Book Review + Q&A with Steph Young, Author of Tales Of Unexplained Mystery
book blogger January 15, 2020
I have to admit - I didn't know about how great Steph Young was until I found Tales of Unexplained Mysteries on Amazon, a title which captivated my imagination and senses from the first moment.
Being a huge fan of mysteries - any kind of mysteries, real or fictional, books or films, etc. - I got the book instantly and I was so captivated with the cases presented in it that I wanted to know more about its author, Steph Young, too. Some of its mysteries were completely new to me, other were cases I knew or read about. Those who love mysteries and spend minutes or hours on YouTube watching strange videos of paranormal encounters, awkward CCTV footages or short documentaries know what I mean. *wink wink*
I love how in-depth these mysteries are presented by Steph - the author is female, by the way - and the questions she poses, as if reading your mind...only to be slowly shedding light as soon and as much as possible.
You've probably heard of few of the cases and if you did, I am sure you're as intrigued as I am by the death of Elisa Lam, or the disappearance of a group of five boys, otherwise known as the American Dyatlov Pass or Yuba County Five, plus many more. If this is something you'd love to read about, you can find Tales of Unexplained Mysteries by Steph Young on Amazon, click HERE.
Without further ado, please find below my interview with the author of this great book, Steph Young. Enjoy!
Q: How and when did you start investigating and becoming interested in the paranormal/unsolved mysteries?
A: I had always been interested in the possibility of the afterlife, I had always read books on things like faith healings and angel encounters. When I went to stay in Arizona about ten years ago, I heard a late-night talk show on the radio about ghosts and unexplained topics. It was on-air every night, which is not something we had back in the UK at the time. It fired my imagination. I wanted to research myself. I contacted a couple of magazines in the UK to start writing articles for them. Then I began to write my books on the unexplained.
Q: Have you ever experienced anything out of the ordinary, unexplained?
A: Yes, I have once or twice. On one occasion, I was living in a flat that looked out over the sea in Brighton. One night, I was reading when I noticed there seemed to be a huge dark shadow in the door of my room. A bit disturbed by this, I decided to leave the room. There were two doors leading from my lounge. I walked through the other door, and it followed me into the kitchen. It was insubstantial – there was no actual form or real shape to it. It was just so huge. I couldn’t settle back in the lounge and I couldn’t go into the bedroom with it still there. Eventually, I walked out into the hallway and said aloud, “Please go away, you’re really frightening me.” And it did. It sounds crazy. I don’t know what it was, and yet I feel as though it was not a harmful thing, and perhaps it was a spirit, a good spirit.
The other time, I was in Arizona for a few weeks and I was staying in my friend’s apartment with them. As I walked from my bedroom down the hallway to the lounge to go and chat with them, I heard a deafening shouting in my right ear. A man’s voice was yelling at me so loudly it made my ear hurt. There was no man in the hallway, or inside the apartment – just my friend. I told my friend I had just heard someone shouting at me – outside. I couldn’t very well tell them it was someone invisible, inside the apartment. I have no idea where that voice came from, but it was so close to me. The way that it hurt me, I couldn’t possibly have simply imagined it. But I can’t explain it.
Q: What is your process when starting the work on a new book?
A: I usually research old archives to find an unexplained story. Then I dig deep into it, finding as many sources as I can, developing theories, and interviewing anyone I can find who is related to the story, looking for any possible answers.
Q: Do you actually travel to the places you write about? Which was the most interesting and why?
A: I wish I could afford to travel to all the places, that would be a dream come true, but the stories I have written about are all over the world. I’ve written about strange disappearances in national parks, both here and in the US, and I have been to some of these parks. They are wild places, beautiful but unforgiving. People somehow disappear in them, in the middle of no-where, without any logical explanation. Where do they go? Abducted by aliens? Taken into another dimension? I’ve even read of very old texts which talk about being abducted by ghosts.
Q: Which is your favourite out of all the mystery cases you wrote about?
A: I think it would have to be the case of Netta Fornario who was found dead on the top of a fairy mound in 1929 on the remote Scottish island of Iona. It is such a rich, romantic yet deadly story, as it is said that she was ‘trying to dig her way into Fairyland.’
I am quite besotted with the subject of Fairy encounters, and they are very different to the modern portrayal of them.
Thank you for everything, Steph!
Love,
Carla
Photos by myself.
