True Hauntings #1: Deadly Disasters

by Dinah Williams

Scary stories of thrilling survival ... and restless spirits. Disasters can strike anytime, anywhere, leaving death and destruction in their wake. But what can also be left behind? Ghosts.In True Deadly Disasters , veteran ghost writer Dinah Williams explores the stories and alleged hauntings of some of the deadliest catastrophes in history, from lost souls left behind in the 2011 Japanese tsunami to a headless ghost frightening miners deep underground.With historical photos and sidebars that are equal parts educational and terrifying, readers will find that sometimes fact is even scarier than fiction.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

112 pages, Paperback

Published July 7, 2020

About the author

Dinah Williams, an editor and children's book author, is fascinated by odd and unusual stories. Her nonfiction books include Terrible but True: Awful Events in American History; Secrets of Walt Disney World; and Spooky Cemeteries, which won the 2009 Children's Choice Award. Dinah's newest book, True Hauntings Deadly Disasters, is coming from Scholastic in 2020. She lives in Cranford, NJ with her husband and daughters, who hate all things scary.

Reviews

[Sobia A Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

No so much about ghost and spirits that haunt the places they died. More about the history of the places and the circumstances that lead up to those deaths.

A great books for youngsters to read about the horrible disasters from the early 20th century. One about the Black Plague of 1665 in London and of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. All other stories are from the US.

[TJL · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get that this is a book for kids, and it's supposed to be like "wooo, spooky" and all that, but I kinda wish that the book had gone into some of the very logical explanations for a lot of these hauntings, like the level of trauma people went through from witnessing/living through the events (like the Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan) and how that can affect people.

IDK. I feel like a damn Scrooge critiquing a "spoooooky" book, but given that it's recounting historical events I feel it would have benefited from explaining how tragic and traumatic events can have a powerful effect on a person or community's mind and perceptions.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morbid and horrific disasters. Perhaps I’ve just gotten too old and have too much anxiety as an old fart. Not quite my cup of tea but might be fascinating for kids who love that kind of stuff.

[Jena Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very good book. When I started reading it I automatically knew I was going to be good. It teached me about disasters along time ago.

[Kim Tyo-Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Digital Review Copy (DRC) provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

The True Hauntings series is going to be a hit with my upper elementary and middle school students. Author Dinah Williams bookends quick, suspenseful historical accounts of disasters in the United States with two global stories, one from Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011 and the other England's 1665 Eyam Plague where the villagers voluntarily quarantine themselves, dying horribly to protect surrounding villages from the Black Death. Each disaster has a number of ghostly sightings and spooky stories at the beginning and end of each chapter to go along with the historical overviews, full of primary sources, eyewitness accounts, and archival photos that are crisply and creepily grayscale. Williams packs a punch into the well-known territory of The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911 but adds a whole slate of lesser known tornados, fires, floods, and train wrecks. A winner for nonfiction units, looking forward to the wars instalment, Battlefield Ghosts!

Nicely pairs with the How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous and How They Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous.

[Gabriel Benitez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se trata de un interesante libro que combina relatos verdaderos de fantasmas, resultado de desastres espantosos que cobraron sus vidas. Comenzando por el tsunami de 2011 en Japón y los taxistas, que tiempo después, comienzan a recoger pasajeros sobrenaturales; un espantoso incendio en un edificio que alberga una fabrica de textiles en Nueva York y el horrible destino de sus trabajadoras; la avalancha mortal de Wellington que arrastra en su ola de nieve a todo un tren de pasajeros; El tornado en Albertville, Alabama; el incendio del teatro Iroquois en illinois, donde mueren más de 600 personas, la mayor parte, mujeres y niños; un accidente minero en Utah; el terrorífico huracán de Galvestone, tal vez el desastre más impactante de los Estados Unidos y lo que pasó con un orfanto y sus heroicas monjas; el tren que cayó del puente Bostian con sus carros llenos de pasajeros; la construcción del túnel Hoosac que cruza una montaña y su montón de muertos; la peste negra y el pueblo que por sí mismo, entró en cuarentena.
Muy bueno el libro.

[Jennifer Gallman · Rating 5 out of 5]

rue Hauntings: Deadly Disasters 👻

Dinah Wiliams @terriblebuttruewilliams
First of all, seeing the cover of this book took me back to my elementary school days waiting for the @scholasticbookfairs to come to my school because I would totally buy all of the horror books. Today, as an adult in my thirties, I still love horror, and I was so excited to read this one!
Set to release on July 7, 2020, Dinah Williams presents ten gruesomely tragic stories across the globe. From the deadly 2011 Japanese tsunami to the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, Williams tells the stories of tragic accidents that left behind hundreds, if not thousands, of restless spirits.
Marketed for 8-12 years olds, I often yelled out “gross” or “eww” while reading, but I know I would have loved it even more as a kid. Williams also provides related facts and tidbits throughout the book which made me pull out my laptop and research. While I do wish the book provided photos of some of the supposed ghosts caught on camera, I looked each story up myself to find the evidence to support each tragedy.
In the introduction, Williams says that “20%” of people believe in ghosts. Count me as part of that 20%!

[Kimberly B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I read this for my Teachers as Readers book club. An interesting introduction to some disasters of the past with a hint of ghosts. It is a very short book that would be good for upper elementary/early middle school students.

[Olivia H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is informational, it's rather boring. This is the type of book where it's informative and not along the lines of a storybook, so Deadly Disasters is just not for me. I didn't love it because I'm not interested in ghosts, but for people who love ghosts, this is a book for you!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for my classroom library-it's really creepy, but interesting reading and well organized. I liked it so much that I need to go looking to see what else the author has written. And my husband wants to read it before it goes back to school.

[Tracy Ebeling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked stories. I thought it was a little graphic (pictures) for young readers.

[Kelly Fortune · Rating 4 out of 5]

More about history than haunting; would read more by this author as I also enjoy reading about history.

[Evelyn Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bone chilling. Normally books don’t freak me out, but it was the fact that these were all true. I have to admit, though, it was really interesting.