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Hauntings: True Stories of Unquiet Spirits
Hauntings is a fascinating investigation of the 21st-century spirits that roam our cities, suburbs, and shopping malls. Packed with chilling true stories and frightening first-hand accounts, Hauntings tells you the shocking truth. Nowhere and no one is safe!
208 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2008
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180 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 14, 2022
Really was just looking for some good ghost stories, but this is more of a spirit world tutorial. The author assumes a rather elevated tone and begins by stating that ghosts and spiritual apparitions are an established fact. They are? Know a lot of folks who might disagree with that, but OK. He then proceeds to categorize apparitions into different types. The "stories" then related are illustrative anecdotes of that type of manifestation and the experience of the observer. It's all a disappointingly clinical delivery. The subject is taken much too seriously for my taste as it sucks all the fun out of the "ghost stories ". So don't be mislead by the title of this book.
July 24, 2023
Hauntings is a collection of true stories about ghosts and hauntings. The book is well-written and engaging, and the stories are creepy and atmospheric. However, some of the stories are a bit too unbelievable, and the book lacks a strong overall narrative. Overall, Hauntings is a worthwhile read for fans of the paranormal, but it's not a must-read.
Here are some specific pros and cons of the book:
Pros:
Well-written and engaging
Creepy and atmospheric stories
Interesting insights into the paranormal
Cons:
Some stories are a bit too unbelievable
Lacks a strong overall narrative
Overall, I would give Hauntings 3 out of 5 stars. It's a good book, but it's not a great book. If you're a fan of the paranormal, you'll probably enjoy it, but if you're looking for a truly mind-blowing read, you might be disappointed.
Here are some specific pros and cons of the book:
Pros:
Well-written and engaging
Creepy and atmospheric stories
Interesting insights into the paranormal
Cons:
Some stories are a bit too unbelievable
Lacks a strong overall narrative
Overall, I would give Hauntings 3 out of 5 stars. It's a good book, but it's not a great book. If you're a fan of the paranormal, you'll probably enjoy it, but if you're looking for a truly mind-blowing read, you might be disappointed.
May 15, 2023
Some good short stories. Gets real in your face Christian believes towards the end.
August 22, 2018
Not what I thought it was going to be when I ordered it online. I'd hoped for an analysis of hauntings, a little science, and this book -- though informative -- turned out to be a "stamp collecting" exercise where Roland collects together a wild and woolly assortment of ghost stories from around the world (mostly US and UK), and sorts them into a number of categories. Not a bad book, as such, but I'd hoped for a scientific approach rather than a work of pop journalism.
Also, two things bothered me: one is the enormous amount of space given over to illustration, where the photos and images are absolutely gratuitous. Why doesn't Roland show us the very images he's describing, where apparitions were caught on film, so readers can make up their own minds? Or else pictures of the actual locations involved. Instead, the book is illustrated with fluffy, artsy pictures that could have come right out of some Shutterstock library. What they do is take a rather brief text and bulk it out to 200pp. More "meat and potatoes" content and less fluffy make-weight illustrational padding would have been appreciated.
The second thing that bothered me was the frequent flippant, even snide cracks Roland makes regarding events he's just covered in his role as journalist. He comes across sounding as if he doesn't actually believe in the material he's covering here ... almost as if he's staff journalist who was given this as a workaday assignment and treated the whole thing with rather too large a pinch of the proverbial. Is he trying to be funny? Why? This is not an appropriate place for snide humor, given that you've just sold this book to people researching the paranormal out of genuine interest. Hmm.
For pure information, the 100pp of actual text left after you strip out the fluff (all those pictures) is good enough ... though I suspect you could track the whole thing down in the Internet in a couple of afternoons. Still, the book is a handsome hardcover, and Roland did the work for you, sifted and compiled the stories so ... it way okay. Only two stars, because it could have been very much better.
Also, two things bothered me: one is the enormous amount of space given over to illustration, where the photos and images are absolutely gratuitous. Why doesn't Roland show us the very images he's describing, where apparitions were caught on film, so readers can make up their own minds? Or else pictures of the actual locations involved. Instead, the book is illustrated with fluffy, artsy pictures that could have come right out of some Shutterstock library. What they do is take a rather brief text and bulk it out to 200pp. More "meat and potatoes" content and less fluffy make-weight illustrational padding would have been appreciated.
