Haunted Castles of the World: Ghostly Legends and Phenomena from Keeps and Fortresses Around the Globe (Paperback)

by Charles A. Coulombe (Author)
Key Phrases: haunted room, larnach castle, haunted castles, World War, Hampton Court, Sir John (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...A year-round resource to ghostie places..."--Chicago Tribune

Product Description
Dark spooky castles haunted by ghosts-what could be more of a cliché? Hamlet's father's ghost, stalking the walls of Elsinore, is burned into the mind of every high school literature student. Yet haunted castles do exist, and not just on lonely Scottish moors or German hillsides! On every continent, from the Gothic keeps of Europe, to the exotic battlements of old Japan, to the lonely Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, such places can be found.

In HAUNTED CASTLES OF THE WORLD, Charles A. Coulombe takes the reader on a global tour of such places, examining the legends and the phenomena that have gained them the reputation for being "haunted." These are all places that are accessible to the public-all to visit, some to stay in. You will learn what haunts them, where it haunts them, and-if known-why it haunts them. Some even come with a variety of ghosts. Whether you are planning an overseas vacation, or hunkering down in your favorite chair on a dark and stormy night, you are sure to find something in these pages to chill you.


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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592285341
• ISBN-13: 978-1592285341
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #860,927 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Guide book? Sure. Ghost book? Not really., April 18, 2006

By	Stefan Isaksson "www.stefanisaksson.se" (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Castles and ghosts go hand in hand, we all know that. Every castle ever built, it seems, appears to have its own White Lady, its own ghosts walking the gloomy halls at night frightening the people who happen to see them, and their own myths and legends about gruesome deaths and unhappy love.

This becomes extra clear after having read through Haunted Castles of the World. Every chapter looks the same; Coulombe begins by offering a short description of the history of the castle and its inhabitants, followed by stories about different ghosts and how they have appeared throughout the centuries, and the chapter is then closed with a lively remark and the address and contact information in case the reader too wants to go there and see what all the fuzz is all about.

Which is both good and bad. It's good because you'll always learn where the castle is, what ghost or ghosts it has, and how to contact the owners if you want to go there yourself. But at the same time it's pretty dull, because you really don't learn very much about the ghostly phenomena themselves. The book is actually more of a history book than a ghost book, because the chapters all have a lot more text dealing with history than with ghosts. And also, there's no bibliography whatsoever, not even when the author uses direct quotes, and all in all the entire book very easily feels boring and repetitive.

But on the other hand, it's written as a guide book about different castles and their ghosts all over the world - England, Scotland, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and much more - and as such a book it works perfectly. As long as you're aware of the fact that it's a guide book you probably won't get disappointed, but if you want to learn more about the ghost phenomenon itself you're a lot better off picking a different book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ghost Stories-Too Short, December 28, 2007

By	Y. Vashchenko - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book because I love ghost stories and pictures of haunted castles. However, this book provided none of that. It is more like world guide of haunted places, and each place gets a couple of pages of fanciful description and then the address. It did not provide the beautiful castle pictures, nor the involved, ghostly stories based on history I was looking for.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hauntings?, July 22, 2007

By	Veronica Rothwell (Melbourne, VIC, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A great book that is informative, but would like it to have more substance and more ghost phenomena written down for the castles. it feels like a quick run down of certain local tourist hotspots, and does not give much information about the particular hauntings that go on at the locales.