Haunted Houses of California: A Ghostly Guide (Tetra) [Paperback]

Antoinette May (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tetra | Publication Date: September 14, 1993

From San Diego’s Whaley House to Sonoma’s Valley of the Moon Saloon, California offers an amazing array of haunted sites. Enriched with historical background and generously illustrated, this fascinating, fun-to-read guide documents dozens of chill-inducing spots throughout the state, including hotels, bars, schools, historic buildings, and natural areas. Among the intriguing sites listed are the famous Winchester Mystery House, the infamous Red, White, and Blue Beach, and a host of lesser-known gems like the Easkoot House in Stinson Beach.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wide World Publishing, Tetra; Second Edition edition (September 14, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933174918
• ISBN-13: 978-0933174917
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,137,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of FUN for Californians!, November 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Haunted Houses of California: A Ghostly Guide (Tetra) (Paperback)

I collect books on hauntings, and a major problem I often find is that the telling of the "incident" or "occurence" can be either dry or so wordy you are bored to tears. This is not a problem with this book. The author attempts the bring the location alive with history and accounts of what (may have) taken place to cause the phenomena. However, it's greatest asset is also it's greatest flaw. As others have stated, some "ghost" stories have very little documentation of the actual hauntings, which is disappointing. Personally, I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend it, especially if you are from Califonia. I used it to plan "haunted tours" with friends, and it provides information about each location (address, ph#, when and if it's open to the public) for those who want to experience it themselves. If you know the area(s), familiarity adds to the fun. If you are looking for an in depth study, I wouldn't say this book is for you. It's a fun, spooky, simple read, not an in depth study. But overall, I think people have been too hard on it, I've owned my copy since 1993, and reread it many times. It's pretty much what it claims to be. And really it's the only book I have read so far that is focused exclusively on (the entire) state of California.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Expansive, if not a bit lacking in depth, August 12, 2000

By 

Jordy Jensky (Guerneville, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Haunted Houses of California: A Ghostly Guide (Tetra) (Paperback)

While I do, to a degree agree with those who disliked this book, I find that for it's breadth of haunted locales in the Bay Area and California, it cannot be beat. It covers so many locations that it would be hard to cover with more depth. Also, the book focuses more on the HISTORY of the sites then the hauntings themselves. However, the story of Red, White and Blue beach made me have to visit!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as detailed or well written as I expected., October 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Haunted Houses of California: A Ghostly Guide (Tetra) (Paperback)

Listing Sylvia Browne as one of the authors is somewhat misleading; she writes the forward, and although she is mentioned many times in the book, I believe Antoinette May does most of the talking here. Despite Ms. May's introduction, promising detailed historic fact-finding, etc. for each house described, it seems that most of her information is solely dependent on how much information is available on corresponding travel/tourist brochures. To give an example, most of the information from The Winchester Mystery House [which I've had the pleasure to visit since it's in my town] seemed to be lifted directly from the speeches given by the tour guides. There seems to be no conjecture from the author at all, as to if any of her fact[oids] are even correct or just purely urban legend/myth. The only time she does make a comment is to [flippantly] conclude each chapter; this last aspect of Ms. May's writing is disconcerting considering that she has just finished describing what is sometimes a very grizzly demise of what is now a restless soul.