This book explains the many types of ghost sightings. Ghost sightings are not limited to sightings of deceased beings. Apparations can appear from living or comatose people, or even from places or things. They can be ghosts of the future or even the present(such as seeing an apparation of a living being).


In the introduction section of the book, it describes the different classifications of spirit sightings(past, present, and future.) It talks about whether testimonials of ghost sightings are a "real" experience or not. Skeptics are eager to say ghost sightings are merely tricks of the mind. However this is not really a valid explanation when you consider mass sightings of a particular ghost(or ghosts). If the mind was really playing a trick, that would mean that several people would have the exact same "delusion." How likely is that to happen? The introduction also broaches the subject of ghost hoaxes, such as people having claimed to see a ghost or ghosts only to retract their statement.

The rest of the book is divided into three sections on the different types of ghosts: Ghosts of the Past, Ghosts of the Present, and Ghosts of the Future. Each section has case studies and pictures of these different types of ghost sightings. Sightings of ghosts of the past are the most common. These include spirits of deceased people and even ghostly sightings of places that have been before but are now demolished (such as a building or even a whole town).
Spirits of the present include sightings of people who are living but somehow project their spirit into another place. They can also include poltergeists or even people having "double selves", where people actually watch themselves doing something. Ghosts of the future, like spirits of the past,can be either apparitions of people or places. There is one very interesting sighting in which a woman seemed to be traveling by a certain building. But when she went back to the same place, the building wasn't there, and found out it had never been there. She wondered if the "ghost" building was a vision of the future. Another instance of a future ghost described by the book is one in which ghostly visions of living people were seen at night while the seers were in a dreamlike state. The seers were relatives of the ghosts. A few days later, the people the seers had dreamed about died in an accident. The ghosts had appeared before their actual departure from the living world,maybe as some kind of preparation for the seers. Their deaths certainly could have not been predicted since they died in an accident. Perhaps this was a way of getting the seers' mind prepared for the shock.

The blending of past, present and future in the spirit world seems to affirm the belief that time in the spirit world is not measured the same way that it is here. Perhaps the ghosts of the future are projections of what is already predicted in the spirit world. The complexities of measuring time as flexible in our linear time frame is almost impossible for the human mind to grasp. However it would serve as an affirmation that perhaps our spirits are truly immortal.

There is also a lenghy afterword to this book which goes into detail about what to do or not to do when one thinks they have seen a ghost. It also talks about different theories on what ghosts might be(projections of the mind, hallucinations)? Some of the questions asked are thought-provoking and actually humorous, such as why do most ghosts wear clothes. (There is only one instance in this book where a ghost is not wearing clothes.) Folklore ghosts such as banchees( wrinkly shrew-looking apparitions) and the Grim Reaper are also touched on in this book.

This is a highly entertaining, and sometimes even humorous look at different types of spirit sightings. The black and white drawn pictures bring an interesting "dimension" to the stories. This book may even make you a little scared, but mostly, it will make you think.

Anyone curious about ghosts

The pictures

Curious

Has put together a useful book for someone interested in learning about ghosts.

It is interesting

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Created Oct 20, 2003 at 1:58pm • Submit your own review...