A productive day today. Well, I did a few things. Not quite work, but more things I enjoy doing.
Went and saw the movie Imaginary. Ok, but not great. Had my usual daily chore of an hour’s video review time, going through investigation footage from recent sessions. It’s interesting what you see while repeating the investigation experience via watching it on video. Things stand out that weren’t noticed while in the moment.
Thirdly, I sat and finished off a good full read of a book I was given last year at Parameet in the UK.
Restless Realm: A truthful and Realistic view of the Modern Paranormal realm
by Barry R Frankish.
It was actually published in 2020 and I have had it on my ”to-get” list since. Fortunately, I finally got to grab a copy and meet the man face-to-face at Parameet 2023. Two birds, one stone? He even signed it for me.I had a skim-through on the plane back home and read a few chapters. It is a good book and delivers some good sound and common sense advice, plus a few essential reality checks. Barry keeps it grounded, rational, and practical and doesn’t soil itself by entering the usual unfounded paranormal fluff of demons and delusions usually played out for a (let’s face it) naive and maybe a bit gullible audience. Those are led by much wishful thinking and a misguided trust that what they are told by many others in the field is fact and truth.
Barry is a lot like me in a few ways, I think, in his approach. He knows there’s something to this, and he acknowledges that there are things we are yet to understand, but he also acknowledges that many seemingly supernatural occurrences more than likely have a mundane and rational explanation.
True paranormal activity is very rare, sporadic, and often happens when we aren’t expecting it.
One fact I’ve discovered in all my time doing this is that the more you learn about the paranormal and how it works, the fewer paranormal experiences you tend to have. The paranormal can truly become just normal, in many cases.
The three lines in the first few introductory pages say volumes.
”The paranormal realm. More questions than answers.
Do we truly know what we are talking about?”
His opinions and viewpoints are upfront, honest, and realistic.
There are stories of locations and landmarks around his hometown of Doncaster, tips on investigating on a budget, and his thoughts on today’s popular fad gadgets.
If you are looking for an easy-to-read guide that covers many bases, tells it like it is, and doesn’t scam you into a false reality with the standard (and tired) pop-cultural cliches and misinformation, this one is a good start.
My only minor grind is that it wasn’t long enough.
I would’ve liked to have read more description, detail, and substance to the stories and heard more of his personal thoughts, and opinions, as the topics are perfectly chosen and the subject itself so vast.
Barry, if you read this, please consider Volume Two!
– Mark
