We’ve been asked a few times to recommend books for new, intermediate and advanced ghost hunters. Well, here it is.

Update (March 7, 2019): New list of books available!

We didn’t put this list together with any sort of priority or ranking in mind. We just listed the 10 or so books we think are most useful for ghost hunters.

Ghostly Activities’ Best Ghost Hunting Books List

“The Other Side: A Teen’s Guide to Ghost Hunting and the Paranormal,” by Marley Gibson, Patrick Burns, and Dave Shrader

If there were a CliffsNotes version of a ghost hunting book, this would be it. Marley Gibson is the main author and she does a great job of cutting out the crap and getting right to the details. It’s easy to follow and filled with good information. She does crack a few bad jokes that would appeal to her target audience, teens. The book focuses on ghosts with a few nuggets thrown in about psychic phenomena. It’s less than 100 pages, so it’s a quick and useful read.

“Ghost Hunters Research Guide to Free Internet Resources,” by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox

This book is exactly what it sounds like and we’re so happy someone listed all these research sites. It’s not a how-to-ghost-hunt book; it’s a how-to-research a suspected haunt and identify a spirit. You use it to find real estate, archival, criminal, grave records and more. This is a must-have.

“The Best of Ghosts Caught on Film,” by Dr. Melvyn Willin with Jim Eaton

We wouldn’t call this a ghost hunting book, but a training book. We used it to look at ghostly images and try to debunk them. It trains your eyes, so you can say an image is a matrix, pollen orb or something natural.

“The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits,” by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

A must-have for your collection. It’s filled with history, phantoms, hell hounds, and all sorts of wickedness. If you need to look up a ghostly subject, it’s probably in this book. Ms. Guiley has many great books, but this is by far the standard for all things ghostly. She’s British, so it has a strong focus across the pond, but it’s still great for American ghost hunters.

“Strange Frequencies: A Practical Guide to Paranormal Technology,” by Craig Telesha

There aren’t many books about ghost hunting tech. Mr. Telesha’s book does a fine job of telling you how the tech works and how to use it correctly. I usually reference this book when I get a new piece of equipment. He reviews some equipment that you’d only find in an antique store, but that just shows you ghost hunting has been around a loooooong time.

“Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries,” by Benjamin Radford

I think this book should be called, “How to Debunk Anything Paranormal.” This book is for Doubting Thomases, skeptics of all paranormal things. Believe me – I’m not one of them. I like this book because it gives a realistic, natural perspective on ghost hunting, UFOs and cryptozoology. I think it’s indispensable. Saleen won’t touch this book with a 10-foot pole.

“Ghost Hunting For Beginners,” by Rich Newman

We always recommend this one as the best newbie ghost hunter book. It’s clearly written and filled with good advice. We believe Mr. Newman’s real-life ghost hunting stories illustrate the best practices. He covers all the important things you need to know in your first year of ghost hunting. These topics include equipment, identifying a haunt, forming a group and collecting evidence.

“Picture Yourself Ghost Hunting,” by Christopher Balzano

If we had to use one book to teach new ghost hunters, this would be it. Essentially, it’s a text-book with 3 ghost hunts recorded on DVD. We like the color pictures and redundancy of information to help you learn faster. Mr. Balzano does a good job of covering all the ghostly topics for junior ghost hunters. The ghost hunts on the DVD are really boring; that’s because ghost hunting can be boring. You sit there for hours, waiting for one little flicker on your EMF meter. All new ghost hunters need to accept it.

“Chasing Graveyard Ghosts: Investigations of Haunted and Hallowed Ground,” by Melba Goodwyn

This is probably the most thorough book written about graveyard ghost hunting. We recommend it because the best training happens in graveyards. Ms. Goodwyn lists 20+ spirits you could meet, how to tell personality characteristics from tombstones, the different gravestones and tombs, and how to communicate with spirits in a cemetery. It’s also packed with her personal stories with these spirits.

“The Ghost Hunter’s Survival Guide,” by Michelle Belanger

Ms. Belanger is a well-known author of paranormal subjects. We think this is her finest work. This book focuses on protection techniques against psychic attacks and energy draining. It’s written with a mix of technical writing and narrative journalism. You will learn a lot of protection techniques from this book. We highly recommend it.

Any Ghost Book by Fiona Broome

Fiona Broome has written a series of ghost hunting books, “Fiona’s Ghost Hunting Guides.” If we could start over a pick a ghostly sensei, it would be Fiona. Her writing style is very simple and conversational, and she tells you when any of her ideas are open to debate. Anyway, Ms. Broome has written a few books and offers free advice on her website, www.ghosts101.com.

These are books by Fiona you should own:

“Is Your House Haunted?” “Ghost Hunting in Haunted Cemeteries” “101 Ghost Hunting Questions – Answered” “Ley Lines – An Introduction for Ghost Hunters” “Ghosts – What They Are and What They Aren’t”

Okay, that brings us to the end of the list. There are still plenty of great books out there. We think the following lists of authors really know their ghostly shit and you should check them out:

Jeff Belanger

Troy Taylor

Lloyd Auerbach

Deonna Kelli Sayed

Melissa Martin Ellis

Image sources: Amazon.com and chris_kennard123 @ PhotoBucket.com