In the Realm of Ghosts and Hauntings

by E. Randall Floyd, Randall Floyd

The haunting began shortly after Bryan and Rosalyn Drummond moved into their modest bungalow next to Peachtree Creek in northeast Atlanta more than fifteen years ago. It was little things at first- strange footsteps, creaking through the house at night, rapping noises in the wall, items falling off shelves or disappearing altogether.

Then it got personal.

Even in the 21st Century, evidence from folklore and modern science supports mankind's age-old belief in the supernatural. If you're not a believer yet, read In the Realm of Ghosts and Hauntings and you will become one.

Genres: Ghosts

183 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2002

Reviews

[Dennis Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to books that deal with ghosts there are basically two kinds of authors. The first type goes out into the field, investigates the site and talks to witnesses. The second type relies almost exclusively on secondary sources and simply retells the story, sometimes putting his new version together by reading several other works on the haunting in question. This book and author fall decidedly in the second category. I would say that this book comes exclusively from the second category but there are a few stories written in a way that makes it seem as if the author may have done a few interviews on his own. The stories are also very superficial in this book with forty-nine stories crammed into one hundred and eighty-three pages. With an average length of less that four pages per story there just isn't much room for an in depth study of the case being discussed.

This book is further plagued by typographical errors which admittedly are not the fault of the author but are nevertheless distracting and should be corrected in future editions. There are also some historical errors, most notably the dates of the Truman Presidency. Again, this is not a fatal error but these types of mistakes tend to make the reader cast a wary eye on all of the information in such a book.

All of that said, I must admit that I found this to be a very enjoyable little book. Normally these secondary retellings of other people's work turn me completely off but for some reason I liked this book. I can't put my finger quite on the reason but I found that I enjoyed this book very much. It may have been the author's writing style, which I found to be very engaging and pleasant. It may have been the excellent mix of locations, which covered much of the United States and England. Or it may have been that the author just has an innate ability to spin a good ghost yarn. Whatever the reason, this book which is of a type that normally sends me into yawning fits kept my interest and even seemed to shed some new light on many stories that I had read about many times before.

I can't really recommend this book for the serious ghost story aficionado who is searching for new investigations into various hauntings for there is little or none of that to be found in this work. I can however say that this is a marvelous book for reading while all alone on a stormy evening. Just make sure that you have some candles ready in case of a power failure for I don't really think you will relish a night in the dark after taking this journey with Mr. Floyd.

[Aleesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been working through this book little by little all month - not because it's particularly lengthy or difficult to take in (it's the exact opposite of that), but because it was a good spooky read to pick up when I had 5-10 minutes of downtime and wanted a little bit of Halloween-y thrills added to my day.

Ultimately, I think my biggest issue with this book is that these "short stories" are entirely too short to really be compelling. Floyd writes about many different hauntings and haunted places (there are 49 stories in this tiny book), some of them very well known, others I'd never heard of before. But I think instead of packing so many different ones into this book, he could have narrowed his focus to 8 or 10 and then expanded each story to give more details, more personal encounters, interviews with witnesses, etc to make the tales feel more authentic and less like a vague, soulless (if you'll pardon the pun) summary of events.

I also think there are things in some of the different stories that really discredit or lessen the impact of some of what Floyd writes.

In the Alcatraz story, for instance, Floyd mentions that Sylvia Brown claims that paranormal stuff is happening on the island. While I don't doubt The Rock is haunted - Sylvia Brown has long been discredited as a fraud. Her testimony doesn't lend validity to anything and at least for me, makes this story weaker for her mention.

There's also quite a few grammatical errors that seem to have been outright overlooked. Missing words, things misspelled, weird capital letters in the middle of words, or incorrect words used where the author clearly meant something else (for example: a man is described as "warn and pale" - the author meant WAN and pale...but even that is redundant, because wan means pale.)

I read a lot of books with these sorts of issues, and I rarely mention them - but there are times, like now, where it's genuinely distracting.

If you're interested in ghost stories, this is a good intro to a lot of famous (and maybe a few not so famous) hauntings mostly set in America, but across the pond in England, too. The writing is mostly accessible, if you can get around some of the grammar mistakes. Just don't expect a deep dive into anything, it's enough to whet the palette, but not much else.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Giving 1 star for effort. Between the numerous grammatical and spelling errors, formatting issues, and content issues (for instance, in one story, an adult son was said to have dropped dead of a heart attack, but then, a few paragraphs later, he had committed suicide - self-induced cardiac arrest, I guess?), it was obvious this was just a labor of love by the author who wanted to write a book of ghost stories. The author credits his wife and son for having read early versions and made suggestions, but they obviously didn't bother pointing out the painfully obvious fact that maybe he should hire an actual editor. Embarrassed to say I own a copy of this book, grabbed years ago from a bargain bin at Barnes & Noble (who actually published it). With the libraries temporarily closed, I'm now taking the time to go through my bookshelves and read what they're filled with. This one will be hitting the donation pile (for when we can again donate items like this).

[Sunni Sunak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally I love paranormal books but most of these stories are old and nothing fresh. I don’t find any new takes on these tales. If I wanted to I could write book like these based off internet articles. I’m not saying it doesn’t take effort but these would barely ever keep me up at night wondering..basically it probably took very little effort. (I am an author myself.)

I give it 3 stars for “effort” but one entire star for the girl boss that is Kate Batts.
Rumored to be an estranged lover haunting her ex-fiancé from the grave? BITCH! Show me your ways!

Even if she isn’t, just the story of it is a fun idea. She’s stubborn asf and I love a stubborn girly because I am one. I wish they expanded the vengeful fiancé story but they went with the typical outcome. (Aka Boring Outcome.)

Conclusion: Kate Batts is an Inspiration. Google search effort.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and easy spooky stories. It started out really strong with tales from Alcatraz that made me shudder, but then lost its steam. Some stories are definitely creepier than others, and some really aren’t of ghosts or hauntings at all. Also, nitpicky, but there are a lot of typos throughout that an editor should have caught. Either way, these would be fun to read aloud around a campfire. I’ll probably turn this one into a junk journal and cut out excerpts from the stories to use in the art.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical collection of tales of haunted areas.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

E. Randall Floyd does a very good job with his books. Haven't found one we've been disappointed in. These are short stories (2-5 pages) they are fun to have someone read to a group. My husband will read these outloud to our family and they are really good to listen to.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book for a few years and I don't think I read all the stories until now. There were some editing issues but besides that, a good read.

[TheLibraryOfSarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was younger I used to be obsessed with ghost stories! This is one of the books I read over and over again