Ghostly Tales of Iowa

by Ruth D. Hein, Vicky L Hinsenbrock

This collection of short stories spotlights the ghosts of Iowa. Some stories will cause you to laugh, others to wonder.

Genres: Ghosts, Paranormal, History

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1996

Reviews

[Aric Broderick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this book. It was just a hodgepodge of short stories without any real point. I would've much rather read longer stories with more substance than a bunch of short stories that don't have anything.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 22/200. This was written like a school textbook that was trying to be cool and relatable to high schoolers. I couldn't even finish the measly 200 pages.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was nice to find this book of local area ghost stories. While some were pretty good and hit close to home, a majority of them were just so so. I found the author's writing style a bit choppy and difficult at times to read. Still, was fun to find something like this!

[Jayne Dough · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it did not manage to capture my attention very much. At only 112 pages long, it took me an entire year to get through because every time I tried reading it I would get bored, and only make it through one story at a time. The stories themselves were very hit or miss. Many were very easily explainable and not at all scary, and the few that held genuine mystery were told in such a way that I couldn’t find myself invested. The shortness of the tales didn’t help, but my biggest issue was the way they were written. It felt like listening to someone trying to tell me what they saw on the news the other day, but they couldn’t quite remember the details, so I was just sort of stuck getting a story of a story, all the way while feeling as if I was missing something important that makes the story interesting. I felt very removed from the book, which was upsetting because the whole idea was to read ghost stories from home.

My favorite story was “The Jordan House Spirit”. This story was the one with the most interesting context, in my opinion. This story contained actual full names of people who lived in the home, whom I can search online, with details on the history of the house itself, and information on the interesting historical connection to the civil war and the Underground Railroad. It was also the only story I had any real knowledge of beforehand, having previously heard of the Jordan House and its ghost. Unfortunately, this story was just barely 3 pages long, and I really wish that it could have been longer.

Almost all the stories could have benefited from being longer, actually. Each story is very short. The longest story is only 8 pages, the shortest is a mere 2 pages (and not even a full 2 pages at that. It’s a single sheet of paper where the story starts halfway down the middle on the first side of the page and ends on the back side of the same sheet of paper), and the average story is only around 4 or 5 pages. They are so short that it’s hard to get into them. By the time I had oriented myself to the names of the characters, the story was over.

I also think visual aids could have helped. Pictures of the haunted houses, drawings based on descriptions of the “ghosts”, or even news articles pertaining to the stories. A few of the stories involve people doing research about the ghosts and I think seeing the articles about them could have made this book more compelling. Actual research about the stories that adds veracity to the claims would have made them seem less like stories bored people made up that no one ever actually talks about. Instead of sounding like ghost tales passed down from generations, most of these stories read like the author found one single person to tell them about a supposed ghost and then just copied their words practically verbatim.

No hate to the authors. I just think there must not have been enough good ghost stories in Iowa to make a compelling volume. I appreciate local stories being documented like this, I only wish I had been able to enjoy it more myself.

[Ashley McCloney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of short stories from different hauntings in Iowa. The stories were told or sent in to the authors & then they published them. Quick read. Would have liked it to be more in depth but not a bad book if you are interested in paranormal. Not the best I’ve read but not bad.

[Levi DeYounge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cozy read for local Iowans or potential tourists. It’s a lovely, little book of stories, and while some vignettes don’t ring particularly honest, you’ll probably get something fun out of it. Even if you don’t, you might have visited one of the places in the stories.

[Jessica Hangartner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories gave nothing but background with just a sentence or two of the ghostly happenings. Others were written so poorly I had to reread them to make sure I had the characters and events right.

[Douglas Reedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good tales.

The author of this book has done a great job of researching and interviewing people. Some stories are funny while others may send a chill up your spine!

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short stories in this book were a lot of fun! I just wish it would have included the story of haunted manors of Wartburg College in Waverly.

[Stephanie Ousey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories are Interesting and fun but a few were kinda boring and didn’t make sense.

[Nyx · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little dry, but i enjoyed it bc there were ghosts

[Rachel Feala · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the short story format of the book. I wish some of them were longer though. I understand though, she was working with what people sent her.

[Niki Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very poorly written. It was very hard to finish.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting in Iowa. Too bad none where I live now.

[Laura Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure that Bigfoot belongs in a book of “GHOSTLY” tales. Most of the stories are uninteresting, generic, glossed over or seem to mostly be from NE Iowa.

[Rose VanCrayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this book at a visitor center in Iowa. Very interesting short stories for those who love ghost stories and are interested in Iowa history.