Prepare to step over to the dark side with this sinister selection of occult stories
Have you heard the tale of the black-eyed children?
What about the monster that eats your dreams?
Do you know about the witches that summon the dead?
This spine-chilling compendium of strange and supernatural happenings from across the globe is essential reading, whether you're an occult enthusiast or simply curious.
Filled with mind-bending stories of dark magic, terrifying hauntings and unexplained phenomena, the world of the occult has left us fascinated and fearful since ancient times. Spellbinding, mysterious and hidden from view, occult practices offer a way to uncover the secret knowledge of the universe, but some say this knowledge comes at a price...
Explore this rich history of magic and intrigue, as well as occult rituals and esoteric philosophies that continue today. Stories of the Occult looks - Hauntings - Unexplained deaths - Witchcraft - Mythical creatures and much more.
Delve into this book and see what you can discover. By the end, you may not know what to believe!
I own a physical copy of the book so my review is for the paperback of the book. This book contains short excepts about various types of hauntings, including some occult related haunted locations and the spooky occurrences there. The Crescent Hotel, is infamous now due to the celebrities that stayed at the Hotel but also due to the dark history of when the building was a hospital for patients that had cancer. Dr. Baker was quite insidious and evil in my opinion, due to him giving false hope to people that had cancer, & would be willing to believe anything to cure their cancer, but there was no miraculous cure, he deceived the patients, experimented on them, which sadly lead to their deaths. I believe the patients are now vengeful spirits, and rightfully so, they were lied to, deceived in the most treacherous manner. There is a Ghost Adventures episode about the Hotel, jars that contained preserved organs in them were found, from the hospital ward.
I've never heard of a ship called HMS Arrogant before and I think it's a bit foolish to name a ship after a Greek Deity unless you have a strong connection/bond with them, otherwise their voyages were doomed from the start. I've always been fascinated by ghost ships, pirates, smugglers. Seeing a ghost ship would be creepy. It reminds me of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the ship Dracula travelled on to Whitby & London was named after the Greek Goddess Demeter, the voyage was cursed so i've always wanted to know if Bram Stoker was interested in mythology, folklore and if he spoke to a Folklorist that inspired his imagination, when he wrote Dracula in 1897.
It sounds like Maria Charlotte Roux was a somewhat vengeful spirit, after she died and she was heartbroken that Giel seemed to more on quickly after her death & burial, by getting remarried a year later. Even in death spirits feel emotional pain, heartbreak, it's sad. I like how unique, creepy & interesting Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish mythology & folklore is & their pantheons of Deities are really interesting as well. The information in each except in the book is interesting but very basic information and a little bit vague, if you do your own in-depth research you can find out more information about anything mentioned in this book.
Some of my favourite hauntings mentioned in the book: The Bell Witch The Black-Eyed Children The Strange & Unexplained Death of Elisa Lam (it wasn't suicide) The Dyatlov Pass Incident (Russia) The Lost English Colony-(Roanoke) Hoia Baciu-"The Shepard's Forest" (Romanian Forest) The Villisca Axe Murder House The Kasha (Japanese Yokai in Hawaii) Will the Blacksmith Ghouls (Islamic in origin) Japanese Urban Legends-"Teke Teke" Kitsune Tsukai Wolpertinger The Awful (a Griffin-like type of animal of unknown origin/species) The Deer Woman (Native American/Indigenous) Skinwalkers
The first chapter is about various hauntings but none of them so far are related to the occult which is why I purchased the book in the first place, due to being interested in places that have occult history. The circumstances related to the entire family & two friends of the one of the Moore family children is disturbing, gruesome and very sad. Some of the details related to the killer are strange- a slab of bacon that was left near the bloody axe that belonged to Josiah used to murder 6 people, cigarette butts that were found in the basement where the killer was waiting for the unsuspecting victims to fall asleep. The fact that a known German serial killer that murdered 59 people in the same manner as the Villisca Axe murders wasn't more thoroughly investigated is suspicious. I hope one day these murders will be conclusively solved. I look forward to reading the other chapters about unexplained deaths, cryptozoology, witchcraft, and the occult. The haunting in Hawaii that involves a shapeshifting Kasha, which in my opinion is a Yokai (a type of Japanese demon) has always been really interesting to me, it's one of my favourites. I love Japanese mythology and folklore. Shintoism & Buddhism is interesting & unique.
