Brett Nease became interested in the paranormal when he and his ex-wife stayed at Gettysburg’s Cashtown Inn, which has been featured in videos such as “Ghosts of Gettysburg” and “Haunted Gettysburg.” While staying at the hotel, he heard the sounds of footsteps alongside his bed and watched a cake fly off the dresser. He met Kathy Rothenberger, who shares his interest in the paranormal, about three years ago.

Together, they founded the Paranormal Activity Research Association, or PARA, which specializes in detecting and deciphering Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). According to the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena, EVPs are voices that are detected in electronic devices that cannot be explained with known physical principles. The voices typically utter a few short words in response to a question or comment about occurrences in their environment.

This phenomena is considered a form of after-death communication. Many people confuse EVPs with a haunting, but they are not. A haunting is a recurring paranormal event that is experienced by different people (or groups) at different times.

Nease approaches each of his cases with a healthy dose of skepticism and hates the term “ghost hunting,” which to him, smacks of amateurism and sensationalism. “Ninety percent of what you see on TV is false,” he said in an interview. He also refutes another popular paranormal myth in regard to conjuring spirits. They don’t come when you call them, but communicate on their own terms.

On a good day, Nease and Rothenberger will receive 20 to 25 EVP recordings. Then their work begins.

Lance Segundo’s midlife crisis takes a bizarre twist when he catches a glimpse of his brother, Art, and sister-in-law while driving down a mountain road. Both are long-dead. When he tries to discuss the incident with his psychiatrist, he is met with skepticism and admonished for mixing alcohol and prescription drugs. He accepts the doctor’s reasoning because there are pieces of his life that he can’t remember, such as why he and his brother had become estranged as well as the reason why he stopped partying with his friends.

Another part of him refuses to believe that the sighting of his brother and sister-in-law was an hallucination. His life takes another twist when he meets Naomi Lake at work. They take an instant liking to each other, which quickly turns into a romantic relationship. When he confides in her about his experience, she helps him try to understand it and face it.

Naomi goes with him to the spot where he saw his brother, but stays behind when she sees Art waiting for him. The brothers slip twenty-five years back in time, when they are trying to hike to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a trip which their father had tried and failed. It is here where we begin to see the other side of Lance Segundo and experience his journey toward redemption.

Overall, this is a very good book. The authors try to cover a lot of ground in terms of the afterlife, the paranormal, spiritualism, and near death experiences. They succeeded, for the most part, although at times I found myself reading information dumps that interfered with the story. Despite this irritation, I was riveted to the story, its supernatural elements, and especially the plot twists. Recommended.

Can you imagine finding one of these things in your garden? This Cane toad was found in a pond outside the northern city of Darwin, Australia. Weighing in at nearly 2 pounds and measuring 15 inches long, this is the largest specimen ever caught.

Australia imported the toads from South America during the 1930s in an effort to control the beetles that were ravaging their northern sugar can plantations. The attempt to control the beetles not only failed but brought more disaster. Cane toads emit a toxic poison that has killed millions of Australia’s wildlife, including snakes and small crocodiles.

A team called Frogwatch is trying to eradicate them with a liquid fertilizer process that will render them nontoxic before they are killed.

Harry Houdini enthralled the world with his feats of magic, most notably his escape acts. Some time in the 1920’s, after his mother died, he gave up his career as a magician and used his talents to expose self-proclaimed psychics and mediums. While his exposes earned him great respect within the academic and scientific communities, he made some powerful enemies with people who believed in spirituality and the paranormal.

His death from peritonitis, stemming from a beating and a subsequent ruptured appendix, was widely accepted. However, some believed that he was poisoned by a group called the “Spiritualists.” Houdini’s great nephew, George Hardeen, wants to have his body exhumed so a forensic team can examine the remains. He and his lawyer were scheduled to appear before a New York judge today.