Live and Let Live

[The_Phantom_Monk]

I've sent the email to him and to his publisher, just have to wait and see what happens.

[The_Phantom_Monk]

Both Mr Hutchinson and his publisher have replied very promptly to my email, heres what they have to say Mr Hutchinson's first'

Dear Mr Monk

My account in HAUNTED GUILDFORD is based on the actual report you prepared which was loaned to me by the landlady herself and I stand by what was written in the book. I consciously decided not to include the name of your group so as not to publicly attempt to belittle you.

Opinions written in such books have to be subjective to an extent. I am clearly and publicly a sceptic and being a Council Member of the world's oldest paranormal organisation and a veteran of numerous investigations all over the UK I could myself qualified to comment as I interpret.

Your report does not at any point question the dubious findings of the members of your group, at least not in the version I saw. I do, however, concur that I disagreeertion concerning lack of evidence could be taken out of context but again such an opinion is subjective.

I am sorry but I cannot be accountable for writing as an author on all the evidence presented before me. I realise this is not the answer you were looking for and regret you find by far the best selling book in Tempus's 'HAUNTED' series flawed. This work covers over 40 haunted sites and I cannot be expected within a 3 month time period from inception to delivery to trace every single person who is mentioned in the book. When in receipt of a report written by an organisation whose investigation I treat as anecdotal to the main body of the text and not a centrepiece I would treat that information as presented to me as sufficient in itself without the need of further enquiry.

Likewise, I shall be forwarding my reply to my editor.

Sincerely
PHILIP HUTCHINSON


And the publishers wrote.

Dear Mr Monk,

I am very sorry to hear that you feel you were misrepresented in 'Haunted Guildford'. While I empathise, I am sure that you will understand that Tempus cannot take responsibility for what an author writes. We trust the author to research their subject and write accurately. We edit their text for spelling and grammar, and pick up on any obvious factual mistakes. We cannot check that everything is correct as we would never have time to publish any books!

If this book is reprinted I will suggest to the author that some details are corrected, for example, referring to investigators by that term rather than mediums.

Yours sincerely,
Nicola Guy

It seems the publishers are far more apologetic than Mr Hutchinson himself who because hes a 'Council Member of the world's oldest paranormal organisation and a veteran of numerous investigations all over the UK' can basically say what he likes, well thats how I read it. So whats the next step? I think the best we can hope for is what the publishers said but I can't see the author listening to then.

Simon.

[The_Phantom_Monk]

'I do, however, concur that I disagreeertion concerning lack of evidence could be taken out of context but again such an opinion is subjective.' Why does my a s s e r t i o n become I disagreeertion when I post, I've tried changing it but it won't work!!! Or is it just my computer?

[The_Phantom_Monk]

I think the reply from the publisher is the best we can hope for, however I have sent replies to the email that go like this.

Dear Mr Hutchinson

Thank you for your prompt reply, I too am a sceptic, in fact the more I research and investigate the subject the more sceptical I become particularly when it comes to the supposed ability of mediums and sensitives to receive information from spirits. I did say in the version of my report you saw that I didn’t think the information was accurate but perhaps I could have put more of an emphasis on this and I am willing to make an amendment to the report.

You are entitled to your opinions of course, I appreciate that you have to be subjective and that you couldn’t follow up on every resource given you deadline. However I don’t feel this addresses the inaccuracies I mentioned i.e. the reference to multiple ‘mediums’, your failure to mention we found no record of the hanging and the suggestion that the person recalling the hanging and the one feeling the choking sensation were one in the same. I have received an apology from Tempus in which they state ‘If this book is reprinted I will suggest to the author that some details are corrected, for example, referring to investigators by that term rather than mediums.’ this is more than satisfactory and I hope you at least consider their suggestions.

Believe me Mr Hutchinson I in no way wish to cause any trouble in this matter, I simply wanted to voice my concerns and the concerns of others present that night. I feel that people with a common interest in such a controversial subject should help each other out, I have taken your comments on board and will endeavour to make any future reports more analytical.

