Customer Reviews

Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I moved to California 15 years ago after being a life-long resident of New England. In her book, O'Connnor manages to give us the gift of a bird's eye view of the haunted places and hikes associated with them in New Hampshire in both a charming and a little scary way. I can't wait to get back there to try some of the hikes. I especially like the way she rates them according to difficulty, awarding "ghost" icons to each description. Especially helpful are her very detailed directions on how to get to the beginning of each hike, and overall what to expect. As I am an elementary school teacher, I would love to take my class on some of these hikes. Her recounts of the scary stuff are enthralling. I found myself able to transport myself back in time to the misty, spectral past of New Hampshire, and imagine that the people in these stories really lived.

Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire is a hiking trail guide with a difference. From ghost towns of Monson Center and Indian Arrowhead Forest, to the UFO of Indian Head, to tales of Satan at Devil's Den Mountain, each hike is presented with a black-and-white map, and a scary story of its history. A handful of black-and-white photographs intersperse this spooky delight enthusiastically recommended for hikers in search of not just natural splendor, but also the unexplained majesty of the preternatural.

One thing about hiking is that kids often need a little extra motivation to want to do the hike. O'Connor has added the "haunted" aspect, which provides that extra motivation. The hike descriptions are easy to follow and the stories of the "hauntings" are well written and engaging.

What a treat this book is. It is perfect to set the stage for group hikes with kids. The excitement about the history of the mountain and the tales of mysterious encounters really get the kids geared up to hike. They actually like it more and forget the difficulty. They find themselves atop the mountain with big smiles. Thanks for book, I will use it often.

I'm really surprised by the positive reviews of this book. I find the book to be confusing and lacking in a lot of areas.

This book lacks detail. The chapter named Devil's Den lists 3 different locations for various Devil's Dens around New Hampshire. Sadly, the locations of all three were not listed. Secondly, the topographical maps often show both the haunted locations and the surrounding mountains. The mountains aren't labeled and the heights are omitted. Lastly, and this sounds childish, but there really needs to be more pictures in this book. Several famous pictures were listed in the book but actually printed in the book.

Overall, this book gives some neat ideas for hiking, but needs a lot of improvement before I recommend it.

Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire by Marianne O'Connor is a fantastic book. O'Connor covers fourteen haunts, and packs each listing with valuable information. As the title says, the fourteen locations are in more of mountainous terrains. Each has about eight to ten pages written about it. With each location, a map is provided showing how steep the terrain is, so readers will know ahead of time how difficult the hike will be. O'Connor rates the area on a scale of one to four ghosts. One being the easiest for families with children and four being the most difficult if you have children or dogs who cannot hike easily.

O'Connor took the time to perform necessary research for readers to plan most of their investigation. The fourteen locations have a page listing if parking and admission is free, where readers can go for more information online, what to look for at the area such as fauna and landmarks, and even more important how long an average hike will take. One of the best assets to have when attending any hike or investigation is knowledge. Hikes of New Hampshire gives readers 75 percent of the knowledge needed for a hike or investigation.

The maps are phenomenally drawn. Each map is a two dimensional topographic that shows roads, trails, ponds, railroads, parking, cemeteries and gravesites, where the location written about is, and a few other smaller markings such as town lines and conservation areas. The maps allow readers to see where they will park, and which trails and roads to follow.

What is great about Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire is that not only can it be used by investigators to find locations to visit, it can also be used by families with or without children to find places to visit on a sunny day and go for a hike. Whether hikers are there for the ghosts or the scenery, something will be found. If parents are looking for ways to get their kids to be active outdoors but are having difficulties catching their kid's interest, consider this book. Often ghost stories will catch kid's interest like fish in a net.

Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire gives plenty of information about the history of each location. I give Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire 5 out 5 stars. This book was well researched, and is a great addition to any collection of books, whether readers are interested in hiking, the paranormal, or a book to read in spare time.

This was a fun read and a good book to have at our lake house. Our kids come home from all over and are always looking for something to do. They often take off for hikes, I think they will love these!!

The author, Matianne O'Connor certainly knows her subject. Though I'm a more sedentary person then the author, her descriptive passages made me feel as if I were missing out on something by not spending more time in the woods, hiking. Seriously, Ms. O'Connor has written a very entertaining and informative book.