Title: Haunted Files From The Edge
Author: Philip J. Imbrogno
Genre: Non-Fiction, True Haunting
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
Publication Date: August 8th 2012
Rating: Did not Finish
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Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for honest review.

Haunted Files from the Edge features gripping accounts of run-ins with angry spirits, phantasms, monsters, and poltergiests. It includes investigations of notorious specters, haunted places, and legends such as the Curse of Owlsbury, the Curse of the Green Witch, Sleepy Hollow, and the Ghosts of the Alamo. Using state-of-the art scientific tools and special imaging techniques, noted paranormal investigator Philip J. Imbrogno was able to find rational explanations for 73 percent of the hundreds of high strangeness cases he investigated, but a large number still defied explanation. These mystifying investigations are the ones included here. Each case is supported by eyewitness testimony and photographic evidence.

I’ve never been as nervous about posting a review before as I’ve been about posting this one. Why? Because in the first time for as long as I’ve had this blog, which is little over two years, I didn’t finish this book. I couldn’t. Believe me, I wanted to. I gave up in three fourth because I simply couldn’t take it anymore.

This isn’t the first true haunting book I’ve read. Up till now, I pretty much enjoyed all the ones I’ve read, some more than others. I’m skeptical about the paranormal, but I believe most of the things I read up to some degree. This book? It sounds about as unbelievable as if I’d walk downstairs and find an alien hiding in my fridge.

Talking about aliens, that’s one of the other things that’s wrong with this book. I went in expecting to read a book about hauntings, and up to some degree, the book is about just that. But for some reason, the author always wants to refer to aliens. I have no idea why he does this. It seems like aliens are his true expertise, but that doesn’t mean he should keep referring to them with every turning page. I also didn’t buy the alien explanations. Even when it’s obvious there are a thousand more fitting explanations that make a lot more sense, the author brings it back to aliens. I found this very annoying, and after a while, I couldn’t take it anymore.

For a while, in the middle, the book got better, but toward the second half, it got worse. The ups and downs of this book were so huge I had trouble reading on, and eventually quit. I never quit on books, so this is obviously a very bad sign. I don’t know. Aliens never interested me, and it isn’t something I’d want to read about (except in fiction) so maybe it’s that. Since this is supposedly a book about hauntings (as it says so in the title, Haunted Files From The Edge I was suspecting to read about ghostly investigations, not about the author’s speculations about the existence of aliens.

On top of the constant references to aliens, the writing style is also a bit bland. Some passages were so boring I had to skip through them. I had absolute trouble with both the author’s credibility and his writing style – it just wasn’t for me.

Then I came upon this distracting piece of news regarding the author’s credentials, which, apparently are all fake. While this may not necessarily reflect on whether his work is fake or not, it certainly refrained me from going back to this book and reading it till the end. If I really liked it, I probably wouldn’t have cared, but this literally drove me over the edge. Writing paranormal non-fiction may be a tough field to break through, but faking one’s been to university and in the army isn’t doing anyone any good, least of all one’s self.

I feel bad I didn’t like this book as much as I hoped I would, but I always vouched to be honest on this blog, and I’m doing just that. I’ve read and enjoyed a large share of paranormal non-fiction books. This one just wasn’t right for me. The constant referrals to aliens and the fake credentials pushed me away, as well as the writign style.

If you’re a fan of true haunting novels, you may want to give Haunted Files From The Edge a try, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you’re looking for better books in the genre, check out Mysterious Minnesota and Restless in Peace. I read both these books as well and enjoyed them a lot more. Reviews of these are coming at the end of August.