Customer Reviews

Ghost Towns (Scary Places)

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Of all the books in the `Scary Places' series that I've read so far, "Ghost Towns" seems one of the least gruesome, and the most age-appropriate--a 9 - 12 year-old audience is suggested for this book. One of my favorite stories is about Alcatraz Island (not exactly a ghost town): "Gangster Al Capone was imprisoned at Alcatraz in the 1930s. He used to hide in the shower room to practice playing the banjo. Guards say the sound of his songs can still be heard there today"

Photographs of the ghost towns, temples, and a prison (the majority are American) abound. Troy Taylor, President of the American Ghost Society is listed as the consultant for these eleven stories, although they tend to be of historical rather than supernatural interest.

The book's language is simple and dramatic, and some of the more difficult words such as `archaeologists,' `human sacrifice,' and `Khmer' are defined in a glossary. An adult could probably read through "Ghost Towns" in less than half-an-hour. The stories within are: "The Gold Rush Ghost" (Bodie, California); "Headless Charlie" (Jerome, Arizona); "A Spooky Sheriff" (Bannack, Montana); "Hidden Homes" (Anasazi Cliff Dwellings, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado); "Phantom Prisoners" (Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California); "The Lost Colony" (Roanoke Island, North Carolina); "A Violent Volcano" (Pompeii, Italy); "A Cursed Shipwreck" (Llanelen, Wales); "The City Below" (Mary King's Close, Edinburgh, Scotland); "Lost Temples of Stone" (Angkor, Cambodia); "A Haunted Pyramid" (Uxmal, Mexico).

A map, bibliography, glossary, index, and an internet site where a reader can learn more about ghostly towns and dwellings are provided at the back of this 32-page book.