From being an aimless youth in Patna battling his own inner demons of failure and self-doubt, to a penniless drifter in Mumbai, Jay Alani’s story is one for the books. From being reduced to almost begging on footpaths to running a tea-and-eggs cart for daily survival, he endured it all to achieve his life’s burning mission: spreading awareness against supernatural beliefs and malpractices.
Jay’s life’s journey has been that of a crusader who chased a calling off the beaten path.
His passionate quest to expose blind superstitious beliefs and faith prevalent among the masses led him to abandoned ruins, cursed wells, and haunted houses. Many of the stories he encountered blurred the lines between myth and reality. Along the way, he even created India’s first and only paranormal helpline to support people trapped in fear or confusion about alleged hauntings.
From exposing a 16-year-old girl’s staged ‘demonic possession’ in Patna to risking his life during a midnight investigation at Mumbai’s infamous Vasai Fort, he has fearlessly challenged the culture of irrational faith propagated by self-proclaimed ‘babas’ and godmen.
In this gripping narrative, co-authored with bestselling author Prasun Roy, Jay peels back the curtain on the murky paranormal world. He exposes the age-old machinery of exploitation that thrives on manipulating people’s unquestioning spiritual faith through terror tactics. His life’s purpose became clearer with every haunting he solved, and every lie he exposed.
In The Paranormal Boy, the authors chronicle Jay’s extraordinary journey of transformation— fraught with danger and risks—to emerge as one of India’s foremost paranormal investigators.
Raw, gripping, and brutally honest, this is the story of one man who stepped into a dark world so others could step out of it.
Jay Alani is one of India’s leading paranormal investigators, with over 15 years of experience and more than 1,500 investigations across the world. A filmmaker, podcaster, author, and TEDx speaker, he is known for his fearless pursuit of evidence-based paranormal inquiry and for pioneering India’s only paranormal awareness helpline. His hit podcast Paranormal Reality has crossed 20 million streams and ranks among the top international horror shows.
Jay is the founder of The Paranormal Company, India’s first paranormal startup, where he is building a global ‘Paranormal Universe’ through films, immersive storytelling, and technology. His upcoming projects—including Winston Villa, The Paranormal Boy, Numinous, and Monster Café—aim to reinvent Indian horror with authenticity and psychological depth.
His debut book Haunted (Penguin, 2019), India’s first non-fiction horror title, received critical acclaim. Jay has secured multiple film deals based on his investigations and continues to create influential content with platforms such as Gaana, Dish TV, Pratilipi, and Brut India.
His work can be found on:
https://www.instagram.com/ijayalani
http://x.com/ijayalani
Prasun Roy is a bestselling author known for his accessible narrative style across genres including horror, crime thrillers, mythology, history, and the paranormal. A researcher of India’s unsung freedom fighters, his acclaimed work on Rash Behari Bose highlights significant INA contributions. He has also translated classics by Rabindranath Tagore and Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay for global readers. A heritage enthusiast, Prasun serves as the Convenor of the Indian History Awareness and Research (IHAR) and is a life member of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). He has been a prominent speaker at many prestigious literary festivals, including Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, and the Pune International Literary Festival, among others.
An alumnus of IIM Lucknow, he lives in Kolkata and manages his family’s pharmaceutical business headquartered in Vadodara and Kolkata.
