Will Storr Vs. The Supernatural: One man's search for the truth about ghosts

by Will Storr

When journalist and ghost sceptic Will Storr heads to Philadelphia to meet Lou Gentile, a demonologist, he expects a little fun with an amusing eccentric. What he gets are terrifying experiences of spectral lights and horrific demonic growling - and all of his safe, adult preconceptions about ghosts instantly vanish.

In the cold light of day, Will decides on a quest for the truth about ghosts. He meets professional paranormal investigators and takes part in séances and a vigil in the most haunted house in Britain, tries out divining rods and ouija boards, and goes on set with TV's Most Haunted. But Will also seeks out the sceptics in clinical psychology and philosophy who ask if spirits are really just in our heads.

His journey is full of bizarre, terrifying and hilarious experiences, each one a new insight into life, death and what might come after.

• ISBN10: 0091910137
• ISBN13: 9780091910136
• Publish Date: 1 February 2007 (first published 5 September 2006)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Ebury Publishing
• Imprint: Ebury Press
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[pamela]

Will Storr vs The Supernatural is a book unlike any other I have ever read. It is the completely unashamed account of a skeptic journalist’s mental journey as he seeks out both believers and skeptics alike in his quest to discover a truth behind supernatural occurrences. It is a book that challenges everything that both skeptics and believers might think of ghosts, demons and the afterlife.

Will Storr begins the book a firm skeptic when he travels to interview self-proclaimed “demonologist”, Lou Gentile in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. What he experiences there sends him on a journey which brings him face to face with ghost lights, anti-Satanist vigilantes, exorcisms, the Vatican, EVP and psychologists, along with a bevy of other fun and exciting characters. He stays in haunted houses, sleeps in haunted rooms, attends divination ceremonies and goes ghost hunting with paranormal researchers. What he finds along his journey is both fascinating and terrifying.

Storr does not give any definitive answer to the question behind the truth of the supernatural. The book proves to be less a book about proving or disproving the existence of an afterlife of sorts, and instead focuses on the human need to understand something unexplainable. It is a book about the human mind, and how those who believe wholeheartedly, and those who doubt, doubt with just as much conviction. It is a work that tries to bridge that divide and show both sides of the story with equal import. While there is no ultimate conclusion to be gained from reading this book, it does serve as a valuable insight in to how certain subjects can be viewed from the other side of the fence.

The prose flows, and the writing is funny, dark and self aware. Storr does not seek to force an opinion on his readers, simply to impart an experience, leaving his audience to decide for themselves what to do with the information that he provides. That he experienced things that cannot be explained is undeniable, but whether the experiences have a natural or a supernatural explanation is ultimately left to the reader to decide. Storr shares information without passing judgment, but does so in an entertaining, sharply intelligent and subtle way.

The book leaves the reader with the knowledge that there are things in this world and universe that cannot be explained. To deny something outright as possible or impossible is foolish and is narrow minded, in both belief and skepticism. Ultimately we are challenged to keep our minds open for the possibility that there are things out there that we as human beings are simply unable to explain.

Will Storr vs The Supernatural is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone. It is truly mind opening and downright entertaining.