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Dare to Hunt Ghosts! If you know nothing about ghost hunting, this is the book where you can start. Instead of merely compiling personal experiences, humorous anecdotes, and ghost stories, Jaeson delivers a body of procedural how-to knowledge that will allow the budding Ghost Hunter to have their own experiences, and discover their own stories. Written in an academic textbook style in over 300 pages, it provides a technical and detailed foundation of knowledge needed for the novice Ghost Hunter to scientifically investigate claims of ghost sightings. It also provides an invaluable reference in one book for more experienced Ghost Hunters. Jaeson has been actively Ghost Hunting since 1997. www.jaesonjrakman.com
Excellent Book!Reviewed by D. Hagen, 2009-02-20
This book is extremely well written. The beginning chapters give you a very in-depth look into the science behind ghost hunting and the equipment used. I have read many good ghost hunting books and this is definitely one of the best ones out there. Everything you can think of is included in this how-to. It is written like a text, but does not bore. Great for beginners and seasoned investigators, alike.
Don't miss this one...Reviewed by seaspiritnw, 2009-02-07
I have read alot of books on the subject of ghosts and ghost hunting and I think this may just be the best of them all. At first I wasn't sure when the author got in to the brain stuff but it really makes you think, and it was very interesting. I like how he goes over so many different paranormal subjects, and he makes you think about all the possible reasons for activity. He's not trying to make you believe one way or the other,(which I find a refreshing change) but rather gives you all the options to consider so you'll take more time to review things. I think this book is a must for beginners. It's well written in simple language so you don't get lost in all the technical talk. Experienced investigators can benefit from this book too. There are good books on the subject out there but if you're looking for one you can refer to time and time again this is the one.
"The Art of Ghost Hunting"Reviewed by Matthew Schenk, 2008-06-26
"The Art of Ghost Hunting" by Jaeson Jrakman begins with the author
arguing the validity of the field as a scientific pursuit. He says:
"Anything that exists can be studied and understood. Therefore, it
boils down to whether or not you believe that life after death is a
real possibility. If you say that it is silly superstitious
nonsense than by your own admission you are saying that you do not
believe that you will survive your own physical death. If on the
other hand you are willing to entertain this possibility, than
certainly it may exist, so why not study it? If something as life
after death exists, than it must have a physics by which it works.
For the scientific community to say that such things cannot exist
with absolute certainty they ignore their own axiom, 'you can not
prove a negative.'
"The scientific community will also repeatedly state that
extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. And they are
absolutely correct. And most certainly there has never been the
sort of concrete evidence brought forth to the scientific community
to this date, which without a doubt proves the existence of life
after death. But if science refuses to even investigate, this
extraordinary proof will never be found, or brought forward. While
orthodox science is extremely adept at analyzing and studying
things that are readily known, it is very poor at keeping an open
mind. History is replete with proclamations from the orthodox
scientific establishment, and those like-minded, decreeing that a
thing cannot be done, only later to watch that very thing being
accomplished before the entire world."
The author then spends the next fifty pages talking about, not
ghosts, but the brain and how it works: "Understanding the human
brain and how it functions may help us to comprehend two things.
First, it will teach us how the synaptic functions of the brain may
help a witness to perceive, or cause to mentally fabricate the
vision of a ghost. Second, how the software contained within the
brain identified as self may one day become a ghost. But understand
it as one might try; the brain remains a scientific enigma. Homo
Sapiens have walked upon the Earth for at least 3,500,000 years,
yet the bulk of mankind's knowledge of the brain has been attained
only in the last 20 years. In fact, humans have known the location
of the brain in the body for only the last 500 years. Thus we are
logically forced to conclude that the sum total of the knowledge we
have acquired today regarding the human brain is most probably less
than 1% of what there is to know. When one particular experiment
proves the brain works a certain way, another experiment comes
along to make the previous experiment meaningless. Therefore it may
be no surprise that a human may either have an illness or condition
that causes a person to see delusions of ghosts, or may very well
have an ability to see a working aspect of the universe which is
normally closed off to those without the appropriate brain
functions."
By the time he finally gets to talking about ghosts, it's
established that this is someone with a brain. I know Jaeson and
have been on a few investigations with him. I'm always impressed by
his knowledge and he's very professional. One time on an
investigation he drove over eighty miles just to sit in a bar and
pretend to be in real estate so he could ask some locals a couple
questions.
