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13 Ghosts: Strange But True Ghost Stories
"It was true: he didn't believe in ghosts. Still, he knew what he had seen."
Again and again the evidence in these haunting tales points to the same conclusion. Examine for yourself accounts of eerie phenomena such as: the man who had a premonition of his own death, the ghost who solved a murder, the revenge of the murderer's skull, the lieutenant who flew back from the, and more.
All of these stories have been thoroughly investigated. Many have been reported in the newspapers or court transcripts. None has ever been proven the results of a hoax. There has never been a satisfactory explanation for any of these events except...ghosts.
If you read these tales when you're alone at night, be careful. The truth is more frightening than fiction.
Again and again the evidence in these haunting tales points to the same conclusion. Examine for yourself accounts of eerie phenomena such as: the man who had a premonition of his own death, the ghost who solved a murder, the revenge of the murderer's skull, the lieutenant who flew back from the, and more.
All of these stories have been thoroughly investigated. Many have been reported in the newspapers or court transcripts. None has ever been proven the results of a hoax. There has never been a satisfactory explanation for any of these events except...ghosts.
If you read these tales when you're alone at night, be careful. The truth is more frightening than fiction.
86 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
12 people are currently reading
370 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
September 29, 2018
If you're looking for a fast-paced read for this month this book would be and this book wasn't that scary.
January 6, 2022
HOW WAS I ABLE TO READ THIS AS A CHILD AND NOT GET FREAKED THE EFF OUT.
Re-reading this as an adult and these stories were scaryyyyy because they're REAL! They read like quick little stories, with a 'real life' epilogue at the end. And because I have no life, I Googled each story after reading to see if they were true, and theres a bunch of articles on the interwebs that say they're true so it must be, right? 🤣🤣
Googling "The Ghosts of the Tulip Staircase" and actually seeing the photo taken, UGH!! FUGGIN' FREAKYYYY. After 50 years, people still can't debunk this one, and even Kodak stepped in to verify this photo as legit. Go ahead and Google it too if you want nightmares 💀
Soooo if you wanna be scared, go ahead and read this slim volume of stories about real ghosties!! By yourself! In the dark with a flashlight! t will be a spooktacular time 👻
4 out of 5 proverbial rattles of the chain and loud-ass pained, wretched moans. This ghosty was friendly though, just lonely. The others though...you might have to run away from. 💀
Re-reading this as an adult and these stories were scaryyyyy because they're REAL! They read like quick little stories, with a 'real life' epilogue at the end. And because I have no life, I Googled each story after reading to see if they were true, and theres a bunch of articles on the interwebs that say they're true so it must be, right? 🤣🤣
Googling "The Ghosts of the Tulip Staircase" and actually seeing the photo taken, UGH!! FUGGIN' FREAKYYYY. After 50 years, people still can't debunk this one, and even Kodak stepped in to verify this photo as legit. Go ahead and Google it too if you want nightmares 💀
Soooo if you wanna be scared, go ahead and read this slim volume of stories about real ghosties!! By yourself! In the dark with a flashlight! t will be a spooktacular time 👻
4 out of 5 proverbial rattles of the chain and loud-ass pained, wretched moans. This ghosty was friendly though, just lonely. The others though...you might have to run away from. 💀
May 31, 2021
Published in 1988, this book gathers 13 stories based on historical legends of haunted houses and other creepy places around the world. Borley Rectory. The Tulip Stairs. Even a haunted German submarine. The stories are varied, creepy and entertaining! The book is written for middle grade students, so the tales are creepy but not TOO creepy.
I love reading these old OOP Scholastic books - makes me nostalgic for when my kids were younger and we read stories like this out loud. Or, even further back, when I ordered books like this for myself on those awesome school book order sheets!
I enjoyed the stories in this book! Most are stories I have heard before, but some were new to me. Each story is only a few pages long, so reluctant readers who love ghost stories would enjoy this book. I could see it being free-range reading for a classroom in the fall, or just as a fun read for kids (and adults) who enjoy slightly creepy haunting tales based on supposedly true ghost stories.
This was a quick, very enjoyable read! I love ghost stories, and these tales were very entertaining! The cover art work is wonderful!
This book is Out of Print, but used copies are readily available online.
I love reading these old OOP Scholastic books - makes me nostalgic for when my kids were younger and we read stories like this out loud. Or, even further back, when I ordered books like this for myself on those awesome school book order sheets!
I enjoyed the stories in this book! Most are stories I have heard before, but some were new to me. Each story is only a few pages long, so reluctant readers who love ghost stories would enjoy this book. I could see it being free-range reading for a classroom in the fall, or just as a fun read for kids (and adults) who enjoy slightly creepy haunting tales based on supposedly true ghost stories.
This was a quick, very enjoyable read! I love ghost stories, and these tales were very entertaining! The cover art work is wonderful!
This book is Out of Print, but used copies are readily available online.
October 5, 2018
The Ghost Who Carried a Coffin
I find ghost stories like this really interesting. I have read a story like this only once before I think, and it's pretty cool. Lord Dufferin stayed at his friend's castle in Ireland and looked out his window one night and saw this scary, deathly-looking man carrying a coffin. He was at a hotel for a diplomatic meeting and it was crowded and the elevators full of people. A free cart opened and he was going to get on, until he saw the very same man from that night operating it. He was so afraid he let the elevator go up without him, and it broke and crashed to the bottom, killing everyone on board. Had he gotten on, he would have died.
The Curse of the Mummy's Bone
I didn't like this one. A Scottish couple went to Egypt and was given a tour of a tomb. The wife stole a bone from the mummy's body and took it home with her. Strange things started happening in the home, like furniture being rearranged, items being thrown around and broken. The husband decided to burn the bone, and his dumb wife didn't forgive him for ruining her souvenir, and they divorced a few years later. She died soon after, and he remained miserable the rest of his life. I expected the bone to be returned to Egypt to be at peace with the rest of the body, because that's the logical thing to do. So I couldn't understand why he would have burned the thing up. The stupid wife really ruined it. Idk how she could get mad at her husband for getting rid of a piece of someone's skeleton, that was causing her household so much grief. She even woke her husband up one night, afraid from the noises she heard...I felt bad for him for having her as a wife.
The Phantom of the German Submarine
A German U-boat had many accidental deaths on board and was reported to be bad luck. An officer had been killed and he was seen after that on the prow, wearing his uniform. The current captain ordered the boat came to port, but was killed by a bomb en route. Later, the ghost was seen again and everyone who'd seen him ended up dying. It's interesting that seeing the ghost seemed to be like a premonition that you were going to die as well.
The admiral had to put the U-boat back in service because to was needed in the war. An American ship saw it and the ghost, and then it blew up for no reason. After it started to sink, they saw the figure on the prow, and he was smiling. Bad ghost! I didn't like this because I don't like spirits who want others to die like they did.
The Ghost of the Yorkshire Museum
The caretaker saw a man going around through the museum. The man kept saying he had the find it; he walked through in the dark like he didn't mind; he took books off the shelves. But when he went to touch the stranger, he disappeared and the book he'd held fell down.
He came in the 4th Sunday of each month, at 7:40pm
He saw the ghost walk through a door and in 4 weeks he had a friend stay with him and wait for the ghost. They heard pages turning and a book dropped, the same one from before. The same time next month had family and friends, a doctor, lawyer, and someone from a newspaper stay to watch. The book fell again.
