Today we are joined by Angelique of Vampires and Tofu, who interviewed a local a team of local ghost hunters. If you have any paranormal questions for the team, feel free to ask them in the comments section. [Note: this was supposed to appear yesterday, but I (Teresa) had a family emergency and I couldn't post it. I apologize.]

fearless\les\adj:! Visit their Facebook Page!

First of all, how about you introduce us to the team. Do the members have specific roles/responsibilities/ during an investigation?

The team consists of 5 people, and only a few of us have an actual “role” so to speak. Beau and Matt tend to take care of the PR aspect most of the time, while Beau also has a tendency to taunt spirits instead of being respectful. Brad, and Alex have been doing this sort of thing for a while longer than Beau. Janelle, however, is very sensitive to energy, and so far every time she has said she felt something, our video, or audio, OR pictures have proven her abilities to be very accurate. It tends to boil down to Beau and Brad being the “Lead Investigators”. Matt is the main PR guy, while Alex and Janelle (though her abilities are priceless) are the “Investigators in training”.

Did anyone have any experience with paranormal investigations before fearless\les\adj:?

Beau, Alex, and Brad had a fair amount of experience. Brad and Alex always did cemeteries, and hotels. Beau used to do investigations every now and then at any abandoned places that was around. Janelle never really investigated, but she always knew when something was going on because of her ability to feel the energy that the rest of the group wouldn’t have been able to feel. Matt also played around with it every so often at cemeteries, but it was never too serious for him.

How did you all come together?

It actually started because of Matt. He was working on a zombie film called “Dead Pedestrians“, and he asked Beau to have a part in it, and he also wanted Beau to score the film. He ended up needing a hospital to film at, so Beau found the mental hospital that ended up being the main investigation of the documentary. After going there the very first time to look at the location for the zombie film they realized that they had stumbled upon such a haunted place that they absolutely had to investigate it further. Beau then got in touch with Janelle, Brad and Alex, who had all been friends of his for a while, and they agreed to join in on the investigation. The investigation ended up producing such amazing evidence that we chose to make this film.

Do you all believe in paranormal entities or are any of you skeptics? If you do believe, what was the defining moment that made you a believer?

Alex: Then I saw their face, and I’m a believer.

Beau: There’s no way to describe it really. Nothing specific happened, but after the audio, and pictures from the mental hospital, I don’t see how anyone could say that there isn’t something more…

Janelle: It really started when I was able to feel, and identify the energy really.

Brad: It was when I was a kid. The first time anything happened to me I was living in Texas. Right across the hall at our house is where my brothers room was. I heard someone talking, so I thought someone called my name. When I opened the door to his room, there was nobody in there. When I turned to walk back I felt hands swiping across my neck with cold air. Years later my dad told me about a guy that hung himself in that very same room, and hung there for 6 weeks.

Matt: I’m honestly on the fence. To me, seeing is believing. I’m compelled to know more, but to this date I haven’t had a strong enough personal experience to lean one way or the other. I don’t think you can truly classify any of these experiences into one category. In my opinion, it’ll take hundreds of years of science to come up with plausible conclusions to any of this sort of thing.

What have been your scariest experiences?

Alex: I was pulled during the investigation at the Naval and Military Academy. It didn’t really bother me, or scare me at the moment, but for some reason it was really hard to relax, and or fall asleep once I got home. I guess I was a bit freaked out.

Janelle: For me there are 2 really. The first was the minute I stepped onto the property at the mental institution. The energy of that place was making me feel the agony, and pain that the place had endured. It actually made me feel like I was going insane. The second was when we were in one of the rooms there, and I felt, and heard something breathe on my neck.

Matt: I’d have to say it was the bats at the Naval and Military Academy. I wasn’t looking forward to getting rabies.