The first book I ever read about ghost hunting was "How To Be A
Ghost Hunter" by Richard Southall. If you've never seen a season of
Ghost Hunters and know NOTHING about ghost hunting, that book will
teach you the basics, but I wanted more. This was the second book
about ghost hunting that I read, and I think it may be a little too
dense for some beginners but the addition of a physics glossary at
the back of the book helps. I also read "The Ghost Hunter's Bible"
by Troy Taylor, and I found that was a little easier, but it didn't
go into the science as much. If you're having difficulty (and most
people with a college education won't), I recommend starting with
"The Ghost Hunter's Bible" and then reading "The Art of Ghost
Hunting".
This isn't just another book to teach you how to conduct your own
ghost hunt, though it does that very well. It teaches you how to be
a ghost hunter. What I mean by that is, it takes more than just
watching every episode of Ghost Hunters and knowing what a residual
haunting is. You have to do your OWN research. You can start by
learning how the brain works and some of the theories out there of
what consciousness is. This book can start you on the path to
learning some of that.
The problem with many ghost hunters is that they base all their
knowledge off of things they've heard on TV and heard everyone else
say, but they don't do their own research, like how you hear
everywhere how apparitions have to draw energy from the environment
to manifest. If you actually do some research for yourself, many
people believe consciousness might BE some kind of energy. A ghost
wouldn't need to draw energy from batteries, appliances, etc.
because it IS energy. Battery drainage might just be a reaction to
its energy. (They often go dead on investigations, but then as soon
as you leave the site they're mysteriously recharged again.)
Temperature change might be something like the Peltier Effect.
Standard EMF meters are only designed to detect the kind of EMFs
that technology produces - they may not even work for detecting a
ghost! (There could also be a reaction between the ghost's energy
and the EMF of the environment.) The point is, just because
everyone says it doesn't make it true!
The book is 291 pages without the appendices and is written in a
text book style. It also covers the history of ghost hunting and
parapsychology, the different types of hauntings, various natural
and metaphysical phenomena, what kind of equipment to buy, how to
get a group started, and it takes you through the steps of
conducting an investigation. There are samples of legal forms that
you can photocopy and use, environmental logs, samples of letters
to send out to people to request an investigation, and samples of
EVP questions you can ask. It also gives you an example for how to
map out a house, and there's a section for false positives.
The part that I thought was the most useful was his advice for how
to start your own group. This is the second edition of this book, I
had the first edition when I was getting my first group started,
and this would have helped me then. The first thing to do before
you strike at it alone is to contact an existing group in your area
and ask if you can shadow them on a couple investigations just to
learn the ropes. Jaeson actually took 10 months of classes before
he ever went on an investigation. When you think you're ready, try
to find a few other people to join your group. This is easier said
than done. You have to be careful and you shouldn't just take
anybody and everybody who's interested. You could end up with
someone who has completely different methods or beliefs than your
own, someone who has a clashing personality, someone who seems
really nice in person but as soon as you take them out on an
investigation they can't keep quiet, someone who'll get bored with
it after a couple investigations when they realize it isn't
non-stop action, someone who just wants to get on TV, or someone
with an unhinged personality. Give them an application first, talk
to them, then meet them. Maybe give them a trial period before you
tell them they're in the group. Also, have a group of no more than
four or five. The more people you have, the greater the risk of
conflicting methods or personalities. It also takes longer to
decide things and to set up dates for investigations that everybody
can make. You can also only have so many people at an investigation
site at one time, and if there are too many people in your group
then you're going to have to rotate who gets to go.
The next thing to do is to get a website up and start getting your
name out. Meet up with other ghost hunting groups and get
networked. They might invite you along on some of their
investigations, and you can see their different methods. Don't
expect the cases to come jumping out of the woodwork, it takes
time. Put out some fliers. You can send letters to people asking to
do an investigation when you're starting out, but later wait for
them to come to you. When you've been doing this for at least a
year, you can contact a local paper about doing an article so you
can get more cases. But getting in the paper or on TV shouldn't be
your ultimate goal.
EDIT: The editorial above posted by Amazon says that I am a member
of Heartland Paranormal and that isn't correct. My group is Midwest
Preternatural Research www.midwestpreternaturalresearch.com
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