The second thing that bothered me was the frequent flippant, even snide cracks Roland makes regarding events he's just covered in his role as journalist. He comes across sounding as if he doesn't actually believe in the material he's covering here ... almost as if he's staff journalist who was given this as a workaday assignment and treated the whole thing with rather too large a pinch of the proverbial. Is he trying to be funny? Why? This is not an appropriate place for snide humor, given that you've just sold this book to people researching the paranormal out of genuine interest. Hmm.
For pure information, the 100pp of actual text left after you strip out the fluff (all those pictures) is good enough ... though I suspect you could track the whole thing down in the Internet in a couple of afternoons. Still, the book is a handsome hardcover, and Roland did the work for you, sifted and compiled the stories so ... it way okay. Only two stars, because it could have been very much better.
August 25, 2021
Good book
Love ghost stories... I was taken away by stories I read in this book. Though I myself have never have acquired a
ghost I do believe in spirits and that ghosts exist.
Love ghost stories... I was taken away by stories I read in this book. Though I myself have never have acquired a
ghost I do believe in spirits and that ghosts exist.
January 22, 2023
"Where'er we tread, 'tis haunted, holy ground."
-Lord Byron
This rather odd collection of ghostly anecdotes has been on my list for quite some time; I'm still playing catch-up from my Halloween reading list! Honestly, it wasn't the greatest - three stars is probably generous - as it certainly sacrifices depth for breadth, but it does provide numerous examples of reported hauntings and other paranormal activity, and sometimes that itself is valuable. It's arranged topically, with chapters including hauntings in the city of Edinburgh, for some reason; angels and apparitions, which is quite a bit of a misnomer, actually; famous psychics, and other standard fare. It's true value is the variety of content, but if you want any depth, you'll have to do a fair bit of research yourself.
The introduction has some promise: it begins with the author's rather unique assertion, at least for those interested in the paranormal, that he believes in "ghosts," per se, but not the existence of evil spirits or "demons," stating instead that all malevolent energies are, or, were, once human. That's something of a departure from the typical, as it's usually the other way around. He also attempts a definition of the nebulous and highly contentious term "ghost," which it seems means something different to just about everyone who uses it. He asserts the belief that a ghost is not a supernatural, but rather a natural, phenomenon, using as a springboard the definition offered by another paranormal investigator, who stated in 1953 that "if we could take the material man and dissolve away his physical constituent without interfering with the sense-data by means of which we perceive him, we should be left with, exactly, an apparition." (1953). So, essentially, a "ghost" in this context is just a disembodied person.
What follows is a collection of anecdotes, mostly, about hauntings in specific places, such as Edinburgh (the section on the Black Mausoleum is chilling: it also includes some disturbing firsthand accounts by visitors which are eye-popping to say the least), and accounts of those who have had encounters with them, including a well-known but sometimes-reluctant psychic, who reportedly solved the murders of a number of children, dating to the 1950s. Boy, did THAT story take a turn...
Overall, it's quite shallow, but enjoyable. I often use these types of books, although they admittedly do usually have more in-depth content than this one, for use as inspiration for short stories and the like, when I feel up to writing these days. I do like to conduct my own research, but having a helping hand is always appreciated, especially when the author has taken the time and effort to speak to persons directly involved, or has local knowledge which is difficult to dredge up on the internet. It's worthwhile if you're up for a bit of light reading: just don't have terribly high expectations.
-Lord Byron
This rather odd collection of ghostly anecdotes has been on my list for quite some time; I'm still playing catch-up from my Halloween reading list! Honestly, it wasn't the greatest - three stars is probably generous - as it certainly sacrifices depth for breadth, but it does provide numerous examples of reported hauntings and other paranormal activity, and sometimes that itself is valuable. It's arranged topically, with chapters including hauntings in the city of Edinburgh, for some reason; angels and apparitions, which is quite a bit of a misnomer, actually; famous psychics, and other standard fare. It's true value is the variety of content, but if you want any depth, you'll have to do a fair bit of research yourself.
The introduction has some promise: it begins with the author's rather unique assertion, at least for those interested in the paranormal, that he believes in "ghosts," per se, but not the existence of evil spirits or "demons," stating instead that all malevolent energies are, or, were, once human. That's something of a departure from the typical, as it's usually the other way around. He also attempts a definition of the nebulous and highly contentious term "ghost," which it seems means something different to just about everyone who uses it. He asserts the belief that a ghost is not a supernatural, but rather a natural, phenomenon, using as a springboard the definition offered by another paranormal investigator, who stated in 1953 that "if we could take the material man and dissolve away his physical constituent without interfering with the sense-data by means of which we perceive him, we should be left with, exactly, an apparition." (1953). So, essentially, a "ghost" in this context is just a disembodied person.