This matter was brought to may attention by a third party and, prior to seeing his copy of the book, I was going to buy it myself to add to my extensive personal library of ghosts and hauntings but now feel I can not out of principle, which is regrettable.

Yours sincerely, Simon Monk


Dear Nicola

Thank you for your prompt reply, I in no way wish to cause any trouble over this matter I simply wanted to voice my concerns and the concerns of others present that night. I find your apology and suggestion that the author make corrections in any reprint more than satisfactory, however I feel any such suggestions will fall on deaf ears judging by the reply I received from Mr Hutchinson

This matter was brought to may attention by a third party and, prior to seeing his copy of the book, I was going to buy it myself to add to my extensive personal library of ghosts and hauntings but now feel I can not out of principle, which is regrettable.

Yours Sincerely, Simon Monk.

We might get father with this if others also made complaints but thats up to you guys. Also I've noticed the book is on Amazon and you can write a review if you have an account, which I don't. Anyway I feel I've done all I can for now.

Simon.

[Hartswood]

Thanks for taking the trouble to do that Simon, I might get the book anyway just to have a read, like you say, if you get it off Amazon you can review it..... :-)

[The_Phantom_Monk]

I won't be buying it, but I've noticed there are a lot of second hand coppies for sale on Amazon which seems strange for a book thats only been out a couple of months

[Spooky]

Hmm Im glad I did buy it though as would never had noticed this. Funny thing was I also picked up the Winchester one when I was last there and thought better of it but this one I was "drawn" to so maybe my £8 was meant to be sacrificed in this way.

I have an account with Amazon but not sure if you can review a book you didnt buy through them but will certainly try. I have said to Sam as well it would be worth us getting our version of the report online as well as so far what happened in our team has yet to be documented in detail.

Good work Simon

[The_Phantom_Monk]

Cheers Steven, at least now we've made it known we're not happy I doubt anything will come of though but at least we tried.

Simon.

[Hartswood]

Steven - it looks like you can review a book on Amazon without buying it....just had a look.

[The_Phantom_Monk]

Oooh go for it guys I've not heard anything else from Mr Hutchinson or the publishers so I guess they're not interested any more!

[The_Phantom_Monk]

I'm a little anoyed at the moment, I posted this story on my msn space and my myspace. Just about how I felt we were misrepresented and included my emails and the replies I recieved as I've done here. A couple of months ago I was asked to remove it from my msn space due to 'copyright infringment', or my space would be deleted. I thought it odd, I didn't really see the problem, I felt perhaps msn thought I was slagging the guy off so I removed it cos I didn't want to loose the space. I thought no more about it until I just logged onto myspace and had a message from them saying they too had deleted it for 'copyright infringment'!!! It seems to me 'someone' has found the posts and complained! I wonder who that could be!!! I wonder if this thread will be found?

Simon.

[Hartswood]

Crikey!

A certain someone obviously has a MySpace too...I dont see how it can be "copyright infringement"!!!!

[Spooky]

If you only posted the emails how can that be copyright infrigement? Unless each email had a copyright statement on it? Though I dont know the first thing about copyright law I would be the first to admit.

[The_Phantom_Monk]

I know I made a couple of quotes from the book in my emails but that was to make my point and I made reference to the sauce. I thought there were such things as 'fare use' and 'freedom of speech' but perhaps I'm mistaken! Anyway what about his use of my report? Theres even one line in his version thats taken from my report word for word! I think someone saw my blogs and used the copyright thing as a tool to get them removed. In both cases I was given no more reason than copyright infringment, no details of what parts of my posts were in violation or anything so I guess we'll never really know why.

Simon.

[Hartswood]

Would be interesting to know if he could be accused of Copyright Infringement by copying your report? After all, if you take a photo the copyright of that photo is then yours!

Guess, like you say, you'll never know.

Teresa