Spooky Campfire Tales: Hauntings, Strange Happenings, And Supernatural Lore

by S.E. Schlosser

Book by Schlosser, S. E.

Genres: Horror, Folklore, Short Stories, Paranormal, Mystery, Ghost Stories, Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Author S.E. Schlosser has been telling stories since she was a child, when games of "let's pretend" quickly built themselves into full-length stories. A graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature and Rutgers University, she also created and maintains the website AmericanFolklore.net, where she shares a wealth of stories from all 50 states, some dating back to the origins of America.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Tom Mathews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A G-rated collection of 'spooky' folk stories that can be told to children, preferably around a campfire. If these aren't enough to entertain the young-uns, the author has compiled many more on her americanfolklore.net web site.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good camp fun for young teens, not really creepy stories. In fact, I didn't even feel a breezy chill down the back of my neck while reading these, or even on my arm, or my leg, or...ah, my chin hairs. Even Bloody Mary was disappointing. This is the legend that scared me half out of my wits in the 5th grade girls bathroom??

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book of short stories, but the endings were sometimes lacking an extra cliff hanger for excitement. For a book of scary short stories, it was entertaining, but not scary.

[CJ | A Well-Read Tart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, varied collection of spooky stories, some of them being especially dark.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super quick and spooky read. This was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it. I liked that the author presented each story as a personal account instead of just saying "in such-and-such town some people saw...". Writing them as personal accounts made it feel so much more real, and made some of them much scarier, and for some funnier, than they otherwise would have been. Definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a quick and interesting read.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked only three of these stories: The White Lady and Playin’ Piano and Cow’s Head. From the second section I recognized two classics from my childhood campfire spooky story days: The Hook and Bloody Mary.

I will single Vengeance out as the worst most historically inaccurate, it’s about a samurai and his kimono wearing wife who moved to California, where he had other samurai friends, slept on a mat and carried a sword around, and fell in love with another new neighbor’s Japanese daughter.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quick read. Just right combination of atmospheres. From a long time ago all the way to up to date stories with cell phones. Something for everyone but with that comes some stories that won't interest everyone. Still read all the stories anyhow. Easy to read a chapter at a time and put down until the time is right to pick it back up.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had pretty low expectations going in, and they about matched up honestly. I liked a couple of the stories, otherwise they were incredibly cheesy and forgettable, not very spooky sadly 🫤 (though I don't really blame the author on this, since I highly doubt I'm the target demographic for this).

[Nicke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the stories. :)

[D.l. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful retelling of urban legends and spooky tales.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for young children. I’d say ages 10-13. Never heard the original version of Bloody Mary so that was a plus 👍

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Great spooky stories to read by a fire...or anywhere else!

[Kurt Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, enjoyable stories but not an awful lot of happy endings

[Lia P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoy the stories, atmospheric and mostly leaves you with more questions

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of spooky stories. I even recognized a few stories from some other books.

[Penelopeee444 · Rating 2 out of 5]

screaming jenny on top

[Kristen Boyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Megan Fogarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I bought it knowing that my 9 year old son likes to tell stories around the campfire. Some stories were spookier than others, even a couple of funny ones, and most are easy to retell. I think my son will enjoy it this summer.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is clearly a children's book, and I bought it at a state park camp store ~ so it should go without saying that my expectations were low. Unfortuantely, I was still dissapointed.

The stories are interesting, but the story telling sucks. Which is ironic, because S.E.Schlosser (according to her forward) considers herself a master story teller. Perhaps she is ~ when she can act out scenes, add voices, etc. But her writing skills are horrible. Again ~ I didn't expect this collection to be great literature. But Schlosser definately "tells" rather than "shows." To be fair, though, this is a children's collection ~ so perhaps these stories are meant to be shared and acted out around a campfire where atmosphere, visual and audio effects can make up for the bad writing.

Another irritation is that so many of the stories end with the phrase, "and he/she never (fill in the blank with any random activity) again." Quite a few are actually morality stories with the protagonist giving up drinking/dancing/trouble making to become a good Christian and faithful church goer. Nothing wrong with that ~ but I expect some variety in a collection. Different stories should have different endings to them. There are other ways of saying a person changed his/her ways than the above example.

For now I am keeping this book in my collection... the "meat" of many of these stories are good ~ which is the only reason I gave this 2 stars instead of 1. But the telling of the stories is so bad that I won't buy another one of Schlosser's books.

[Kristi Thielen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing deep or difficult here; just a very enjoyable retelling of some macabre campfire tales.

Especially memorable is "Playin' Piano," about an talentless woman who irritates her husband with her continual practicing, until he takes action against her and she takes some action of her own. Also: "I Can't Get In," which reminds the reader - once again - that it is very unwise to go home via a shortcut through the graveyard. After dark. And after drinking perhaps a bit too much moonshine.

"Dark Passenger," is more complex than other tales here. And the pale lady sailing on a ship out of Buffalo, NY, who grows more vibrant and healthful as the crew around her sickens and dies, could be the centerpiece of a great horror film.

Although it does not impact the enjoyment of the book, be advised that the tales are not drawn from story-telling throughout the country; all are set in New England and some very definitely reflect the culture of that part of the country.

But then, some campfire stories really transcend time and place. Hasn't every American shivered to hear the story of the escaped convict with a hook for a hand, and the young couple in a dark car on lover's lane . . . .

[Amy B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminiscent of the 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark' series - but nowhere NEAR as scary or memorable (some of the 'Scary' stories are still burned into my brain 18ish years later). Many of the stories are at least amusing, in a very corny kind of way, and I was pleasantly surprised that some of the stories really did NOT have happy endings but some morbid ones instead. Probably the only one that was closest to giving me the willies was "Don't Sell My House" - no character was spared in this one.

[Hester · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection is your standard collection of urban legends and folklore, like the hooked hand killer trying to put the fear of Jayus into two horny teens parking on lovers lane and the birth of the Jersey Devil. Schlosser doesn't have the talent to make these stale stories feel fresh.

The two stand out stories (well at least for me) were Vengeance and One Last Head, and that's not saying much.

[AngelOk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooky Campfire Tales is a compilation from the flexibility of storyteller,S.E. Schlosser and depicted by artist,Paul G. Hoffman.This assortment of riveting titles that make it difficult [but possible] to drop the book.It is enjoyable but at times,bland to the point where one just has to jump over a paragraph to get to the spiced parts.Fairly well done but I could see more potential in the overall storytelling.

***-Well done!Commendable but not quite excellent!

[Yakking Yogini · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are creepy crawly and enjoyable because of it's corniness. I read "Piece By Piece" to my family and we all laughed, including my 11 year old, when the head rolled down the stairs to join the rest of the body parts. You get the picture.

[ѕolanιne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this around my campfire every night I was camping. When I was done it just so happens one of us had to pee so we all went with our flashlights and lanterns. This book creeped out me and my whole family that's how great the collection of spooky stories it is.

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so spooky...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-have book for camping with the family. We loved reading these around the campfire!

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is definitely geared towards children or families. Not scary at all, just a little hokey at times. Loved the illustrations.

[Roger O · Rating 2 out of 5]

these type of books are often only redeeming for the historical cataloging of oral folk tales

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the ghost stories, but the second section of the book was boring.