What follows is a collection of anecdotes, mostly, about hauntings in specific places, such as Edinburgh (the section on the Black Mausoleum is chilling: it also includes some disturbing firsthand accounts by visitors which are eye-popping to say the least), and accounts of those who have had encounters with them, including a well-known but sometimes-reluctant psychic, who reportedly solved the murders of a number of children, dating to the 1950s. Boy, did THAT story take a turn...
Overall, it's quite shallow, but enjoyable. I often use these types of books, although they admittedly do usually have more in-depth content than this one, for use as inspiration for short stories and the like, when I feel up to writing these days. I do like to conduct my own research, but having a helping hand is always appreciated, especially when the author has taken the time and effort to speak to persons directly involved, or has local knowledge which is difficult to dredge up on the internet. It's worthwhile if you're up for a bit of light reading: just don't have terribly high expectations.
June 13, 2025
I had such high hopes when I first saw this book on Amazon and was so excited when it was gifted to me. When I finished reading it just a few hours ago, I was shocked by how disappointed I was. The book did not match the description Amazon gave it in terms of what it contained. Did it have true stories of people with spiritual experiences? Yes. But more to the point, the book rambled on and included interviews and information that simply dragged on for far too many pages, like the history of a military ship. I thought it was going to be a collection of stories of things people had experienced. While this was in the book, I didn't need to read about some long-forgotten showman learned how to do cold reading. There is minimal information in the book that is remotely interesting. So, why did I give it two stars instead of one? The section about Greyfriar's Cemetary and the dark history of it did hold my attention. Too bad the rest of the book didn't hold my attention almost at all.
Writing is a hard skill. And it's even harder to get to the point where people want to read what you have written. After reading this, I don't think I want to read other books by this author.
Writing is a hard skill. And it's even harder to get to the point where people want to read what you have written. After reading this, I don't think I want to read other books by this author.
October 12, 2024
Interesting short read not a fan of the authors snarky tone and his not believing the devil does not exist. It's a glorified compilation the version I have of the softcover is 2024 and a different cover. It has stories I had heard about before.
November 21, 2018
I find a lot of this more far fetched than my other recent haunting books.
November 3, 2019
Sometimes he rambled, and at times was too biased or opinionated. But not a horrible read.
November 16, 2022
3.5 perfect Halloween read
March 1, 2023
Wasn’t what i expected but still a decent read!
January 17, 2025
I was hoping for ghost stories…surely there are some…just a lot of other stuff that I found useless.
Read
February 6, 2025If I could give negative stars I would. This book is so slow and boring.
June 23, 2025
Well written and researched book. I already knew spirits weren't relegated to crumbling houses or midnight haunts. I enjoyed reading the information.
May 16, 2023
A little hard to get into. Well written and expansive. However it is a lot of short stories within that all start to run together at some point. I didn’t like the end portion much at all.
June 23, 2009
There was alot of interesting information in this book and I liked the fact that it gave specific names to places of hauntings, particularly in reference to different, supposedly haunted, parts of Edinburgh.
The reason I haven't given this book more stars is that I regularly felt that they missed out too much important information at the end of each section/bit within a section and background information etc. Basically I felt it could have done with being a bit more in depth without making the book to 'heavy'.
The reason I haven't given this book more stars is that I regularly felt that they missed out too much important information at the end of each section/bit within a section and background information etc. Basically I felt it could have done with being a bit more in depth without making the book to 'heavy'.
December 22, 2014
This has the feel of a quick badly designed cash in and seems to consist mainly of stock photographs and cut and pastes from other books.
There are too many odd choices, like the chapter on one episode of the TV show, Dead Famous or the map of ghosts in Edinburgh, to make it useful for anybody except those with no knowledge of the subject, there are many many other better books out there.
There are too many odd choices, like the chapter on one episode of the TV show, Dead Famous or the map of ghosts in Edinburgh, to make it useful for anybody except those with no knowledge of the subject, there are many many other better books out there.
January 23, 2016
I've read better horror stories... but what I liked about this book is that it showed some stories that are not too famous like the "Black Mausoleum" and the story about the trial where the suspect was convicted based on the account of a ghost. Well, that's about it.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews