I finally managed to get through my book! I am not sure why I feel that this one has taken so long, perhaps because it has?? There was a lot to read in this book and other things sometimes took over. There was the arrival of my Nintendo DSI (my alien Wicko is now stuck on some planet and I have no idea how he gets back to his spaceship?!). Let's not forget my slight obsession with Cryptic Crosswords (if anyone has a clue what the answer to "taking over if trail wanders" is then please let me know.... I know it's 7 letters and has a T at the end but that's it). Combine these two with my recent tendency to fall asleep on the sofa whilst sitting down for a major reading session at the weekend, and it's a miracle it did not take me longer to finish this one. Moving onto something a bit more pacey now so might manage to stay awake for more than 20 pages at one sitting. Dean K is on the agenda next and he usually manages to keep me focused and entertained so I have high hopes to get through a few more books over the coming weeks. Oh yeah... if it was not for the fact that I am going on holiday next weekend.... hmm, we'll see then. But first.....
###### SPOILER ALERT ######
Haunted America - Michael Norman & Beth Scott
This is a great one to read if you want to get an overview of what kind of stories are lurking in Americas distant and recent past. I am pretty sure it is not exhaustive but the nice thing about it is that you get a helping from every state so you get a complete picture of what stories there are. A lot of them concern haunted historic houses where former residents refuse to leave. Many of the ghost that stay behind seem harmless but some are downright nasty! In a lot of cases some effort has been made by the authors or tellers of the story to try and trace the origin of the haunting. I kind of like that as it gives a bit more "bite" to the story told.
The stories are not presented as a fictional story but more as factual records of the events as told to the authors of the book and I think that this what I struggled with sometimes. I always find that you can only read so many of them in one sitting. My mind tends to like a storyline and a plot to follow and with a representation of facts you just get from A to B and that's it. This is not to say that the stories in the book were not entertaining because they were! The other tenants at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue tells us about the lingering presences of some illustrious historical figures. There are stories here about haunted theatres, cursed furniture, warriors of the battle at Little Bighorn, ghosts warning of imminent danger or just trying to get you out of whatever they see as their home.
One of the most memorable ones to me is Something evil on Larabee Street. The story tells about a young family who moved into a house they thought would be theirs forever but had to be left behind in the middle of the night because they just could no longer deal with what was haunting them and/or the house they lived in. The intensiveness of what they experienced is scary. The story also deals with how it affected them, their pets and those family members that came to stay with them for a short time. I will not spoil it for you but I think that even I would not be able to live in the house they called home! Another interesting one is A.E. Poe and guests. Apparently there is a ghost that haunts the grave of EA Poe (surprising? - not really!). Every year on his birthday man with a walking stick, dressed in black leaves three red roses and a bottle of cognac as Poe's grave. Also, remind me to stay away from New Jersey!! Apparently there is something there called the Jersey Devil and all you need to know about it is it's ugly and you need to steer clear of it!
There are other much more lighthearted stories about mischievous and kind spirits that have chosen to linger on so on the whole the books gives you a good variety of stories. There's way too many stories to list them all individually here so I won't, but trust me all the states are covered and Canada even gets a mention in a separate section. I love the book for it's attempt to give you a bit of everything and for getting stories in from every state and I am pretty sure there is more stories of hauntings in the USA that are waiting to be discovered.... the big reading list at the back of the book tells me so!
Title: Haunted America
Authors: Beth Scott & Michael Norman
Tor
411 pages
ISBN nr 0-312-85751-9
Books bought: 0
Books to be read: 72
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