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The Truth and Myth about Ghosts: Book Review

By Ernest Dempsey

Haunted places and ghosts have long been the subject of innumerable books, movies, stories, and documentaries. In most of the popular culture, ghosts have been presented as aggressive entities seeking revenge on the wrongdoers of their earthly lives. However, ghosts are reckoned as more peaceful and less hostile entities by eminent paranormal researcher and psychic Peter James. In his book Heaven Can You Hear Me? (World Audience Publishers, 2009), co-authored with Gian Temperilli, James tells important facts about ghosts and strips ghost/haunting activity of the myths that have clouded the human perception of ghosts for centuries.

James, who passed away in July 2007, was best known for his psychic investigations featured in the hit FOX primetime show Sightings. He would talk to entities in haunted places in the presence of media people and recording equipment. Conversing with a child ghost 'Jackie' on board the famous Queen Mary remains his most famous on-record investigation. He shared his experiences with Gian Temperilli, a Californian resident who, like James, had a psychic prodigy. It was then that Temperilli started using his ability of sensing and communicating with entities and became active in paranormal investigations.

The findings of James and Temperilli busted a number of myths relating ghosts, entities, and haunted places. Heaven Can You Hear Me? tells the audience not to be afraid of cemeteries (and you read it right - cemeteries) as these are the least haunted places. In fact, the book argues toward convincing the readers that they should not be afraid at all, even in haunted places, since ghosts are primarily 'normal' and 'natural' entities that happen to remain at the place(s) of their untimely and tragic death. Thus, not everyone becomes a ghost in our earthly dimensions but only those who fail to pass to the 'other side' due to some tragedy/trauma that resulted in their death. And these earth-bound entities can be helped by psychics and mediums to leave the place and get to the dimension where other afterlife energy forms make their way after their physical death.

The mythical part of ghosts and haunting relates such concepts as demonic possession, exorcism (especially the traditional ritualistic form), regression to previous life (or lives) under hypnotic trance, the existence of ghouls and goblins, body snatching, and a number of other scary and spooky things that keep haunting one's peace and won't let one alone in the dark as well as the Hollywood film scripts. But if you watch Jennifer Love Hewitt's Ghost Whisperers, then you are getting it fairly right.

Gian Temperilli continues with his psychic investigations. His MySpace page has some riveting recordings for enthusiasts and World Audience Publishers has already accepted his next book Heaven Are You There? for publication. Temperilli seeks to further James's viewpoint of ghost activity as something natural, benign, and even enjoyable. So after ages of fear and paranoia against ghosts and haunted places, we finally have some rational grounds for not darting for crosses and condiments when things go bump in the night.

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Ernest Dempsey is the pen name of Karim Khan. Dempsey works as a research associate in geology and is doing his Masters in English Literature. A founding member of the World Audience Inc. (New York), Dempsey is the author of three books.

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