The Spirit Connection

Kerriann Flanagan Brosky is a photographer and historian. She is also the author of two books that tell the tales of some of Long Island’s well-known, and not so well-known ghost stories.

Ghosts of Long Island: Stories of the Paranormal and Ghosts of Long Island II: More Stories of the Paranormal, both written with the assistance of paranormal investigator Joe Giaquinto, share stories of paranormal activities throughout Nassau and Suffolk in tales of haunted mansions, farmhouses, inns, cemeteries, trails and even a lake. Flanagan uses historical research, photographs, eyewitness accounts and local lore to bring the stories to life.

Her interest in the paranormal came to her through her love of history. Her first two books were about the history of Huntington, and during her time on the Board of Trustees of the she gave many lectures about local history.

While researching some of the older homes, she would often hear ghost stories and would share those stories as part of the history. “People always loved the ghost stories,” she said. Some suggested that her next book should take a closer look at some of these stories and although she did collect the haunted tales, it was a project that would sit on the back burner for many years.

One year, while planning a lecture for the Historical Society around Halloween, someone suggested that she do something a little different and share some of the ghost stories with the audience. .

“I really didn’t know what to expect.” she recalls. “I wanted to be taken seriously as a historian.”

The lecture turned out to be wildly successful. For 12 years in a row it was a sold out event. She and her husband would have fun with it and decorate the barn and rig it with special effects, but her interest at that point was still as a historian.

It was at one of those lectures in 2006 that she first met Joe Giaquinto, a medium and paranormal investigator from Hampton Bays who says he has been experiencing paranormal phenomena for most of his adult life. He also owns the investigative group, Ghost Hunters of Long Island, and has appeared in numerous regional and local newspapers, magazines and cable television shows and has hosted discussion forums on the topics of ghosts and haunted objects.

The book idea was something she was considering going ahead with, and partnering with Giaquinto would act to give credibility to the paranormal phenomena that the people she interviewed would describe and to verify and validate the facts.

Their collaboration eventually led to the Ghosts of Long Island books, which attract fans from kids to seniors who attend her book signings and lectures and look to her to answer their questions about the spirit world. She acknowledges that there are skeptics but said that she is not usually challenged during her lectures. Her audience is usually made up of people who attend because it’s a subject they are interested in learning more about.

Her approach is from the point of a historian, “I try to write objectively and let the reader decide.”

“It’s a very personal experience.” Flanagan explains. “To me the idea of communicating with the other side is a very comforting thing.”

On Feb.10 at 10 p.m., she and Giaquinto will launch their new Blog Talk Radio Show, which will allow them to reach an even larger audience of people who are interested in the paranormal and in spirit communication.

Their guest list will include a variety of people from mediums and psychics, to owners of houses that she has written about and people from Giaquinto’s group.

The show will be broadcast live and listeners will be able to call in to ask questions. Archived episodes of the show will be available on Flanagan’s blog.