Spooky Southwest: Tales Of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, And Other Local Lore

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

A collection of folktales highlighting famous and not-so-famous Southwestern ghosts, mysterious happenings, powers of darkness, and wonders of the invisible world.

Here we have a collection of unnerving tales of events that happened--and still do happen--in the collective back yard of the Southwestern states. Accompanied by evocative illustrations, these compelling retellings of popular folktales feature supernatural occurrences and ghosts of all sorts, from cattle rustlers to runaway trains.

Pull up a chair or gather round the campfire and get ready for 35 creepy tails of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange occurrences in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, and Texas. Set in the American Southwest's historic towns and sparsely populated expanses, the stories in this entertaining and compelling collection will have you looking over your shoulder again and again.

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

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2004

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

[Mia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another awful book that isn't about haunted places, it's just campfire stories. They really should title these books more accurately.

[Paul O'Donnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read half this book by candlelight, during a power outage, at night, in Death Valley.
And I slept fine.

[Bunny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was seriously disappointed in this book. I have a fascination with the southwest and I love ghost stories and folk tales and being creeped out, so when I spotted it in a display at the library I was eager to start reading. Unfortunately, while some of the stories could be genuinely creepy if told properly, they are all written in a overly simplistic fashion and the voice seems completely inauthentic. There is often little sense of place- sure, there are archetypal stories and folk tales which seem to appear in one form or another all over the world, but there should be a "local flavor" that makes one story different from another. There is little description and the whole thing just seems fake- like the author is trying to write in this pseudo-folksy manner that just comes across as cheesy and phony, and there was one story in particular that made me feel uncomfortable in a bad way due to an icky, paternalistic take on the master/slave relationship and ridiculous stereotyping. I don't think this had as much to do with the original folk tale as the author's treatment of it. I suppose this book could be useful if you are looking for a list of ghost stories and creepy tales set in the American southwest, if you use the bibliography to find other sources. Otherwise, skip it.

[Aleria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover for this book caught my attention but when I read where the stories would be coming from. I just had to get it. It was all a very interesting read, I learned about new beings or legends that literally happen near me. Or technically close to me.

This book makes me want to lookup more local legend & lore for my state. And the states around me; Kind of wish some of the stories were a bit longer or with certain stories would tell what happened to that being or person. After certain situations (not spoiling anything.)


(Reading Date(s) & Time(s): 4th January 2020 at 4:16pm to 16th January 2020 at 5:53pm)

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Labeled as a adult nonfiction, but really deserved more to be a juvenile book. Semi-spooky tales, nothing at all gripping for older horror enthusiasts. Some stories were okay, some were well known folk tales I've heard before. It could have been approached in two ways - delving into the history behind the stories and the region they take place in, or as fiction - scary stories, told from the characters' perspective. The book took this latter approach, but without any real skill in writing fiction it seemed. The stories were bland.

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, I didn’t find the book that spooky. Some of the stories I just plain hard a hard time getting through. I bought the book on summer vacation with the kids, camping at the Grand Canyon and Zion’s national park. I was hoping for some bedtime fun, but the stories just didn’t have any climax. I ended up telling my own ghost stories cause these were so drab. So if you are looking for good suspenseful or scary stories, you are not going to find them here.

[Debbie Heaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Schlosser’s novel, he retells thirty creepy tales of hauntings, ghosts, eerie happenings, and other unexplained occurrences throughout the Southwest. A great read for those who love scary stories!

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF -This book really should not be for adults. The writing was simplistic felt middle grade. The stories weren't that interesting or spooky (at all) and so I quit halfway through. From where I got to it seemed like it was mostly the imagination of bored lonely men.

[Barbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not scary if that’s what you’re looking for— it’s a bundled of campfire stories. Not what I was expecting since the premise had so much potential, but might be fun to bring to a campfire to scare the kids

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories for an October day

[Jacob Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and quick.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a light read, the kind that can be finished in one sitting due to its anthology format. I enjoyed this as a coffee table read during lulls.

[Genevieve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short tales, good for a brief acquaintance.

[Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great for pre-teens but a bit cheezy for me.

[Reachal Bly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading about about the west because i live in the west

[Rick Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book offers 40 short "spooky" tales from the southwest that aren't more than six pages long.
The font size makes it real easy to read and I love the illustrations from each and every tale. The reason I only give two stars to "Spooky Southwest" is because it isn't what I expected. All but one story seem like were written by elementary students with a very active imagination for a Halloween school project. Many of the tales are great at setting up the mood, but the climax and endings are disappointing. In my personal opinion, the tales are very incredible - even for ghosts stories. Don't read this expecting to find creepy tales and be spooked. I don't feel it was worth the $16 USD I paid for it. But, if you don't mind talking skeletons, talking cats, spirits that cannot rest because of underwear issues then you might enjoy it more than I did.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the short story format. The writing is appropriate for children’s tales. It doesn’t have the depth that I was expecting, but it’s a nice diversion.
Paul G Hoffman’s Illustrations are excellent.

[Erika · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish. Not scary or creepy at all and the writing is boring.