The Art of Ghost Hunting

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 356 pages
• Published by: CreateSpace
• Edition: 2nd Edition April 22, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1438210361
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1438210360
• Book Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.7 pounds

Product Review
It took me two days to skim read through Richard Southall's "How to be a Ghost Hunter", and though Jaeson Jrakman's "The Art of Ghost Hunting" is only a little longer, it took me about a month to read it because the first 50 pages makes the reader want to read this book cover to cover and absorb all the knowledge. I really can't see how Jaeson is having trouble finding a publisher for this book, as it is 100 times better than "How to be a Ghost Hunter". I feel like I've taken a course on ghost hunting. I understand things a little better now, and this book actually gives me some idea what I should read if I want to pursue a subject further. This book makes me want to go back to school and take some more classes, which I might actually do. It teaches you the scientific principles, then tells you how it applies. The book is about 200 pages, and is illustrated by the author. It teaches you about all the different kinds of ghosts (shadow people, incubi/succubi, banshees, etc) and provides real examples of some. It teaches you the history of ghost hunting, how to conduct an investigation, what equipment to buy, among everything else you could want to know if you're starting in this field. This book receives an "A" from me, and is recommended for anyone with at least a college education. Don't buy it for your 12-year-old, as he will not understand most of it. My only "critique" is that I wish there had been a chapter about the author himself, how he got into this field, and maybe talk about some of his past cases. That was the only "advantage" to Richard Southall's book. --Matt Schenk of Heartland Paranormal heartlandparanormal.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
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

Reader Reviews
"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 twenty 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 ten 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.