Hidden Haunts: A Creepy Collection of Forgotten Ghostly Places by Conner Gossel, illustrations by Natalie Dean

Reviewed by Jeanne

With an interest in both history and ghosts, Conner Gossel combined his interests to create “The Haunted Historian,” which is both a podcast and an Instagram account. He has collected some of the more interesting stories in Hidden Haunts which, as the subtitle suggests, focuses on lesser known haunted places rather than the one with high name recognition like the Winchester House.

The book is divided up by region and while most of the listings are from the United States, there are a few entries from other countries like Canada or Mexico. Each entry has a brief, well-written description with important information such as whether or not the site is available for public tours.  Many seem to have been turned into apartment buildings or B&Bs, and a good number have embraced the ghost stories as a selling point.  “Frightmore Manor” in Talbot, Tennessee has gone so far as to become a seasonal attraction, with added frights provided by entities more natural than super.

Of course, the first thing I did was to check the table of contents to see if I recognized any of the places and I did not.  I didn’t recognize any of the place names but after a couple of quick searches I discovered some where closer than I thought—the aforementioned Talbot, Tennessee is between Morristown and Jefferson City, while Harriman, Tennessee is a bit past Knoxville.

Even if the places aren’t in our own backyard, I enjoyed reading the descriptions. I like Gossel’s neutral tone, neither trying to sell the reader on hauntings nor debunking them.  He does have a few humorous asides, noting the commercial prospects of a haunted location, but for the most part his tone is compassionate regarding some of the tragic tales told about a property. He avoids sensationalism but still manages to be entertaining. Entries are short, one or two pages at most.  Gossel often mentions historic preservation in connection with these sites, including some restoration and renovation made possible by paranormal investigators.

I also was very impressed by the illustrations by Dean. They suit the book perfectly and to me have a bit of an Edward Gorey feel while also appearing to be mostly architecturally accurate.  (Not knowing the buildings personally, I have to rely on an image search.) I'm happy to report the illustrations are plentiful.  

The only disappointments were the lack of an index, especially as Gossel will occasionally toss in a bonus bit, like the Bell Witch.  The other complaint I have is that while the use of a gray textured background on the paper provided a good feel atmospherically, visually it made it a bit more of a chore to read for older eyes.  Bigger print would have helped a lot.

Those quibbles aside, this is an interesting, entertaining, and informative book enhanced by the atmospheric illustrations.  And if I ever find myself in Brandenburg, KY I definitely want to check out the prisoner pepperoni rolls at Jailhouse Pizza.

The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Haven’s father was a diver and a dreamer.  He never did quite get the big find he was always searching for, but he was close. His messages to Haven conveyed his excitement—but then he died suddenly.  Now Haven has come to Positano, an area known for its many shipwrecks, and the place where her father made his last dive. She’s working for a major company and has been allowed to assemble her own dive-team, all women. The goal is to map shipwrecks, but Haven is determined to find the treasure her father believed he had found.

Two hundred years earlier, Mari DeLuca is trying to escape Positano—not so much the village, but the sea that surrounds it.  Mari is one of the Strega del mare, sea witches who have have used their magic to keep Positano safe from invaders and prosperous enough to support their families. The sea is their ally, but because the sea took her mother and her sister, Mari learned to hate the sea.  And now she may have found a way to escape it.

Penner does a lovely job of mixing supernatural elements with the reality of diving and underwater research.  Haven and Mari are both strong, interesting characters who are motivated by love, both romantic and love of family.  When the storylines come together, it’s a beautiful thing.

I was especially intrigued by the descriptions of the Strega and the ocean; it’s a complex relationship, both beautiful and terrible as the sea gives and takes.  While I am not really a fan of dual timelines, it did work out in the end.

If you’re looking for a little light fantasy, romance, and an exotic location, give The Amalfi Curse a try. 

A History of Ghosts, Spirits, and the Supernatural

Reviewed by Jeanne

This is a DK production, so of course it’s packed with information and illustrations.  It's arranged chronologically, starting with the ancient world, antiquity to medieval, and then by centuries, ending with 1900 and beyond.  The coverage is world-wide; from Celtic mythology to Egyptian to Arabic to Mesoamerican and all points in between.  Ghosts, jinn, dybbuks, mermaids, the Wild Hunt, Ouija boards, urban legends, they’re all here in the pages of this book.  While I would be tempted to read the whole thing through, I have to confess I have skipped around a bit to read the sections I thought most intriguing. Most of the entries are fairly brief, just a page or two, but enough to give a good overview and to send readers in search of more in-depth information for those topics they find most appealing.

