Tom Slemen

Thomas Slemen, better known as Tom Slemen, is a Liverpool-based writer, columnist and broadcaster, known foremostly as the author of the best-selling Haunted Liverpool series of books (Bluecoat Press 1996-2007) which document paranormal goings-on in his home town of Liverpool, and also chronicles strange and Fortean stories from Liverpool's past.
Early life and interest in ghosts
Slemen's interest in the paranormal began in early childhood, when he lived with his family on Melville Place, near Myrtle Street, Liverpool. Slemen says that he learned from his mother that she had witnessed a ghostly apparition of a Victorian maid carrying a large serving plate along with the eerie sound of children laughing, and he was immediately hooked. None of the family thought to investigate any possible causes for the spectre, but Slemen took it upon himself to try to uncover the mystery behind the spirit maid. Off he went to the local library and discovered that their home was actually built on the same spot where an orphanage once stood. To some this could mean that the ghosts were associated with the former orphanage. Slemen later realised that a nearby street was called Orphan Street. From this time forward Slemen's interest increased each time he visited the library in search of other ghostly stories.

Career
Slemen has had a varied career since the publication of his first book Murder On Merseyside (Hale 1994). First and foremost he is an author. As well as writing his books, he also contributes very popular weekly columns about paranormal activities and unsolved crimes linked to Liverpool in The Liverpool Echo. Slemen's most successful work is the top-selling Haunted Liverpool series. There are currently sixteen books in this series. All of Slemen's books deal with various paranormal and supernatural events linked to the city of Liverpool, such as ghosts, UFO's, time travel, aliens and instances of ESP. With the success of the Haunted Liverpool series, Slemen also wrote and published two more books in the same vein as his Liverpool books, but these books investigated the paranormal activities in Wirral and Cheshire. Slemen has also published other books which focus on famous mysteries from around the globe, reported instances of telepathy, astral projection, bilocation, teleportation and the Akashic Records.Tom Slemen's books are the most widely read works amongst schoolchildren on Merseyside and his talks and lectures on the paranormal and unsolved crimes have always been well attended. In March 2003, Tom Slemen gave a morning and afternoon talk to 3,000 people at St George's Hall and received a standing ovation. In Arabella McIntyre-Brown's Liverpool: The First 1000 Years Tom Slemen is credited with solving the 1931 Julia Wallace murder. Slemen proved that Julia was not murdered by her husband William Herbert Wallace.

The majority of the tales in Slemen's books come to him from local people who related their own experiences. Slemen, however does not just retell the story verbatim, he undertakes his own research and documents the events related to him by various locals in order to attempt to verify the facts. Tom Slemen has unearthed many original historical cases from true crime as well as the paranormal, such as the Lizzie Peers Murder Case (1905), The Madge Kirby Murder (1908), and the Penny Lane Poltergeist case (1930-1997). In 2006 Tom Slemen was granted an exclusive interview with Frank Thomas, the brother of Cameo Murders victim Leonard, who was shot by a masked gunman in 1949. As a result of this interview, Slemen will release new information on a local murder in Liverpool in the near future. Tom has also been asked to write a screenplay of a film that covers both the Cameo and Cranborne Road murders.

Tom Slemen was the first person to hold a ghost walk in Liverpool. The idea was originated by the Liverpool Daily Post and the walk took place in 2003. In February 2008 Tom Slemen granted the right to run ghost walks based on his material to Freshfields Animal Rescue, a local animal sanctuary which he has supported since 1997.

Slemen is currently writing a controversial book which he claims will allegedly unmask Jack the Ripper once and for all, with the working title Jack the Ripper: British Intelligence Agent.

Publishing history
* Murder on Merseyside (Hale 1994)
* Haunted Liverpool (Pharaoh Press 1996)
* Haunted Liverpool 2 (Bluecoat Press 1997)
* Giant book of strange but true (Parragon Plus 1998)
* Haunted Liverpool 3 (Bluecoat Press 1998)
* Haunted Liverpool 4 (Bluecoat Press 2000)
* The Mind's Secrets (Parragon Plus 2000)
* Haunted Cheshire (Bluecoat Press 2000)
* Haunted Liverpool 5 (Bluecoat Press 2001)
* Wicked Liverpool 1 (Bluecoat Press 2002)
* Wicked Liverpool 2 (Bluecoat Press 2002)
* Haunted Liverpool 6 (Bluecoat Press 2002)
* Haunted Wirral (Bluecoat Press 2002)
* Mysteries (Bluecoat Press 2002)
* Tom Slemen's Mysterious World (Bluecoat Press 2003)
* Haunted Liverpool 7 (Bluecoat Press 2003)
* Haunted Liverpool 8 (Bluecoat Press 2003)
* Haunted Liverpool 9 (Bluecoat Press 2004)
* Haunted Liverpool 10 (Bluecoat Press 2004)
* Strange Liverpool (Bluecoat Press 2005)
* Liverpool Ghost Walk (Bluecoat Press 2005)
* Haunted Liverpool 11 (Bluecoat Press 2006)
* Haunted Liverpool 12 (Bluecoat Press 2006)
* Haunted Liverpool Anthology (Bluecoat Press 2006)
* Haunted Liverpool 13 (Bluecoat Press 2006)
* Haunted Liverpool 14 (Bluecoat Press 2007)
* Haunted Liverpool 15 (Bluecoat Press 2007)
* Vampires (Bluecoat Press 2007)
* Haunted Liverpool 16 (Bluecoat Press 2008)
* Jack the Ripper: British Intelligence Agent (Harper Collins 2008)

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