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What's going on everybody?
Welcome back to another episode of Talking With The Source.
You've got me tonight, unfortunately.
AJ has a...
Well he said he's not feeling well, but I reckon he's got a medical emergency.
He's either fractured a nasal hair or he has sprained an eyebrow.
One of the two.
I'm not sure which one it is, but he should be back for next week's show.
But I just want to give a quick shout out to the Global Ghost Hunt.
We are coming back.
We've had a successful one in May there.
We are coming back in October.
Go to www.globalgosethunt.com.
See all the details on there.
Get everything you need on there.
Sign up.
Get your team signed up.
Get your location.
Get everything ready and it will be an absolute blast like it was there.
So there's that.
I can't think of anything else.
I'm going to have to shout out really.
Yeah, Talking With The Source.
Yeah.
But anyway, I'm going to go ahead and get started.
I'm going to go ahead and get started.
I'm going to get started.
Anyway, I guess tonight is absolutely fantastic, lady.
Fantastic.
She has upwards of, I'm sure she'll correct me if I'm wrong, 27 books she's written,
paranormal stories and stuff like that.
So without any more interruptions, not that we've had any, but we will bring her on.
So it is welcome to Shani Struthers.
Hello.
Hi there.
Hi.
Hi there.
Oh, it's Shani, by the way.
Everyone says Shani, but it is Shani.
Sorry about that.
Was it right in the 27 mark for the books or?
Yeah, it is around the 27 mark.
Although I'm actually working on my 28th right now and finishing that up.
But yeah, yeah.
I mean, out actually available to buy a 27.
Yeah.
There you go.
You have it now.
Breaking news, there's a 28th one on the way.
So I'm going to start with the usual question we ask everybody.
What got you into the paranormal and interested in the paranormal?
Okay.
Well, my mum got me into paranormal.
She was very much into, should we say the spiritual and made a lifetime study of it,
learning all aspects of the spiritual, good, the bad and the ugly, as we know.
And of course she imparted a lot of knowledge towards me.
And so I was just became very interested in it from a young age.
Plus I have had some paranormal experiences of my own, especially as a child.
You can elaborate now if you want.
Well, I suppose one of the tales I have to tell, I was five, I was in Cornwall on the
beach.
Oh, lovely.
I love Cornwall.
We'll talk about this beforehand.
And I wandered off.
And as you know, on the beaches in Cornwall, the tide comes rushing extremely quickly.
And I got cut off from everyone.
And I was on a rock.
I climbed up on a rock because the sea was just coming in so quickly.
And I knew I was going to die, basically drown.
And I remember looking, I was panicking, but I remember looking at the sea and being, you
know, oh my God, I'm going to drown.
What the hell is that going to be like?
And I was panicking.
And then suddenly there were these two people sitting with me, an older man, an older woman.
And I remember the woman more, she was dressed in like a tweed suit with a pearl necklace,
so strange clothes on the beach.
And they said, look, whatever happens, we want you to know two things.
You won't be alone and it won't hurt.
Okay, we're with you.
And I remember then I looked back out to see as it was all rushing in, I just thought it
will be okay.
Whatever happens, it will be okay.
And I sort of made my peace.
Even though it was just five, I sort of made my peace with the fact that I was going to
drown and I wasn't frightened anymore.
And but the actual is I got rescued.
The lifeboat came around, located me and I got rescued.
And it was only years later when I said, I said to my mom, I said, why did they not rescue
the other two people that were on the rock with me?
Why was it just me?
She said, there was no one with me.
So, but there was, as we know.
But, you know, and just various experiences like that, really.
But more as a child, strange enough.
Or maybe not strange, because I think as a child, you're very open.
You know, your third eye is open, as it were, to the paranormal.
As you get older, other things take over and you become more grounded in the material world,
I suppose.
A lot of things always seem to happen and, you know, us hosts, how we get into it.
And then you ask a lot of guests and stuff how they get into it.
Always seems to be the same thing.
