Ghost

  • The Most Important Tool

    The Most Important Tool

    When I walk into a place with a history, I let my senses do the work. I’m not there to gather evidence. I don’t need my face buried in a gadget. Passive equipment I don’t have to think about is fine, but anything that pulls my focus away from the space isn’t helping me. The

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  • A Season for Ghosts

    A Season for Ghosts

    I often think of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol when I think about ghosts this time of year. December has always felt like the most haunted month to me. Not because it is frightening, but because it brings the past closer. Dickens understood that. He tapped into something deeply human when he wrapped a ghost story

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  • When a Life Becomes a Legend

    It is a strange moment when you begin to realize your life story has slipped out of your hands and into legend.

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  • The research behind Zombie Road is unlike anything I have ever done before. Every chapter has its own bibliography, and the full list of sources runs eleven pages long. I wanted readers to be able to trace the information, explore further if they wish, and see how each thread connects. This same approach will guide

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  • I first walked down Zombie Road in 2006. I’d heard the stories for years and finally gave in. I thought it would just be a spooky night walk with friends. Instead, it felt like stepping straight into The Blair Witch. I went back again and again. I led groups down there, even filmed with a

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  • I’m four chapters into Zombie Road now, and this book is stirring up a flood of memories. Writing it feels different from anything I’ve done before. If I had written this years ago, before Confrontation with Evil, it would have been a completely different book. That experience changed me. It made me a better researcher,

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  • Seventeen years ago my book The Uninvited was released into the world. At the time, my son Elliot looked at me and asked a question that has stayed with me ever since: “Who would want to read about our lives?” It was honest, simple, and impossible for me to answer back then. What I did

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  • I Remember You

    I remember the first time I saw you.You passed my doorwaywith a smile.Then walked through a wall—and vanished. I remember seeing youin my dreams.Same smile,as if you were knowing.Knowing what?I am not sure. I see the bloodrunning down your face.Your eyes glowing red.Then you’re gone again. Demon,some will tell me.Ghost,others might say. My imagination?Maybe.But you

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  • Dear Readers, On June 29, in Indianapolis, a lay pastor stood before a congregation during a “Men’s Preaching Night” at Sure Foundation Baptist Church and told LGBTQ+ people to “shoot yourself in the back of the head.” That’s what he said. From the pulpit. In a church. A so-called sanctuary. This is why I wrote

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  • The Real-Life Horrors Behind My New Book, Gorilla Take a moment and really think about this. You’re at a park. A stranger bumps into you, just a casual brush. But with that touch, they smear something onto your skin. It feels slick, maybe slimy. You might not even notice. A few hours later, you start

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