In my opinion I think the black-eyed children are Vampiric, demons that have to be invited in, then they cause chaos, misfortune, unexplained and serious illness of anyone that invites them in. Their eyes are completely black, demons are known to appear as children to lure people into a false sense of security, they appear innocent to gain your trust. Why did the cats disappear? Did the black-eyed children drink the blood of the cats? There are various stories about people that helped the black-eyed children, they felt sorry for them due to them appearing as children, but then they were diagnosed with cancer. Form your own opinion about what you think they are, since they are not what they seem, they are evil.
Post mortem photography and photographs of ghosts/spirits in the 19th century has always been interesting to me, but it's sad that for some people the only photograph they had of their children or family members was taken with their corpse in the photograph. It's a little bit creepy. I liked the short except about Will the blacksmith, he is a quite evil person and enjoyed luring his unsuspecting victims to their doom, to their deaths. I liked reading about all the creepy variations of Will the blacksmith, the Will-O'-Wisp and similar frightening and creepy beings, spirits or entities are are as equally as evil and sinister in their intentions as Will the blacksmith. Stingy Jack associated with Jack-O-Lantern's is interesting as well. Raynham Hall & Hampton Court are infamous and quite haunted, there is a fascinating clip on YouTube of a well dressed spirit opening a door at Hampton Court they are wearing old fashioned clothing, but it's not known who the spirit is.
Ghouls that exist in cemeteries feasting on the dead and the mourners have always been creepy but fascinating to me. There isn't always a lot of information about ghouls though. One of my favourite Japanese Urban Legends is "Teke Teke" It's creepy how Kashima Reiko died & the fact that she crawls around on the ground with half of her body which makes the "Teke Teke" sound. The creepiest aspect of the "Teke Teke" legend though is the fact that Kashima Reiko carries a scythe so she can cut the legs off the bodies of her victims. I know of a supernatural ritual to summon a spirit known as Hanako-San but she died in a bathtub, which is different to the girls school bathroom related legend. Creepy Japanese Urban Legends are my favourite type of Urban Legends. I don't think the unexplained mysterious murder of Jeanette DePalma has anything to do with the occult, some of the evidence is circumstantial, the murderer could have knowledge of the occult/witchcraft, but due to a lot over hyped speculation about possible links to the occult and her murder supposedly being a occult murder it just distracts people from the genuine truth. Jeanette DePalma was sadly murdered for unknown reasons, her murder may or may not be connected or associated with the occult, but in my opinion it doesn't help that there is a lot of speculation, rumours, theories when no one really knows the truth. I hope that one day her murder will be conclusively solved and Jeanette DePalma will finally receive the justice she deserves. The Sigbin is the most evil, creepy and disturbing cryptid being that I have ever read about.
There is a book about the Villisca Axe Murder House & Dead Mountain which is about the Dyatlov Pass Incident that I recommend as further reading since both are interesting & unsolved. I like a lot of the unexplained, unsolved & creepy excerpts about strange, creepy cryptids, other types of beings that are of unknown origin & species. It's unknown where some of the cryptids came from and why they are where they were encountered & seen. The Awful was creepy & interesting to read about, due to the menacing presence of the cryptids, the unknown origin of it and not knowing it's intentions or what it wanted must have been scary for the people that experienced encountering the cryptid.
A Skinwalkers is a shapeshifting witch that wears animal pelt, so they can shapeshift into the form of that animal and adopt the traits of the animal. They mimic humans that they murdered, they mimic their last moments alive, when the victim was terrified and asking for help. Shamans & medicine men & women are the healers of the tribes but the Skinwalkers practice dark magick and they are the complete opposite of the Shamans-(they astral project & help people with spiritual attachments, spiritual sickness in the astral realm), medicine men & women. This is one of the creepy aspects of Skinwalkers, mimicking humans to lure you into helping them, but they are otherworldly, disturbing and creepy It is a Navajo & Algonquin belief and they don't talk about them, because it brings the skin walker closer to them, since they practice dark magick & they are known to be harmful, and potentially kill animals and people, most Native people do whatever they can to stay away from Skinwalkers. For clarification a Wendigo is different, this being is usually associated with famine, starvation and cannibalism. If you consume the heart of your loved one, then you become a Wendigo, forever cursed to consume human flesh but never being satiated. The term Wendigo psychosis was created to describe a mental illness related to Native American beliefs. There is a infamous story about a man in a cabin with his family, he had enough supplies to feed himself & his family, but he murdered and cannibalized his whole family. He became a Wendigo.