After that other people came to watch but the man was never seen again. It wasn't great because I expected more of a climax or conclusive ending. It's strange how he just stopped appearing and no one learned who he was or what he was doing.
The Ghost of the Irish Bride
Tales of a lady in white already existed at the fort when a girl took a job as a nanny. As she was in the kids' room the lady in white came and touched the boy. The story went that the woman had been the colonel's daughter and engaged to a guy.
The story was insane. They had married and were walking along the top of the fort. Wilful saw flowers she wanted made into a bouquet, and a soldier overheard her and offered to go down and get them. He didn't want to leave his post so he had Trevor wear his jacket and patrol the walk. The soldier took so long that Trevor sent Wilful home and he ended up falling asleep. Her dad, the colonel, found him sleeping but didn't recognize him in the dark. He got mad and yelled at him but Trevor didn't wake up, and he shot and killed him. When Wilful heard what happened, she went to the fort, saw the blood from where he'd been, went crazy and jumped off to her death. Her dad shot himself. What a bizarre story and I doubted that this was true. It seemed too outlandish and it didn't make sense for these people to do any of these things.
The Ghost in the Brown Satin Dress
This wasn't a very interesting story. A captain was staying at an English estate and there was a legend of a ghost wearing a brown dress. The homeowner's brother had seen her and had a portrait made of her. So the captain volunteered to stay in the room. As he was in the hall he saw the woman walking up the hallway and holding a lantern. She turned and smiled evilly at him, he shot at her and that was that. She wasn't seen for 100 years and he didn't make jokes about her. She was said to be a lady who died in the house in the 1700s. Not much to go on.
An Englishman was away from his estate and left it in the hands of his butler. He received a note a few days after his place had been burgled. The butler said he heard someone in the pantry, stealing the silverware. He found 2 men and the boy he'd hired after the master left, but he was hit and then woke up bound and gagged. 4 months after the incident the man felt there was something wrong about the butler's story.
This tale was instantaneously flimsy as he woke up and saw a boy at the end of his bed, and knew it was the boy his butler had hired, who he had never even seen. How could he have known who he was?! The boy gestured for the man to follow him, and he led him out through a door that had been left open to a spot outside at the tree. From that he knew what was wrong with the story and what the boy was telling him. I wished I knew, because nothing about that told me. An open door after the butler was supposed to have locked it and a tree. I expected a freshly dug grave which would have made me think the butler killed him, but there was no such detail.
The next day he had the spot dug up and his butler saw and confessed to the crime. He'd plotted with the thieves and the poor kitchen boy had gotten in the way and was killed because he was a witness. The butler let himself be tied to try to showcase his innocence. The man realized the problem was that the butler said the kitchen boy let the men in, but the butler was the one who had the keys and he never would have given them to the boy and he always locked the doors at night.
He testified against his butler and he was hanged for murder. Interestingly enough, he told of the ghost directing him to the truth and this went down in the file and is a documented case of a murder being solved by a ghost. What a crazy bit of history and I can't believe a ghost story was believed in the 1700s. It was so surprising that it was accepted by a judge in court, but cool.
The Ghosts of the Tulip Staircase
This didn't have much going for it either. A couple visited a museum in England and got a picture of a staircase, noticed there were two figures in it that hadn't been there when it was taken. They sent it to the Ghost Club, who couldn't debunk it. The only cool thing about it was that the picture is still on file with this club and is regarded as one of the best ghost pictures ever taken.
The Airman Who Flew Back From the Dead
A lieutenant in the British Air Force had a young roommate who was going out on an assignment. He was to fly to a city nearby and then come back. In the young guy's POV, he said it was foggy and he'd had to land in a field. He took off again, and then it picked up with him coming in and meeting his older roommate back at base. They talked a little and were to meet later. He waited at the hotel for him but he never showed, and he heard others talking about his friend and an accident. He told them he'd just seen the guy earlier and they said he couldn't have because the guy had died. I got some chills from that. I always like stories where people have unknowingly passed away, but someone sees them after their death and don't know it's a ghost.
The experience is called death coincidence, which I've never heard. It's when a spirit shows itself to someone at the time of their death. This is considered to be one of the best documented cases.
The Minister's Haunted House
A reverend and his wife moved into an old rectory that was reported to be haunted and strange things started happening. The doorbell would ring and no one would be there, all the bells would go off, lights would go on and off, keys would fall out of locks. A figure of a nun would be outside. An old skull that had been buried reappeared inside the house. He heard voices and footsteps and a woman scream to Carlos not to do something, whatever that meant and whoever Carlos was.
This was so unfinished because the couple moved out and there was just a rumor that a nun had been murdered nearby; it wasn't even proven. The couple gave their story to a newspaper and a ghost hunter investigated and wrote a book about it. It sucks not knowing any more details about the case, so it took a lot away from the story. I expected so much more. It felt so incomplete.
The Ghost in the Raffling Chains
A philosopher moved into a haunted house and heard the sound of chains clanking. A figure appeared in the room, wrapped up in chains and beckoned him to follow. The ghost showed him to a spot outside and pointed to the ground, so the next day the man convinced the magistrate to dig it up. Sure enough, they found the body and he had the chains removed from it so he could rest in peace, which was nice. He was never seen again. Pretty common story, the ghost just wants a proper burial. I was thinking it was an unremarkable tale until I flipped the page and read that Pliny the Younger had recorded this in the first century A.D. and it's the oldest ghost story. That is incredible and made this story really remarkable and such an important part of history.
The Ghost With the Bright Red Scar
There was nothing that great about this until I read that the circumstances set this apart in the Society of Psychical Research. A man's sister who had died 9 years before suddenly appeared at the table with him, but he saw a scar on her face like she'd been cut and couldn't place it. He told his family about the sighting and they didn't believe him as families do, until he mentioned the scar and his mom confessed. She had wanted to change her daughter's hairstyle while she was in the casket but she accidentally cut her face with the pin and had to cover it with makeup. She was the only one who knew, so that's why this story is unique. He'd had no way of knowing about the scar, so he clearly did see her spirit.
The Revenge of the Murderer's Skull
I didn't like this one at all. A guy had killed his fiancé and was banged for it. His body was donated to science and his skeleton used in a hospital to teach with. 50 years later a doctor stole the skull off the body as a souvenir from the widely known case. He put it in a room and that night heard noises, saw a skeletal hand on the doorknob and the box the skull had been in exploded, while the skull was unharmed. The man gave it to the jail man who had imprisoned the murderer, and that was such a terrible thing for him to do. The poor man fell on hard times, his business went to ruin and he had bad luck, but at least the original man suffered too. They both decided to have it buried and their lives went back to normal. I didn't like anything about this.
Each case had a paragraph at the end stating its authenticity and this is unique to ghost stories because I've read my share and never come across that. I believed in ghosts from personal experience; I don't need a document or court case file or anything like that to back it up, but so many out there are so outlandish and come off as made-up and more legend than a true account. These had credible witnesses, documented cases in court, newspapers, etc.
By the last 4 tales I was ghost story-ed out and didn't even want to read anymore. 13 stories, even as short as they are, is a lot to read in one day and I was burnt out on them.