You know, it always seems to start, you know, in childhood and then and progress from there,
you know.
But then they always say that kids are more susceptible.
I think we're just more open as children.
We're more open to it.
But, you know, the shutters haven't come down fully, you know.
Yeah.
We've come, you know, we're born.
So we've come from the other side.
Sort of.
So we're closer to that side than we are to, you know, to this side going through life.
But as I say, yeah, you know, as you get older, it's just, you know, you're bombarded with
so much schoolwork, you know, friends and all that kind of politics that goes with that.
And you become more entrenched, I think, in the material world, possibly going back to
it when you're a bit older and you've got past a certain stage.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Some people remain with it all their lives.
I mean, I came away from it for a while.
And then I went back to it, you know.
Yeah.
But there's nothing wrong with living.
And, you know, we are in a material existence.
There's nothing wrong with living in material existence.
Yeah.
Some of us aren't open.
I was wanting to ask you, first of all, say hello to Ward van der Plaas and also to Charles
Rudd.
How are you doing?
I was wanting to ask you, well, there's two questions and one really.
Obviously, it was how did you get into writing about the paranormal and also your books that
you've written, you know, are they all about true stories or, you know, are some of them
just like just paranormal stories in general that you've written about?
Well, it's a mix of both.
How I got into it, I've been a writer all my life.
I went to university studying English, left university, got a job as a travel writer.
And yeah, I've been a, I was a travel writer for 20 years.
But I always wanted to write about the paranormal, especially the more that I got to know about
it, you know, I wanted to write about it.
And so I did, you know, throughout the year.
So I started writing when I was 40.
And, you know, during that time, you pick up a lot of what people say about the paranormal
and the tales that they have to tell.
And also studying the work of some occultists as well, etc.
The kind of stuff that they discovered during the courses of their lives about the spiritual.
And so that all goes into the books.
So the first book I wrote was this one, which is Psychic Surveys Book One, The Haunting
of Highdown Hall.
And that's part of so far a, is it eight or nine?
Nine book series.
And Psychic Surveys was actually a business idea.
My husband is a structure engineer, does house surveys.
And he went to one where the people that were going to buy it said, and the people that
were selling it were like, what, there's something wrong with this house.
And I wish that we could find out what and clear it before these new people buy it.
And they were quite open with the new people.
And they said, well, we'll do some research and what have you.
And Rob said he'll go away and do some research as well.
It turned out very, very sadly that teenagers hung themselves there.
Very, very sadly.
And she said, this is what people need to know before they're buying places, et cetera.
We need somebody to go in and do like a psychic survey and then clear the place before, try
to clear the place, move, if there's a lingering presence, move it on, or just clear the place
of negative energy.
And my mom said, it was my mom and her colleague who went in and actually did the clearing.
You know, the spiritual cleansing of the place.
And she said, this would be a great business idea.
But of course, it's fraught with difficulties in real life.
But I thought, hang on, this is a great idea for a book, a group of psychics who would
go in and do the psychic cleansings of different properties, you know, and all the sort of
delving into the whys and wherefores of why that particular property has come to be haunted
as such.
Yeah.
You know, so psychic surveys is a group of psychics that specialize in domestic spiritual
clearance.
And it can get very, very dark indeed throughout the series of the books, you know, as to why
certain properties, you know, are haunted.
Yeah.
So we've actually had this kind of a chat on a couple of other podcasts.
I'll be quite interested to find out because we were talking about Cornwall as well.
And when you said about studying occultists and stuff, if I mention a name, Alistair Crowley
to you.
He makes into a lot of my books, Crowley.
Did you know that there's a house in Cornwall that he frequented?
Yes, I do.
Now, I've forgotten the name of it, but I do indeed.
I know the person that also used to own it.
But it's in wreck and ruin now.
Yes, I know.
Yeah.
But I'm going down there.
I've tried to find it before and never got to it.
Yeah.
