Customer Reviews

Windy City Ghosts II

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

 

 

This is the follow up to his first book. There are more locations and stories, all new and exciting. I really liked reading this book, there so much information. It's written for anyone who holds an interest in the paranormal. Your told stories from all over the Chicagoland area, from Real Life haunted houses to the little-known stories. There are places that people have only talked about, and finally a book that sets the story straight. So many dark-tales, first hand accounts, and ghostly encounters. If you liked his first book, you better get this sequel.

Dale Kaczmarek is an expert in the field and a noted researcher. Dale Kaczmarek is a reseacher and investigator and not a "folklorist." He doesn't just collect stories to retell as "folklorist" do, he actually uses special equipment with his team of investigators to prove stories. This book does not have factual errors or errors in address locations that is common in other current books by Chicago Ghost hunters and writers on the topic.

This book is a great follow up to his first book.You will find different locations that were not mentioned in the his first book. There is tons of useful information from Capone's Hideaway & Speakeasy to the "Gate." The book is filled with little known stories, many I think are appearing for the first time. He also has a collection of Real-life haunted houses that he has investigated that are in this book. This is the President of the team of researchers that was featured on Discovery Channel's "REAL GHOSTHUNTERS." With over 25 years experience, these books were long overdue. EXCELLENT!

Very well written book from someone who actually is out in the field researching and investigating the paranormal. Lots of useful information about the alleged haunting and the location. The dates are accurate along with the story. This book is well researched and written by a person who has been doing for this for over 25 years.
I've read other Chicago books on the paranormal and some can't even get the story straight.
Enjoy this book and take his tour if your in the Chicagoland area!

Unfortunately, I read this book after reading "Chicago Haunts" and "More Chicago Haunts", the fabulous books by Ursula Bielski.
This book is not even in the same league.
The photographs look grainy and xeroxed, the type is obnoxious, and the layout is juvenile.
And that's just the beginning.
Kaczmarek, who is a fine ghosthunter, I'm sure, is NOT an author. From his incomplete sentences ("Obviously victims of an unfortunate accident.") to his anti-climactic stories, this book is not nearly as fun as Ms. Bielski's, and the tales are not nearly as artfully woven.
For a delightful and educational book on Chicago hauntings, skip this one and instead buy Ursula Bielski's fine works.
Kaczmarek sacrificed quality for quantity, and it's obvious.
One wonders how most of the stories even appear in a book on hauntings.
For example, Chodl Auditorium is given a half a page, and the gist of the story is that a drama teacher died and "supposedly haunts" this auditorium, although it "may be an urban legend" started by the schoolkids. Not one example is given of ghostly activity in the auditorium.
This is the worst kind of filler that many books on hauntings have. Speculation and hearsay are passed off as legitimate haunting activity, causing skeptics and non-skeptics alike to roll their collective eyes at being given so little credit by an author.
If this were the only example of this writing, I could easily overlook it. However, more than half the book seems to be this sort of thing.
Save your money.