Ghostly Reads
by Cindy Ackley Nunn
So , you like a good ghost story , do you ? Get a thrill out of being scared witless ? Enjoy that little cold tingle you can feel running up and down your spine while sitting in bed with the lights down low , the book in your hands offering chilling tales of true life hauntings ? If that ' s the case I have enough ghostly reads to recommend that will keep you up all night for weeks on end , with the lights on and your security blanket pulled up to your little chinny chin chin .
As the founder of an international paranormal investigations team I was privileged to meet and work with many other interesting people involved in the field . Darren W . Ritson is one of them , and we have maintained a great friendship ever since our first meeting . As you can imagine I also met a lot of people working in paranormal investigations who were less than professional and at times very questionable . Darren was one of the few I came across who investigated and researched with honesty , integrity and a critical eye when analyzing evidence . Over the years he has written prolifically about his experiences in the paranormal field and the things he has personally witnessed . If Darren says it happened , it really did happen . He doesn ' t play mind games and he doesn ' t make things up . For these reasons alone I am more than happy to promote his books , which in my opinion have added legitimacy to the serious pursuit of ghosts and the paranormal . The other reason ? I personally love reading his books . Quite often they are imbued with Darren ' s charming sense of humor , while at other times they are quite serious due to the particular content , such as when dealing with the often criticized South Shields Poltergeist case . Darren , and co-author Mike Hallowell , took a lot of serious , and at times quite nasty , flack from skeptics of the paranormal , as well as from others in the field who at one time were considered friends and / or esteemed colleagues . But the reality is that Darren and Mike put in a lot of their own personal time and resources , for free , to help out this family who were being tormented by something unexplainable . Just like one will find in any other field there is a lot of competition , backbiting and disagreement within the paranormal community .
Darren is not afraid to show fear . When he feels an emotion during an investigation he feels no need to hide it . This is a man who I have personally seen run “ full steam ahead ” into a door when being chased by a dark shadow form that was witnessed by a large group of people . I have heard him scream like a girl while frantically searching in the darkness for a light switch . Okay , I admit that in this case he wasn ' t scared by anything paranormal and I take full ( and joyful ) blame at being the one to cause him to scream like a girl , because I set him up with a “ Gotcha !” moment that was truly priceless . We still laugh about it today . But don ' t feel too bad for Darren . He more than got even with me later that night at our haunted location , causing me to scream even louder and run off down the stairs with my arms flailing about in fear . Touché Daz ! Good times indeed ! Darren is also one of the best to have around to calm others when their fear becomes almost hysterical . At these times , no matter what is happening , he is able to put aside his own feelings of fear or trepidation and reassure the other person that they are safe . There have also been times when he should have been scared but instead was steady as a rock , and like St . George ready to slay the mighty dragon , he waltzed right in to the dark ready to do battle . He ' s a great guy , and an even better writer .
Darren W . Ritson hails from the North East of England . Not only is he a prolific writer of true paranormal and ghostly encounters , he is also highly accomplished in the martial arts , and had the honor of training and fighting at the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo . As if that isn ' t enough , he is also a very talented photographer .
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