Because what I did was the last time I was there, I actually thought it would be a good
idea to go at night and look for it.
Yeah.
And when I got out of the car and I wandered off on my own and I was walking through all
this, you know, bush and trees and stuff and then I was like, I'm going to get lost here.
Yeah.
And also, you obviously know how to protect yourself in case there's negative energy still
lingering around there.
Yeah.
I'm not going to...
Obviously, you've got a fair idea or else you know where it is.
I'm not going to obviously sit on here for people to go because it's one of them ones
that if you don't know what you're doing or you go just for the sake of going, you could
end up getting yourself in a whole lot of trouble.
So I'm not going to mention it.
Have you been to the place in Scotland?
No.
No, that's...
I know where it is.
Yeah.
That's the one that Black Sabbath bought, wasn't it?
Jimmy Page, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah.
Yeah, Jimmy Page bought it.
Yeah.
Jimmy Page, yeah.
A lot of things to do there.
I think it's MD9, isn't it?
Or is something else?
It's a bit burned down.
Yeah.
I mean, a part of it burned down.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'll have to try and get to it.
It's interesting.
It's an interesting place.
Yeah.
So the whole Alistair Crowley thing, a lot of people have different views on him as to
what kind of a person he was.
A lot of people will tell you that he was the most evil man in the world.
And then other people will tell you, well, no, he wasn't.
He was just looking into scientific aspects of it and was good at his job.
You know, so there...
I think, in fact, it's discussed by the psychics in the Psychic Survey series.
They discuss that and they both give arguments for and against, you know, someone like Alistair
Crowley.
But I think the trouble with Crowley was he believed in his own hype in the end and he
did die sad and penniless and a drug addict in Hastings, didn't he?
So he came to a murky end.
But yeah, I mean, we've all got the right to delve into these things and try and find
out if, you know, and to question stuff, you know, and that's what he did.
We've all got that right.
You know, we've all got the free will, rather, to do that.
Yeah.
So, you know, that was up to him and he documented some of the stuff and that was that.
It's interesting.
Yeah.
And he comes across as quite an interesting character because he also had a few places
abroad as well, didn't he?
Yeah.
And also, you know, like in Paris, I think there was a terrible incident in Paris that
came to a murky end, wasn't there, when he and somebody else tried to raise a demon in
a flat in Paris and his colleague...
Well, Crowley was found a gibbering mess and his colleague was found dead.
So, I mean, they certainly, you know, sort of...
There's so much that we don't know about this material world that we live in, you know,
and I think you have to be so careful about how far you go and if you do go a certain,
you know, if you do go quite far, be prepared for what you might unearth.
And even, you know, Crowley, you know, he was a man who did take it to the limits, but
wasn't always quite prepared for what he, you know, unearthed, I think.
Yeah.
It's a very... it can be a very concerning thing for the likes of us people when you
know that there's people out there who will, like, how can I put it?
They'll just think to themselves, we need something to do here.
I know what we'll do.
We'll go and try and hunt ghosts.
And it's like, you know, you walk into these places, you're not protecting yourself, you're
not, you know, you're not reading up on these places, you're not reading up on how to protect
yourself, what to do, you know, and it's quite concerning, really, that, you know, we go
through this, I've been hit, I've been pushed, I've had things thrown at me, you know what
I mean?
But I know how to deal with that.
Yeah.
And you've got to know how to deal with it if you want to, you know, go that far.
You know, a lot of...
A lot of...
See, I don't like the word horror.
I don't like horror books.
I write supernatural suspense or paranormal thrillers, whatever you call it, but I...
Unfortunately, my books have to go into the category of horror on places like Amazon,
et cetera, because basically they think, oh, it's got a ghost in it, it has to be horror.
It's not horror.
I don't write horror.
My books...
I'm different in the way I deliver the stories.
It's not gratuitous.
Like, my books are very, very human, but we deal with the spiritual side of life.
But actually, it's incredibly human.
And I don't like horror because for me, horror is just gratuitous.
