Since my significant other is another paranormal researcher (but mainly a UFOlogist) I read (or at least pretend to read) many of her books and one caught my attention for title alone. Shockingly Close to the Truth - Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist by a gent named James W. Moseley and Karl T. Pflock. Mr. Moseley is one of the VERY few of us 'serious' researchers who take the phenomena seriously and the people involved with the research, not-so-seriously.
"Irreverent" would be a good word to describe him.
Not often would I STRONGLY recommend an up and coming Ghost Researcher to read a UFO book but THIS is an exception. Mr. Moseley does not trot out case after case trying to proclaim them either as a "hoax" or "absolute truth" like most books do, he trots out the researchers, scientists and 'sceptics' for you to watch their antics and boy is it worth it.
The real reason I bring this up is NOT to say "Guess what everybody? The 'Ghost Guy' is going UFO on ya!" (far from it!) but because this book says "It's a HOBBY guys! ENJOY it! Don't be so SERIOUS all the time!" Like I say, take the witness and the phenomena seriously, NEVER take yourself too seriously!
The other reason is he mentions the "Klass Kurse". Philip Klass is a scion of CSICOP and a true 'so-called-sceptic' (read: debunker, first class) who, being quite elderly (and although ancient, still with us today,) sent an "open letter cum last will and testament" to Moseley's Saucer Smear newsletter which, sadly, although definitely 'curmudgeonly' is VERY accurate and something everyone should read and think about.
I'm reproducing it here hoping that Mr. Moseley won't mind...
Substitute UFOs for "ghosts" and remove the U.S. Government bit and it does, in many ways, apply.
Sue was asking me if I thought that this "Klass Kurse" was accurate and true and all paranormal investigators (UFOlogists like herself and ghost researchers like me) are just forever spinning their wheels.
My answer (which, in many ways does not apply to myself or the GHRS as a whole) was "Of course".
In my eyes, every answer about the paranormal we THINK we come up with usually leads to more questions. The answers for those questions usually lead to even more questions. Basically, depending how you see it, a never ending circle of hypothesis and ideas... and that ain't a bad thing.
Granted, in the ghost field, if you were ONLY looking for answers to the various 'life after death' models, we all will have first hand experience at some point but so far, no one has come back and written the definitive book... yet. (...and no, I'm not intending to write this book myself in the VERY distant, far off future! When I'm gone, I have NO intention of producing any freshly written posthumous tomes!)
I have to admit, I'm VERY happy with my pursuit of ghostly history, stories, legends and yes, even the more 'scientific' things we do here at the GHRS but yes, the "Klass Kurse" applies to us all. The way to beat the 'kurse' if you ask me is to ensure that you learn as much as you can and enjoy the ride! Those folks, and I don't count myself among this group, that are in search of absolute proof of ghosts should realise that the old advertisement for cruising is very correct... "Half the fun is getting there." and if you never get there, make sure you have much more than half your fun on the journey.
Before parting this note, another GOOD reason to read Moseley's book is that HONESTLY, some stories he tells in it are SO funny, I literally found it hard to breath for laughing out loud while reading. The "Sex With Bigfoot" report is DEFINITELY worth the price of the book alone!
Us whacky paranormal researchers... We ALL (myself included) need to learn NOT to take ourselves so seriously!
"Irreverent" would be a good word to describe him.
Not often would I STRONGLY recommend an up and coming Ghost Researcher to read a UFO book but THIS is an exception. Mr. Moseley does not trot out case after case trying to proclaim them either as a "hoax" or "absolute truth" like most books do, he trots out the researchers, scientists and 'sceptics' for you to watch their antics and boy is it worth it.
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The other reason is he mentions the "Klass Kurse". Philip Klass is a scion of CSICOP and a true 'so-called-sceptic' (read: debunker, first class) who, being quite elderly (and although ancient, still with us today,) sent an "open letter cum last will and testament" to Moseley's Saucer Smear newsletter which, sadly, although definitely 'curmudgeonly' is VERY accurate and something everyone should read and think about.
I'm reproducing it here hoping that Mr. Moseley won't mind...
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF PHILIP J. KLASS:
To ufologists who publicly criticize me,... or who even think unkind thoughts about me in private, I do hereby leave an bequeath:
THE UFO CURSE:
No matter how long you live you will never know any more about UFOs than you know today. You will never know any more about what UFOs really are, or where they come from. You will never know any more about what the U.S. Government really knows about UFOs than you know today. As you lie on your own death-bed, you will be as mystified about UFOs as you are today. And you will remember this curse.
Substitute UFOs for "ghosts" and remove the U.S. Government bit and it does, in many ways, apply.
Sue was asking me if I thought that this "Klass Kurse" was accurate and true and all paranormal investigators (UFOlogists like herself and ghost researchers like me) are just forever spinning their wheels.
My answer (which, in many ways does not apply to myself or the GHRS as a whole) was "Of course".
In my eyes, every answer about the paranormal we THINK we come up with usually leads to more questions. The answers for those questions usually lead to even more questions. Basically, depending how you see it, a never ending circle of hypothesis and ideas... and that ain't a bad thing.
Granted, in the ghost field, if you were ONLY looking for answers to the various 'life after death' models, we all will have first hand experience at some point but so far, no one has come back and written the definitive book... yet. (...and no, I'm not intending to write this book myself in the VERY distant, far off future! When I'm gone, I have NO intention of producing any freshly written posthumous tomes!)
I have to admit, I'm VERY happy with my pursuit of ghostly history, stories, legends and yes, even the more 'scientific' things we do here at the GHRS but yes, the "Klass Kurse" applies to us all. The way to beat the 'kurse' if you ask me is to ensure that you learn as much as you can and enjoy the ride! Those folks, and I don't count myself among this group, that are in search of absolute proof of ghosts should realise that the old advertisement for cruising is very correct... "Half the fun is getting there." and if you never get there, make sure you have much more than half your fun on the journey.
Before parting this note, another GOOD reason to read Moseley's book is that HONESTLY, some stories he tells in it are SO funny, I literally found it hard to breath for laughing out loud while reading. The "Sex With Bigfoot" report is DEFINITELY worth the price of the book alone!
Us whacky paranormal researchers... We ALL (myself included) need to learn NOT to take ourselves so seriously!