Haunted America: Ghost Stories and True Tales of Terror

by Publications International

Get ready for terrifying tales of true hauntings and spine-tingling stories of the supernatural. Haunted America will grab your attention and scare you silly!

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Publications International, Ltd. (PIL) is a leading North American publisher, producing hundreds of new titles each year and printing millions of books annually. CEO Louis Weber founded the company in 1967 with a mission to provide high-quality, high-value products for consumers worldwide.

PIL publishes books in many categories, including the popular Brain Games® series of puzzle, sticker and coloring books, in addition to cookbooks, children’s books, craft, reference and much more.

PIL's bestselling Brain Games® product line features a wide array of puzzle books, including standards such as word searches, crosswords, sudokus, codewords, and cryptograms, as well as variety puzzle books themed around crime, Christmas, summer, celebrities, and more.

The New Seasons® division publishes a variety of stationery products that combine unique formats with the latest trends in design. Among these are Sticker by Number titles, Color and Frame books, notepad sets, journals, and recipe keepers. These products are the perfect vehicle to de-stress and relax, organize your day, and record and share memories.

Collectible Automobile® magazine, another division of PIL, presents an in-depth look at the cars and trucks that Americans have known and loved for decades. First published in 1984, Collectible Automobile® magazine is released six times a year.

PIL's cookbooks feature visually outstanding presentations of culinary classics and world cuisine, including books that focus on the Mediterranean diet, plant-based cooking, restaurant recipes, and the best in entertaining.

Reviews

[Debra Raupe]

I read the book There who are Ghost Hunters, Ghost adventure too and there are true tales & ghost stories. I feel sad and some unfinished business. Also who murdered them. I love to be Paranormal Investigation. I want to learn about Paranormal Investigation and also I will search online information from the books. :)

[Dom Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75*** but rounding up

This is exactly what I would expect from a book made for tourist shops. Each story gets to the point with some minor background info on each location. Some stories did freak me out and made me want to visit those places. But I thought the writing was juvenile at times and the organization of the stories needed work. For example, there were two different stories about Houdini but rather than being back to back, one was at the beginning and the other at the end. The celebrity ghost stories were also weirdly spaced out and same with stories about universities, hotels, etc.

I also found some of the facts (they’re “true” ghost stories so take that wording as you will) to be off/not fleshed out for certain stories. The book mentioned Ghost Adventures during the chapter about the Villisca House. According to the book, only one guy was tried for the murder despite 2 other suspects and the Ghost Adventures crew heard someone say “I killed six kids”. I saw that episode and apparently the other suspects were tried, and the book failed to mention that the crew also got a name of one of the suspects on an EVP. The book said George was tried and I just think it would’ve been interesting if they included that the name the Ghost Adventure crew got on an EVP was Andy.

Speaking of missing information, that often happened throughout the book. It would say “mysterious happenings occurred” but then moved on without saying what those happenings were. Then in other times the book was just repeating itself constantly.

Also if this is about true ghost stories, why were there segments about the history of Scooby-Doo and Casper the Friendly Ghost?

[Alice Lake · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was okay. Entertaining enough to get through. As soon as you’d get interested in a story it would go to the next one but it was organized well and gave just enough info on each story and section. May be a little outdated. This is one of those reads off my shelf that was purchased probably in middle school and NEVER read and i feel like i have to read them because i spent money on them and it got pulled out of my TBR. If you’re just looking for some quick ghost stories. This is the one

[Mike Wigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very amateurish compilation of stories. Some weren’t bad though.

[Gabby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was weird and not in the ghost story type way. You're in the middle of reading all these really short ghost stories and then randomly out of no where it gives a history lesson on Scooby Doo and Casper! Why!? And why call the book Haunted American and then add random stories about haunted places in Canada? There was a few good stories probably would be nice read for kids minus a lot of talk on gruesome deaths.

[Videoclimber(AKA)MTsLilSis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one had a good mix of stories. The problem with it was that several of the stories were repeated throughout the book, with no need for it. Also, the stories should have been placed in categories, it would have made the book so much easier to follow. It is obvious that this book is a combination of several stories, most likely from other publications. This one really needed a good editor. The stories were interesting and there were even a few I had never heard, but I didn't want to read the same story ten pages later.

[Anne Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like short ghost stories, this is the book for you. But if you're like me and want to see what place or people you're reading about, you're out of luck with this book. There are only illustrations here and there. I would recommend having the Internet handy so you can look up the stories you read about and get a more in depth summary of what they're about...plus pictures! A few of these stories were also featured on tv ghost shows.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, it wasn't my favorite book in the world but it was good. Some of the stories were very cheesy. There was only a couple that I got interested in. This book had a mixture of stories, there was mostly ghost stories.

[Eryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

And interesting read, but a few pages were unnecessary and uninteresting.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunted America is interesting and as far as I know pretty factual. It is short but full of information and stories. It can be understood easily and it was quite fun to read.

[Caitlin Ponert · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was more information on the subject than the actual haunting in my opinion, but I liked it.