He's definitely a good writer. That was clear from the first story all the way to the last. He's a good storyteller and I believed each story because he was good at showing the thoughts and feelings of the characters. This is probably the best written ghost story book I've read. It's just that stories themselves weren't the most interesting, and they must not have had many details, but he made the most out of them that he could and related them in a way that was engaging.
The summary says "If you read these tales when you're alone at night, be careful. The truth is more frightening than fiction." I knew that wasn't going to be the case before I even read; that's really dramatic and a lie, because not one story is even remotely frightening. It's misleading to cater this as scary stories, just because they're about ghosts doesn't mean they're scary.
I find ghost stories like this really interesting. I have read a story like this only once before I think, and it's pretty cool. Lord Dufferin stayed at his friend's castle in Ireland and looked out his window one night and saw this scary, deathly-looking man carrying a coffin. He was at a hotel for a diplomatic meeting and it was crowded and the elevators full of people. A free cart opened and he was going to get on, until he saw the very same man from that night operating it. He was so afraid he let the elevator go up without him, and it broke and crashed to the bottom, killing everyone on board. Had he gotten on, he would have died.
The Curse of the Mummy's Bone
I didn't like this one. A Scottish couple went to Egypt and was given a tour of a tomb. The wife stole a bone from the mummy's body and took it home with her. Strange things started happening in the home, like furniture being rearranged, items being thrown around and broken. The husband decided to burn the bone, and his dumb wife didn't forgive him for ruining her souvenir, and they divorced a few years later. She died soon after, and he remained miserable the rest of his life. I expected the bone to be returned to Egypt to be at peace with the rest of the body, because that's the logical thing to do. So I couldn't understand why he would have burned the thing up. The stupid wife really ruined it. Idk how she could get mad at her husband for getting rid of a piece of someone's skeleton, that was causing her household so much grief. She even woke her husband up one night, afraid from the noises she heard...I felt bad for him for having her as a wife.
The Phantom of the German Submarine
A German U-boat had many accidental deaths on board and was reported to be bad luck. An officer had been killed and he was seen after that on the prow, wearing his uniform. The current captain ordered the boat came to port, but was killed by a bomb en route. Later, the ghost was seen again and everyone who'd seen him ended up dying. It's interesting that seeing the ghost seemed to be like a premonition that you were going to die as well.
The admiral had to put the U-boat back in service because to was needed in the war. An American ship saw it and the ghost, and then it blew up for no reason. After it started to sink, they saw the figure on the prow, and he was smiling. Bad ghost! I didn't like this because I don't like spirits who want others to die like they did.
The Ghost of the Yorkshire Museum
The caretaker saw a man going around through the museum. The man kept saying he had the find it; he walked through in the dark like he didn't mind; he took books off the shelves. But when he went to touch the stranger, he disappeared and the book he'd held fell down.
He came in the 4th Sunday of each month, at 7:40pm
He saw the ghost walk through a door and in 4 weeks he had a friend stay with him and wait for the ghost. They heard pages turning and a book dropped, the same one from before. The same time next month had family and friends, a doctor, lawyer, and someone from a newspaper stay to watch. The book fell again.
After that other people came to watch but the man was never seen again. It wasn't great because I expected more of a climax or conclusive ending. It's strange how he just stopped appearing and no one learned who he was or what he was doing.
The Ghost of the Irish Bride
Tales of a lady in white already existed at the fort when a girl took a job as a nanny. As she was in the kids' room the lady in white came and touched the boy. The story went that the woman had been the colonel's daughter and engaged to a guy.
The story was insane. They had married and were walking along the top of the fort. Wilful saw flowers she wanted made into a bouquet, and a soldier overheard her and offered to go down and get them. He didn't want to leave his post so he had Trevor wear his jacket and patrol the walk. The soldier took so long that Trevor sent Wilful home and he ended up falling asleep. Her dad, the colonel, found him sleeping but didn't recognize him in the dark. He got mad and yelled at him but Trevor didn't wake up, and he shot and killed him. When Wilful heard what happened, she went to the fort, saw the blood from where he'd been, went crazy and jumped off to her death. Her dad shot himself. What a bizarre story and I doubted that this was true. It seemed too outlandish and it didn't make sense for these people to do any of these things.
The Ghost in the Brown Satin Dress
This wasn't a very interesting story. A captain was staying at an English estate and there was a legend of a ghost wearing a brown dress. The homeowner's brother had seen her and had a portrait made of her. So the captain volunteered to stay in the room. As he was in the hall he saw the woman walking up the hallway and holding a lantern. She turned and smiled evilly at him, he shot at her and that was that. She wasn't seen for 100 years and he didn't make jokes about her. She was said to be a lady who died in the house in the 1700s. Not much to go on.
An Englishman was away from his estate and left it in the hands of his butler. He received a note a few days after his place had been burgled. The butler said he heard someone in the pantry, stealing the silverware. He found 2 men and the boy he'd hired after the master left, but he was hit and then woke up bound and gagged. 4 months after the incident the man felt there was something wrong about the butler's story.
This tale was instantaneously flimsy as he woke up and saw a boy at the end of his bed, and knew it was the boy his butler had hired, who he had never even seen. How could he have known who he was?! The boy gestured for the man to follow him, and he led him out through a door that had been left open to a spot outside at the tree. From that he knew what was wrong with the story and what the boy was telling him. I wished I knew, because nothing about that told me. An open door after the butler was supposed to have locked it and a tree. I expected a freshly dug grave which would have made me think the butler killed him, but there was no such detail.
The next day he had the spot dug up and his butler saw and confessed to the crime. He'd plotted with the thieves and the poor kitchen boy had gotten in the way and was killed because he was a witness. The butler let himself be tied to try to showcase his innocence. The man realized the problem was that the butler said the kitchen boy let the men in, but the butler was the one who had the keys and he never would have given them to the boy and he always locked the doors at night.
He testified against his butler and he was hanged for murder. Interestingly enough, he told of the ghost directing him to the truth and this went down in the file and is a documented case of a murder being solved by a ghost. What a crazy bit of history and I can't believe a ghost story was believed in the 1700s. It was so surprising that it was accepted by a judge in court, but cool.
The Ghosts of the Tulip Staircase
This didn't have much going for it either. A couple visited a museum in England and got a picture of a staircase, noticed there were two figures in it that hadn't been there when it was taken. They sent it to the Ghost Club, who couldn't debunk it. The only cool thing about it was that the picture is still on file with this club and is regarded as one of the best ghost pictures ever taken.
The Airman Who Flew Back From the Dead
A lieutenant in the British Air Force had a young roommate who was going out on an assignment. He was to fly to a city nearby and then come back. In the young guy's POV, he said it was foggy and he'd had to land in a field. He took off again, and then it picked up with him coming in and meeting his older roommate back at base. They talked a little and were to meet later. He waited at the hotel for him but he never showed, and he heard others talking about his friend and an accident. He told them he'd just seen the guy earlier and they said he couldn't have because the guy had died. I got some chills from that. I always like stories where people have unknowingly passed away, but someone sees them after their death and don't know it's a ghost.
The experience is called death coincidence, which I've never heard. It's when a spirit shows itself to someone at the time of their death. This is considered to be one of the best documented cases.