Brad: Matt scaring the shit out of me at the Military Academy. Just walked up right behind me. It’s actually happened a few times…

Beau: By far it was running from the cops at the mental institution. The entire group was up at the front of the property, and I was alone at the very back, and I was going into the school house that was built on top of a cemetery. Not only did I have to deal with a raccoon, but then the cops rolled up and cornered me. I literally sprinted to where we set up our base, and then I had to wait for the group alone in the pitch black, and I was hearing footsteps, and voices, but the only part that scared me at all was the cop. I didn’t care about ghosts, or anything at that point, I was just terrified of the cops.

How have your experiences affected your beliefs?

Alex: Well I was raised Catholic, but I have always been more agnostic. I’ve always been the “I’ll believe it when I see it” guy. So, it hasn’t really changed my beliefs so to speak, but I do paranormal investigations for that very reason. I need to really see it.

Brad: I totally believe more now than I ever did in the past. The things that we have come across and captured have just set my beliefs even more in stone.

Matt: I have to admit, in the beginning, I didn’t believe at all. I really thought those ghost TV shows were total fakes, and it’s only now that I know for a fact that they are fake.

Janelle: The weird thing is that I always grew up feeling things, and I never knew what they were as much as I do now after doing this. Now it’s more like I actually know what is there, and I’m more or less wanting to know more about it.

Beau: I am more afraid of the police now. However, some of the things we got… You just can’t explain. If there was ever a doubt for me, there sure as hell isn’t now.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a paranormal investigator?

The hardest part so far has been getting access. Legally, anyway. It’s close to impossible to get permission to enter condemned places unless you have a corporate TV station backing you.

If money and permissions weren’t issues, where would your ultimate investigation be?

By far, it would be the mental institution that we did. By far. We’re still paying off the tickets that 3 of us got…

What’s next for fearless\les\adj:?

The next step really is to try to get this film into the right hands so that we could be recognized for the effort, and hard work that we have put into this.

Do you have any advice for readers interested in doing paranormal investigations?

Alex: Try to do it legally, it’s no fun getting CAUGHT. Always know that the ghosts are not what you should be afraid of. My best best best very best advice is, if you hear, or see anything during an investigation DO NOT run away, run towards it. And don’t get scared until you get home.

Janelle: Do not under estimate what is there, and respect it. You’ll get better results that way. And don’t get arrested.

Matt: Watch the documentary.

Alex: There you go.

Brad: Contrary to what the tv shows say, and do, you don’t need Thousands of dollars worth of equipment. You don’t need steroids, or MAC make up either.

Beau: Stop being afraid to call these other groups out. The paranormal field isn’t really a science that is as concrete as biology, but it’s still a science. What do scientists do? They call one another out to either prove, or disprove their findings. Just because we’re not afraid of these big *%@#!!&* on TV doesn’t make us bad, it just means that we want the absolute truth. We’re not concerned with our image, or ratings on TV, we want to be part of the advancement of paranormal research. I totally stole that term from Brad too.

Giveaway

Angelique is offering up two of her favorite books for one lucky winner: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and Speak with the Dead: Seven Methods for Spirit Communication by Konstantinos. Contest open to US residents only and ends November 6th. Books will be mailed by Angelique, not Read All Over Reviews. Here’s the rules:

1. Be a follower of Read All Over Reviews (GFC, Facebook or Twitter)
2. Be a follower of Vampires and Tofu (GFC, Facebook or Twitter)
3. and fill out this form; simple as that.

Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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Winterwood by Patrick McCabe. © 2008 Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781596915138. Paperback. Horror. 256 pages. $14.95 US. Source: purchased

Synopsis: In this chilling and unforgettable novel, Patrick McCabe shows us that nothing—and no one—is ever quite what they seem. Shortlisted for the Irish Book Award for Novel of the Year, Winterwood is a disturbing tale of love, death, and identity.

Review: One (professional) reviewer said he felt like he needed to take a bath after reading this book. I really have to agree with him. This was a wonderfully written book, the words just rolled off the page with the lyricism of a poet. But dear god it creeped me out, and not in a good way. Mind you, I *like* being creeped out. I love ghost stories. But the ghost of Ned Strange just inhabits the book the way he inhabits Redmond and it might leave you up at night.

