Brought to you by OBS reviewer Scott

America’s Most Haunted: The Secrets of Paranormal Places takes you through the heartland of America, recounting some of the most unusual activity in the most agreed upon haunted places in modern paranormal research. It was not an easy path to follow but the road was paved with gratuitous historical background, documented cases, and links to web sites carrying regular and infrared imaging video footage, and electronic voice phenomena (EVP) i.e. the recorded sounds of spirits inaudible to the human ear, but within the higher bandwidth of digital recording equipment..

The book is set up as a tour guide with each stop a proven site of paranormal activity, complete with eyewitness accounts, television specials, interviews and professional paranormal investigators’ opinions on any one of these interesting places and venues. The “secrets” are the ghost stories and hauntings recounted with a great deal of authenticity by active paranormal expert Theresa Argie compiled by journalist Eric Olsen.

I found the book to be a refreshing light read, and even checked out some of the web sites and links just to make sure it was accurate and up to date; I wasn’t disappointed and some of the footage is remarkable. The liberal “boxed text” provided background on the terminology, and equipment used in current paranormal investigation, easing me into the lives of the people behind some of the modern television shows dealing with phenomena and “fringe science,” that in which scientific methodology is applied, but with no physical theory to back it up.

Each of the cases were interesting, especially with the aforementioned historical insight as to why the spiritual world would integrate with ours in each of the areas.  The novel is laid out in the following fashion: site ranking; historical background; casefile reports with firsthand accounts of the phenomena or a recounting of paranormal experiences that are well documented especially on television shows such as Paranormal State and Fact or Faked; often a postscript or summary of the locale; booking numbers and information lines; and even a list of hotels in the vicinity of each area!

The investigator’s reports ranged from the mundane to the downright eerie, and it’s this bit of insight that glues what would otherwise be a ghost-hunter’s travelogue. Each investigative team, or Theresa’s personal accounts of each of the places, brightens some of the more mysterious aspects by explaining how paranormal researchers conduct their investigations into the unexplained.  Also, the extended bibliography in to the locales discussed gives the intrepid investigator more to sink their teeth into.

If you’re a fan of supernatural or paranormal, be it literary or on T.V Shows like Paranormal State or Fact or Faked, than there is definitely something in the book for you. If your inner “fringe scientist” gets the better of you, you might want to plan a road trip across America’s Most Haunted: Secrets of Paranormal Places.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*