Mention in new bestseller on Ghosts--Ghostland

I was surprised to see my name mentioned in the newly released Ghostland, An American History of Haunted Places. It has been well received:

Ghost land was one of NPR's Great Reads of 2016

"A lively assemblage and smart analysis of dozens of haunting stories… absorbing…[and] intellectually intriguing.”—The New York Times Book Review

An intellectual feast for fans of offbeat history, Ghostland takes readers on a road trip through some of the country's most infamously haunted places—and deep into the dark side of our history.

I am mentioned in our failed effort to buy Spirit House in Georgetown, NY and turn it into a museum/historic home and spiritual retreat center. Everything was going well until one of our members of the Spirit House Society decided to buy it for herself. Unfortunately, she has made no restorations and this elegant old house is in serious decline.

From Google Books;

"Meanwhile Brown's Temple has vanishingly few stories of ghosts attached to it. In 2009 it went up for sale and money manager turned spiritual healer, Madis Senner attempted to buy the house and return it to its former glory. In a YouTube video he talked about floating orbs (mysterious balls of light that appear to be floating in movies and pictures) that people may find on photographs of the house, but he went on to say that it "is a divine place that has been sacred site for thousands of years. Rather than view it as a haunted place that inspires fear, Senner suggested  that one should "instead put fear aside, and you may well encounter the divine there."

The walls of Brown's Temple retain the imprints of Spiritualism in its very architecture. And if it is truly haunted, then it is haunted not by ghosts and evil spirits so much as by an idea that has vanished; a building left behind, without the animating spirit that inspired its construction.

Regarding the final paragraph. Well.....how can I put.... When Betsy Rangert of the former Seven Rays in Syracuse looked at a picture of Spirit House (Brown's Temple) she laughed hysterically and told me that I have my work cut out. That is, to  clear it up of all that was  lingering unseen around it....Further that the  animating spirit that guided Timothy Brown in the construction of Spirit House, has vanished I beg to disagree.

What I find interesting is what the author Colin Dickey goes on to say:

Spiritualism like Transcendentalism is woven inextricably into the fabric of American consciousness;  much of what we accept as  our canonical culture was influenced by Spiritualism....

Spiritualism may have lost its influence by the end of the 1920's, but it might be more accurate to say that it went mainstream. The percentage of Americans who identify as Spiritual and not as religious has been slowly creeping up ever so slowly in recent years as people turn from organized churches and seek their own spiritual path. Meanwhile out belief in ghosts remains high...73%"

I concur and said so similarly in Sacred Sites in North Star Country, only I called it the New Age. 65% of adult age American's embrace some New Age beliefs. Another birth, or fruit born in greater NYS.

For more pictures go to Spirit House Society Pictures.