Fear: A Ghost Hunter's Story [Paperback]

Kriss Stephens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

Cemeteries, abandoned asylums, prisons, ships, hospitals, battlefields, caves, mines, office buildings, and homes are the sites of paranormal occurrences in this collection of stories from a ghost hunter by trade. Beginning with a childhood spent in a haunted house, this personal account includes episodes from traveling and exploring haunted places, including stories of hearing disembodied voices, watching balls of dancing light, and being physically injured by spirits. The stories are corroborated by other participants in the ghost hunts as well as photographs. Guidelines for aspiring ghost hunters and tips for capturing apparitions on film are included.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kriss Stephens lives in the New Orleans area. When not investigating hauntings for her next book or speaking at conferences, she can be found in the woods looking for her latest obsession; bigfoot.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Atriad Press (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974039446
• ISBN-13: 978-0974039442
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, October 10, 2005

By 

Dennis Phillips "The Book Friar" (Bulls Gap, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fear: A Ghost Hunter's Story (Paperback)

Most books of this type, including the very best of the genre, are for the most part second hand accounts of ghostly encounters. In other words, the author has interviewed people who have had a run in with a ghost and the author then relates the story in book form. On occasion one will run into a book that was written by a person who had been closely involved with the haunt in question but even then the author usually just happened to move into the wrong house. Kriss Stephens on the other hand, actively hunts ghosts and has taken her team to some of the most haunted places in the world. The only other author of ghost books that I have run into who does this is Hans Holzer who is considered by many to be the foremost authority in this field. Dr. Holzer however comes nowhere near Ms. Stephens when it comes to contagious enthusiasm for the subject at hand. While reading this book one can just feel the enthusiasm and excitement bursting off of the page and it is hard not to get caught up in the author's excitement.

It turns out that Stephens grew up in a haunted house and it seems that she has been chasing ghosts ever since. Working with several TV shows including MTV's "Fear" has allowed her the opportunity to travel extensively in search of her elusive prey and has given her access to areas that most people will never see. She seems to be quite fearless in the pursuit of her goal as she wanders around in places that most people, myself included, would fear to tread. In the process she has encountered numerous entities and has even been physically attacked on occasion, including a pair of scratches that are shown in a photograph.

The photographs are another thing that makes this book so spectacular. There is page after page of photos taken at the sites being investigated and many show a large number of anomalies that just shouldn't be there. Even the pictures that are quite normal help to add to the ever so creepy atmosphere of this book. I do wish that she had managed to get a shot of Old Green Eyes at Chickamauga however because I have always wondered just what he looks like. But alas, even this author wasn't brave enough to take on this green-eyed monster. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention this book's modern take on the Bell Witch which provided a very refreshing look at the possible modern day activities of this most famous of hauntings.

There were only a couple of things that I would like to see change in future editions of this book, the first being a good editing to remove several typos. I would also like to see something along the lines of a cast list because it is sometimes hard to keep up with all of the author's ghost hunting friends. Finally, a small caption under some of the pictures in which the anomaly is hard to see might help out some of us with old and weak eyes. If these minor problems are addressed this book will in my opinion belong in the top five percent of all ghost books ever written.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Now this is just too boring, November 29, 2005

By 

Stefan Isaksson "www.stefanisaksson.se" (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fear: A Ghost Hunter's Story (Paperback)

Kriss Stephens knows one thing for sure: ghosts (whatever they are or however you choose to define them) exist, and she really knows how to find them. And take their pictures. She refers to herself as a "paranormal investigator and a professional photographer", and FEAR is the story about some of the hundreds of ghost-hunts she's done over the years.

There is, in Stephen's world, no such thing as a world without ghosts, and there's no point trying to prove their existence, because, well, they exist. She's very sure about that. What's worth investigating, though, is how and why a certain location becomes haunted. And yes, I agree, those are definitely questions worth asking. But just make sure not to do it they way Kriss Stephens does it.

Because I don't think I've ever seen a so-called paranormal book of such low quality. There's no reason doubting that Stephens believes in what she does; she's both honest and motivated, but honestly, if she's really a "paranormal investigator" and especially a "professional photographer", then my parents' dog could be that too.

The book is absolutely packed with black and white pictures, and they're all just as boring, pointless, uninteresting, and stupid. In each new chapter, Stephens alone or together with a group of "colleagues" goes to a haunted location, and wherever she goes she has some sort of ghost-related "paranormal" experience. As soon as she arrives at a new site, be that a house with a violent history, a battlefield from the American civil war, a cemetery and so on, she starts taking picture with her digital camera, and she always ends up with photographic proofs of the presence of ghosts.

Well, then, what are those proofs of hers? Orbs, orbs, and more orbs. In other words, perfectly natural phenomena that has nothing whatsoever to do with the world of the paranormal. And in case it's not orbs then it's fuzzy details or smoke or something else very much mundane that in Stephens' eyes turn into ghosts.

And that's how the story goes throughout all of the book's 234 pages. More or less every single page has at least one picture, and most of the pictures don't even show anything interesting at all. The book is not one bit investigative, there's no critical thinking to be found, and I doubt that I've ever read a book where the author has been as gullible as Kriss Stephens.

Yet, I still had a good time reading it, because gullibility can be extremely entertaining. Still, I cannot help but to feel sorry for Stephens, who apparently lives in her own little fantasy world where ghosts almost seem to outnumber real life humans.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring!!, November 26, 2005

By 

Dennis C. Masters - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fear: A Ghost Hunter's Story (Paperback)

zzzzz! I was really disappointed! The book offers nothing new, interesting or exciting. The author claims to be a professional photographer as well as a ghost hunter, but I didn't see any photos in the book except some orbs, mist and a vortex or two. Considering the fact that the author has visited some of the most haunted places in the world, I would expect a more detailed and believable account of her experiences. In checking out her web sites I found the same information and photos which that were in the book, which left me wondering why anyone would choose to buy it.