The author seems to misunderstand how tarot cards are used or why they are used. A tarot card reader, reads the energy of the people that asked a specific question that can be answered via the tarot cards, they read the energy of what happened in the past, the present-what is currently happening in their life & what could potentially happen in the future, but they can't change anyone's future, including their own. They can only read the person's energy, and divine the answers the person seeks about the current outcome related to whatever they asked about or a potential outcome related to what was asked about that may or may not happen in the future, but it's not set in stone, it's one variable among many possibilities. There are various types of divination and tarot cards are one of many methods of divination. I liked reading this book, but there was a lot of information I already knew except a few exceptions about Finnish & Swedish mythology, folklore etc.. If you didn't already know about what the author has written about it might be interesting to you, however if you already know, it's just more of the same regurgitated information that probably exists in various books about the hauntings, the paranormal, the occult.
Bright and breezy; easily digestible tall tales of the bizarre and the unexplained. Some are fascinating; some utter tosh… but all are fun. Frankly, this was an ideal ‘bath-time book’. You can gallop through three or four entries during a reasonable wallow… and I wasn’t that fussed if a page or two got a little damp in the reading!
Absolute wack. Most of the stories I've heard of before and do believe to be true, HOWEVER! When you read this, prepare to laugh. It's not scary or weird or creepy, just badly written. A tale I read was about 'Dancing Ben', Benjamin Franklin who dances for fun. Just no. Some tales are good to read but also too good to be true. In a gruesome way.
If you like hoaxes and weird stories, read it, why not. If you're looking to read a book with facts over fiction, this isn't for you.
Ghost stories and stories about unusual and paranormal events are always fun to read and this is a good one. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
A collection of stories, mostly urban myths, about people's experiences with the supernatural, the weird and the strange. A good book to dip in and out of.
A brilliant, completely gripping, and easy to read book that looks into weird and wonderful spooky "true" tales from all over the world.
It's broken up into five categories: Hauntings Unexplained Deaths Mythical Creatures Witchcraft Other Supernatural Tales
There are lots of stories in each category, so the book is nicely made up of short little chapters. This is a brilliant beginner's guide to occult mysteries, but also those of us well-acquainted will find something interesting. Particular stand-outs for me were "The Witch Ghost of Rhode Island" (I genuinely felt myself getting a little scared) and the one on Kikimora's from Japan.
Overall, a really enjoyable read that I devoured in two days.
“They call him Mulder the way he Fox with books like this” - things people say about me. Maybe. Probably not.
I read Paranormal Stories a few years ago by the same author and really enjoyed that but this one felt like it was missing more and felt like more of a random selection of tales. I enjoyed a lot of them but the stories I already knew felt presented in a way that led to one answer when in reality there are many possible answers so once you realise you can’t really trust the ones I know. Why should I trust the ones I don’t? Even if I enjoyed the majority.
Also recommend maybe skipping the witchcraft bit if you think witch’s are rad af. Couldn’t work out the author’s stance on how good or bad witches are on that one.
I enjoyed this book, I read a few pages a night in-between as a palette cleanser. Book includes hauntings, unexplained deaths, mythical creatures, witchcraft and other supernatural tales. Tales from all around the world and different time frames. Some stories were creepy, but the whole book as a whole I didn't find creepy. I enjoy delving into the unknown sometimes, so for me I did enjoy the short stories.
Definitely a dollar store book written by a hack. However I did learn some small insights into the occult. I found myself googling some of the stories to find out more & consequently realised this is a good reference book, but beyond that a cheap thrill & spiced in with some truly terrible stories. But it was an easy read & quite entertaining.
Whilst the stories are fascinating, the way this book was written just seemed so off. There’s a few inaccuracies which makes me question as to how researched the book actually was prior to writing. I also feel like images would’ve made the book a whole lot more engaging!
This is the first book I've read by Jamie King but it won't be the last. Stories of the Occult is absolutely fascinating and dare I say, more than a little bit creepy! Loved it even if it did creep me out!!!!!
Well structured and interesting. As someone with an interest in stories such as these I had heard most of them already, but still found some I didn't know. I do however think the stories should have been more detailed as they were very short.
It was pretty interesting. Some stories and parts were really generalised and there cpuld be some faults clearly seen but overall it was fun and entertaining.
again anyone who knows me knows that I love to read these sorts of things so I am going to be that person who recommends it to anyone who wants something just to pass the time with.
Needed a book I could easily dip in and out of as had a very busy week, this was perfect, it’s inspired me to read more on unsolved mysteries and the occult of old
I've never read a book that actually scares me ,I love the way the author relates things to you in your life saying all of the stories could happen to you my fav waa definitely the hauntings section 🩷🩷