The Minister's Haunted House
A reverend and his wife moved into an old rectory that was reported to be haunted and strange things started happening. The doorbell would ring and no one would be there, all the bells would go off, lights would go on and off, keys would fall out of locks. A figure of a nun would be outside. An old skull that had been buried reappeared inside the house. He heard voices and footsteps and a woman scream to Carlos not to do something, whatever that meant and whoever Carlos was.
This was so unfinished because the couple moved out and there was just a rumor that a nun had been murdered nearby; it wasn't even proven. The couple gave their story to a newspaper and a ghost hunter investigated and wrote a book about it. It sucks not knowing any more details about the case, so it took a lot away from the story. I expected so much more. It felt so incomplete.
The Ghost in the Raffling Chains
A philosopher moved into a haunted house and heard the sound of chains clanking. A figure appeared in the room, wrapped up in chains and beckoned him to follow. The ghost showed him to a spot outside and pointed to the ground, so the next day the man convinced the magistrate to dig it up. Sure enough, they found the body and he had the chains removed from it so he could rest in peace, which was nice. He was never seen again. Pretty common story, the ghost just wants a proper burial. I was thinking it was an unremarkable tale until I flipped the page and read that Pliny the Younger had recorded this in the first century A.D. and it's the oldest ghost story. That is incredible and made this story really remarkable and such an important part of history.
The Ghost With the Bright Red Scar
There was nothing that great about this until I read that the circumstances set this apart in the Society of Psychical Research. A man's sister who had died 9 years before suddenly appeared at the table with him, but he saw a scar on her face like she'd been cut and couldn't place it. He told his family about the sighting and they didn't believe him as families do, until he mentioned the scar and his mom confessed. She had wanted to change her daughter's hairstyle while she was in the casket but she accidentally cut her face with the pin and had to cover it with makeup. She was the only one who knew, so that's why this story is unique. He'd had no way of knowing about the scar, so he clearly did see her spirit.
The Revenge of the Murderer's Skull
I didn't like this one at all. A guy had killed his fiancé and was banged for it. His body was donated to science and his skeleton used in a hospital to teach with. 50 years later a doctor stole the skull off the body as a souvenir from the widely known case. He put it in a room and that night heard noises, saw a skeletal hand on the doorknob and the box the skull had been in exploded, while the skull was unharmed. The man gave it to the jail man who had imprisoned the murderer, and that was such a terrible thing for him to do. The poor man fell on hard times, his business went to ruin and he had bad luck, but at least the original man suffered too. They both decided to have it buried and their lives went back to normal. I didn't like anything about this.
Each case had a paragraph at the end stating its authenticity and this is unique to ghost stories because I've read my share and never come across that. I believed in ghosts from personal experience; I don't need a document or court case file or anything like that to back it up, but so many out there are so outlandish and come off as made-up and more legend than a true account. These had credible witnesses, documented cases in court, newspapers, etc.
By the last 4 tales I was ghost story-ed out and didn't even want to read anymore. 13 stories, even as short as they are, is a lot to read in one day and I was burnt out on them.
He's definitely a good writer. That was clear from the first story all the way to the last. He's a good storyteller and I believed each story because he was good at showing the thoughts and feelings of the characters. This is probably the best written ghost story book I've read. It's just that stories themselves weren't the most interesting, and they must not have had many details, but he made the most out of them that he could and related them in a way that was engaging.
The summary says "If you read these tales when you're alone at night, be careful. The truth is more frightening than fiction." I knew that wasn't going to be the case before I even read; that's really dramatic and a lie, because not one story is even remotely frightening. It's misleading to cater this as scary stories, just because they're about ghosts doesn't mean they're scary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2023
(MY FAVOURITE 5)
THE GHOST OF THE IRISH BRIDE.
A MURDER SOLVED BY A GHOST.
THE AIRMAN WHO FLEW BACK FROM DEAD.
THE GHOST OF THE BROWN SATIN DRESS.
THE CURSE OF THE MUMMIES BONE.
VERDICT : (7.2/10)
THE GHOST OF THE IRISH BRIDE.
A MURDER SOLVED BY A GHOST.
THE AIRMAN WHO FLEW BACK FROM DEAD.
THE GHOST OF THE BROWN SATIN DRESS.
THE CURSE OF THE MUMMIES BONE.
VERDICT : (7.2/10)
June 3, 2021
Some of these stories have been debunked but others still remain unexplained. Reading this gives me the urge to watch A&E's Ghost Hunters. I used to watch the original show on the SYFY channel.
1. The Ghost Who Carried a Coffin - 3.5 Stars
It turns out that this story is only an urban legend but indeed a good one. A more accurate account of its origin (and believe me it is quite an origin) can be found in the book by Melvin Harris who debunks this ghost story with substantiated research. Harris, Melvin. (1986). Death Beckons Lord Dufferin! (Chapter 12). In Investigating The Unexplained (pp. 107-113). Buffalo, N.Y. : Prometheus Books.
2. The Curse of the Mummy's Bone - 3 Stars
This story is legit with a much better account of this story being found in the Baronet's own words in his unpublished autobiography The Transgressions of a Baronet by Sir Alexander Hay Seton which can be found at https://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/h....
3. The Phantom of the German Submarine - 4 Stars
According to researchers George Behe and Michael Goss, the stories about hauntings from UB-65 were invented by the journalist Hector Charles Bywater, who wrote about the subject. They speculated that Bywater was a good story teller who had invented some of his references, such as a post-war pamphlet written by a "Dr. Hecht." Behe and Goss concluded that ". . . practically nothing of the story has come down to us from Bywater can be corroborated in the official archival material, the ghostly happenings that are the kernel of that story least of all. . . . It is true not every incident on board would find its way into the [Captain's] diary, yet events of the magnitude suggested in Bywater would surely not have escaped entirely, the more so as they blatantly affected the smooth operation of the submarine." (157-158) *
"Official documents make it extremely difficult to believe that UB-65 was haunted or even troubled by bad luck beyond what was experienced or accepted on board many a WWI submarine. Nevertheless, the story has evolved that it was or had been and the responsibility for that rumor-like legend in all its dramatic detail cannot be traced back with any certainty before Hector C. Bywater" (163) *
*Behe, George; Goss, Michael. (2005). Hexed, Hoodoo-ed, Haunted: The Enduring Legend of UB-65 (Chapter 4). In Lost at Sea: Ghost Ships and Other Mysteries. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. pp. 133-166
4. The Ghost of the Yorkshire Museum - 3 Stars
"Controversy surrounding the Edwardian ghost which is supposed to appear at the Yorkshire Museum, York every month, is believed to be one of the reasons why the curator of the Museum, Mr. G. F. Willmot, has resigned. . . . A local investigation committee which included a doctor and a solicitor said they saw a book move from a shelf of its own accord and then fall to the ground.
On December 15 Mr. H. E. Harrowell, chairman of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, said there would be no official investigation, and added, 'I would not waste time on such tripe.' Ghost Stories from the Archives: Curator Resigns Over Museum Ghost. Wakefield Express. 31 October 2016. https://www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/ne...
5. The Ghost of the Irish Bride - 4.5 Stars
The legend of the White Lady of Kinsale is a famous Irish ghost story. It is not a romantic comedy, but the tragic tale worthy of a Shakespearean play of a wedding that led to three funerals on the same day.
