Drawing upon her decades of experience with historic houses, author Ann McDougall charts our fascination with ghosts from antiquity to YouTube, pairing intriguing stories from individual museums with an objective overview of the beliefs, approaches and techniques they typify. Neither an acolyte nor a cynic, her attempts to contact the dead are compassionate and clear-eyed. She approaches her investigations with sincerity while also documenting frauds and charlatans, past and present. A fresh take on a controversial topic, A Ghost in the Room combines personal experience, evolving cultural trends and modern scientific inquiry to explore the enduring human desire to communicate with the dead.