It can be ignorant.
I don't like the word ghost hunt.
I don't ever go hunting for ghosts.
You know, why would you go hunting for them?
And you know, I'm very careful in my books and in my views not to treat this subject
gratuitously.
Yeah.
But with great respect.
And I've also pulled back when I've gone down to Darken Avenue because I have been very...
I mean, if you can see my desk here, it's covered in protective crystals.
There are crystals all over my desk, protection all over.
Because I do open, you know, I don't consider myself psychic, but I've spoken to people
who are psychic.
You know, I am opening myself by writing about the psychic world, too.
Yeah.
Negative energy.
Because I'm writing about negative energy.
And there are things that have happened.
I've really got to pull the, you know, shutters down and be protected.
Yeah.
And draw back, you know.
Absolutely.
And I'm not going to go that far just to thrill a reader.
I'm going to...
I believe in what I'm doing.
I believe in the spiritual world and I treat it completely with respect in my stories.
And that is really important to me.
Yeah.
I'm just going to...
One second to see if I can find...
Oh.
I've got a question on here.
I've also got a good friend of ours on here, Nando.
He's actually in Southampton, not far from you.
Yeah.
I've got Charles Rudd saying, I've been trying to write a book about my near-death experiences
for two years, but I'm out of luck.
Any advice?
Writing isn't for everyone.
It really isn't.
And a book is a huge undertaking.
A book, you know, is typically 80 to 90,000 words.
So it's a huge undertaking.
So perhaps don't think of it in terms of what you're writing.
It's a huge undertaking.
And I'm going to read it.
I'm going to read it.
And so, in terms of a book, think initially as you're writing down your near-death experiences
or, you know, as a short story.
Maybe break it down to about 5,000 words at first and see what you have on the paper.
And if you feel comfortable with that, you can extend it a bit or whatever.
But a book is a huge undertaking, especially if, you know, you've not written one before.
written one before, so you could start in increments rather than going the whole
hog. I mean I wrote for 20 years before I wrote a book, you know, in the holiday industry admitted, but I wrote for 20 years before I wrote a book.
Yeah.
So maybe...
I mean any advice from someone like yourself, you know, I mean for people who are out there who are wanting to do that kind of thing, you know, I mean, any advice is welcome, they got.
Nando, if you're still watching, I have sent you a message, if you want to jump on for a bit, you can, I've sent you the link as well.
So when you're writing your books, do you obviously, do you just sort of like, the ideas come to you and you think, right, I'm going to start writing, or do you sort of point theirs down here and there and then start when you've got a lot of ideas?
Sometimes a book will require a lot of research beforehand and I'll write, say, 30 pages of research which I can dip and delve into.
Other times I've just got a basic idea, say a start point and an end point and I just sit down and start writing it and I let the characters dictate how I get from A to B, as it were.
But, you know, I mean, the book I'm working on at the moment, which is Ghost Story, set in an apartment in Rome, and is to do also, it's set in modern times, but it's also set during World War Two.
You know, there's a huge amount of research to do for something like that.
So that's got, as I say, about 30 to 40 pages of research, Rome during World War Two and everything that took place there.
So I couldn't start that book without having got the basis of research, but some books don't need that amount of research in, they only need a far smaller amount, or research as I go.
For instance, in another book called Rise to Me, which is a second book in the Psychic Surveys series, there's a lot done about tulpas.
You know, sort of spiritual entities that you create by thoughts.
So I didn't know I was going to really put that in, but I did put it in.
So I researched en route whilst writing that book, and especially the work of Alexander David Neal, who she was a woman, a Tibetan.
She wasn't Tibetan, but she sort of lived as a Tibetan monk for a while, who actually brought into being her own tulpa and did a hell of a lot of work on research on this and work.
And then had trouble getting rid of it once she brought it into being, you know, manifestation, etc.
So, and, you know, she wrote a lot about that. So I would research that en route because I didn't know I was actually going to put that in, but it was actually relevant to the plot.
