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And welcome back to Coast to Coast George nor are you with you along with Teresa Chung live in the United Kingdom, where books is called Haunted World one oh one, Ghostly Places and Encounters. Teresa tell us about this book, it's fantastic, Thank you.
George, and it's just such a joy to be here. I truly appreciate it. And before I mentioned the book, I just want to thank you also for the are you do and opening the phone lines in particular, because there's such power in that when people share their personal paranormal or dreams stories. And I've noticed that here in the UK because it's been incredible the last three or
four years. There has been much more open mindedness to the possibility of life after death, dreams actually meaning something. Although we are still a skeptical nation, there is much more open mindedness. And I've been in the privileged position here in the UK to do national call ins on ITV This Morning and BBC radio stations and this would
never have happened twenty years ago. But what it is is there's much more open mindedness and what you're doing as well, encouraging people to share their stories, that there's such power in that. But you mentioned a Haunted World. Yeah, this is a book that really tries to take the fear out of potential possibility that ghosts exist, because we still have so much fear and dread surrounding it. And
what I wanted to do is normalize it. And that's what I've done all my career, you know, and these phone ins that I do now where I talk to people about these experiences to normalize them and say, look, it's part of being a human of being. Let's understand it better, let's discuss it. And what I wanted to do in Haunted World, it's not just the UK, although there are a portion of locations in the UK discussed.
It's the US and a smattering of places all over the world, because that's whether book is being distributed, and I wanted to show that in wherever you go, you're going to find a location which has a reputation for something mysterious and out of this world happening, and let's just investigate it. Go there if you can and make your own mind up, gather your own evidence and your proof.
And what I love about all of the one hundred and one locations and stories I chose for the book is that they all began with a human drama, whether that was back in the midst of time or more recently, because there are some recent hauntings in that book as well. They all began with a human story, and somehow that story has never ever died, and it's through the through the years, it has almost grown a life of its own, and that is fastating the students of human nature, for
students of history and culture. It's just thrilling. It makes life so exciting. But I also give the basics of ghost hunting in there, you know, show that anyone couldn't be a ghost hunter if they have a ghost of common sense take that along with them. I also discuss the difference between ghost hunting and paranormal investigation, which is all high tech, etc. And I give all the theories in the introduction that could potentially explain ghosts from it's
fraud which almost every ghost experience. That accusation will be leveled at the experience there. But I also say that every case in this book, there's always many elements can be explained away by logic and reason. And psychology. But there's always one element that simply can't be explained away, and that's where you need to focus your attention, and
I focus my attention on in the book. There's always something that can't entirely be explained away, and instead of getting scared about that or nervous, get excited about it, because in all my experience, I just want to reassure everyone listening the living are far more scary than the dead every case, So don't fear what potentially may be on the other side. Just embrace it. Get excited about the possibility of it. It is all of our next great adventure. And I think just being open minded to
the possibility that life goes on. Looking at the evidence, and there's growing evidence out there. I gather that together as much as possible in the book that will surprise you in every possible way. I hope it is a book that surprises you. I don't want to confirm biases in it. I want to surprise and show that there there's evidence out there's worries out there. It is truly a haunted world because despite centuries of trying to disprove those exist, they ain't going anywhere.
The name of the book haunted world. Haunted has a connotation of being scary. Is that what you meant?
You know? Actually, the root of the word is home. It's about it's haunted. I want to again educate people about that word, to look in the roots of it. And it's associated with a place that you feel most at home. And if you are spiritual and believe in afterlife, when you die, you go back home, you reunite, you become pure soul, you have returned home. So maybe change it to more of a feeling of familiarity that word. It's about going home, it's about finding out who you truly are.
Interesting take on that, now, what was your reason for writing the book.
The reason was that I wanted, as I say, to normalize the paranormal, to show people it was the norm rather than the exception. And it actually was inspired by a national call in I did over here in the UK for for ITV. There were so many calls coming in and I found that these people were very nervous when they called in, often wanting to change their names to protect their identity, or worried what other people would think. And I thought this is wrong because obviously in my
line of work. It's totally normal, you know, It's what I grew up with. I grew up in a family of spirituals and mediumships. You know, I worked with medium psychics and scientists researching them, etc. So for me, there is no fear of it, and I found when you do lose the fear of it, that's when more and more mysterious experiences and proof of a possible after life start to happen. But this fear barrier has to go first,
because we aren't going to get anywhere. Then then the ghost gets stuck and we get stuck, and we can't meet intelligently in between. And that's why the final section of the book focuses on intelligent hauntings, when there is an ease and a flow of communication with that fear
barrier removed. The early part of the book explores residual hauntings, which you could argue is that a haunting or is that an emotional imprint and that when very sensitive people go to an environment they're actually sensing something traumatic that happened in the past. Is that truly a haunting or is that telepathy or being or retrocognition, you know, sensing the past so I explore that that's the most common form of reported haunting actually that people pick up on.
