Customer Reviews

Weird Hauntings: True Tales of Ghostly Places

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this book, the authors of Weird U.S. have compiled with the help of Joanne Austin a collection of ghostly tales having to do with haunted houses, spooky roads, historic buildings, graveyards, hostels, restaurants, saloons, schools, institutions etc. Not only are the stories well-written, but there are actual photographs, and also pictures added for creepy effect throughout the book. It makes not only for an interesting read for anyone interested in supernatual phenomena, but serves to enlighten us as to some of the creepy places in the US!

And that's the truth. When I bought this book at Barnes and Noble last Friday (along with Conan: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Most Savage Barbarian), I got spooked when I first read it by myself. There is a wealth of information regarding the ghosts that haunt us from beyond, plus a vampire legend and serial killer legends. This is a great book, and it now sits on my closet shelf, along with all my other frequently-read books. I recommend it for anyone who has an interests in hauntings or spirits of the dead.

America's most haunted places are featured in a fine survey which includes both spots well-known and open to the public and private residences alike. Each story is a firsthand tale that reviews sites ranging from haunted houses and graveyard to scary theatres, saloons and more. Besides the attention to descriptive detail, color photos and sidebars of information throughout differentiate WEIRD HAUNTINGS: TRUE TALES OF GHOSTLY PLACES from competing titles and make it particularly interesting for general-interest holdings; especially those seeking catchy covers and contents suitable for eye-catching display.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

These were interesting stories throughout the US. Good book for those who want to read a short, and creepy story late at night.

I want to point out something first--I don't scare easily. It takes a LOT to scare me...but this book did the trick! It's full of true tales of ghosts. It's divided into sections--haunted houses; terrifying travels; historic haunts; otherworldly outdoors; ghostly graveyards; hostel environments; eerie eateries, spooky saloons; school ghouls and institutional apparitions. Most of them include actual photos of the sites or some obviously faked (but eerie) pics of the ghosts. Some of the tales are kind of fun and cute but most are pretty scary. Reading this on a dark night with the wind blowing outside can really work on you. There's nothing explicitly violent or graphic but they give you enough information to figure things out. Scary and, for a horror fan like me at least, kind of fun. Recommended for horror fans but be warned! This book REALLY works!

This book was very good! I am an avid reader of Ghosts and Hauntings and find many books on the subject just dont keep my interest due to them being boring or all the stories seem to be the same but using diffrent names. Weird Hauntings was a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone interseted in the paramormal!

This volume is nicely put together. My only disappointment was that the stories were indeed nothing more than stories; they went into very little depth. However, the text is readable, and the generous supply of photographs makes it a nice volume to flip through.

As a lover of all things paranormal, this book was right down my alley. Excellent reading on a dark stormy night, escpecially when the power goes out... then you have to go find a flashlight or candle...

I have watched some of the "Weird US" shows on TV and I rather enjoyed them so when I saw this book I figured that I would enjoy it also. I have to admit though that I was a bit perplexed by the title because I couldn't figure out how any haunting could be anything but weird. I was correct though about enjoying this book!

What this book is is a collection of true stories about ghostly events that have happened in a far-reaching variety of places. These stories are written by various authors some of whom are well known for their research and writings on this subject and some of whom are maybe less experienced in this field but who nonetheless do a very credible job in this collection. Some of my favorite authors of true ghost story books like Alan Brown and Jeff Belanger are featured in this book, as is one author whose works have never impressed me but even he does a respectable job here. Overall I was just very pleased with this book.

The stories are a bit on the short side but the authors generally are able to cram a lot of information into those short stories. Most all of the stories contain information about how to find the location in question or the reader is informed that that particular site is private property and that ghost hunters are not welcome there. Best of all though almost every story in this book contains interviews with first hand eyewitnesses to the haunt being described. There is also an attempt made to decipher what may have caused the haunting in most of these stories and the reader is made aware of the history of most of the locations but without the history overwhelming the haunting, as is all too often the case in these types of books. I also found no glaring historical errors in these stories and that mistake, caused by lax research is all too prevalent in this genre.

I was also happy to see that this book was not simply a compilation of old worn out stories that had been done to death (pardon the pun) by other authors. I hardly ran into any familiar stories and considering my large collection of this type of book that is quite an accomplishment and I assume that I should give Joanne Austin, the editor, credit for that. These stories were very well chosen. I just wish that the stories had been a little longer and had contained just a tad more detail even if it meant leaving out a few stories. Those stories would have made an excellent starting place for the volume two that I hope to see published shortly.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. The book has great artwork. Just a great book all around!