It depends. I mean, you know, after 27 books, you take it as, you know, it's still a ride and you still don't know which way you're going to come at it from sometimes.
It's just fantastic to hear someone like yourself that has after 27 books, that still has the, I'm going to write more, I'm going to write more, you know what I mean?
Because you get people that they'll do certain things, you know, for instance, writing books, I would find that extremely hard.
I'd love to write a book myself about experiences and things that I've had, but I would just find that so.
It's not for everyone. I mean, people always say to me, I'd love to write a book, but honestly, sit down and try. It's not for everyone.
You know, it's I think it requires and I have got this huge amount of discipline, but also tunnel vision.
When you write that book, you have to completely switch off from the world that you're living in and go into this world.
You know, you've got to just completely go down that road and immerse yourself and you've got to keep.
It's really difficult because you've got to keep switching between that world and then your real life and the two can get quite confused at times.
You know, I find it hard, though, if you're writing a book like this is where I'd have problems is where I'd.
I'd start it off OK and I'd already have the end in mind, but it would be it would be the chunk in the middle where it'd be like,
I'll put this and I'll put that and I'll put a woman. I forgot to put that in there.
And then, you know, you and then you'd be like, you'll get a certain way and you'd be like, shit, I forgot to put that in.
And then you're trying to figure out now, where did this go?
And, you know, to me, yeah, yeah, you know, to me, if I was doing it, I'd need to be able to sit down for a couple of days, probably,
and think, right, what am I going to put in it?
And I need to number them from one, you know, obviously one being the start and then going down with all the different.
And then obviously you could take take one out of the middle or put in a lower one above it.
And, you know, I'd need to have all my ideas written down, nearly like chapters, if you know what I mean.
I need to have them all written down and then think, right, once I have that, then I know where I'm going.
But you see that that that's what some authors do.
I mean, they say there's two camps, there's the planners, which you're just, you know, which you're talking about.
And there's people like me with the pants, who fly literally by the seat of our pants.
And we just sit down with a vague idea and just, OK, take me.
You just open the floodgates and you trust in the muse and you just go.
And the characters will take and it's I prefer that approach for me, because for me,
the characters are surprising me with what they're doing, because I didn't think that would happen.
But OK, let's go with it, then it's going to surprise the reader as well.
Whereas I think it takes away the element of surprise.
But people work differently, you know, whatever, whatever gets the story told.
Yeah, but you've got a good memory as well when you when you when you write books,
because you've got to remember every word that you've written so that you can think,
I haven't contradicted myself there.
Or as you say, I've got to flesh that scene out a bit more because I've got to put this in.
You know, you've got to remember every word.
And I do virtually.
And then as soon as I look out, that looks gone and I'm on to the next one,
you know, and I'm remembering every word and every scene in that one instead.
And I can't remember what goes in.
And when I don't have to remember, I don't, you know, I forget what I need to read my books.
I forget all the stuff that goes in.
I'm just focused on the latest one.
Right. So we've came we've came to the bit we're waiting on.
Yeah. Your recent Australia trip.
Oh, yeah. So I've been on that.
Well, I went to I had a subesco.
I went to Australia for a month, took a month off, went over to see some friends,
went with friends to see some friends to stay with them.
Absolutely had an incredible time and just didn't think about writing.
However, I do have I do have an idea for a book setting up in Australia.
I've traveled extensively all around America and I've set books in America.
But I really want to do was get into the outback of Australia, you know, this desolate,
desolate place. And however, time just didn't permit for me to go as far as I wanted
into into the outback, unfortunately.
Still, I think I think I'm a child.
Oh, I was a travel writer.
I can write about, you know, I can Google it all.
Every all the information.
So, yeah, I've got an idea for a book set there.
So even when you're having a subesco, you're having a month off,
the ideas come pouring in.
But yeah, what a great place. What a fantastic place.
It's just so vast.
