions and being trained in hypnotic regression techniques. As with many such experiments, despite some impressive results, it was inconclusive.
In 1988, following a research project regarding supernatural occurrences at Sandwood Bay in Sutherland, he was invited to join the Ghost Club, where he became the ‘Vice Chair’ (with investigations portfolio) 1998-2004.
His 2010 ‘Ghost Hunting, a Survivors Guide’ was one of the first UK books published about the subject since it re-popularisation by TV. Since 2015 John has been working on an extended project of witness testimony regarding the well-publicised phenomena occurring at The Cage in St Osyth Essex, also assessing the validity of witness testimony in spontaneous ‘paranormal ‘ cases.
John has appeared in a number of media discussions of the paranormal - including Japanese and Scottish Television, and national BBC radio.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 9, 2024
Really enjoyed this book, a great introduction to the subject of Ghosthunting. John has a great writing style and covers a wide range of subjects, including Ghost Hunting equipment, as well as recounting experiences he has had in some of the most famous haunted houses in England, such as Charlton House, Ham House and Woodchester Mansion.
October 13, 2022
Somehow both dull and (in places) inaccurate, specifically in the history. I do credit Fraser as at least taking an honest and critical approach, generally, which I appreciate a great deal. It's deeply lacking in the paranormal genre.
January 1, 2014
This is a highly readable portrait of present-day, rational ghost-hunting by an author who is a prominent member of both The Ghost Club and The Society for Psychical Research – and I've heard him give talks also at ASSAP events (The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena).
Fraser has evidently been in the thick of ghost-hunting for years, and shares the benefit of his wide experience. In essence, what this book offers, apart from a history of the subject and much practical advice on how to approach and organise the investigation of ghosts, is a sustained meditation on what the activity of ghost-hunting might actually amount to.
I was surprised, and a little disturbed at first, by his liberalism. Where circumstances ethically allow, Fraser is not averse to the use of Ouija boards (p. 110), self-proclaimed 'psychics' (p. 128) and other pseudo-scientific assets whilst investigating a case. He is not dismissive of historical research into sites (p. 140) – as opposed to concentrating exclusively on current phenomena – nor does he regard commercial 'ghost tourism' (p. 51) as necessarily all bad.
I received my training from ASSAP, where all of these were presented as big no-noes, but Fraser's reasoning behind not ignoring them entirely is based on what is surely a realistic assessment of what ghost-hunting can be expected to achieve. 'Ghost hunters,' he writes, 'should not really be trying to be Newton or Einstein – providers of a whole new science of the supernatural. This is not our strength and we would look silly trying to do it' (p. 183).
On the site of an alleged 'haunting', Fraser suggests, it is highly unlikely that sufficient controls could ever be in place for us to prove the paranormal. By the end of the book I had decided that I quite admired the author's disinclination to fool himself that the strongest motivation for ghost-hunting lies in the challenge of establishing adequate scientific protocols, rather than in our personal desire to confront our preoccupations with what might happen to us after death, and in the emotional, visceral reaction that arises in response to the 'spookiness' of allegedly haunted sites.
Fraser's book is a practical guide to making ghost-hunting as rational as it can be, yet without losing what makes it so emotionally engaging.
Fraser has evidently been in the thick of ghost-hunting for years, and shares the benefit of his wide experience. In essence, what this book offers, apart from a history of the subject and much practical advice on how to approach and organise the investigation of ghosts, is a sustained meditation on what the activity of ghost-hunting might actually amount to.
I was surprised, and a little disturbed at first, by his liberalism. Where circumstances ethically allow, Fraser is not averse to the use of Ouija boards (p. 110), self-proclaimed 'psychics' (p. 128) and other pseudo-scientific assets whilst investigating a case. He is not dismissive of historical research into sites (p. 140) – as opposed to concentrating exclusively on current phenomena – nor does he regard commercial 'ghost tourism' (p. 51) as necessarily all bad.
I received my training from ASSAP, where all of these were presented as big no-noes, but Fraser's reasoning behind not ignoring them entirely is based on what is surely a realistic assessment of what ghost-hunting can be expected to achieve. 'Ghost hunters,' he writes, 'should not really be trying to be Newton or Einstein – providers of a whole new science of the supernatural. This is not our strength and we would look silly trying to do it' (p. 183).
On the site of an alleged 'haunting', Fraser suggests, it is highly unlikely that sufficient controls could ever be in place for us to prove the paranormal. By the end of the book I had decided that I quite admired the author's disinclination to fool himself that the strongest motivation for ghost-hunting lies in the challenge of establishing adequate scientific protocols, rather than in our personal desire to confront our preoccupations with what might happen to us after death, and in the emotional, visceral reaction that arises in response to the 'spookiness' of allegedly haunted sites.
Fraser's book is a practical guide to making ghost-hunting as rational as it can be, yet without losing what makes it so emotionally engaging.
December 5, 2012
This is an OK little book. It's an easy read with a few jokes along the way and covers the basics. But to be honest it's also really boring. If this was my first book on ghost hunting, I think I'd pack it all in.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews