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Communicating With the Dead: Reach Beyond the Grave
This book is an objective and journalistic journey into the history and practice of spirit communication devices. Practitioners, scientists, clergy, and psychics all weigh in on the various means and materials used to make contact with the spirit world.
- GenresParanormalGhosts
Paperback
First published April 1, 2004
102 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Belanger
49 books131 followersJeff Belanger is one of the most visible and prolific researchers of folklore and legends today. A natural storyteller, he’s the award-winning, Emmy-nominated host, writer, and producer of the New England Legends series on PBS and Amazon Prime, and is the author of over a dozen books (published in six languages). He also hosts the New England Legends weekly podcast, which has garnered over 5 million downloads since it was launched.
Always one for chasing adventures, Jeff has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, he’s explored the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, he’s searched the catacombs of Paris, France (where he encountered his first ghost), he faced his life-long struggle with basophobia on his birthday by going skydiving, and he’s been ghost hunting all over the world from a former TB asylum in Kentucky, to medieval castles in Europe, to an abandoned prison in Australia.
Jeff got his start as a journalist in 1997, where he learned how to connect with people from all walks of life. For his work, he’s interviewed thousands of people about their encounters with the profound.
His books include the best sellers: The Call of Kilimanjaro, The World’s Most Haunted Places, Weird Massachusetts, Our Haunted Lives, and Who’s Haunting the White House?. He’s a noted speaker and media personality. He’s spoken at MENSA’s national conference, has given a prestigious TEDx talk in New York City, and provides dozens of live lectures and programs to audiences each year.
Belanger has written for newspapers like The Boston Globe and USA Today, and has served as the writer and researcher on numerous television series including every single episode of Ghost Adventures (25 seasons and counting), Paranormal Challenge, and Aftershocks on the Travel Channel, and Amish Haunting on Destination America. He’s been a guest on hundreds of radio and television networks and programs including: The History Channel, The Travel Channel, Biography Channel, Reelz, PBS, NECN, Living TV (UK), Sunrise 7 (Australia), Bell (Canada), The Maury Show, The CBS News Early Show, CBS Sunday Morning, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates, National Public Radio, The BBC, Darkness Radio, Australian Radio Network, and Coast to Coast AM.
Always one for chasing adventures, Jeff has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, he’s explored the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, he’s searched the catacombs of Paris, France (where he encountered his first ghost), he faced his life-long struggle with basophobia on his birthday by going skydiving, and he’s been ghost hunting all over the world from a former TB asylum in Kentucky, to medieval castles in Europe, to an abandoned prison in Australia.
Jeff got his start as a journalist in 1997, where he learned how to connect with people from all walks of life. For his work, he’s interviewed thousands of people about their encounters with the profound.
His books include the best sellers: The Call of Kilimanjaro, The World’s Most Haunted Places, Weird Massachusetts, Our Haunted Lives, and Who’s Haunting the White House?. He’s a noted speaker and media personality. He’s spoken at MENSA’s national conference, has given a prestigious TEDx talk in New York City, and provides dozens of live lectures and programs to audiences each year.
Belanger has written for newspapers like The Boston Globe and USA Today, and has served as the writer and researcher on numerous television series including every single episode of Ghost Adventures (25 seasons and counting), Paranormal Challenge, and Aftershocks on the Travel Channel, and Amish Haunting on Destination America. He’s been a guest on hundreds of radio and television networks and programs including: The History Channel, The Travel Channel, Biography Channel, Reelz, PBS, NECN, Living TV (UK), Sunrise 7 (Australia), Bell (Canada), The Maury Show, The CBS News Early Show, CBS Sunday Morning, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates, National Public Radio, The BBC, Darkness Radio, Australian Radio Network, and Coast to Coast AM.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 2, 2016
Gifted with an easy flowing, entertaining writing style, Belanger gives the reader an abundance of ways people try to communicate with spirits using talking boards, card, and there's also ghost photography plus many other ways. This is a must-read also for ghost hunters.
July 11, 2012
I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Belanger earlier this year at a ghost hunt hosted by Darkness Radio.com at the Mansfield Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. Jeff is a very prolific writer in the paranormal field, and I also own his popular "Weird Massachusetts" book.
"Communicating with the Dead: Reaching Beyond the Grave" is not so much a how-to book, which is what I was initially expecting. Instead, it's more of an investigative reporting piece on some techniques that people have used to communicate with the dead for centuries or merely decades.
Covering such popular techniques as Ouija boards, tarot cards, runes, spirit photography, and spirit writing, to name a few, Jeff starts each chapter with some information about each of the topics. I consider myself to be a fan of the paranormal world and think I know quite a bit, but Jeff has uncovered some interesting tidbits about the history of these tools and techniques which will add to your knowledge.
What I like about his approach is that he takes the time to investigate each topic on his own. He may not be a believer, but he's willing to give each technique and tool a try to find out for himself what all the fuss is about. Some of his findings are quite startling.
If you're a fan of the paranormal or a practitioner, this book is worth having in your collection. Newbies will get a great overview of some interesting spirit communication topics, while veterans in this area will find themselves having several "aha!" moments.
I highly recommend!
"Communicating with the Dead: Reaching Beyond the Grave" is not so much a how-to book, which is what I was initially expecting. Instead, it's more of an investigative reporting piece on some techniques that people have used to communicate with the dead for centuries or merely decades.
Covering such popular techniques as Ouija boards, tarot cards, runes, spirit photography, and spirit writing, to name a few, Jeff starts each chapter with some information about each of the topics. I consider myself to be a fan of the paranormal world and think I know quite a bit, but Jeff has uncovered some interesting tidbits about the history of these tools and techniques which will add to your knowledge.
What I like about his approach is that he takes the time to investigate each topic on his own. He may not be a believer, but he's willing to give each technique and tool a try to find out for himself what all the fuss is about. Some of his findings are quite startling.
If you're a fan of the paranormal or a practitioner, this book is worth having in your collection. Newbies will get a great overview of some interesting spirit communication topics, while veterans in this area will find themselves having several "aha!" moments.
I highly recommend!
May 3, 2011
Not a bad book - there is a lot of good info for the beginner and even the moderately knowledgeable paranormal investigator/ghost hunter. The author discusses various scientific ways of communicating with spirits and why the science works (or why they believe it works). He also discusses several other techniques that are not-so-scientifically proven and run more along the psychic end of communicating with spirits such as dowsing, automatic writing and mirror gazing to name a few. The author does a fair job of presenting both sides (science vs. psychic), relating some history and some current-day techniques. I did not research to see if his historical bits were accurate - what he did discuss that I had knowledge on seemed to be spot on (like seances when they were all the rage in the 19th century).
March 15, 2011
I found this book to be entertaining and a fairly quick read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews