Where the Ghosts Are: A Guide to Nova Scotia's Spookiest Places

by Steve Vernon

If you’re from Halifax, you’ve probably heard that the Five Fisherman Restaurant is supposedly haunted, and that Georges Island is overrun with ghosts. If you’re from Nova Scotia, you probably know about rumours of buried treasure on Oak Island, or about the UFO sighting in Shag Harbour. But what about the Grey Lady of Stoney Beach? Or the Ghost of Haddon Hall? Featuring addresses and GPS coordinates, this guide to Nova Scotian haunts maps out the origin stories of 50 spooky tales.

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2018

About the author

Hi! I'm Steve Vernon and I'd love to scare you. Along the way I'll entertain you. I guarantee a giggle as well.

If I listed all of the books I've written I'd bore you - and I am allergic to boring.

Instead, let me recommend one single book of mine.

Pick up SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME for an example of true Steve Vernon storytelling. It's hockey and vampires for folks who love hockey and vampires - and for folks who don't!

For more up-to-date info please follow my blog at:
http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpre...

And follow me at Twitter:
@StephenVernon

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

Reviews

[Steve Vernon]

My largest story collection yet, with FIFTY stories of some of the weirdest and spookiest spots in the province of Nova Scotia.

[Cate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d like to start off by saying that I had extremely high hopes for this book. As someone who grew up in Nova Scotia and has had a life-long fascination with ghost stories, I was really excited for this in concept. It ended up being an interesting read, but was relatively poorly written and edited. Grammatically it was lacking, there were typos, and it was written in a pretty casual, stream-of-consciousness manner. There were also some geographical errors, such as lots of stories from the South Shore being filed in the Eastern Shore section, as well as several factual errors, such as incorrectly labelling a major event in our province by an entire decade. The author also took quite a bit of poetic license at times. It sounded as though a very Nova Scotian person wrote the stories as they would speak them, including attributing quotes that were obviously written in a modern vernacular to historical figures. At times, the book reads more as a book on the history of Halifax, or a guidebook of important sights to see and restaurants to enjoy, rather than a book of ghost stories. Several of the “ghost stories” (e.g. 34 and 41) didn’t even talk about ghosts at all. The author seems to catch himself on this at times, only to fall back into that pattern a few sections later. However, if you can get beyond all this and imagine yourself around a campfire somewhere in rural Nova Scotia, it’s a pretty fast and intriguing read, with the odd bit of comedy interspersed throughout.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Folklore is quintessential because it helps us understand our humanity. Love, loss, pain, and suffering. These are feelings that can be difficult to understand and are uniquely human. Ghost stories have been shared among us for eons. We enjoy them for many reasons. They are exciting tales that keep us in suspense, plus some of us just like a good scare.

In "Where the Ghosts Are", Steve Vernon gives us a detailed account of the various mysterious paranormal happenings around Nova Scotia: ethereal specters, ghost trains, UFOs, and a stop at a Tim Hortons...this book has it all.

The writing in this book is very light and fun. Reading through the different chapters it was as if I was having a conversation with the author as opposed to just reading his research. This makes the book approachable to all audiences. As he states in the book, he is an "old-school storyteller", an art form that is dwindling in our technology obsessed world, but one that is very much welcome.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit, I was expecting to be very scared while reading this book, and I wasn't even startled. While that was disappointing, I did still love this book. Nova Scotia is a second home to me, and while I spent much of my formative life there, I was not at all familiar with the colonial histories beyond Cornwallis, and the Cogswell overpass. This book was a fantastic primer into some of the histories of the province, and the fun twist of ghosts, UFOs, and bumps in the night were an added bonus. I would definitely recommend this as a unique way to learn about some of Nova Scotia's history, while keeping in mind that much of this was from a white colonialist perspective and that there are a lot of voices left out.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book I need to get my ghost gear and pass port and head to Halifax. There are 50 stories of strange, creepy, and scary ghosts and haunted sites in Nova Scotia Canada. I really enjoyed reading this book. It gives you history of the site and tells you how if known the haunting began. I love books about hauntings and history. This book covered both subject.



Thanks Netgalley for letting me read this book.

[Jacqueline Mudge-Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable read from start to finish about the supernatural haunts throughout Nova Scotia. Most of them being in Halifax because that place seems to be really haunted.

The author knows how to tell a story, as if you were exchanging them by the campfire. I probably would recommend a couple of his books if you're going camping this summer to see who can give the best telling to one of these stories. Or several, who am I to know precisely what happens at campfires.

[Madeline Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything with ghost stories and the maritimes! Loved Steve Vernon’s storytelling. He had a way of being both creepy and funny. This has the cutest cover too!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It described supposed haunted locations in Halifax and discussed quirky, fun information that I haven't heard anywhere else. I liked that that writer didn't take himself seriously and threw in fun quips. The writing was concise and presented in a thoughtful manner. I really enjoyed the stories and legends that were presented. The writing was engaging and fun. I found myself reading this quickly because I liked what I was reading. The writer had a breezy style that I found fun. I especially enjoyed that the writer included the history of the area that he wrote about. That brought the stories to life for me.