Preview: HOLY GHOSTS
July 23, 2010 by Tarcher/Penguin
Filed under Behind-the-Scenes, Books, DailyTarcher.
While we can be spooked by noises in the night, we always find a reasonable explanation for them. Gary Jansen, a devout Catholic and respected editor at Random House, had also found a reasonable explanation, blaming the strange noises in his home on creaky floorboards and stormy weather. Yet, when the sounds grew to include phantom doorbell rings accompanied by paralyzing nightmares, overwhelming chills, and ghostly embraces in his young son’s room, his reasonable explanation had to grow as well.
Just in time for Halloween, Holy Ghosts: Or How a (Not So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night details Jansen’s quest to explain the phenomena in his home and put an end to the haunting. An honest and gripping account of this journey, the book chronicles his personal struggle to reconcile his Catholic faith with mounting evidence that his home was indeed occupied by spirits. As his investigation escalated, the ghosts forced Jansen to confront astonishing coincidences with local tragedies, painful memories from his childhood, and (with the help of Mary Ann Winkowski, the real-life inspiration for The Ghost Whisperer) the true identities of the spirits.
No ordinary ghost story, Holy Ghosts examines the relationship between religion and the paranormal, while considering perspectives on the afterlife from a variety of traditions.
Holy Ghosts: Or How a (Not So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night
Tarcher / Penguin hardcover, $22.95, September 16th
READ the introduction to Holy Ghosts.
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I must read this Book..Sounds like one I would highly recommend and a very Good Book Club Choice for me and my friends who do believe In Things That go Bump in The night,without being too spooked..On My TBR,,Susan ,Vt Will share on Twitter as well..Much Success
Ghosts are one of those topics that “good” Christians aren’t supposed to think about but that everyone has a certain amount of curiosity about. Holy Ghosts is an honest account of a Catholic confronted with this unknown and undiscussed subject and Jansen’s struggle to follow Catholic teaching while dealing with a haunting in his house. Jansen weaves Catholic theology with the thrill of a good (and true) ghost story, presenting a well rounded and interesting view of the supernatural from a Christian point of view. I highly recommended this book as both a resource for people who are interested in learning more about the Church’s position on the supernatural or anyone who is looking for a good spooky read.
hello…would LOVE to interview this author..my website.WWW.DAVIDSBOOKTALK.COM is where i do the interviews…please contact me at MYSTERIOUSDAVID3@AOL.COM..thank you..david
Would love to read and review this.
Well, about ghosts….just demons…or if God allows someone from His world and the nether world to communicate…then there is a purpose for that…ONLY TO DRAW ONE CLOSER TO HIMSELF. Not to be fancied for any other reasons…
Does this talk about the Holy Spirit too, ill try to read this book, it interest me.
Great, Fast Read… Too bad the book was so short…
I just got through reading the book. I loved it! I really liked how he gave alot of information about the Catholic religion, too. I learned alot. Too bad the book wasn’t longer. I’ll look for his other books, also.
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Just caught Gary’s Interview on Coast and made me STRONGLY Wish there was a large man with a Boot to Kick his A.. Up Between his Shoulder Blades! What a Girly-man…talking wih just his lips like a Girl, instead of from his Diaphram like a MAN. SOME Catholic ! These are NOT lost souls…these are Demonic Spirits which Need a Priest Ordained Before 1968 to Send them Back to Hell. Mary Ann is NO Catholic; she is a Gnostic HERETIC who believes in Reincarnation. These are NOT “Holy ghosts”..What a Slap In the Face to the Trinity ! For Gary to Let this go on and on…scaring his little boy to death shows his Own Demonic Infestation. One Sick SOB ! Only this VaticanII-Jew ABOMINATION refuses to teach REAL Catholic information about evil. They took the Vatican BY Nuclear Threat in 1958. The Great Deception is about Over, Jesus is just around the Corner! Get a Clue: http://www.vaticancatholic.com
PLEASE email me and i did wrote something i would like to know how it got remored thank you so kindly A H
Wow!! LIZ is a psycho! I think she is the devil in disguise. She is a religious-freak with a truly demonic, evil streak. She will get what is coming to her when she meets her maker. By the way, I didn’t LOVE the book. It was okay, but I did appreciate learning more about my Catholic faith. I have been away from it for too long and I felt fortunate to be able to begin reconnecting. However, if weirdos like LIZ are what I am going to encounter once I begin attending mass, then maybe I’ll remain a private Catholic on the sidelines.
I am a Catholic from Long Island and thought this was a great book. Even if you don’t believe these things really happen I think you can still enjoy the book, it was a good read. (By the way I totally believe!!) Had to stop reading it at night, it was just to spooky for me.
Outstanding read! I was drawn in right away. The “Angela’s Ashes” of ghost stories. I’m giving this book to everyone who has half joked about their house being haunted.
This was a great book. I read it in half a day. I want to thank Gary for
writing it. We have had similar events in our home for years. One tends to
either feel one is going nuts, or try to ignore the events, until they are
so frequent that something has to be done. In our case, we had a paranormal
investigation with an immediate cleansing. Things are much quieter here now.
But I learned some things about cleansings and the Catholic religion that I did
not know prior to reading this great book. As for Liz, what a scary person.
So full of hate. What a lunatic. Let’s hope she has a few paranormal events
in her sicko life. She deserves it.
I just finished Holy Ghosts. Much of this echoes my experiences with the paranormal as well as help (or lack there of) from the Catholic Church. I have found that the majority of priests are ill equipped to help Catholics deal with this sort of thing.
Quick online searches offer varied and conflicting methods of dealing with spirits. It is difficult to know where to turn and exactly what one should do; especially when you have tried, and nothing has worked. One begins to wonder is it the house? or is it me?
Holy Ghosts offer another (not so good) Catholic additional Catholic resources that I will research. I feel like this book is another puzzle piece in my quest to make sense out of both worlds. To Gary; (in case you ever read this), thank you for sharing your story. It takes tremendous courage to first admit “this” is real, and true grit to face it and share it. By the way, I know where “they” go when they are not in your house -another puzzle piece I found. – peace
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I just finished reading HOLY GHOSTS. It’s an amazing book. I finished it in two readings. I related to the author Gary Jansen. I grew up Catholic, and lived in a haunted house for 30 years. Thank you, Gary for writing HOLY GHOSTS.
This is a great book! I, too, was raised Catholic, but never heard these things in religion class. I have always believed in spirits. I am moving farther and farther away from Christianity and am beginning to embrace Native American spirituality. And no, I don’t mean the Native American Church and using peyote. I am interested in Lakota spirituality.
Liz is the kind of person who gives Christians a bad name, if you can call her a Christian. It’s her kind of attitude that caused genocide to be committed in THIS country with thousands of our indigenous peoples. We have no business admonishing other countries for genocide.
For those of you interested, I recommend reading God is Red; A Native View of Religion by Vine Deloria Jr. It will make you think.