Ghosts of West Chester

by Mark Sarro

Schiffer Publishing Ltd. • 4880 Lower Valley Road • Atglen, PA 19310

2008, 192 pages, US $14.99 • ISBN: 978-0-7643-2996-8

Reviewed by Brent Raynes

West Chester, Pennsylvania, the region of paranormal high-strangeness for which this book focuses its primary attention, brings back a bit of nostalgic investigative memory for me personally. It was (and still is I suppose) the area from which ufologist Floyd Murray hailed from. Floyd used to be a writer for Gene Steinberg’s Caveat Emptor magazine and back in the early ‘70s we were fairly regular pen pals. In April 1972, I even paid Floyd a visit. He took me on a tour of his fine little community and neighboring towns nearby, introducing me to people who studied the paranormal, the occult and witchcraft, and who shared some very odd personal experiences with me. We even tracked down one gentleman who seemed knowledgeable about MIBs (it was even whispered that he might be one himself). Floyd and I were both heavily influenced by the ultraterrestrial theories of John Keel and we could fit all of these weird and sinister sounding tales into the theoretical framework of Keel’s ideas.

Appropriately enough, the author of this fine book, Mark Sarro, in his compilation of ghost stories of the West Chester area, detours into accounts of sinister, inhuman, demonic-type encounters. While some ghost hunters and mediums will deny the reality of these dark beasties of the paranormal scene, Sarro fully acknowledges their reality beyond any real doubt or question. He not only has collected very chilling accounts from witnesses to these frightening manifestations, but he himself has personally experienced them! The testimonial of one of his witnesses described in a section of the book entitled “Lurking in the Darkness” is a truly riveting, spellbinding situation that left one of the persons involved suffering afterwards from the effects of trauma and emotional instability. “This experience may seem like something out of a horror movie, but unfortunately, these kinds of things happen all too frequently,” Sarro writes. “It is a part of the paranormal research that often goes unspoken about.”

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Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places: A Field Guide to Stone Circles, Crop Circles, Ancient Tombs and Supernatural Landscapes

by Brian Haughton

New Page Books

A Division of Career Press, Inc. • 3 Tice Road/P.O. Box 687 • Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

2008, 255 pages, U.S. $15.99 • ISBN-13: 978-1-60163-000-1

Reviewed by Brent Raynes

Brian Haughton, author of Hidden History, a thorough and cautious researcher, explorer, and a qualified archaeologist, takes us on a literary and pictorial tour of ancient sites around the world. In all, he covers 32 ancient locations, exploring each site’s archaeological history, legends and folklore, and reports of modern mysteries. For instance, there are the stories of UFOs, ghosts, witches, Bigfoot, devilish apparitions and cattle mutilations in Colorado’s San Luis Valley; Crow Chief Long Hair’s encounter with the Little People during a vision quest at northern Wyoming’s legendary Bighorn Medicine Wheel; the birdman stone tablets, and the “Beaded Birdman Burial” at Cahokia’s Mound 72 (Illinois), which have raised speculations among some authors like John Keel, Jim Brandon, and Dr. Greg Little (now where have I heard that name before? Hmm) that there may be a connection between the Native American myths of the birdman and thunderbird and the modern reports of strange airborne creatures like “Mothman”; plus innumerable, mysterious, and fascinating places near and far, like Tara, Ireland, the Rollright Stones of England, the pyramids of China, Angkor Wat of Cambodia, Ayers Rock in Australia, Cuzco, the Peruvian Navel of the Incan world, etc., etc.

Haughton delves into his information with the unflinching flair of a talented writer who rivets his reader’s attention to every page, while maintaining a non-sensationalistic, down-to-earth factual and objective style of reporting.

