Eerie Edmonton by Rhonda Parrish

Find out the creepy things going bump in the night throughout the city of Edmonton in this entertaining non fiction book.

Rhonda Parrish plays skeptic to Rona Anderson’s believer as they investigate and explore hauntings throughout the Canadian city. In the first part of the book, the focus is on sightings in public buildings. Rhonda details the history of the area, the reports of paranormal activity and possible reasons for it, before describing any experiences she and Rona had while visiting the spot. The second part of the book is full of first hand accounts of spooky experiences of the city’s inhabitants, gathered by Rhonda through a call for stories on social media.

Rhonda’s original idea for the book was to play Scully to paranormal investigator Rona’s Mulder, where they would journey to the sites without knowing about the history and record their impressions before researching the history around the building’s reputation. Unfortunately this wasn’t possible as Edmonton is quite a small city and Rona had already visited, or given ghost tours around, the various locations with her husband.

I enjoyed learning more about Edmonton, a place I knew little about apart from the Fact it’s the home town of actor Nathan Fillion, and Rhonda’s writing made the book for me. Her descriptions of the locations and her impartial account of events made a subject that could have easily been sensational more grounded and intriguing.

The second half of the book, concerning the experiences of various citizens is perhaps more exciting, with special mention to the tales of a lady named Tanya who has had encounters with spirits her entire life and whose family stories could fill a book on their own.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t take to Rona Anderson. Her best evidence of paranormal activity seemed to be conveniently mislaid or destroyed and unable to share with Rhonda. I also took issue with some of her behavior and advice described within the book.

All in all, a fun way to pass time that makes you think about whether you’ve had any paranormal encounters of your own. I’m sure it would be even more enjoyable if you lived in or around Edmonton.

I award Eerie Edmonton…