6. The Ghost in the Brown Satin Dress - 3 Stars
"Joe Nickell [an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal] has written that a detailed examination of the photograph [taken by photographer Hubert C. Provand and his assistant Indre Shira for Country Life Magazine] shows evidence of double exposure. John Fairley and Simon Welfare wrote 'there is a pale line above each stair-tread, indicating that one picture has been superimposed over the other; a patch of reflected light at the top of the right-hand banister appears twice.' " Fairley, John; Welfare, Simeon. (1987). Arthur C. Clarke’s Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious. Collins. p. 140.
"The magician John Booth wrote the photograph could easily be duplicated by naturalistic methods. Booth had the magician Ron Wilson cover himself in a bed sheet and descend the grand staircase at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. The faked ghost image looked very similar to the Raynham Hall photograph." Booth, John, N. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. pp. 108-109.
"The Marquess of Townsend's secretary advised the author [John Nicholls Booth] during a visit that Raynham Hall's 'ghost' is fictitious." (pp. 107-108). It should also be noted that "Raynham Hall . . . is the ancestral seat of the Marquess of Townsend. The family's wealth is of such magnitude that it has never felt obliged to admit paying sightseers to its luxurious premises as many of the tax-poor peerage have had to do in support of their estates." (108) So it seems the estate does not need a ghost legend to keep cash in their tills.
7. A Murder Solved by a Ghost - 4 Stars
8. The Ghosts of the Tulip Staircase - 4.5 Stars
The picture taken by Reverend Hardy can be seen at https://www.yourghoststories.com/ghos... The picture only shows one ghost ascending the staircase and gripping the tulip banister with both hands not two ghosts as told in this version of the story. "Many experts, including some from Kodak, could not find any evidence of tampering."
9. The Airman Who Flew Back from the Dead - 5 Stars
10. The Minister's Haunted House - 3 Stars
"The uncritical acceptance of [paranormal researcher Harry] Price’s reports prompted a formal study by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), which rejected most of the sightings as either imagined or fabricated and cast doubt on Price’s credibility. His claims are now generally discredited by ghost historians." https://hauntedauckland.com/site/ghos...
11. The Ghost in the Rattling Chains - 5 Stars
Athenodoros (c. 74 BCE – 7 AD) was a Stoic philosopher and the subject of the first recorded ghost story. It comes not from the philosopher himself, but from the Roman writer Pliny the Younger (61–115 AD), who claimed to have transcribed it from a surviving eye-witness account.* The story as recounted here appears to have been mostly taken from the 1748 translation of Pliny’s Letters by William Melmoth. **
* Strom-Mackey, R. M. (2017). Anatomy of a Ghost. Cosmic Pantheon Press. (p.11)
** Pliny the Younger (1909–14). LXXXIII. To Sura. In Charles W. Eliot (ed.). Letters, by Pliny the Younger; translated by William Melmoth; revised by F. C. T. Bosanquet. The Harvard Classics. 9. New York: P.F. Collier & Son.
12. The Ghost with the Bright Red Star - 3.5 Stars
13. The Revenge of the Murderer's Skull - 3 Stars
For more information concerning William Corder, Maria Marter, and the Red Barn Murder visit https://www.headstuff.org/culture/his...
1. The Ghost Who Carried a Coffin - 3.5 Stars
It turns out that this story is only an urban legend but indeed a good one. A more accurate account of its origin (and believe me it is quite an origin) can be found in the book by Melvin Harris who debunks this ghost story with substantiated research. Harris, Melvin. (1986). Death Beckons Lord Dufferin! (Chapter 12). In Investigating The Unexplained (pp. 107-113). Buffalo, N.Y. : Prometheus Books.
2. The Curse of the Mummy's Bone - 3 Stars
This story is legit with a much better account of this story being found in the Baronet's own words in his unpublished autobiography The Transgressions of a Baronet by Sir Alexander Hay Seton which can be found at https://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/h....
3. The Phantom of the German Submarine - 4 Stars
According to researchers George Behe and Michael Goss, the stories about hauntings from UB-65 were invented by the journalist Hector Charles Bywater, who wrote about the subject. They speculated that Bywater was a good story teller who had invented some of his references, such as a post-war pamphlet written by a "Dr. Hecht." Behe and Goss concluded that ". . . practically nothing of the story has come down to us from Bywater can be corroborated in the official archival material, the ghostly happenings that are the kernel of that story least of all. . . . It is true not every incident on board would find its way into the [Captain's] diary, yet events of the magnitude suggested in Bywater would surely not have escaped entirely, the more so as they blatantly affected the smooth operation of the submarine." (157-158) *
"Official documents make it extremely difficult to believe that UB-65 was haunted or even troubled by bad luck beyond what was experienced or accepted on board many a WWI submarine. Nevertheless, the story has evolved that it was or had been and the responsibility for that rumor-like legend in all its dramatic detail cannot be traced back with any certainty before Hector C. Bywater" (163) *
*Behe, George; Goss, Michael. (2005). Hexed, Hoodoo-ed, Haunted: The Enduring Legend of UB-65 (Chapter 4). In Lost at Sea: Ghost Ships and Other Mysteries. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. pp. 133-166
4. The Ghost of the Yorkshire Museum - 3 Stars
"Controversy surrounding the Edwardian ghost which is supposed to appear at the Yorkshire Museum, York every month, is believed to be one of the reasons why the curator of the Museum, Mr. G. F. Willmot, has resigned. . . . A local investigation committee which included a doctor and a solicitor said they saw a book move from a shelf of its own accord and then fall to the ground.
On December 15 Mr. H. E. Harrowell, chairman of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, said there would be no official investigation, and added, 'I would not waste time on such tripe.' Ghost Stories from the Archives: Curator Resigns Over Museum Ghost. Wakefield Express. 31 October 2016. https://www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/ne...
5. The Ghost of the Irish Bride - 4.5 Stars
The legend of the White Lady of Kinsale is a famous Irish ghost story. It is not a romantic comedy, but the tragic tale worthy of a Shakespearean play of a wedding that led to three funerals on the same day.
6. The Ghost in the Brown Satin Dress - 3 Stars
"Joe Nickell [an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal] has written that a detailed examination of the photograph [taken by photographer Hubert C. Provand and his assistant Indre Shira for Country Life Magazine] shows evidence of double exposure. John Fairley and Simon Welfare wrote 'there is a pale line above each stair-tread, indicating that one picture has been superimposed over the other; a patch of reflected light at the top of the right-hand banister appears twice.' " Fairley, John; Welfare, Simeon. (1987). Arthur C. Clarke’s Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious. Collins. p. 140.
"The magician John Booth wrote the photograph could easily be duplicated by naturalistic methods. Booth had the magician Ron Wilson cover himself in a bed sheet and descend the grand staircase at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. The faked ghost image looked very similar to the Raynham Hall photograph." Booth, John, N. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. pp. 108-109.
"The Marquess of Townsend's secretary advised the author [John Nicholls Booth] during a visit that Raynham Hall's 'ghost' is fictitious." (pp. 107-108). It should also be noted that "Raynham Hall . . . is the ancestral seat of the Marquess of Townsend. The family's wealth is of such magnitude that it has never felt obliged to admit paying sightseers to its luxurious premises as many of the tax-poor peerage have had to do in support of their estates." (108) So it seems the estate does not need a ghost legend to keep cash in their tills.