One section I read first deals with fairies, the “wee folk,” who appear in folklore all over the world.  There’s no set description—some are beautiful, some ugly; some have wings, some not—but they are all dangerous.  They may not be malevolent but they do live by their own rules and for those that break them, the consequences can be dire.  Of course, our images of fairies have changed over the centuries, and been influenced by literature, including Pinocchio and Peter Pan. There was also a reference to the (in)famous Cottingley Fairies of the 1920s.

The Wild Hunt also caught my eye, as I have come across many references to it over the years but many details seemed to differ.  Again, this is a concept which crosses many cultures, thought the article deals mainly with the European variants: the pack of hounds in Britain; Odin and Valkyries in Scandinavia; or the Sluda Sidhe, fairies who are out to get humans in Ireland.  A variant in Enlgand has the antlered Herne the Hunter leading the Wild Hunt. All are considered bad luck at best and downright dangerous at worst.

One I didn’t know about was the “waiting women” of Chinese folklore.  These can be ghosts or other supernatural women who die for love and wait for their beloved to either join them or else recognize them so they can be together.  Some stories have happy endings but others have the poor waiting woman forever waiting.

The later chapters deal with more modern manifestations of supernatural lore, including spiritualism (and the Fox sisters, who were famous mediums in the 1800s), ghost photography, paranormal romance novels (think Twilight), ghostly tours, paranormal investigations, and ghosts in popular culture. 

It’s a great book to browse and, wonder of wonders, it has an index so that you can look up, say, Krampus or Bloody Mary. I really enjoyed dipping into it.  While sometimes the information is a bit scant, it’s a great place to find things you want to investigate more thoroughly—or just enjoy the bits of information and move on.

Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue by Kate Pearsall

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Growing up in Caball Hollow, West Virginia, Rowan James is used to being shunned. She comes from a long line of James women, all of whom have supernatural gifts of some sort.  Rowan’s gift is that she knows when someone is lying. She can smell the lies, whether a small white lie or a falsehood so dark that it reeks of rot and sulfur.  It’s hard to always know that people around you are lying, and it’s made Rowan grow up to be angry and suspicious. Her temper flares once too often, so her grandmother insists that she needs to go work at the forest fire tower to learn some patience.

It isn’t long before Rowan finds herself involved in more than one mystery.  A young man is found unconscious in the woods, with no clue as to his identity or what he was doing there.  A paranormal group is also hanging around, looking for evidence of the Moth-Winged Man. Not only does Rowan feel there’s something off about the group, but other things are happening around her: non-native creatures like magpies are appearing even as other things go missing—both physical items like necklaces but also people’ memories. Then there are the ginseng poachers, seeking to steal a fortune in the valuable roots from protected land.

Enter Hadrian Fitch, who had worked as a handyman for Rowan’s family before leaving without even a goodbye.  Rowan had a fraught relationship with Hadrian because of her gift: she knew he was lying, but not about what.  Now a battered Hadrian has come to Rowan for help.  She can’t trust him, but he may hold the key to solving the other mysteries—and saving her family.

I loved the first book in the series, Bittersweet in the Hollow, which featured Linden James, the sister who can taste the emotions of those around her.  That book introduced readers to the James family as well as some of the area legends—including that of the Moth-Winged Man. I was definitely intrigued and was anxiously awaiting the second book.

I will admit that Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue seemed to get off to a bit of slow start, but it soon picked up steam; and once Rowan reunited with her family the story flowed better for me. While the plot in the book is self-contained, I would strongly recommend that readers start with the first book to understand some of the characters and relationships.  Pearsall does an excellent job of blending myth, magic, and folklore into a realistic Appalachian setting, and the James women are all interesting characters. While the books focus on the sisters, all of whom are young adults, I’m equally intrigued with their mother and grandmother. I also like the way Pearsall writes, which is descriptive and emotional in a good way.

I’m looking forward to future books.  While nothing has been announced as yet—and I do check fantasticfiction.com on a regular basis—fans suspect that the next book will feature either Juniper or Sorrel.  I will just be happy to be back in the company of this fascinating family. (Note:  while some classify this as a YA book, my feeling is that a good book is a good book, no matter the age of the intended audience.)

