I’m a huge fan of the show Ghost Hunters on the Syfy Channel (formerly the Sci-Fi Channel, but that’s another discussion).  The subject of the paranormal fascinates me, and although I believe there’s plenty we don’t understand about life energy and what happens after we die, I’m also a bit skeptical.  That’s one of the reasons Ghost Hunters has appealed so much to me.

Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson are the founders of T.A.P.S. – The Atlantic Paranormal Society who are the focus of the television show.  They have also co-authored a couple of books with the help of Michael Jan Friedman.  If the name sounds familiar, you’re probably a science fiction fan. Friedman has written numerous science-fiction books and I recognized the name from many Star Trek novels.

Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from the Atlantic Paranormal Society is the first of the books.  The book is made up of cases that have been investigated by T.A.P.S. over the years, both before and after the television show began airing.  In this book, I would say the cases are about half and half.  For fans of the show, it will feel a bit repetitive.  Although there is more depth given to the cases that were aired on television, and in some cases, there’s also more information and evidence as to what happened at a particular location, it just had the feeling of something I’d seen before.

The remainder of the cases, however, are retold in such a way as to give the reader an overview of what happened.  I can’t say there’s anything here that will convince skeptics.  You either believe that there is something beyond this world that we don’t understand or you don’t and short of a ghost sitting down on the couch next to you, if you don’t believe you will reason away just about any evidence anyone presents.

What is unique about the T.A.P.S. approach over other paranormal groups is that they set out to disprove a haunting.  When they investigate a location, they go into it wanting to find logical reasons for what’s happening.  Both Jason and Grant work as plumbers for Roto-Rooter in their day jobs, so sometimes it can be as simple as the way the pipes function in a home that causes all the unexplained banging that a homeowner thinks is a spirit.

Most of Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from the Atlantic Paranormal Society is told from Jason’s perspective.  Grant chimes in with “Grant’s Take” on each experience Jason recounts.  In the introduction, Jason recounts what brought him into the field of paranormal investigation in the first place, something that the two have made veiled comments about in the years the show has been on the air.  There are also some tips for people who are looking to do their own investigating.  About half of it, though, is chock-filled with stories series fans hadn’t heard before.  I really enjoyed finally hearing the story of an investigation I’d read in Second Glance by Jodi Picoult – her research for that novel involved working with T.A.P.S. long before they had a television show.

The book does read fairly well and doesn’t bog down.  I credit Friedman for that and I’m glad such a good writer was enlisted to give the book a boost.  My only hesitation in recommending it to people is just how much of the book is made up of what they can see on television.  This was something of a disappointment to me.  There was a little bit more here about the going-on behind the scenes with investigator Brian Harnois which most people watched play out on television, but certainly not so much more that I felt I was in on some juicy secret.

There are a few pictures in the books.  Most of these were from investigations that were familiar to me from watching the show.  Even though the locations were familiar, it didn’t mean I’d seen the pictures before.  Some of them will be dismissed by skeptics – even I wonder sometimes if they are misreading something – while others can really make you scratch your head.

When there does seem to be paranormal activity in a home, it all boils down to credibility.  If you don’t find them credible, then Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from the Atlantic Paranormal Society is just a book of ghost stories.  If you find the way they are credible, you can believe the stories and what they’ve found, there’s a number of stories here that will pique your curiosity all the more about what we don’t yet understand.