7. A Murder Solved by a Ghost - 4 Stars
8. The Ghosts of the Tulip Staircase - 4.5 Stars
The picture taken by Reverend Hardy can be seen at https://www.yourghoststories.com/ghos... The picture only shows one ghost ascending the staircase and gripping the tulip banister with both hands not two ghosts as told in this version of the story. "Many experts, including some from Kodak, could not find any evidence of tampering."
9. The Airman Who Flew Back from the Dead - 5 Stars
10. The Minister's Haunted House - 3 Stars
"The uncritical acceptance of [paranormal researcher Harry] Price’s reports prompted a formal study by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), which rejected most of the sightings as either imagined or fabricated and cast doubt on Price’s credibility. His claims are now generally discredited by ghost historians." https://hauntedauckland.com/site/ghos...
11. The Ghost in the Rattling Chains - 5 Stars
Athenodoros (c. 74 BCE – 7 AD) was a Stoic philosopher and the subject of the first recorded ghost story. It comes not from the philosopher himself, but from the Roman writer Pliny the Younger (61–115 AD), who claimed to have transcribed it from a surviving eye-witness account.* The story as recounted here appears to have been mostly taken from the 1748 translation of Pliny’s Letters by William Melmoth. **
* Strom-Mackey, R. M. (2017). Anatomy of a Ghost. Cosmic Pantheon Press. (p.11)
** Pliny the Younger (1909–14). LXXXIII. To Sura. In Charles W. Eliot (ed.). Letters, by Pliny the Younger; translated by William Melmoth; revised by F. C. T. Bosanquet. The Harvard Classics. 9. New York: P.F. Collier & Son.
12. The Ghost with the Bright Red Star - 3.5 Stars
13. The Revenge of the Murderer's Skull - 3 Stars
For more information concerning William Corder, Maria Marter, and the Red Barn Murder visit https://www.headstuff.org/culture/his...
March 20, 2024
I read this as a kid. I remember getting it at a book fair. Very fun.
April 25, 2022
13 GHOSTS: STRANGE BUT TRUE STORIES by Will Osborne is a thin 86-page "true ghost stories" collection, published by Scholastic's Apple Paperbacks imprint in October 1988. It's a quick read, consisting of 13 chapters, with each chapter about a different haunting, with most of the chapters running 7 pages or less. Presumably the book's title was inspired by the 1960 William Castle movie 13 Ghosts, but has no connection to it. Most of the stories take place in the 1800s or earlier, and they reminded me a bit of the TV series One Step Beyond in their credulity on the subject. Each story is followed by a short paragraph by the author providing some background about the case. I found myself regularly looking up the facts for myself on Google after reading a chapter to learn whether the story had been accurately told, and in most cases I found that the author of the book had emphasized the supernatural and downplayed information that would cast doubt on that interpretation. One example is the chapter titled "The Minister's Haunted House" about Borley Rectory. The author concludes the tale by saying "Later, a number of people criticized [paranormal investigator Harry] Price's work, but the mysteries of Borley Rectory remained unsolved." I think a perusal of the Wikipedia entry for Borley Rectory will put one's mind at ease that there was anything truly supernatural going on there. Anyway, despite this complaint (which I think is common with books of this type) I enjoyed reading it. I read only one or two chapters per day, taking my time, reading it whenever I wanted to hear a spooky story at the end of the day (although not too late at night)! I rate it 3 (out of 5) stars.
October 23, 2019
I found this book in a collection of old juvenile and YA books at my wife’s library this past weekend. Found some really old ghost stories from the 50s and 60s as well I’m looking forward to checking out.
As far as these stories go, they were alright. The first one was kind of cold chill inducing. The rest, however, were pretty drab. But they are for kids, right?
I think part of the issue is that the stories were quite dated and relied heavily on tropes so common that they were terribly predictable. Granted they are supposedly true, and likely represent some of the stories that started the tropes in the first place.
I suppose if someone was beginning research on paranormal activity in western culture, this might be a fun place to start, especially if one was studying how these stories are relayed to children. But for me, I just wasn’t feeling it.
I still have a few stories to go (they are like 6-8 pages each). If something changes my position tonight I’ll come back and edit.
As far as these stories go, they were alright. The first one was kind of cold chill inducing. The rest, however, were pretty drab. But they are for kids, right?
I think part of the issue is that the stories were quite dated and relied heavily on tropes so common that they were terribly predictable. Granted they are supposedly true, and likely represent some of the stories that started the tropes in the first place.
I suppose if someone was beginning research on paranormal activity in western culture, this might be a fun place to start, especially if one was studying how these stories are relayed to children. But for me, I just wasn’t feeling it.
I still have a few stories to go (they are like 6-8 pages each). If something changes my position tonight I’ll come back and edit.
September 10, 2022
So my first anthology of spooky season is 13 Ghost Strange but true stories .According to most Goodreads reviews, it's mostly positive. Did I agree ? Let's find out .
The Ghost Who Carried A Coffin-The first story starts off with a bang .It begins with a guy having trouble sleeping and is looking out his window, seeing this guy carrying a big box. It turns out to be a coffin delivered at his house .The next day he sees the same guy in an elevator .He refuses to get on with him.This story is really creepy and I loved the whole premonition thing .Four out of five stars for me.
The Curse Of The Mummies Bone- A story that begins with this couple on vacation.They're visiting mummies and things in ancient Egypt. The wife ends up stealing a bone from the mummy as an artifact to keep and things get crazy .Roofs caving in ,tables thrown, vases broken. Picture the courage the cowardly dog episode, King Ramses Curse, only more realistic. I gave this one three out of five stars.
The Phantom Of The German Submarine-A story starting right off the bat with these lutenants seeing a ghost standing on the end of a warship submarine. They tell a story about all of the cadets that perished on this ship. Some died of explosions, drownings and even suicide .This is the first story so far that did not at all feel like it was published by Scholastic. It was really cool. The ending was the best and worst part being the "true" nature of it.I gave this one a four out of five stars.
The Ghost Of The Yorkshire Meusium- A story about this ghost that keeps coming back and pulling a book off the library shelves this one was really the weakest one so far ,but I relate to this ghost the most because this is exactly what I would do if I was a ghost .I gave it three out of five stars.
The Ghost Of The Irish Bride- A story about a girl babysitting these kids and one night she sees this lady in all white coming to try and take care of the kids .This story was sad .They tell the origin of how this lady came to be and it's awful and could have been prevented. I give it a four out of five stars.
The Ghost In The Brown Satin Dress-In the last story the ghost was friendly in this one she is supposed to be thought of as friendly, but the guy that finds her doesn't think so and that's a little unnerving.Basically multiple people see this ghost and one guy draws a sketch and gets a guy to paint her. They end up keeping her portrait at this estate where a guy goes to sleep not scared of ghosts but ends up changing his mind .I gave this one a four out of five also .
