Dr Robert Radakovic tells DAVID SAUNDERSON how his new paranormal novel, Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil, explores grief, hauntings and the ethics of ghost hunting
Dr Robert Radakovic believes ghosts deserve respect.
That idea sits at the heart of his new novel Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil, a paranormal story told entirely through the eyes of a troubled female ghost.
The north London writer and researcher spoke to Spooky Isles about grief, hauntings and why he believes modern paranormal culture sometimes forgets the humanity behind ghost stories.
“We often see ghost hunters wandering around, mediums and séances and things,” he explained.
“You see snippets and snatches of the ghost. I thought, let’s flip it and see snippets and snaps of humans.”
Rather than focusing on fear, the novel follows a damaged spirit slowly uncovering the truth behind her death and why she remains emotionally trapped.
“It’s a difficult story for her,” Robert said. “The story arc of the book is her finding out what happened in her life and why she hasn’t moved on yet.”
Robert Radaković on Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil
That emotional approach separates Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil from many modern ghost stories.
Although Robert enjoys horror fiction and cinema, he insists this is not really a horror novel at all.
“This isn’t a horror novel, this is a paranormal novel.”
Much of the book centres on the ethics of paranormal investigation, an area Robert feels is rarely discussed seriously.
He believes many ghost hunters and paranormal television programmes approach hauntings too aggressively, treating possible spirits as entertainment rather than something deserving dignity.
“I find the vast majority of it rather vulgar, rather crass, non-scientific,” he said.
“The historical and cultural research hasn’t been done either.”
For Robert, the central ethical question is simple: what if some hauntings involve genuine consciousness?
“If the entity is a valid entity that is now discarnate, then they’re a soul,” he explained.
“An entity you’ve got to respect like it would be if there was a human standing next to you.”
That belief shapes much of the novel’s atmosphere.
The ghost in Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil is not presented as a monster hiding in shadows waiting to terrify investigators.
She is confused, emotionally wounded and struggling to understand her own existence.
Robert believes investigators sometimes forget hauntings may be deeply connected to tragedy, trauma and unresolved suffering.
“To disrespect them by trespassing their house, being rude to them, calling them out in certain situations, I think that’s unethical,” he said.
Ghosts, grief and paranormal ethics
It is an unusual viewpoint in a paranormal culture increasingly shaped by livestreams, viral clips and dramatic reactions filmed in dark abandoned buildings.
Robert’s own background helps explain his more reflective approach.
He holds a PhD in Religious Studies examining the relationship between religion, science, philosophy and paranormal belief during the Victorian era.
He is also the new General Secretary of The Ghost Club, the world’s oldest paranormal research organisation.
Founded during the great Victorian fascination with spiritualism and psychical research, The Ghost Club has attracted generations of writers, researchers and investigators interested in hauntings and unexplained phenomena.
Robert joined more than a decade ago after discovering references to the organisation during his doctoral research.
Although he has an academic background, he describes himself as both a researcher and an experiencer.
“Personally, I experience it five or 10 times a week, if not more,” he said while discussing paranormal experiences and altered states of consciousness.
During the interview, Robert spoke about Victorian ideas such as “filter theory”, which suggests the human brain blocks out much of reality during ordinary waking life.
According to the theory, altered states such as trauma, dreams, trance or exhaustion may partially weaken that filter.
“It allows for things like communing with the immaterial realm,” he explained.
Unlike many paranormal researchers, Robert does not see ghosts as entirely separate from psychic experiences or other strange phenomena.
He believes there may be a wider interconnectedness linking hauntings, psychic events and unexplained experiences together.
“You’re getting clusters of places and almost clusters of phenomena within people,” he said.
“That suggests to me an ultimate sort of interconnectedness.”
Yet despite discussing complex paranormal theories, Robert repeatedly returns to the emotional side of hauntings.
For him, ghost stories are ultimately about people.
Loss. Memory. Grief. Trauma.
Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil asks readers to consider something modern paranormal culture rarely pauses to think about.
If ghosts are real, should we treat them with compassion instead of fear?
Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil, by Robert Radakovic, is available from Amazon.