So is this now are you now telling us that you're you're working on number 28
and you've got an idea for number 29?
I've got a number, an idea of number 29, number 30, number 31.
And I've got an idea for a trilogy, which which will have to start around the beginning of,
well, about that towards the middle to end of next year.
The ideas don't stop. You know, once you once you set yourself on a certain path,
you know, something happens, I think, you know, and in terms of writing,
once it took me 20 years to get out of travel writing and into novel writing.
OK. And once I started and once I opened the floodgates,
it's like you can't you can't force it back shut again.
You know, it's the ideas are just keep on coming.
They just back up and up and up.
And you just I just wish I could write faster.
I am pretty prolific.
I can write three books a year, but because I'm full time, that, you know,
so people say to me, how can you write that many years?
I am full time. I should be writing more.
But, you know, I the ideas just back up.
Yeah, I've got tons of ideas.
I've got I've got I'm juggling those series.
I've got the psychic survey series.
I've got Reach for the Dead.
I've got this haunted world, you know, and I've got sort of add to those
and also getting known for my Christmas ghost stories.
So I've got to write one of those every year as well now,
because that's become a bit of a tradition.
Yeah. So do you actually do you go out investigating at all
when like when you're here or when you're away anywhere?
Do you go doing like investigations with other teams or?
No, not really.
I have done I've done quite a few in the past, but not not really.
Not anymore. But I am drawn to if I, you know, if I'm if I'm anywhere
wherever I am and I'll find, you know, a place that's supposed to be haunted.
I am drawn to it and I will go to it
and and do a little exploration of my own.
But I haven't been an organized one for quite a while now, probably pre covid.
Yeah, a lot of people, a lot of people stopped obviously during covid
and then like either didn't start again or or sort of,
you know, started again a bit sporadically kind of thing.
It's just one of the one of them things.
You know, you're on time.
Yeah. Now, I really enjoy them, but I just, you know, it just hasn't.
I just haven't done it.
I've just been doing other stuff, I suppose.
I've just been busy in my in my hovel writing, you know,
my lonely Garrett producing the books.
You know.
Yeah.
I mean, like you said, just even in even in the paranormal world,
like when you say with writing books, even the likes of us were,
you know, with the podcast, with getting guests and with the with their own teams
to go out and investigate.
It just is another thing. It just never stops.
It just it's in your head constantly.
You know, who do I have on next?
Where will go next? What are we going to get?
I've still got three videos to edit.
I've still got, you know, and it's like you.
I know how you can feel it right in the books because it just doesn't stop.
It doesn't. It doesn't.
Once you set yourself on that path. Yeah.
And it's a great path. It's fascinating.
Yeah.
And someone that you know, will send you another location or,
you know, maybe a family member's been driving past somewhere
and they've seen it all boarded up and they've said,
oh, there's an abandoned building.
That's what I mainly do is abandoned buildings because you're not
you're not tied to asking anybody in pen for the going and stuff like that.
And yeah.
And then it's like you're like, oh, God's sake.
But in a way you're excited because you're like, oh, got somewhere else to go.
But it's like, where am I going to fit this in?
I know. I know.
Not enough hours in the day.
It's not enough days.
No, no.
It's just doesn't time go quickly when you're having fun?
Yeah.
I mean, on on Monday, on Monday, I went out and we went to.
Went there from from where I am.
I went to Pontefract, 30 East Drive.
Yeah.
Went in there, sat for a while, spoke to Carol, took some pictures and stuff.
And then we went from there to a little a little church that's supposed to be haunted
was near Weatherby.
And then we left Weatherby.
We went to Sheffield.
Yeah.
And did a celebrity grave in Sheffield.
And then we came home.
So it was like, you know, it just doesn't stop.
And then you've got three videos there that you need to edit.
You've got photographs that you need to go through.
Then I guess I'm on Monday night and one of my friends online sent me, oh, here, I've
found one for you.
And I'm like, oh, no, no.
Yeah.
