Haunted Homes: Trues Stories of Paranormal Investigations - Mia Dolan

Review of Haunted Homes- True Stories of Paranormal Investigations

I bought this book from a bargain book shop, having seen the television series and also having a bit of a fascination for such things I decided to treat myself.

The first thing you realise is that Mia Dolan, billed as Britain's most famous psychic, is a normal, down to earth person who eats, sleeps and goes to the toilet, just like the rest of us. There are no airs and graces about her, the day to day details of her life, such as what she had for dinner are mentioned along with the fascinating reports of hauntings and how she dealt with them.

She isn't a great literary writer, but you can clearly hear here own voice coming through as she writes exactly as she speaks.

There is an introduction in which Mia (and I now feel that I can call her that) describes how the series came about, how her early life led to where she is today and how it feels to be on the other side of the camera. Each chapter is then formatted in the same way with a description of each haunted house, the family affected and the story of the visit when the house was cleared and the program made.

The team consisted of a team of professional paranormal investigators, a sceptic researcher whose job it was to find rational explanations of each event, the film crew, make up and Mia herself.

When we saw the series on TV we remarked that we could tell where she had bought her clothes (Evans) and reading the book we could see why she wore what she did, some clothing of hers was not suitable for the lighting and an assistant rushed out to get alternatives.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, this is worth a read. It is very easy to find rational explanations for all the events covered but you have to ask yourself why every culture and society in world history has their tradition of life after death, spirits, and the paranormal.

It could be wishful thinking, making us feel less fearful about death or there could actually be something in it.
I personally have seen a spiritualist who came up with details about my private life and the link with a now deceased person which she could not have known unless she had communicated with that person or was very good at guesswork- and I mean VERY good, she knew things that nobody else alive would know.

Mia Dolan has two other books in print, The Gift, which covers her early life and Mia's World, written in association with a journalist called Rosalyn Chissick who she is trying to teach her psychic skills to.

This won't be everybody's cup of tea and many will be scornful. Others will be interested in finding out more.