So while I give this book high marks for the writing and for getting inside the head of someone possessed by the horrors of a dead man and driven to, well, things, I’m not entirely sure I can actually recommend this book to many people. It depends on what the reader can take.

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Jennifer

Jennifer works as a production editor for a major publishing company in NYC but will not review any books put out by the company (under any imprint) on this site since that can be considered a conflict of interest. Areas of interest include Robin Hood, pirates, zombies (and horror in general), Beowulf (and other early English literature, though Beowulf has a soft spot in her heart), medieval history, Celtic history and literature, history of diseases, and some odd subjects like bog bodies. She lives in New Jersey with a husband and a cat. You can find her on LibraryThing, Twitter, and Goodreads.

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Captivity by Deborah Noyes. © 2010 Unbridled Books. ISBN 9781936071630. Hardback. Historical. 341 pages. $25.95 US. Source: review copy from publisher

Review: Captivity is told in two parts. The first centers around the true story of the Fox Sisters, who in 1848 upstate New York, proclaimed they could converse with the dead. Their declaration incidentally gave rise to a religious movement known as Spiritualism, which garnered followers from two continents, including the rich and famous.

The second story revolves around Clara Gill, a self-isolated “woman of a certain age” who seeks the refuge of her drawings rather than that of the outside world after losing the love of her life back in London. Her story interweaves with that of the Fox Sisters when Maggie and Lizzie become servants at the Gill residence. Lizzie fears “Mad Clara” but Maggie longs for her companionship, of someone older (and other than her Ma and aunt) to talk with.

Eventually Clara and Maggie come to find they have a lot in common, despite Clara’s skepticism of the Fox’s “gift” and their age difference, and the two become confidantes. Both coming to realize they are both captives of what society thinks they should be, and the limitations and expectations placed on women in this era.

It took me a bit to get into the book—nearly 100 pages—but once I got into Deborah’s deft and lyrical prose, I found it much easier and absorbing. I think that was mainly due to where my head was around the time I started reading more than Noyes’s expressive style. Plus, I did find the Fox sisters a little stereotypical in their sisterly roles. The eldest was bossy, the middle lost and the youngest a bit of a sheep. Over the course of the book, they did develop a bit more but it was mainly Maggie who blossomed. Clara’s story was much easier to latch onto and love right away.

Overall, Captivity is beautiful and bittersweet, and is a very interesting look at one of the most famous periods in American history.

Rating: 4 séances out of 5.

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Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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Black Hills: A Novel by Dan Simmons. © 2010 Arthur Reagan Books. ISBN 9780316006989. Hardback. Historical Fiction/Horror. 512 pages. $25.00 US. Source: reviewer copy.

I have to admit that although I own a number of Dan Simmons’s earlier novels, I hadn’t read any of them until last year’s Drood (which I loved). It’s been a sad oversight for someone who loves the horror genre as much as I do. And naturally, when offered the chance to review Black Hills, I jumped at it.

Put simply, Black Hills is the story of Paha Sapa, a Sioux Indian whose name means Black Hills. He was a boy at the time of the Battle of Little Big Horn and far too young to take part in the battle. The warrior’s life is not one he wanted anyway. But caught up in the moment, full of excitement and battle lust, Paha Sapa decides to count coup on the dead. He doesn’t have a coup stick and so uses his hand. And it is because of this that the ghost or spirit of George Armstrong Custer enters Paha Sapa’s body. Read more

Jennifer

Jennifer works as a production editor for a major publishing company in NYC but will not review any books put out by the company (under any imprint) on this site since that can be considered a conflict of interest. Areas of interest include Robin Hood, pirates, zombies (and horror in general), Beowulf (and other early English literature, though Beowulf has a soft spot in her heart), medieval history, Celtic history and literature, history of diseases, and some odd subjects like bog bodies. She lives in New Jersey with a husband and a cat. You can find her on LibraryThing, Twitter, and Goodreads.

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