Well, the thing is, the thing is, you can't end in this in this field.
Yeah.
I find that I use my YouTube channel literally for I call it for video storage because I
need somewhere to put them where I can always go back and view them.
Yeah.
So it's like, you know, right.
I've got I've got three to edit.
I've got photos to go through.
I've got another two to do.
You know what I mean?
And then someone messaged you and say, oh, that video you did three months ago or whatever
it was, you know, we've heard something that I've got to go through that one again as well.
As much as you're excited for it, you're like, really?
I just I just haven't got the time.
Yeah.
No, I know.
And you can't think another thing as well is you can't just knock a video out every
day because the people who view them don't want to see one every day.
They want to see either one a week or maybe two a week at the tops.
Yeah.
So you're trying to back them up to go on.
And then you end up with loads of them backed up waiting to go on.
And it's just that there's never a happy medium in it.
No, no.
Well, you just got to keep on keeping on just doing what we can, isn't it?
You know?
Absolutely.
We can.
And we can only do what we can do.
Hey, we we're human.
We might be spirits, spirits, spirits, but we are on a human journey.
And we're limited.
Exactly.
So do you want to do you want to tell us and the viewers a little bit more about some of
your different books that you have and maybe show some of them to the viewers and.
Yeah.
Well, it's your show.
So you promote whatever you want to promote.
Yeah.
And I'm best known for my psychic survey series.
And that's the first book in psychic survey series.
And then you've got you got rise to me and is second guilt for Gilmore Street, the third
and so on and so on.
There are nine books in that series so far, but it's very, very popular.
It's perhaps my most popular series.
It's it's basically what I'm known for.
There's a there's a character in the psychic survey series called Jed.
And he's a dog spirit, a spirit guide dog.
And he is extremely popular.
Everyone loves Jed.
So this year, this is my latest release.
I wrote a story just involving Jed Black Labrador, as you can see, but spirit dog, a spirit guide.
And that's quite a very, very dark book set in in a church.
And the churches can be strange places, can't they?
Yeah.
I have other theories.
Reach for the Dead series.
There's three books in that so far that set in America.
This series first book is called Mandy and Mandy is actually a haunted doll.
And I met Mandy in my travels through Canada.
She's in a tiny little museum in the wards of Canada in a place called Cornell.
And she's hermetic sealed in a glass box.
And she is very dangerous, Mandy.
And this is this is her story.
And you say she's dangerous and she's a haunted doll.
And I fully believe this because I know what they're like.
But a lot of people don't necessarily believe that the dolls can be haunted.
They just think that they just look scary.
Any object can have negative energy attached to it.
Exactly.
Now, what is it this doll is supposed to have or supposed to do?
She she sort of causes, you know,
she's causes negative emotions in in staff members,
causes them to feel, I think, something of of what's attached to her.
When they left her out, they'd gone in the next day.
And things around her have been flung to the floor,
you know, and and ruined or broken and smashed.
So there's negative something negative attached to her.
Yeah.
People feel very uneasy and as I say, emotional in a negative sense.
And so they have they have put this doll in a glass cabinet.
I went had a look at her.
I must admit. Yeah, that's a few for us as well.
I think strange things with dolls when negative energy is attached,
because obviously the human aspect, you know,
the fact that they have got two eyes in the nose and mouth.
And so we can relate a bit more.
So what fascinated me about Mandy was, is she haunted?
Does she have a negative energy attached to her?
Or is there or is it just because we believe she has that we're frightened of her?
And we as humans are because of this belief are creating creating a scenario here to do with her.
And that's all that book explores.
And that's the first in a series and where our main character is gifted with such psychometry.
You know, she can handle objects and and build the kind of energy that's coursing through them.
And so so that's that.
I also do a series called The This Haunted World series,
which are books facing around the world's most haunted locations.
And they combine fact with fiction.
This is the first book in that series called The Venetian, set in Venice,
which, of course, is the most haunted.
Well, supposed to be the most haunted city in the world.
