In "Haunted Houses and Ghostly Encounters", Christopher Shepherd skilfully traces Western ethnographic encounters with animism in Portugese Timor from the mid 19th century until independence in 1975. Over ten chapters, each analysing a specific ethnographer’s work and experience, the author explores the relationship between spiritual beliefs, colonial administration, ethnographic interests and fieldwork experience. Each chapter stands alone as an independent story of one ethnographer ("The Detective", "The Theologian", "The Naturalist", etc.). He concludes by positing a framework for understanding the many expressions of colonial and anthropological engagement with animism.

Shepherd documents how, in the eyes of the Timorese, the presence of outsiders caused a new “transformative animism” as colonial control over Timor was consolidated. This came about because, as the author notes, outsiders appeared as “anomalies” that posed threats and offered rewards to the Timorese just like the powerful ancestor spirits had long done; therefore, the Timorese ritualised their dealings with these outsiders following their established model for appealing to spirits. "Haunted Houses and Ghostly Encounters" presents original, almost entirely unpublished research that presents the histories of both Timor and ethnography in a fresh and engaging manner, and ponders the future of new animism.