John PinkneyReseñas

A collection of well put together, detailed summaries of some of the strangest and most baffling mysteries you will ever hear about. Clear concise writing, with further examples described for each mystery, makes this a very interesting read.

This is a very nicely put together book exploring unexplained phenomena. Some books of this nature have an amateurish feel, but this is a smooth and professional read. A large variety of experiences are recounted in a well-organised layout, in a comfortable writing style that does not strive to be spooky (beyond stating what occurred) or sensationalist. It certainly has me thinking about the scattering of unusual things I've experienced in my life...

The stories were fine, though some were a bit creepy (and not in a scary way), but they take place in Australia and I didn't recognize any of the places. That took away from the stories.

The sequel to the popular "Great Australian Mysteries", "Great Australian Mysteries 2" returns to the topic of Australian strangeness, although sadly it seems that Pinkney ran out of peak Australian strangeness and at times had to dip into the "not overly strange" and the "woman saw a strange light in the sky so it must be a UFO" types of "strangeness".

As in "Great Australian Mysteries", Pinkney relates a number of intriguing stories, including unsolved murders (Wanda Beach and Easey St), the truly confusing (what the hell was John Friedrich attempting to do with his militia?) and the usual "strange lights in the sky" stories to pad out the book. While certainly worth a read as an introduction to Australian mysteries, be aware that most of these stories are covered more extensively and/or better in other books.½

With western pop culture media concentrating on American-based strangeness it's easy to forget that really odd things happen in other countries. Luckily we have books like "Great Australian Mysteries" to remind us of the strangeness of Australia.

With our strange history (Mark Twain called Australian history a collection "of the most beautiful lies"), there is enough material to fill several books, which Pinkney has done (also check out his sequel "More Great Australian Mysteries"). This book includes many of the famous Australian mysteries which would be in any tome covering Australian mysteries, including Prime Minister Harold Holt's disappearance, the sad case of the Beaumont children's disappearance, the Taman Shud case and the Frederick Valentich case, which some have claimed is UFO-connected.

While there weren't any cases here that I wasn't already aware of, Pinkney filled in some gaps in my knowledge of them. Of course, I'm somewhat obsessive about Australian true life mysteries so my prior knowledge base was probably somewhat more than the average reader who picks this book up. And after putting it down, the average reader will think "Australia's even stranger than I thought."

Recommended.

Set in Australia, Robin goes to stay with her Great Aunt Alicia in an old manor house in her Christmas holidays. While she is there she finds herself interacting with the ghosts of 4 children from days gone by.. or is she the ghost herself?
Beguiling and whimsical, but the ending falls rather flat.

As with most general books on the paranormal, this book does not go into enough detail. However, the stories are more in-depth than others I have read. I am impressed by the sheer number of stories the author was able to gather and it was refreshing to read such a high percentage of Australian content - something that is hard to come by in a field that concentrates on the UK and US.

A Paranormal File covers a wide range of topics and includes genuine photographs of spirits and UFO's. Unusually, Pinkney also includes a number of events experienced by Australian public figures. Overall, this book is worth reading if you are interested in paranormal phenomena in general, and Australian phenomena in particular.

Collection of strange but "true" stories of such things as UFOs, disappearing boats, monsters,ghosts, etc.etc. My favorite ones are p.100 -102 about the dog who saved a boy during the Thailand Tsunami, p.51 -53 The message in the bottle coincidences and p.200 -203 about the Beaconsfield Mine disaster and Brant communicating with his wife Rachel.
Easy to read. Boys will love this.