And it's set between Venice and Paveglia.
I don't know if you've heard of Paveglia in the Venetian.
I have, yep, yep. I have indeed.
So that's a story set between Venice and Paveglia.
The second book in that series is The Eleventh Floor.
And that's set in a hotel I stayed in in Williamsport in Pennsylvania,
which I deliberately went out my way to visit and stay the night in because of the legend of the 11th floor there.
And I've written a variety of other books as well.
Some are standalones.
And I've written with the Circuit Survey series, I've also written three companion books that complement that series.
And I've written Christmas ghost stories because everyone loves a Christmas ghost story, as do I.
That darkest time of the year, you know, we all want a little ghost story.
Well, most of us do. Normal ones.
Having given stuff to that trend and what a bloody good trend it was.
Yeah, absolutely.
What I was wanting to mention as well was getting on the subject again about haunted dolls,
because it fascinates me, you know, Annabelle doll, you know, the stuff that's happened because of that doll.
And, you know, then we'll have Robert the doll as well.
And for anybody watching who doesn't know about these, please, please read up on them and actually take it in what these,
how dangerous these can actually be.
People will just say, oh, it's only a doll, it's only a doll.
Now, I'm sorry, but the stuff that these dolls have caused, it's especially them too.
You know, if I went to see them, I would have to show the greatest of respect.
People actually have to, you know, ask.
They've been told if they want to take their picture, they've got to ask the doll or let the doll know I'm taking your picture now.
You know what I mean?
Oh, I mean, this the story of Mandy.
So don't forget to look up Mandy, the haunted doll.
The story of Mandy as well is treated with the greatest of respect, I can assure you.
I would not have taken that that task on if it wasn't treated with respect.
So, yeah, yeah.
But you do you have to be careful.
You know, when I've written some of my darker books, you know, it's it's like you really do.
You really do have to be careful with what you're, you know, inviting in.
Yeah, absolutely.
Face as it were and be very careful when you know, just don't treat it just, you know, it's not there for thrills.
This is all real stuff.
You know, we have so much we don't understand about our world.
You know, we live in a material world, but material world is just as bizarre as the spiritual when you think about it.
And that's why you're well attached to it.
This is not this is not an entirely material existence.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Well, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on.
It's been lovely.
Honestly, it's been great.
Do you want to just shout out?
Do you have like a website and stuff where people can find you and where they can find your books and stuff?
OK, my website, www.shanehestrothers.com.
You can also find me on Amazon.
My books are on Amazon, Shaney Struthers.
And you can look at my author page and see all the books on there.
And yeah, that's where you can find me.
And on social media, Facebook, I've got an author page, Shaney Struthers author.
I'm mainly on Facebook.
I'm not really.
I just don't have time for the other.
I should. I should make time, but I don't have time for Instagram and Tiktok and what have you.
I am on there, though.
But I really go on them.
I'm just too busy.
Not a problem. Well, again, Shaney, thank you for coming on.
Thank you.
It's been a pleasure talking to you.
And hopefully some of the viewers out there will will will see your books and go on by them and have a read at them,
because I'm actually going to go for one or two themselves and have a read at them.
Yeah. OK. Oh, thank you.
Well, yeah. Thank you very much.
It's been great being on and having a chat with you.
Yeah, no problem.
And I'll stay in contact with you and we might even have you on again sometime if you're.
Yeah, sure.
But get a few more books out and then we're going to have you on the remote again and stuff.
Crack that whip.
Get writing.
Get your desk and start writing.
Get up here, get your pen and start writing.
Like I say, it's been an absolute pleasure.
And I hope your your books go well and the ones that you're writing and stuff go well as well.
And we'll we'll see you again at some point on here.
And like I say, I'll stay in touch with you anyway.
Thank you so much. OK.
No problem.
Bye. Bye, everyone.
Thanks. Bye.
And that's everything from talking with the source for this episode.
But keep on watching for more.
So goodbye for now.