Haunted Utah

Stackpole Haunted Series

by Andy Weeks

Includes

Genres: Nonfiction, Horror, Ghosts

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2012

Reviews

[Vibeke Hiatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

What makes this book interesting is that it deals with places I'm familiar with. If the reader isn't from Utah, they might not find it all that interesting. When the author talks about ghosts and unexplained events, it's properly chilling. But, too often the book reads like a tourism brochure. I would say the book is roughly 20% ghost stories, 80% history.

The details are plentiful in the first half of the book, but drop off in the second half. I was disappointed at how often Weeks went on for a few paragraphs about the history of a site only to conclude with just one sentence of the paranormal, something to the effect of: "There are reports of voices, strange sounds, and shadow figures."

[Kathy Cooley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I told a friend of mine I was looking for a book set in Utah to meet one of my reading challenges, a book set in your hometown/region, and she suggested this. Not a terrible book by any means, just kind of ho-hum. I'd heard several of the stories, and the ones I hadn't were vague--reports of sounds, voices, etc. but nothing really concrete. Many of the "stories" felt like the author was stretching (this place has a really interesting history, so it must be haunted). Oh well, at least I met one of my challenges!

[chris :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was interesting. i definitely wanted the author to talk more about the ghost-story/paranormal aspects of places rather than the history. some of the stories were almost all history and then 1 sentence at the end that scratched the surface of the hauntings that take place at the location.

i got this while on vacation in utah, and while i am not familiar with 90% of the places/towns/cities in this book, the few that i recognized the names of were cool to read about.

this def made me want to go to a haunted house tho. i’m super excited for october now after reading this hehe

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book for me since I was born and live in Utah. I’ve heard many of these “stories” before, and found them interesting. I would like to read more about “ghosts and strange phenomenon in the beehive state.”

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have heard of some of the stories in here before, but not all. It seems like some other books have told their stories more interestingly, but definitely not as unbiased.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

None of the books like this one are masterpieces of literature. They are just a bit of fun fluff. Alas, the writing in this book falls below even that low standard.

[Amanda Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun approach to local folklore but it lacked depth and detail. It was useful for some research I’m doing, but there’s a lot more I need to look into from the snippets presented here.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been really into ghost stories lately. So when I came across a collection of stories from my own state, I grabbed it. And then it sat on my shelf. Because I was busy. But then I checked my GoodReads page, realized I was 8 books behind my goal to read 52 books this year. This was a really thin book and I finished it in one evening.

And I was disappointed. Mostly, this book read like a travel brochure. The author obviously did his research and had a lot to say about the locations and histories, just not a whole lot about the ghosts themselves. Mostly, the sections were short, less than a dozen paragraphs, with all the supernatural details in the very last paragraph. I think that the book should have been titled something else. "Haunted Utah" was mis-leading, as it leads one to think solely of ghosts. However, a large portion of the stories were about lake monsters, urban legends, or just places where really bad stuff happened once upon a time.

Still, it was interesting to learn that there is a ghost just up the street from where I live. I'm totally going to go look for it.

[Jeff Stockett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fun. It's a little bit all over the place. Sometimes it is talking about ghosts, sometimes it is talking about aliens, sometimes it is just talking about Utah history.

It wasn't quite what I expected. I was expecting lots of scary stories, and while there is some of that, lots of it just reads like a travel guide. Being a Utah local, it was fun to mark down the places that sound fun to visit, and it was fun to learn about local urban legends that I hadn't heard before.

If you're not from Utah and not planning to visit, it probably won't be that interesting. If you're looking for a book that can give you a few fun ideas to explore Utah, this will do the trick.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was more like a text book instead of ghost tales.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a ghost storyteller myself, I appreciate a well done tale. Andy Weeks was able to make the occurrences interesting and retain the spookiness of these happenings.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun book but did leave me wanting more

[Caitlin Tapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

lots of interesting stories.

[Cassie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't what I expected, but it did have some interesting historical information.