Spooky Christmas: And Other Haunted Holidays

by S.E. Schlosser, Paul G. Hoffman (Illustrator)

Grab an eggnog, gather ’round the fireplace and get ready for twenty-five creepy tales of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange holiday occurrences from times past! Holiday folklore traditions from around the United States are kept alive in these expert retellings by master storyteller S. E. Schlosser and through artist Paul G. Hoffman’s evocative illustrations. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and witches populate the pages of this compelling holiday collection. From Hanukkah and Christmas to Three Kings Day and New Year's, these spooky stories will have you looking over your shoulder again and again.

248 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2023

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

[Josh Epp · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars!

Sigh….I’m disappointed in such a low rating. I was excited going into this story collection for the holiday season thinking it was going to lean more horror.
Sadly, it did not go that direction at all. The stories felt like fairytales with a bit of edge to them. They were short and easy to read for sure but nothing that blew my mind. I expected a lot of retellings and short story adaptions. However, none of the stories did anything mind blowing or masterpieces.

Most of the stories were short and easy to read. Most ended with a “and then she screamed” which doesn’t always work for me. Some of the stories were lullaby’s that were reformatted as a holiday tale, which was cool. However, the stories never really punched the storyline or made me uncomfortable. I wanted more horror and dread. I got a slight fan blow of air and the author was thinking “you’re spooked huh”. No, no I was not.

I would skip this one if you’re looking for a collection of holiday short stories. This would be good for middle grade or some fun times in a middle school during holiday though.

[Elizabeth Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun!

[Corey Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jules!! · Rating 2 out of 5]

most stories werent spooky they were just generic ghost stories. the best were new years hunting trip, the bachelor, wild hunt and the two at the end.

[Megan Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this for my stepdad for Christmas and read it while I was home for the holiday. I’m really excited for him to finish reading it so we can compare which stories were creepiest to us. The story about the bride being found in the chest years later was insane! But there was not one story in there that I thought was out of place, a great collection!