Eerie Legends: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Creepy Creatures, the Paranormal, and Folklore from Around the World by Ricardo Diseno

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Cryptids are hot!  It seems that creatures and critters are showing up everywhere, not just in the deep woods.  There’s even a children’s board book series about some young versions, and I am sorry I didn’t snap up that copy of Mothman Baby when I saw it at the store. I was later informed that there are books featuring Yeti Baby, Bigfoot Baby, Nessie Baby, and more. 

I have become more intrigued by cryptids of late due to seeing so many images of them, mostly locally.  When this book came in, the illustrations reminded me of some of the artwork I’ve seen at HollerHouse, both in use of color and technique, so of course I had to check it out.

As the title indicates, the book is about more than just cryptids.  Entries include the Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction, Slender Man, the Enfield Poltergeist, and the Catacombs of Paris.  Each topic has its own section accompanied by eye-catching illustrations and, in some cases, a story or poem.  I admit I was disappointed that the Flatwoods Monster wasn’t included, but there were still plenty of interesting and informative entries.  Naturally, I read the ones I was most intrigued by first, then moved on to some of the others.

The text describing each entry is somewhat brief, so there aren’t a lot of details.  I do like that the author sometimes offers explanations or a debunking (that classic photo of Nessie, now widely accepted as a hoax, for example) and the interesting assortment of topics, some of which I’d never heard of before.  “The Island of the Dolls” is one such:  located near Mexico City, there hundreds of dolls in various conditions are on display, many hanging from trees.

Accompanying the informational text is a usually short, somewhat creepy vignette about the entry.  Personally, I didn’t find that this added a lot; I would have preferred more information rather than fiction, but that’s just me.

The artwork is striking.  While not to everyone’s taste, I enjoyed the vibrant and a bit off-the-wall take on some of the stories.

While this might not be the first place I’d go to learn about a particular creature or place, it’s certainly an enjoyable browsing book. 

Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

It started with cattle mutilations.  Then the attacks began targeting people, often leaving bloody and shocking crime scenes. Detective Mark Valdez begins to wonder if the perpetrators are members of some strange cult, Satanic or otherwise.  With no solid leads in sight, he asks to call in someone he knows who might be able to give the police some insight into what’s going on.

Diana Tregarde’s day job is romance novelist, but she’s also a practicing witch and an investigator of supernatural events.  She catches the next flight to Dallas, but even Diana isn’t prepared for what she and Mark may be facing.

Most people know Lackey as the author of the long running Valdemar series, but she’s also the author of several others. Burning Water is the first in a nifty urban fantasy series which came out in the late 80s/early 90s which is about the time I first read this book. While shifting books on my shelves I came across the first three books and realized I hadn’t finished reading the series, so I decided to re-read the first one to see if it held up before tackling the other two.

I found I really enjoyed it the second time around.  There are a few minor things that are dated but none of that affected my enjoyment.  There are a some graphic scenes but those aren’t drawn out and are connected to the ultimate solution.  I also liked the information about folklore and other belief systems. Some reviewers have said Diana is just too perfect, or that the book is too talky. There are sections in which the characters discuss religion and philosophy, but I found it interesting and not preachy.  As to Diana’s goodness, I’m good with it—yes, pun intended. 

I liked the pacing.  While there were times I wanted the characters to be quicker on the uptake, there was a reason for that—and I suspect the author was using that device to ratchet up the tension a bit, letting the reader know what was going on in a way that the main characters couldn’t. When it all comes together, the story moves rapidly to a satisfying conclusion.

Although Lackey just wrote three novels in the series, she has done a few novellas that are available as ebooks.  I may take a look after I finish the others.

Books in the series are:

1.       Burning Water

2.      Children of the Night

3.      Jinx High

The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Twenty years ago, a neighborhood vanished.  The houses, the people, everything—gone, hidden behind some sort of barrier. The only survivors were three young women who were away from their homes when the disappearance happened.  Despite the researchers and the investigators, the conspiracy theorists and the occult believers, no one has been able to explain what occurred at Velkwood.