I also explore poltergeist and inhuman which is when an alleged and I say alleged evil spirit latches onto an object or a person with devastating results and consequences often, but the final portion of the book is the most empowering, and it all builds up to that to show here is where the future of ghost hunting, paranormal investigation, signs of consciousness lies. When there is an intelligent interaction between the other side or what is invisible or unseen, I
don't know. I can't fully rationalize it or explain it and the living and that happens more often than we are led to believe. I think if you stop any person in the streets, at least one in four will have said they've had an uncanny experience they can't explain, and why do then we try and explain it away and dismiss it as nonsense. It's not nonsense. It's something that's happened to you and something that you should celebrate as part of the glorious mystery of being a human being.
Although I say we are all spiritual beings having a human experience. But again that is down to my personal belief.
Theresa, what is the haunted person's syndrome? What does that mean?
That's very interesting. A group of psychologists and parapsychologists very recently over here in the UK we're positing the idea that there are certain people who are highly sensitive to potential haunting experiences, and they gave it a term which sounds a bit scary, haunted person syndrome. But I actually don't think it's scary because I think we all, to varying degrees, we're all on a scale of haunted person syndrome, even the most hardened skeptic who says I'm rational there
is no possibility of life after death. Something in their life is going to happen at some point which will cause them to have that question mark. But then there are people right at the top of the scale who are I would say the classed also is highly sensitive, individuals who are highly empathetic, highly intuitive, often highly creative.
And these people at the top of the scale are more likely, especially when they go to a location which has a reputation for being haunted, so they've got that background, are far more likely to sense things. And what the study found, which is really interesting, is that once these people have had one paranormal experience, it's contagious. There's never really just one isolated incidence. More and more start to happen, and then they start to impact people in their own
environment as well. But it's nothing to be frightened of. You know, in indigenous cultures it would have been called ghost sickness when someone is maybe having nightmares or sensing things that aren't there. What needs to happen there is through therapy or counseling, or just some really grounded friends to talk about these experiences. The fear of them comes when people don't talk about them and keep it to themselves. That's what I'm saying at the beginning of this section.
The power of sharing really helps take that irrational fear out of it. Please don't be scared. If you do have a sense of something watching over you, or you have a dream that plays out, or you have a gut instinct that comes true, don't fear it. It's sign of your extraordinary potential. It's a sign of your your spiritual essence.
Talking about this hunted person syndrome, yes, and does science back that up.
There is published research into it now. There's certainly science into people being highly sensitive, and there's a highly sensitive person scale which if you score very highly on you are far more likely to have paranorl more experiences. And there is a movement to get it recognized within the medical, the the the psychology, the psychiatry professions to not get it dismissed because to the person that it's happening to,
it is real and it needs to be recognized. There is there is research ongoing now to get it part of our you know, of of of of of therapy and of counseling. But if people have these experiences that they're not immediately dismissed as nonsense.
The great parapsychologist Lloyd Auerback will the forward to your book and tell me how you got him and his role.
I've known and admired Lloyd Auerbach as many people in this area of parapsychology and psychical research. Will He is kind of the original ghostbuster. There isn't he. He's a real legend and I've worked with him before on other projects. I've interviewed him many times on my podcast. He is an absolute delight. He also has devoted his life to researching the possibility of their being life after death. He
actually conducts proper paranormal investigations of locations. He actually goes out in the field, has written many many books in this area, also collaborates with scientists, and it was an absolute joy that he wrote the forward, which I'm very grateful for.
Tell us where people can get your book? Counted World? Sorry, where can people get your book?
Oh? Wherever books are sold. It's available Amazon, everywhere. It's out. It's a haunted world, so I hope as many people as possible can get hold of a copy. It's also particularly good for the younger reader as an introduction, a very safe and careful introduction to it, because I always feel that very responsible when I'm writing about this subject matter.
I draw on my academic credentials, my expertise in this area to present it in a very careful, controlled and safe way that encourages the reader to make their own mind up and do their own research.
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