A Murder Solved By A Ghost- A story about this Butler taking care of an estate while the owner is away and ends up getting the place robbed, only for the owner to return and not completely believe the story he was told. One night a ghost is standing at the foot of his bed (nope.) And he tells the truth. This one was really good to but sad and very scary. I would've not made it to the oak tree .Another four out of five stars
The Ghost Of The Tulip Staircase-A story about this couple on vacation at a museum taking pictures and one of the pictures come back with a ghost .Story wise, this was just a tame story, but what's creepy is they don't really describe the ghost in the picture that much, just wearing cloaks and one has a ring ,but what's really scary is the factoids at the end of this story .Hearing footsteps and chants. I gave this one a three out of five stars
The Airman Who Flew Back From The Dead- A story about two pilots one a young new comer and the other an experienced older one. They are fllying to do a routine drop off of one plane. They see this fog rolling through and one lands ,to I guess turn around and the other keeps going back at the base or whatever. One sees the other but turns out something has happened to him .I gave this one three stars mostly because of the writing one paragraph he was flying the next he's turning around in a chair facing his other cadet. The creep factor is higher with this one though especially with the clock having the time of a death.
The Ministers Haunted House -A minister moves into this house despite everybody telling him it's haunted .One night his wife sees a ghost at the gate, but later finds out it's possibly a nun from beyond the grave. The scariest part of this story tho is they find a skull in the cubboard and there told it was buried a long time ago .They later hear voices footsteps lights flickering on and off .This one was pretty creepy .I do have a slight hunch about the fire at the end though. I gave this one four out of five stars
The Ghost In The Rattling Chains-We get this guy moving into a haunted house but this time the guy just plans on ignoring everything and not being intimidated by a ghost .Okay so this one was really neat, because the ghost actually needed the guy to pay attention to him, to help him out. While similar to the one about the butler at the beginning .It's still different. I gave this one four out of five stars.
The ghost with the red scar-Basically this guy sees his sister that died from a long time ago and notices she has a red scar on her cheek. He tells his parents .They don't believe him, until he mentions the scar and then the mom explains what happend.This one was ok. The mom in my opinion was sad for what she did when she really didn't do much wrong. I feel like she would've forgiven her .I gave this one a three out of five stars.
The Revenge of the murderers Skull -A story about this weird doctor that steals the skull off of a murderer, after he is hanged ,only for bad stuff to happen .One of the more powerful ghosts in the story. Similar to the mummy's bone story it was pretty good. Not super scary other then seeing an arm floating towards where the skull is. I liked it four out of five stars
Overall ,I really liked this short story collection. It was pretty difficult to rate each story as they are implied as being "true", so I went off of writing and scares and believe it or not ,while alot of these ghosts wouldn't hurt a fly ,they still had something about them that made them creepy.So much so I read this in the middle off the day. I know alot of these stories were toned down for kids sake, but man it still didn't feel like kids stories. I also liked the facts at the end of each story separated by bats and cats.It felt extra Halloweenish. I'd really like to find an adult ghost stories book that is implied to be true (suggestions?)I recommend this overall a four out of fives stars from me.
The Ghost Who Carried A Coffin-The first story starts off with a bang .It begins with a guy having trouble sleeping and is looking out his window, seeing this guy carrying a big box. It turns out to be a coffin delivered at his house .The next day he sees the same guy in an elevator .He refuses to get on with him.This story is really creepy and I loved the whole premonition thing .Four out of five stars for me.
The Curse Of The Mummies Bone- A story that begins with this couple on vacation.They're visiting mummies and things in ancient Egypt. The wife ends up stealing a bone from the mummy as an artifact to keep and things get crazy .Roofs caving in ,tables thrown, vases broken. Picture the courage the cowardly dog episode, King Ramses Curse, only more realistic. I gave this one three out of five stars.
The Phantom Of The German Submarine-A story starting right off the bat with these lutenants seeing a ghost standing on the end of a warship submarine. They tell a story about all of the cadets that perished on this ship. Some died of explosions, drownings and even suicide .This is the first story so far that did not at all feel like it was published by Scholastic. It was really cool. The ending was the best and worst part being the "true" nature of it.I gave this one a four out of five stars.
The Ghost Of The Yorkshire Meusium- A story about this ghost that keeps coming back and pulling a book off the library shelves this one was really the weakest one so far ,but I relate to this ghost the most because this is exactly what I would do if I was a ghost .I gave it three out of five stars.
The Ghost Of The Irish Bride- A story about a girl babysitting these kids and one night she sees this lady in all white coming to try and take care of the kids .This story was sad .They tell the origin of how this lady came to be and it's awful and could have been prevented. I give it a four out of five stars.
The Ghost In The Brown Satin Dress-In the last story the ghost was friendly in this one she is supposed to be thought of as friendly, but the guy that finds her doesn't think so and that's a little unnerving.Basically multiple people see this ghost and one guy draws a sketch and gets a guy to paint her. They end up keeping her portrait at this estate where a guy goes to sleep not scared of ghosts but ends up changing his mind .I gave this one a four out of five also .
A Murder Solved By A Ghost- A story about this Butler taking care of an estate while the owner is away and ends up getting the place robbed, only for the owner to return and not completely believe the story he was told. One night a ghost is standing at the foot of his bed (nope.) And he tells the truth. This one was really good to but sad and very scary. I would've not made it to the oak tree .Another four out of five stars
The Ghost Of The Tulip Staircase-A story about this couple on vacation at a museum taking pictures and one of the pictures come back with a ghost .Story wise, this was just a tame story, but what's creepy is they don't really describe the ghost in the picture that much, just wearing cloaks and one has a ring ,but what's really scary is the factoids at the end of this story .Hearing footsteps and chants. I gave this one a three out of five stars
The Airman Who Flew Back From The Dead- A story about two pilots one a young new comer and the other an experienced older one. They are fllying to do a routine drop off of one plane. They see this fog rolling through and one lands ,to I guess turn around and the other keeps going back at the base or whatever. One sees the other but turns out something has happened to him .I gave this one three stars mostly because of the writing one paragraph he was flying the next he's turning around in a chair facing his other cadet. The creep factor is higher with this one though especially with the clock having the time of a death.
The Ministers Haunted House -A minister moves into this house despite everybody telling him it's haunted .One night his wife sees a ghost at the gate, but later finds out it's possibly a nun from beyond the grave. The scariest part of this story tho is they find a skull in the cubboard and there told it was buried a long time ago .They later hear voices footsteps lights flickering on and off .This one was pretty creepy .I do have a slight hunch about the fire at the end though. I gave this one four out of five stars
The Ghost In The Rattling Chains-We get this guy moving into a haunted house but this time the guy just plans on ignoring everything and not being intimidated by a ghost .Okay so this one was really neat, because the ghost actually needed the guy to pay attention to him, to help him out. While similar to the one about the butler at the beginning .It's still different. I gave this one four out of five stars.
The ghost with the red scar-Basically this guy sees his sister that died from a long time ago and notices she has a red scar on her cheek. He tells his parents .They don't believe him, until he mentions the scar and then the mom explains what happend.This one was ok. The mom in my opinion was sad for what she did when she really didn't do much wrong. I feel like she would've forgiven her .I gave this one a three out of five stars.
