Book picks similar to
Chicago Haunts: Ghostly Lore of the Windy City by Ursula Bielski
non-fiction
paranormal
chicago
nonfiction
Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps: True Tales of an Accidental Ghost Hunter
Adam Selzer - 2009
Proving that not all ghost hunters are kooks (some are just geeks gone wild), Selzer showcases true spooky tales worldwide, a history of hauntings, the art of ghost hunting, and cool evidence of paranormal phenomena and the supernatural. These ghost stories will make you want to investigate that cemetery down the road to see if it's haunted--or just dark and creepy.
Weird Hauntings: True Tales of Ghostly Places
Joanne Austin - 2006
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!
The Myrtles Plantation: The True Story of America's Most Haunted House
Frances Kermeen - 2005
The author of Ghostly Encounters describes her experiences as the owner of The Myrtles a former plantation mansion in Louisiana chronicling the chilling history of the old house her encounters with sometimes terrifying sometimes benevolent hauntings and the personal challenges that culminated in one cataclysmic event The former owner of Louisiana s Myrtles Plantation recognized as America s most haunted house reveals the spine tingling story of how she was drawn to the former plantation its bone chilling history and the incredible ghostly occurrences that forever changed her beliefs about the supernatural.
The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings
Peter Haining - 2008
These sightings could be from any suburb or hometown, and covers the full spectrum of credible hauntings. Also included are notes and essays by Robert Graves, Edgar Cayce, and M. R. James, a full bibliography and list of useful resources to bring out the believer in you.
Haunted Britain and Ireland
Richard Jones - 2001
A spine-chilling exploration of the haunted sites of Britain and Ireland, and an indispensable guide for ghost-hunters everywhere
More than 130 haunted sites - and many more ghosts - are described in evocative and atmospheric detail
A wealth of biographical information and extracts from original documents place the specters in their historical context
Written by inveterate ghost hunter and professional tour guide, Richard Jones, whose detailed research reveals many ghost stories that have never before appeared in print
Superb photography and contemporary illustrations supplement the text, and maps pinpoint the sites
Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death
Deborah Blum - 2006
James came together with two other brilliant and charismatic thinkers of the day-Richard Hodgson, a converted skeptic, and James Hyslop, a natural grandstander who would often visit mediums unannounced, a hooded mask covering his face-to form the core of the American Society for Psychical Research. They eventually merged with the British Society for Psychical Research, adding to the group the Cambridge philosopher Henry Sidgwick and his tiny, ferociously smart wife Eleanor, as well as the mythically handsome Edmund Gurney and others. While studies of ESP and ghostly visitations have occurred since the days of the society, at no other time have scientists of the caliber of James and his colleagues devoted themselves in such an ambitious and driven way for evidence of a life beyond. James and his band of brothers staked their reputations, their careers, even their sanity, on one of the most extraordinary (and entertaining) psychological quests ever undertaken, a quest that brought its followers right up against the limits of science. This riveting book is about the investigation of the ghost stories-the instances of supernatural phenomena that could not be explained away-and it is about the courage and conviction of William James and his colleagues to study science with an open mind. At the heart of the story is the ongoing tension between empiricism and spiritualism-between a way of explaining the world that is grounded in the purely tangible and a way that is grounded in a mixture of the evident and the hidden. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Deborah Blum uses her extraordinary storytelling skills and scientific insight to explore nothing less than the nexus of science and religion. It is a territory as fascinating to us now as it was to William James and his colleagues then.
Coast to Coast Ghosts: True Stories of Hauntings Across America
Leslie Rule - 2001
An employee of the St. James Hotel in New Mexico watches in shock as a fair-haired toddler with a terribly disfigured face disappears into the floor. This is just one of the paranormal mysteries Leslie Rule shares with us--a result of extensive interviews and research uncovering the reasons behind ghost sightings across the country.Coast to Coast Ghosts features dozens of spine-tingling, real-life ghost stories and approximately fifty black-and-white photographs taken by Rule, including some believed to have captured actual apparitions.Only the reader can decide. . . .
The Demonologist
Gerald Brittle - 1980
The Demonologist reveals the grave religious process behind supernatural events and how it can happen to you. Over twenty years in print, here is the original uncut version of this classic text. Illustrated with photographs of phenomena in progress, every sentence in the book is true. Used as a text in seminaries and classrooms, this is one book you can't put down.
