Real Hauntings: America's True Ghost Stories

by Hans Holzer

SparkChartsTM—created by Harvard students for students everywhere—serve as study companions and reference tools that cover a wide range of college and graduate school subjects, including Business, Computer Programming, Medicine, Law, Foreign Language, Humanities, and Science. Titles like How to Study, Microsoft Word for Windows, Microsoft Powerpoint for Windows, and HTML give you what it takes to find success in school and beyond. Outlines and summaries cover key points, while diagrams and tables make difficult concepts easier to digest. This two-page chart includes diagrams

The male reproductive systemThe female reproductive systemFertilization and implantationThe menstrual cycle

Genres: Paranormal, Ghosts, Nonfiction, Horror, History, Short Stories, Ghost Stories

337 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2012

About the author

Hans Holzer, whose investigations into the paranormal took him to haunted houses and other sites all over the world, wrote more than 140 books on ghosts, the afterlife, witchcraft, extraterrestrial beings, and other phenomena associated with the realm he called “the other side.” Among his famous subjects was the Long Island house that inspired The Amityville Horror book and film adaptations. Holzer studied at the University of Vienna, Austria, and at Columbia University, New York, earning a master’s degree in comparative religion. He taught parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology. Holzer died in 2009.

Reviews

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hans Holzer is more than just a compiler of ghost stories, back in the '60s and '70s, heck even all the way to the '50s, he was a ghost hunter of sorts who would visit people's homes upon request and banish their problem spirits. This book contains both tales he has heard and many of his own recountings of experiences with haunted places. I found the later most interesting as he details what he witnessed with his own eyes and the accounts of the psychics who he brought along to communicate with the spirits.
Though many may not believe in ghosts, Holzer certainly makes one wonder if they might not be true and more prevalant than the common public believes.
One disappointment, Holzer doesn't really follow up with some problem spirits or find out much about the spirits themselves and why they are haunting a place. Which is a shame since the stories of why these lost souls are still bound here makes for much more interesting reading than some of the repetitve accounts of doors opening and closing by themselves.
For those truly interested in the possibility of ghosts, this is a great book.

[Dennis Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been a Hans Holzer fan for many years and there is little doubt that he is the most widely read author of this type of book. Most of the hauntings he writes about are those he has investigated for himself and he seems to only investigate well-documented cases where there are several living witnesses that he can interview. There is never any danger of picking up one of Holzer's books and being bored to tears with a bunch of old unsubstantiated folk tales.

"Real Hauntings" is a collection of some of Holzer's old investigations, mostly from the 1960s. He and his sidekick Sybil Leek, who is a medium, travel about the country investigating haunted houses and urging the ghosts to cross over to the other side. As usual, Holzer's writing style is superb. Even though he holds a Ph.D. he does not try to write in a pompous manner that is over most reader's head. The stories in this book are fun to read and I found it hard to put down. If you read this book at night while all alone you may have trouble sleeping for Holzer conveys the eerie nature of these haunts very clearly.

There is one major problem with this book however, and it is a problem that crops up with Holzer again and again. He likes to recycle his stories and if you have read previous books by this author you may have a strong sense of having read these stories before. I had this feeling and pulled out a couple of Holzer's other books that I have in my library. In checking just the first third of this book I found that five of the stories in this book were also in one of the author's books other two books I checked. Two more stories were in this book and also in both of the other two books. I don't know how many new stories were in this book, but I suspect there weren't many.

Try Holzer out because he has a great talent for this type of book. If you have never read Holzer before this book would be a fine one to read. On the other hand, if you have read any of Holzer's other books avoid this one for it seems to be only a collection of previously published stories.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My book is copyright 1995 which doesn't match the copyright date at the synopsis. Also, the synopsis totally wrong. Weird.

So, my mom had this book in her extensive library & I was interested in it. I'm pretty sure I've read this author before.
This is 25 stories of hauntings that occurred in the 1960s. All have ghostly footsteps. All are very dull.
I read the whole thing, but I was glad when it was over.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of ghost stories. Some are more engaging than others but all lack that pull you in, make you feel like you are experiencing what the living were going through. I also would have liked a little more background story in many of the short stories and pictures. After saying all that there are a couple of stories that will make you sleep with the lights on.

[Redrosevertigo0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars. This is edited much better than the previous book "Houses of Horror" but some of the stories are repeats. It would be nice if the ghost photos Hans mentioned in one story were actually in the book.

[Marlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Known for his many psychic and paranormal investigation, Hans Holzer shares events he witnessed from across the nation. His methods are unique, working mostly with psychics and most of the cases take place in the 1960's. All in all interesting but not scary per today's standards.

[Robi A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Ghost Hunter Extraordinaire

Hans Holzer was one of the First Ghost Researchers of our contemporary era, and has such amazing stories. Perfect to read at night.

[Evangeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda boring

[Yogendra]

You Cant Stop Fear
here.

[Amy Webster-Bo · Rating 3 out of 5]

just ok stories, not really scary, just ok, i have not found one of his books that i actually like yet, so i doubt i'll read anymore

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy interesting read. The descriptions are absolutely amazing, and the cases are short enough to fit everything that is imperative but long enough to keep you interested.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed--his writing style is not entertaining and these cases are all from the 1960s or thereabouts. This reads like his personal notes or journal about the cases he's investigated instead of the good spooky read I was looking for. I read through the section on hauntings (or rather, his experiences) in New England, skimmed another section, and still couldn't get into it, so I gave up.

[Kristi]

I bought this book from a library book sale and was so looking forward to reading it...but ended up really disappointed. Even if there is no true ghostly action, the storytelling itself is not very engaging.

[Marci Woodfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I'm a sucker for a good ghost story...

[Stephi K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a very impressive array of real ghost-banishing experiences and hauntings. I would have appreciated more history of the houses and how it tied in to the hauntings.

[Rachel Stanton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting a more story filled book than this. Instead it was more like a journal of his personal investigations of different sites.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. An entertaining collection.

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

The guys outlook on spirits was just weird. He believed they couldn't hurt you and that none were malevolent.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm skeptical about how real these ghost stories were but this was still good Halloween reading

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although interesting stories, I found at times the writing style difficult to read.