The Haunted South

by Alan Brown

Non-fiction book about historic haunts of the American South.

Genres: Paranormal, Ghosts, Nonfiction

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Sally Kilpatrick]

These are good to read through for ideas, but I always want more of the story and less of the "we took out a flashlight and asked questions." Also, a significant chunk of the book deals with who owned houses or how they were built even when those details don't necessarily have anything to do with the ghost. IDK what I want from ghost books. I mean, on the one hand I don't need a lot of paranormal investigator info to try to prove the existence of ghosts on the other I got a little peeved with one story where Brown ended it with "but these are clearly just legends." Anyhoo, probably good for inspiration and possibly for finding sites to visit.

[Allyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did I imagine it, or did the writing get sloppier and more informal as the chapters wore on? There were also some typos that an editor should have caught. But on the whole, a pretty good book for spooky kids who want to read about "real" hauntings.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, lots of history.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Haunted South by Alan Brown reads more like a tour guide of old houses in the South than a book of ghost stories. The author discusses several places in states from Alabama to Virginia. In many of the sections, he spends more time writing about the actual history of the houses, when they were built, by whom and how they were exchanged throughout the years, than he does any scary stories associated with them. There are even a couple of entries where he doesn't mention any paranormal activity around the house at all, he just says at the end of the entry something along the lines of how the house would be the ideal place for hauntings. There are a few places with misspellings that look like autocorrect which made me wonder if there was any editor on this at all, other than the author proofing his own work. It could be an interesting guide to someone visiting the South to see some historical buildings, but there were only a couple of stories that were even mildly chilling. This is not the book for anyone looking for a Halloween thrill.