One of the survivors, Talitha, has been running from what happened for all those years.  She’s adrift, barely scraping by, and always haunted by her past.  She’s approached by Jack, a researcher who wants her to try to go back to the neighborhood—and he’s willing to pay.  One of the three girls, Grace, actually did go through the barrier once, but she won’t talk about it.  Brett, Talitha’s former best friend, has refused to try, not that Talitha really talks to her anymore.  Or to Grace.

But Talitha left something precious behind in that neighborhood:  her younger sister, Sophie.  If there’s any chance that Sophie is there, any chance that she can be rescued, then Talitha is going to try.

I picked this up because of the intriguing premise.  It’s well written and the hidden reasons behind the vanishing are powerful and memorable. It’s appropriately creepy for the season.  The ghost people in the neighborhood are well described but they’re also sort of standard issue characters.  My biggest problem is that I never quite connected to the characters:  Talitha, our narrator, is very closed off emotionally and tightly wound. She doesn’t let people get close to her, and for me that included the reader.  None of the characters came to life for me.  It’s not a bad book, and it does have important things to say, but as far as I’m concerned it didn’t live up to its promise.   Every book is not for every reader, and the very positive reviews others have given it are proof of that.  It just wasn’t a book for me.

Third Shift Society by Meredith Moriarty

Reviewed by Jeanne

Ellie is not having a good day.  Bills are due, well, okay PAST due, the landlady wants the rent, and when she goes into work, she finds she is now unemployed.  Desperate, she tries her hand at several jobs and manages to fail spectacularly.  As Ellie says, “Why am I so bad at adulthood?”

Her day may not get worse but it is about to get weirder.  As she walks down an alley, there’s a guy who looks as if he’s wearing a jack-o’-lantern for a head being attacked by some sort of dog thing with horns and a mane.  Impulsively, Ellie leaps in to help—and suddenly there’s blue fire coming from her hands.  Together they manage to subdue the dog/lion whatever and Ellie gets a job offer as a paranormal investigator.

And by the way, his head IS a pumpkin. And his name is Ichabod.

That’s the opening sequence for Third Shift Society, a graphic novel that began life as a web-comic.  Meredith Moriarty, Eisner Award nominee, does both the art and the script.  Ellie is definitely in for the ride of her life as she meets other supernatural beings, friendly or not, and helps Ichabod solve cases.  The artwork is wonderful, very expressive and vivid. I liked both the style and the color palette.   The characters are well developed, especially Ellie who is an appealing heroine:  brave and impulsive, but with a good heart. This is probably a good place to mention that she’s also a bit gullible. It’s very easy to get drawn into this world of curses, vampires, demons, and things that go bump in the night.

More and more web-comics are making the leap into print, and I definitely approve.  I now have several favorites which began life online such as Breaking Cat News, Swan Eaters, and Lore Olympus.  I had never heard of this particular web-comic until the book came out but I have now become a fan.  A second volume is in the works and I’ll look forward to reading it.

The Stranger Vanishes by Wendy Corsi Staub

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

After a year of living in Lily Dale, the town devoted to connecting to the afterlife, widow Bella Jordan has a cautious approach to the supernatural. She’s not a believer, but there have been some occurrences that seem to defy rational explanation. Still, when a man in 19^th century clothing takes a room for the night and then vanishes, she resists the idea that she’s been visited by a ghost. Surely there is some rational explanation. . . .

This was my fifth visit to Lily Dale in the company of Bella, her son Max, and the other inhabitants of the town.  Obviously, I must enjoy the books or I wouldn’t keep coming back!  I first encountered Lily Dale as part of this series and have gone on to read a non-fiction book about this intriguing town.  According to Wikipedia, the year-round residents number 275, while during the tourist season thousands will visit for psychic readings, workshops, séances, and other paranormal activities.

Staub’s series tries to walk a line between skepticism, as personified by the still grieving Bella, and belief.  Bella’s friends are all believers, but not all are gifted—at least not reliably so. The annoying Pandora does seem to have occasional flashes of insight, for example, but many of her proclamations seem more self-serving than Spirit. Jiffy, a young friend of Max’s, personifies the expression “out of the mouths of babes” in his off-hand comments that often prove true. Jiffy and Max in particular are delightful and very believable creations; they’re just at the age where wordplay is immense fun.