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Ghosts of the Bridgewater Triangle

by Christopher Balzano

Schiffer Publishing Ltd. • 4880 Lower Valley Road • Atglen, PA 19310

2008, 224 pages, US $14.99 • ISBN: 978-0-7643-3006-3

Reviewed by Brent Raynes

Noted cryptozoologist Loren Coleman wrote the introduction to this book and first introduces us to both the modern and historical mysteries of the so-called “Bridgewater Triangle,” an area located in southeastern Massachusetts, covering an estimated 200 square miles. For centuries, this area has reportedly been the scene of frightening and unexplained apparitions and sinister occurrences. The Hockomock Swamp, a 5,000 acre wetland, has been a centerpiece for much of this activity, with reports of Bigfoot, Thunderbirds, UFOs, large werewolf-like dogs with glowing red eyes, ghostly human apparitions, “spook lights,” huge snakes, “phantom panthers,” and a 2-3 foot tall troll-like being the Native Americans called Pukwudgies, described as evil magicians who can shape shift into various forms like dogs, birds, and insects. The Algonquian word for Hockomock was associated with our word for “devil,” and they reportedly viewed the area as very sacred and sometimes evil. On Grassy Island, in the Hockomock Swamp, archaeologists found an 8,000-year old Indian burial.

Horror novelist Stephen King would certainly find plenty of creative material for his fictional dramas from the innumerable stories collected by the author of this intriguing book. The Bridgewater Triangle region also has, it appears, a disproportionately high crime rate, which includes unusual human disappearances, ritualistic murders, and bizarre crimes…and even reports of zombies attacking people!

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Wolf and White Eagle Indian Tales

by Priscilla Garduno Wolf and Paul White Eagle

E-Book Time, LLC • 6598 Pumpkin Road • Montgomery, AL 36108

2007, 110 pages, $8.95 • ISBN: 978-1-59824-746-6

Reviewed by Brent Raynes

This book, co-written by Priscilla Garduno Wolf of Apache and Spanish ancestry and who lives near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Paul White Eagle, Chief of the Cherokee Ahniyvwiya Indian Tribe of Grassy, Missouri, together have presented a collection of delightful Indian tales. This unique and fascinating collection of stories shared by these two noted storytellers and authors are accounts handed down through generations of Native American storytellers, as well as family recollections, like Priscilla’s own humorous memory of a personal childhood incident she wrote up entitled, “Birth of a Storyteller and the Red Rooster.” It brought back memories of my own childhood rooster encounters! Priscilla’s “The Legend Story of the Crystal Weather Dolls and Medicine Woman White Wolf” will fascinate those looking for connections between ancient legends and the Star People.

In addition, these stories, with such titles as The Rock Giants, Legend of the Buffalo and the White Eagle, The Rabbit Ran Away, Little Wolf Meets Skunk, and many others, are great reading stories for the entertainment, empowerment and enrichment of the young imaginative minds of children everywhere. But regardless of age, there’s something in this book for everyone!

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DVD

Walking Between Worlds: Belonging to None

by Ann Andrews

2008, 60 minute DVD, $24.95

Reality Films

Website: www.reality-entertainment.com

Reviewed by Brent Raynes

Jason Andrews of England has, since an early age, described visitations and even being taken by mysterious small people with large black eyes. Somewhere in his teens he made the decision to let go of the fear and terror and to learn from the experiences. After all, he wasn’t being physically harmed. When he did that the experiences changed. He remembered entering the body of Jason as a baby. He remembered past lives, all the way back to being an energy form.

Though he seems to have abilities that include healing and telepathy, Jason says that he’s not any more special than anyone else. He simply wants to help teach others to become more aware of their true potentials. He explains in the video that each of us is a part of one, that all of us are a part of the whole.

Jason’s mother Ann appears frequently on this video explaining all of the strange events that happened. At first they put some of it down simply to a poltergeist and other parts of it to nightmares. Around age 12 though, they took Jason to clinics and to see a psychiatrist, who ran a series of tests and determined that Jason was not mentally disturbed or psychotic in any way. He was quite normal!

Special effects and dramatic recreations are also included in this thought-provoking video account. Jason explained that he has some 15 implants located in different areas of his body. Those implants, he stated, help to keep him healthy. Again he explained that many other so-called “abductees” simply don’t understand what is going on and are allowing the fear factor to rule their lives rather than to embrace the experiences and letting go of the fear.