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The Hangman, The Hound and Other Hauntings: a gazeteer of Welsh ghosts
Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. A very good, clean & sound copy.
220 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 12, 2012
I always pick up a ghost book, the local haunts so to speak, when I travel and I got this one in Wales. It does say up front that there isn’t much in the way of investigation and that it would bring the science to the craft of ghost hunting. Well, it is one of these things. It is mostly just a large collection of local ghost stories from around the country with no investigations into plausibility. While I prefer that the murders at least are looked into, I’m fine with ghost tales (and I will allow that in a country as old as Wales, it would be harder to do the research than it might be here in the States).
It was grouped in a nice way, especially since you’d be able to go and visit many of these places. It was grouped into pubs, castles, sacred buildings, public/private buildings and roadsides. I particularly liked the first two. It was just interesting to see how many pubs from the late middle ages there still are. It was a good collection of stories. As for the science, the only science I saw was the author mocking it. They’d have been better off not including that in the write up, frankly. I was also a little disappointed in the formatting. The publisher didn’t make sure the title fonts could handle some of the punctuation and the such, rendering them as blocks. There was a bit too much writer-on-board in some of the stories but it was a fun read on the plane ride back to the States.
It was grouped in a nice way, especially since you’d be able to go and visit many of these places. It was grouped into pubs, castles, sacred buildings, public/private buildings and roadsides. I particularly liked the first two. It was just interesting to see how many pubs from the late middle ages there still are. It was a good collection of stories. As for the science, the only science I saw was the author mocking it. They’d have been better off not including that in the write up, frankly. I was also a little disappointed in the formatting. The publisher didn’t make sure the title fonts could handle some of the punctuation and the such, rendering them as blocks. There was a bit too much writer-on-board in some of the stories but it was a fun read on the plane ride back to the States.
June 13, 2015
This is not as much a collection of ghost stories as a brief overview of haunted places in Wales. The author seems to be a believer, so sometimes includes his theories on ghosts, which you may or may not enjoy depending on your tastes. I would have liked a bit more of a spooky spin on the stories, but it's still interesting to read about the types of ghosts linked to Welsh places and a bit about their histories.
September 4, 2019
I grabbed this in a shop in Wales when I visited over the weekend, thinking it was going to be an awesome, in-depth read... I was slightly mistaken.
Although this book is informative on places in Wales that is haunted, the descriptions aren’t really that believable and the witnesses names are all completely made up.... obviously.
The style of writing gave me a headache and this author’s allergy to writing ‘all of a sudden’ instead of ‘Of a sudden’ drove me absolutely bonkers. Editing in this book was quite bad anyway. And most people don’t enjoy books these days that say ‘when one does not think like that, then one can not oppose to...blah blah’. I certainly don’t.
Interesting read for sure but as a witness to paranormal activity myself in places like Michelham Priory is Sussex, these ‘accounts’ are usually what psychic’s would see so really was quite false. I’m not saying these places aren’t haunted, I absolutely believe they do... but the descriptions and tales were a little OTT.
Although this book is informative on places in Wales that is haunted, the descriptions aren’t really that believable and the witnesses names are all completely made up.... obviously.
The style of writing gave me a headache and this author’s allergy to writing ‘all of a sudden’ instead of ‘Of a sudden’ drove me absolutely bonkers. Editing in this book was quite bad anyway. And most people don’t enjoy books these days that say ‘when one does not think like that, then one can not oppose to...blah blah’. I certainly don’t.
Interesting read for sure but as a witness to paranormal activity myself in places like Michelham Priory is Sussex, these ‘accounts’ are usually what psychic’s would see so really was quite false. I’m not saying these places aren’t haunted, I absolutely believe they do... but the descriptions and tales were a little OTT.
June 16, 2025
I picked this up while in North Wales with work and as I love to uncover local lore and secrets from around my country I happily added it to my never diminishing to read pile. While this is definitely written more for the enjoyment and drama than it is any kind of science behind the events, it is nevertheless an interesting read. The author has grouped the tales by type of location, which I quite liked, so you can decide if you want to read tales about the castle you may be in or the pub where you have just bought a relaxing pint, you can. Most of the locations are still around and open to the public too so you can go on your own hunt for the haunting should you wish. Some of the tales have more information than others, depending on the availability of records and the like, and there are times that Caldas can't resist but put his own bit of spin on things but these don't detract from the story telling and add a little extra dimension should you wish to go along with his thoughts (sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't).
November 7, 2021
Not great. Not well cited and also lots of typos and poor writing
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews