Publication Date:September 1, 2006 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, the authors of the bestselling Weird U.S. series, comes something a little different, designed to send shivers down the spine: a book on America’s scariest haunted places. Some of these spirit-filled spots are well known and open to the public, while others are private residences that will have to remain intriguing from a distance: No visits allowed! The stories include firsthand tales that have a powerful “creepiness factor” and believability. The various sites include haunted houses, ghostly graveyards, cursed roads, eerie eateries, spirited saloons, and more. But be warned: This collection of true tales set in actual locations is so chilling that you may not want to read this alone at night!
Excellent and scary bookNovember 24, 2008 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!
Weird is as Weird DoesNovember 12, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
Great silly fun bookOctober 1, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
OK first of all let me say for the record what we all know to be true. There are no such things as Ghosts. Every single solitary unbiased examination has proven this to be the case. That being said we all love a good ghost story being told and this book has a number of really fun and enjoyable ones to tell around the campfire on a dark night. Weird Hauntings has a number of fun and enjoyable stories, none of which I would take too seriously.
The authors do a good job of making these stories seem real because in many cases there is enough information given to make the story seem juicy but of course just enough so it can never be verified. All of these stories are full of crimes and lives cut short but at some point in the past that can never be proven. So none of them are at all credible but you are not reading this because you believe it is a text book. You're reading them in a dark room to scare yourself! For that alone it's worth reading!
Awesome bookAugust 8, 2008 I enjoyed reading this book very much. The book has great artwork. Just a great book all around!
Creative Ghost Story Writing For Beginners 101June 29, 2008 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I found this book to be quite disappointing. It begins well with a very readable and page-turning first chapter but from there on things just go downhill and never really recover. Every now and then an interesting and believable scary story pops up but mostly it seems just like what you could expect to encounter if you took a class entitled Creative Ghost Story Writing For Beginners 101. It seems that an awful lot of the tales stem more from the imagination of the narrator than from some otherworldly realm. And not a few times I cringed in embarassment when a paranormal suggestion or explanation was offered for events that were so obviously nothing of the sort. If you like your ghost tales served up with credibility and objective research and investigation then this book is definitely not for you. Spared from a single star rating only by the heroics of Chapter One.
