Holy Ghosts: Or How a (Not-So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night

IN THIS EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORY, the haunting of a Long Island household forces a respected writer and editor to reevaluate the mysteries of life and death as he struggles with the frightening truths of his childhood home and his town's past. Growing up in Rockville Centre, Long Island, Gary Jansen never believed in ghosts. His mother--a devoutly Catholic woman with a keen sense for the uncanny--claimed that their family house was haunted. But Jansen never found anything inexplicable in how their doorbell would sometimes ring of its own accord; or in the mysterious sounds of footsteps or breaking glass that occasionally would fill their home; or even in his mother's sometimes unnervingly accurate visions of future events and tragedies. Though he once experienced a supernatural encounter in a Prague church as a young man, Jansen grew up into a rationalist, as well as a noted writer and editor. In 2001, Jansen moved back into the very same house where he had once grown up, to raise a family with his wife. In 2007, he encountered a frightening, full blown haunting in his home. This became the first step of a phenomenon that lasted a full year and eventually included unveiling the identities of the spirits who occupied his house, reliving a tragic murder in his hometown, encountering mind-boggling coincidences between local history and episodes in his household; and finally--with the help of Mary Ann Winkowski, the real-life inspiration for TV's Ghost Whisperer--ridding his house of these uninvited visitors. Holy Ghosts is not only a gripping true-life ghost story, but a wry and touching memoir, as well as a meditation on the relationship between religion and the paranormal, which are often considered at odds, but which the author shows are intimately linked.

About the Author :
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Review :
"Holy Ghosts took me into a completely convincing but very different version of reality from the one we live in. It serves as a forceful and fascinating reminder that we do not see the world that is, but only the part we have chosen to see. There are dangers and wonders in the dark, and Holy Ghosts affirms that they are very real." -- "Whitley Strieber, New York Times bestselling author of Communion" "Gary Jansen will both creep you out and educate you on the nature of 'earthbound spirits.' His tale of the spirits haunting his family home, and of helping them cross over to the next world, is a thrilling treat that I couldn't put down. Jansen tells the best kind of ghost story-the true kind!" -- "Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land " "Gary Jansen's Holy Ghosts is a haunting memoir of both the paranormal and the heartbreakingly down-to-earth. By turns scholarly, comic, and creepy, Jansen shows us the ghosts in his house as well as his heart. Spellbinding and wise, this trip to the supernatural eventually returns us home, providing a deeper understanding of our faith, our fears, and the people we love." -- "Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She's Not There" "I have always believed in ghosts, paranormal phenomena, and miracles. But I've never read a book that tells of chills and ghosts in the house from a Catholic perspective. I read the book in a sitting. There are more than a few spine-tingling scares here, offered in such a benign, even life-affirming way, that we end up enlightened, entertained, and charmed." -- "Beverly Donofrio, author of Looking for Mary"