"Holy Ghosts" By Gary Jansen

Title: Holy Ghosts: Or How a (Not So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night
Author: Gary Jansen
Published Year: 2010
Pages: 210


Unlike other ghost story books I have read, this one does not focus on multiple locations but one location that is a predominant part of the author's life. The author is raised a catholic and so many of his teachings do not include things of the ghostly realm.

This book is his own account of coming to terms with the beings that may or not be in the house that he is living in with his wife and small children. It is no ordinary house, it is the one that he grew up in and eventually bought from his mother. When weird things happen in his home, he thinks back to incidents in the home when he was a child and relates these tales to the reader and how they tie into what is going on in his home at this time.

Since he grew up with no information on ghosts or similar entities, this book also shares his search for information on these items and how they relate back to his own religion. He is diligent in this manner using research methods from books, to the Internet and people who also specialize in the field. What he learns through his research is used to come up with the outcome he decides upon. I'll leave it up to you to read the book to find out what happens with the haunting of his home, I don't want to spoil all the fun.

I loved this book and whipped right through the entire thing in one day. Personal experiences related in a first hand manner make the story that much more real, and Jansen brought a whole new perspective into my life. I had never thought about people who didn't grow up with the idea of ghosts or ghost stories and it was something that was never discussed in their lives growing up. I grew up in a household where asking questions no matter what they were was encouraged and my parents helped me seek out additional sources if they could not answer the question (I think this is where my curiosity of the unknown comes from). Jansen relates the story in a way that is easy to associate with and comprehend what he is saying. However I will say at times when he does back flashes to his childhood, the information can become muddled and hard to put back together. My advice is to just keep with it and keep going.