#31: Reading

For Christmas, Santa brought me a few books on my Amazon wish list, including Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from the Atlantic Paranormal Society. Apparently, the authors have a show on the SciFi Channel--Ghost Hunting. I've never seen the show, but I love a good ghost story. Even though I'm a huge chicken! I definitely let my imagination run away with me, so when I was reading this book, I found myself hurrying up with the laundry when I was alone in the garage or making sure I turned on lights before I entered a room. But even though I was freaking myself out, this book wasn't really scary. It was more like a summary of some of the duo's jobs, and many of them were cases that they disproved. Not exactly what I was hoping for. I was expecting mysteries and spookiness, and instead got mostly clinical descriptions. I was surprised that the most emotional parts of the books were descriptions of the author's relationships with people on their team--in particular, one guy who was off and back on the team several times. I was least interested in that dynamic of their work, yet it was in the forefront of several stories.

At least the book was a quick & easy read. I was hoping for something like the spooky stories I'd read on the blog Somewhere on the Masthead, whose author lists "October Moments" among his greatest hits. All of his stories give me goosebumps. I've always been fascinated with the idea of the supernatural, and may have even seen a ghost or two in my life.

The book description from Amazon:

The Atlantic Paranormal Society, also known as T.A.P.S., is the brainchild of two plumbers by day, paranormal investigators by night: Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. Their hair-raising investigations, fueled by their unique abilities and a healthy dose of scientific method, have made them the subject of a hit TV show: the SCI FI Channel's Ghost Hunters.
Now their experiences are in print for the first time, as Jason and Grant recount for us, with the help of veteran author Michael Jan Friedman, the stories of some of their most memorable investigations. The men and women of T.A.P.S. pursue ghosts and other supernatural phenomena with the most sophisticated scientific equipment available -- from thermal-imaging cameras to electromagnetic-field recorders to digital thermometers -- and the results may surprise you. Featuring both cases depicted on Ghost Hunters and earlier T.A.P.S. adventures never told before now, this funny, fascinating, frightening collection will challenge everything you thought you knew about the spirit world.