Our Haunted Lives [Paperback]

Some time ago I read one of this author's other books and it was undoubtedly one of, if not the best book of this type that I had ever read. I was therefore understandably excited when I found this book and began to read because I expected another masterpiece of the ghostly kind. What I found however was something quite good but just not up to the standards that I had set for this author. I must admit that I may be being a little unfair here because if I had come across a book this good by almost any other author I would have been impressed but from Jeff Belanger I just expected a little more. This grand master of the ghost hunter world has just set the bar so high in his previous works that it's going to be almost impossible for him to reach the same level of perfection with every new book. I guess that I'm just going to have to accept that fact, whether I want to or not.

Over the years I have come to the conclusion that eyewitness accounts are indispensable to this type of book and that without them all you really end up with is a bunch of old legends. Belanger has a history of excellence in this area and this book is no exception. If anything he takes eyewitness accounts a little to the extreme in this case. The stories in this book are made up exclusively of interviews with eyewitnesses and these first person accounts are generally excellent. One pitfall of this style is evident in this book however and that pitfall is that some of the interviews will obviously be better than others. In other words, some people are just naturally more articulate than others while others are very articulate in person but their words seem to become less clear on paper. Overall though the interviews were excellent and were conducted in a very professional manner.

The biggest problem that I had with this book however was that the author relied far too much on the eyewitnesses for the possible history behind the haunts. In some cases this worked just fine and the subjects were intimately familiar with the background of the ghosts in question. In other cases though there was little or no history to be found and it is sometimes hard to really get a feeling for a haunt without knowing what might have caused it. A little research by the author would have added immeasurably to a few of the stories but once again I may be being picky because this author has shown himself to be a more than capable researcher and I found that I really missed his work in this area.

Still, this is one fine book of ghost stories and one that any ghost enthusiast will want to read and own. The interview with George Lutz alone is worth the price of the book and I must applaud Jeff for having the courage to take on such a controversial subject. Also included is an interview with a nephew of Ed and Lorraine Warren (another controversial subject) that is quite frankly marvelous. This is without doubt a five star book so I just regret that I couldn't give the last book I read by this author six stars.

If you like your paranormal served up hot n' tasty, always watch for a new book by Ghostvillage.com's Jeff Belanger. This one includes the eye-openingly excellent interview with the late George (Amityville) Lutz that puts a far more realistic spin on the man than the popular press likes to present. Unknowingly, Jeff gave this man the honest epitaph he deserves.

I knew GL and had heard in private the things that Jeff coaxed out of him for the interview in this book. Having co-interviewed him on the radio, I also knew it was virtually impossible to get at the truth in that medium. It didn't make for ratings to talk about twisted-around metaphors being taken literally and publishing/production companies zinging things up. And George, easily baited, was quick to feed the fire whether he meant to or not.

The poor guy's dead -- he deserves a break. Everyone judged him by what others said, but here, Jeff lets him speak for himself. It's a Win-win thing.

As for the other items in this book, well, let's put it this way: There are only two paranormal non-fiction writers' books I'll buy sight unseen -- Loyd Auerbach's and Jeff Belanger's.

I highly recommend this book! The stories are believable and scary!! I couldn't go to bed at night without feeling a little nervous! It is a very good read for a trip, as the book is simply filled with short stories. The author does a great job of grouping them together in categories. You won't be sorry you bought this!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 31 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars