Review: Chasing Sprits by Nick Groff

Title: Chasing Spirits: Behind the scenes adventures with TV’s hit Ghost Adventures Crew

Published: Allen & Unwin March 2013

Status: Read from March 08 to 09, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Allen & Unwin}

My Thoughts:

Chasing Spirits is the story behind the popular ‘documentary’ show, Ghost Adventures, that investigates haunted locations around the world. Currently in it’s fifth season on The Travel Channel, it is hosted by Nick Groff, Zak Bagans and Aaron Goodwin. Even though I hadn’t heard of the show, I was looking forward to reading Chasing Spirits as I have a fascination for the paranormal. I find the idea of things that go bump in the night intriguing, though if I was ever to confront a ghost I would run screaming in the opposite direction (and I am completely incapable of watching any of the Paranormal Activity movie franchises).

In Chasing Spirits, Nick Groff shares how his childhood experiences, including a near death experience and an encounter with a menacing ghostly figure collided with his love of film in his college years to conceive the idea for paranormal investigation documentary. As amateur filmmakers, Nick, Zak and Aaron borrowed the cash to upgrade their equipment, talked their way into known haunted locations and devoted themselves to the project. The documentary was picked up by the Sci Fi Channel and was the seed for the television series to follow.

The behind the scenes detail of how Ghost Adventures evolved will probably be of interest fans of the show who have gotten to ‘know’ Nick but I found myself wading through it in order to get to the parts that interested me specifically. I think had I been familiar with the show (I don’t have Pay TV, i.e. Cable TV, where it is exclusively shown in Australia) I might have enjoyed the whole book more instead I found myself skimming his complains about editing and focusing on his accounts of his interactions with the paranormal.

I didn’t really like the structure of the book. I found the insertion of both the Q&A and the location history text boxes distracting and thought the information could have easily been worked into the main text, or more carefully placed.

The impact of Nick’s accounts in the book are much stronger when combined with visual evidence. I was disappointed to find a handful of photos of Nick as a child and on location but no photos or stills from encounters. However I spent quite a while after I had finished the book browsing the Ghost Adventures website and viewing the videos available that complement the incidents Nick writes about.

Even though I think Chasing Spirits is probably a book more for fans of the Ghost Adventures series, a reader with an idle interest in similar shows, or paranormal investigation, should find themselves entertained.