Ghosts And Poltergeists: Stories of the Supernatural

David West Children's Books - Graphic Mysteries

by David West, Terry Riley (Illustrator)

A far cry from the predictable fireside stories, this book investigates well-documented ghost hauntings, attested to by multiple eyewitnesses. Thoroughly researched and lending equal weight to both investigation and skepticism, this dazzling book explores the terrifying and sometimes deadly incidents of the supernatural.

Genres: Graphic Novels

48 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

David West is a graphic designer, illustrator and author of children's information books. He has produced over 500 titles on subjects ranging from dinosaurs and mythology to technology and science. Some of his best known titles include Brain Surgery for Beginners, 53 1/2 Things that Changed the World and Dinosaurs in My Street.

David went to art school in Kingston-upon-Thames and Harrow, where he specialised in information graphics. He lives in south west London with his wife, two sons, a cat and a goldfish who's over 14 years old.

When he's not illustrating, writing and designing he can be found fishing for salmon in Scottish rivers or painting portraits for fun.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

To tell the truth, I have only very inadequately enjoyed reading David West’s Ghosts and Poltergeists. For albeit that the factual information presented by West at the beginning and at the end of Ghosts and Poltergeists (on departed spirits and the like) is sufficiently interesting, engagingly penned and also with a sense of balance as to the existence or the non existence of ghosts, poltergeists and hauntings in general that definitely is both intellectually and emotionally reassuring (and the included bibliography much appreciated), sorry, but the graphic novel inserts of three supposedly true ghost stories, well, I have for the most part not really enjoyed reading these all that much.

For one, with ALL of the three graphic novel snippets I have encountered in Ghosts and Poltergeists, I have most definitely found Terry Riley’s illustrations gaudy, garishly ugly (with horribly clashing colour schemes) and just a bit too visually creepy for my eyes and for my tastes (and as such also considerably more spooky and freaky than David West’s printed words, than his text, his storytelling). And for two, while the tales about the fire poltergeist in Macomb Illinois and the story of Lord Dufferin being saved from certain death by a ghostly warning feel believable enough for what they are as supposedly true ghost appearances and also seem to pretty much mirror the facts as we indeed do know them, well, the account of the Amityville, Long Island haunted house is so exaggerated and inaccurate that it really does make me majorly cringe (and especially so since many ghost hunters and psychic phenomena researchers are now pretty much totally convinced that all of the reported hauntings in Amityville were in fact elaborate hoaxes, something that in the very least, author David West should have made a point to mention in Ghosts and Poltergeists).

Therefore, I really can and will only recommend Ghosts and Poltergeists for David West’s introductory and concluding remarks, since no, I absolutely have not enjoyed the three featured graphic novel type ghost stories and in particular have aesthetically majorly despised Terry Riley’s exaggeratedly garish and often much too visually uncanny and freaky illustrations.

[David Corleto-Bales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short, inaccurate, but sort of entertaining.

[Kassie Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay.I did hear a few thing I hadn't heard before but I felt like the last story was completely inaccurate if you know the Amityville story.

[Louna Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great quick and insightful read! I just wish there was more to it and parts that say how accurate some of the comic strips are, since they're based on true happenings.