Shiver with these eerie stories of the Sunshine State after dark. Surrounded by golden beaches, sparkling Atlantic waters, and palm trees as far as the eye can sea, Florida can give the appearance of a tropical paradise, but the Sunshine State is home to numerous eerie legends and mysterious creatures. From reports of an elusive Skunk Ape skulking around the Everglades, to an uncanny doll said to be cursed with a life of its own sits inside a glass case in the Florida Keys to welcome any tourists brave enough to come near, and even the tale of a man in South Florida who constructed his own castle by ways still unknown. Join Mark Muncy and Kari Schultz as they uncover the history behind the state's creepies stories and unusual locations.
Fun history lesson but didn’t feel that the research was thorough or the material comprehensive. Couldn’t figure out if the author was going for history or spooky stories. Got through, but after living in FL for 4 years, I know there are SO many more eerie things, this book just scratched the surface.
It was a fun story to read to learn about the different stories floating around my home state. Some of the stories lost my interest, and I have already forgotten them. Others had me laughing about the tales and thinking to myself 'I could see this happening around there ( or here). Some tales you automatically think ' Ya that's not true or that could have never happened'. I like that the author included pictures of the places he has been along with pictures provided by the museum. Plus, it's always good to learn more about where you come from. I would read another book like this if the author was to write one.
This was a really fun quick read. Each story was very different and I greatly appreciated that. Some were more history heavy, others more paranormal and others more local folklore. Some were a grand mix of the three. Obvs I liked more than others. It was a great taste of Florida's quirky legends and tales and history.
I enjoy how this book takes the history aspect of all the stories and gives you the possible reasons why yhe story exists as well as sightings and reports.
I wanted to read this because I liked another book on the same topic. I didn't enjoy it as much because of the lack of story embellishment, which helps put you in a story. This book tries to keep to non-fiction, with more facts than embellishment.
Fun little read, but I wish it was formatted a little nicer. It could've used more editing, but I did enjoy reading it and would absolutely recommended it!!!
I have always enjoyed books of this type. Eerie Florida is far and away the best I have ever read. Muncy and Schultz don't blindly accept every strange story as fact (the way most people who write this kind of book do). They show a heathy level of skepticism, often giving mundane explanations for the supposedly "paranormal" occurrences. At the same time they are willing to consider the possibility of some of the things they talk about having "paranormal" causes, or, in the case of some cryptic creatures, the possibility, however slight, of them existing. While covering the stories of the strange they give a great deal of excellent Florida history. Perhaps the best thing about Eerie Florida is that Muncy and Schultz, unlike most people who write books such as this, have a sense of humor, making even the most questionable things in the book easy to read, if not any more believable.
While the book is overall okay, I was really disappointed that most of the stories centered around the greater Tampa-St Petersburg area, where the authors live. They did just cursory glances to the rest of state, COMPLETELY omitting southwest Florida and much of eastern south Florida. They should have just written the book about their hometown area and left out the rest of the state, renaming it, also.
I was surprised when I read this because the stories are more like little history stories than ghost stories. Each chapter is a different short story about an event in Florida, and then they will talk about a few ghost sightings. I still liked it though. It was a tiny glimpse of Florida history and folk stories.
This was a good concept, but a poor execution. It’s more of a history lesson than eerie or spooky stories. The research wasn’t very thorough and most of the stories are in the Tampa/St Pete area except maybe 3 or 4 just so he could claim he covered the whole state.
its a nice quick read. As a florida resident i knew many of the storiea but still learned some new ones. Already add some new locations to visit on our next staycation.