The Revenge of the murderers Skull -A story about this weird doctor that steals the skull off of a murderer, after he is hanged ,only for bad stuff to happen .One of the more powerful ghosts in the story. Similar to the mummy's bone story it was pretty good. Not super scary other then seeing an arm floating towards where the skull is. I liked it four out of five stars
Overall ,I really liked this short story collection. It was pretty difficult to rate each story as they are implied as being "true", so I went off of writing and scares and believe it or not ,while alot of these ghosts wouldn't hurt a fly ,they still had something about them that made them creepy.So much so I read this in the middle off the day. I know alot of these stories were toned down for kids sake, but man it still didn't feel like kids stories. I also liked the facts at the end of each story separated by bats and cats.It felt extra Halloweenish. I'd really like to find an adult ghost stories book that is implied to be true (suggestions?)I recommend this overall a four out of fives stars from me.
July 17, 2020
This was one of my first forays into mystery (or horror!) literature when I was a kid. It came from the Scholastic Book Club, probably when I was in seventh grade or so, having been published in 1988, I believe. It's regrettably short, only about 85 pages, and the stories are fascinating, so I would have liked to have had a bit more information about them. Ranging in period from ancient to modern, it offers short vignettes about some well-known encounters with the paranormal. Definitely kid-friendly, but intriguing enough to make even adults want to learn more about each of these fascinating cases.
February 1, 2022
Just had a flashback to reading this when I was a kid. I haven't read it again as an adult, but back in Elementary school, I wore out my paperback reading it cover to cover multiple times. Probably isn't as freaky to me now as it was back then, though.
April 8, 2009
I love ghost stories but these were not too exciting.
July 29, 2020
Well-written little “true” ghost stories. Loved this as a kid; totally lived up to my memory of it.
August 18, 2017
This book was a nice, quick read. I've always loved ghost stories, and whilst these stories are supposedly true, I still take the "truth" with a grain of salt. A few quick Google searches did bring up some of these stories, which surprised me, considering the age of the book and the limited availability (if any) of internet resources. If I can take anything away from reading this, it's appreciation for old school pre-digital research.
June 22, 2019
Interesante librito con 13 historias de fantasmas que son calificadas como verdaderas. Entre ellas viene la más antigua, la del filósofo Atenodoro quien rentó una casa encantada con un fantasma encadenado (de ahí la idea del fantasma que arrastra cadenas, como en El fantasma de Canterville). Esta historia la narra en uno de sus escritos Plinio el Joven (ajá, el que sobrevivió a Pompeya). Historias algunas de miedo, otras extrañas y otras más sorprendentes pero todas entretenidas.
August 30, 2023
I’ve had this book since I was a kid. I got it from one of those scholastic book magazines. I loved those so much. I reread it as part of my book reading goal to revisit some childhood favorites. Yep, I still love this one as well, even though there’s not much to it. I have never forgotten the very first story. Not truly scary, but fun spine-tingling stories that supposedly have some truth to them. I’ve never fact checked and I’m not going to this time either.
May 15, 2021
Interesting find in the children's section. I am a fan of the supernatural so this is a solid choice to get any children curious or involoved in your interests as well. I also recommend to history buffs as a short little read for some interesting stories you may not have heard of before.
August 7, 2020
I really enjoy it!!!
March 14, 2021
This has a lot of classic, short ghost stories, geared to a younger audience, but enjoyed by many. It's a short, quick read, and a great way to dip your foot into the pool of short horror stories.
March 20, 2021
What a fun little collection of “true” ghost stories! I have been feeling a bit nostalgic for the horror stories I read as a kid back in the mid ‘80’s, and this book definitely fit the bill!
Read
October 31, 2021This was just a cute, quick Halloween read. No thoughts, no feelings, just maybe true old time-y ghost stories.
December 2, 2023
Oh my god! My absolute favorite collection of short ghost stories. Not sure how true they really are, but they're certainly enjoayable! 5/5
July 8, 2025
Reminds me of good ol’ “Are You Afraid of the Dark”. Nickelodeon.
April 19, 2025
I never read this one as a kid, but did read similar books. Im excited to look up the stories and read about the research that has gone into finding out more information. 👻 3.5 ⭐️
November 15, 2023
My entry for H.R.F Keating Mr. Saul
Goodreads does not make it easy to add books
As found in Otto Prenzler's The Big Book of Ghost Stories
Goodreads does not make it easy to add books
As found in Otto Prenzler's The Big Book of Ghost Stories
February 14, 2017
Read this back in high school. Love narrating those stories to kids now. Spooky!
December 4, 2012
This book was really good! Even though I finished it in two hours. It was still a very good book and somewhat edjucational. I liked that it really did seem real and at times made you think if things of that nature are actually possible. However, I really don't honestly know if this book is actually a real non-fiction book or not because I didn't do any research on it. If it is true I could almost believe it because most of the stories that were aclaimed to be true happened in the 1800's and early 1900's. Either way it was very intertaining and I think this would be a great book for youngsters to read, and would also be great for slumber party stories! I wish I would have had a book of this nature to read and scare my friends sensless during many of my slumber parties.
All in all this was a great book and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to be entertained for a while. It will make you think. Hopefully one day I actually take the time to find out weather the stories aclaimed to be true in this book really are or not?????
Good read!
All in all this was a great book and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to be entertained for a while. It will make you think. Hopefully one day I actually take the time to find out weather the stories aclaimed to be true in this book really are or not?????
Good read!
May 29, 2017
13 Ghosts delivered on what it promised to be - it was a collection of thirteen "true" ghost stories.
All of the stories in the book were older than I was expecting them to be. Most of them were stories that were originally recorded back in the 1700 - 1800s. As I learned from Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, hauntings were as popular back then as they are today, and people went through great lengths to fake paranormal phenomena.
The stories are introduced with scenes from the tales written as though they were a third person narrative, with the facts of each story following afterwards.
This was a quick read - it was interesting, but don't expect to be scared by any of the stories in the collection. Unless you're scared of historical accuracy.
All of the stories in the book were older than I was expecting them to be. Most of them were stories that were originally recorded back in the 1700 - 1800s. As I learned from Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, hauntings were as popular back then as they are today, and people went through great lengths to fake paranormal phenomena.
The stories are introduced with scenes from the tales written as though they were a third person narrative, with the facts of each story following afterwards.
This was a quick read - it was interesting, but don't expect to be scared by any of the stories in the collection. Unless you're scared of historical accuracy.
April 21, 2011
If you don't believe in ghosts, maybe these stories will change your mind. At least, that is what it says on the cover.
These stories are fascinating and for some, they may be unbelievable. But I believe these true stories are very interesting reads. Some of the stories in the book are well known stories, such as the one about the Brown Lady and there are a few of the other stories I had already read in another ghost book. However, it did not bother me to read them again. Mr. Osborne is quite a good writer and tells the stories well. The way he writes keeps the stories interesting and makes you keep reading.
There were some other stories in the book that I hadn't read before that I found interesting and plan to do more research on some of these stories myself.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves reading true ghost stories.
These stories are fascinating and for some, they may be unbelievable. But I believe these true stories are very interesting reads. Some of the stories in the book are well known stories, such as the one about the Brown Lady and there are a few of the other stories I had already read in another ghost book. However, it did not bother me to read them again. Mr. Osborne is quite a good writer and tells the stories well. The way he writes keeps the stories interesting and makes you keep reading.
There were some other stories in the book that I hadn't read before that I found interesting and plan to do more research on some of these stories myself.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves reading true ghost stories.
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