The books have a leisurely pace to them, and are told mostly from Bella’s point of view. Despite the supernatural setting, the books aren’t especially creepy or spooky; instead there’s a more thoughtful, measured approach.  There is a decent mystery, but for the most part I find them to be meditations on life and afterlife peopled by friendly characters and some lovely cats.  I quite enjoy my visits.

While they don’t have to be read in order, it sometimes helps to know a bit of the different characters’ backstories. The books in order are:

Nine Lives

Something Buried, Something Blue

Dead of Winter

Prose and Cons

The Stranger Vanishes

Bait and Witch by Angela Sanders

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Librarian Josie Way is living the dream working in the Library of Congress until she overhears a conversation implicating a Congressman in graft.  Whistleblowing being a dangerous business, she decides to flee D.C. and accepts a job in a rather remote town in Oregon, hoping to lie low for a while.  Unfortunately, it seems that her new library haven is about to be torn down to make way for a resort. Part of the argument is that the library attracts undesirables. . . like the dead woman found nearby.

I had to suspend a lot of disbelief in this first in the Josie Way series, but that turned out to be okay, especially after Josie begins to manifest some supernatural powers when it comes to Readers Advisory.  (Library lingo for recommending a book.) From then on, I bought into the premise with ease, mainly because I found the whole thing to be a lot of fun.   I adored the idea of the books sending messages to her, grumbling or laughing amongst themselves, and the library as a whole welcoming her.  So what if I had trouble with someone who was supposedly in hiding taking a job under her own name and social security number?  I got talking books and a cat named Rodney.  I was happy.

This book was a delight, and the ending had me looking forward to the next title.  It wasn’t a cliff-hanger (for which I am grateful!) but it definitely teased interesting things to come.   I am certainly going to read the next in the series (out now) and will look forward to the third title.

The books are:

Bait and Witch

Seven Year Witch

Witch and Famous  (2022; now listed as Witch Way Librarian Mystery)

Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch

Reviewed by Kristin

Peter Grant has seen some weird stuff in his time with the police. When Peter first started as a probationary constable, he worried that he would be stuck in some dead-end job processing reports where the most danger facing him would be from paper cuts. But when Peter interviews an eyewitness one night who turns out to be a ghost, he comes to the attention of Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who has a vested interest in all things supernatural. After all, in addition to his decades with the London Metropolitan Police, Nightingale is the last wizard in England. Someone has to deal with the weird stuff.*

The series begins with Rivers of London. Peter is partnered with Lesley May, also a probationary constable, and the two have some truly strange adventures as they await their permanent assignments. When Peter is assigned to work with Inspector Nightingale, he discovers much about the otherworldly aspects of London. The rivers have personalities, or possibly something…more. Evil hides behind innocuous faces, ready to spring forth and consume the innocent.

Peter’s family background has prepared him for the unusual, with a black mother from Sierra Leone and a British white jazz musician father. The family ties are tight, but Peter does his best to go about his business while constantly running into aunties or cousins. The crowd of family acquaintances is immense, which Peter accepts stoically. Sometimes those connections come in handy, after all.

Ben Aaronovitch has an interesting writing background; he wrote for Doctor Who and several publications with varying degrees of quality. After a spell, he ended up working as a bookseller, where he was inspired to create his own original characters, and thus Peter Grant was born. Over the course of the series, Aaronovitch has developed a wide cast of characters and even the smaller personas often pop back up in subsequent books. The characters came to life even more vividly for me as I have listened to some of these titles as audiobooks narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

I anxiously await Amongst Our Weapons coming out this April, as Peter has some rather interesting events happening in his personal life, and I expect the magical challenges of his job will continue as well. The weird stuff too.

The series includes:

1. Rivers of London aka Midnight Riot (2011)

2. Moon Over Soho (2011)

3. Whispers Under Ground (2012)

4. Broken Homes (2013)

5. Foxglove Summer (2014)

5.5. The Furthest Station (novella) (2017)

6. The Hanging Tree (2016)

7. Lies Sleeping (2018)

7.5. The October Man (novella) (2019)

8. False Value (2020)

9. Amongst Our Weapons (April 2022)

   Tales from the Folly (short stories) (2020)

   What Abigail Did That Summer (short stories) (2021)

 

* Yes, I keep mentioning the “weird stuff,” but Peter does keep commenting on the unusual amount of “weird ____” that happens, making my phrase more fitting for a PG-rated bookblog.