The Bell Witch: An American Haunting
Brent Monahan - 1997
It was a cruel and noisy spirit, given to rapping and gnawing sounds before it found its voices.With these voices and its supernatural acts, the Bell Witch tormented the Bell family. This extraordinary book recounts the only documented case in U.S. history when a spirit actually caused a man's death.The local schoolteacher, Richard Powell, witnessed the strange events and recorded them for his daughter. His astonishing manuscript fell into the hands of novelist Brent Monahan, who has prepared the book for publication. Members of the Bell family have previously provided information on this fascinating case, but this book recounts the tale with novelistic vigor and verve. It is truly chilling.
Paranormal State: My Journey into the Unknown
Ryan Buell - 2010
Buell relives the origins of the Paranormal Research Society, discussed here for the first time, and the strange path his life has taken since the show's beginning. With unparalleled candor, Ryan discusses the intriguing mysteries, the difficult decisions, and the struggles with questions of faith, sanity, and the very concept of reality.
Seeking Spirits: The Lost Cases of The Atlantic Paranormal Society
Jason Hawes - 2009
Beginning with the previously untold experiences that sparked their passion for ghost hunting, Jason and Grant's bone-chilling investigations uncover: • A Connecticut woman who seems to exist in two places at once • A little girl whose invisible playmate retaliates against her father's punishments • A man overcome by an evil entity as Jason and Grant survey his home • A distraught woman who dreams of paranormal events before she experiences them...and much more! Jason and Grant didn't always have the fancy scientific equipment and experienced team that fans now watch on their smash-hit television show. As they share their hair-raising first experiences, they offer essential tips for budding paranormal investigators -- including how to use an electromagnetic field (EMF) meter and an infrared camera, determine if a supernatural phenomenon is good or evil, and deal with spirits. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, these fascinating and frightening true stories will keep you up at night!
Haunted Houses of California: A Ghostly Guide
Antoinette May - 1977
Enriched with historical background and generously illustrated, this fascinating, fun-to-read guide documents dozens of chill-inducing spots throughout the state, including hotels, bars, schools, historic buildings, and natural areas. Among the intriguing sites listed are the famous Winchester Mystery House, the infamous Red, White, and Blue Beach, and a host of lesser-known gems like the Easkoot House in Stinson Beach.
Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors
Joseph A. Citro - 1996
But these authors' dark imaginings pale when compared to little-known but well-documented and true tales. In this delightfully spine-tingling tour of all six New England states, Citro chronicles the haunted history and folklore of a region steeped in hardship and horror, humor and pathos.
Haunted Ohio V: 200 Years of Ghosts (Buckeye Haunts)
Chris Woodyard - 2003
You ll meet the ghosts of the Indian martyrs of Gnadenhutten, a spectral soldier from the siege of Ft. Meigs, the phantom Phoebe, keeping an eye on the canal boats at Roscoe Village, the African American ghosts of Prospect Place, a stop on the Underground Railroad, and many other tales that reflect the history as well as the ghostly lore of the Buckeye State. You'll also meet a real-life Hatchet Man, possibly Ohio s first serial killer, the sad ghost of a wife slaughtered by her husband at what is now a Victorian tea room, and the spirit of a mad murderess in a remote farmhouse. Stories from the following counties:Adams, Ashtabula, Athens, Belmont, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Darke, Erie, Fairfield, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Hardin, Henry, Highland, Jefferosn, Lake, Lawrence, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Morgan, Muskingum, Paulding, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Putnam, Richland, Ross, Shelby, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas, Union, Van Wert, Warren, Wood
American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest
Hannah Nordhaus - 2015
She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Vases of flowers appeared in new locations. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events: blankets ripped off while they slept, the room temperature plummeting, disembodied breathing, dancing balls of light.La Posada--"place of rest"--had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. The room with the canopy bed had belonged to Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home's original owner. She died in 1896, nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In American Ghost, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death, and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother Julia, from her childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband.American Ghost is a story of pioneer women and immigrants, ghost hunters and psychics, frontier fortitude and mental illness, imagination and lore. As she traces the strands of Julia's life, Nordhaus uncovers a larger tale of how a true-life story becomes a ghost story--and how difficult it is to separate history and myth.