Haunted America

Haunted America #3

by Michael Norman, Beth Scott

American Ghost stories.

Genres: Paranormal, Horror, Ghosts, Nonfiction, Ghost Stories, Short Stories, History

115 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Michael Norman is a writer who makes his home in Western Wisconsin.

He is the author most recently of "The Nearly Departed: Minnesota Ghost Stories and Legends," published in 2009 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

He is the co-author with the late Beth Scott of the popular Haunted America series of ghost stories, and the co-author with writer Carol Roecklein of two vocabulary books written for ages 12 and up.

Reviews

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy and informative...
This book takes you on a state-by-state tour of haunted places in America and Canada.
Instead of just presenting fact after fact in a boring outline sort of fashion, this book gives a definitive narrative in each chapter and on each subject it covers. I think I like that the most about this book. It tells the ghost stories as exactly that, stories. And it tells them in a way that I feel they were meant to be told.
This book really sheds a light on some of our most haunted places here in the United States and even has a bonus section of a few areas in Canada. It tells you the background information on why they are deemed to be haunted and true first witness accounts of people that have actually seen the hauntings in these places. Be forewarned, this book does not leave out many details and some of them are rather gruesome.
Dates and records are included in this book but again they are not written about in a boring way. They are very cleverly interweaved into the narrative. Very well done.
Suggestion: read this book along with a map of the United States so that you can pinpoint each location you would like to visit and see for yourself. 😉
I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who's looking for good haunts across America and Canada, or to anybody who would like to know a little more history about our country and the ghosts that remain here. 👻

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of stories arranged by state or province around North America. It feels like a compilation of stories rather than original material. Each piece is usually left severely underdeveloped and a kind of severe tedium sets in.

In the Canadian stories there were many factual errors; so that made me wonder about the rest of the book.

[Madison Rechtzigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend pretending Zak Bagans is narrating.

If you like Ghost Adventures, Paranormal Witness, or anything like that, you'll probably enjoy this

[Ylva · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading this book for an eternity. It's somehow both interesting and dryer than saw dust. Usually reading one chapter is enough and then I pick it back up a while later.

There's one chapter for every state + the Canadian territories. Some are very long and overly repetitive about the same house / family / event and other chapters are just a collection of short stories from all over that state.

I bought this along with the Historic haunted America (Hunted historic America??) and it's got the exact same issues with regards to the dull, dry writing, but so much potential for interesting stories.

I'm giving this two stars, because towards the end I wanted nothing more than to start skimming. Even so I read the whole book.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

More of a history lesson than a chilling read, this was a definite horror disappointment. The storytelling was so impersonal it felt like I was reading a text book. Nothing actually scary either, but many interesting tales. I only cared about two out of 50 states, so that would make this a failure in my opinion. Historical research, 4 stars. Scary ghost stories: 0 but I give it a 1 for the amount of research that went into this.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining collection of "true" paranormal stories. At least one story from each US state is here, as well as a few stories from Canada.

I really enjoyed this, but there were so many stories in the volume that some of that seemed similar and started to "run together." Ghosts seem to do the same things, regardless of where they are located.

If you like stories of true hauntings, this is a great collection for you.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Haunted America by Michael Norman and the late Beth Scott is a collection of ghost stories and legends from America's fifty states and Canada's provinces. The other books in this collection are Haunted Heartland and Haunted Wisconsin, all exceedingly better (not saying much) than this one. This book has a lot of dry stories, but the ones that keep me coming back are the Hell House in Louisiana and the music room in Illinois.

Hell House was about a slave owner, Madame Lalaurie, who really wasn't human. She looked human, but with what she did to her slaves, she was anything but. There would be experiments, torture on them. Her crimes probably would have continued if there wasn't a fire started by a slave to her home. She, sadly, got away in the end, but the whole background if you were to do research on your own is disturbing. I described this Hell House at length to differentiate between the home in Louisiana supposedly owned by Satan's lover. That particular tale was a bit of an eyeroll.

I wanted to get that spine tingling sensation cover to cover reading Haunted America, but other than the two aforementioned, I didn't get that at all. The authors are objective for the most part in their rehashings, not saying whether or not they believe in the supernatural and leaving it up the reader ultimately. I don't believe in spirits myself, but I love myself some wonderful tales, growing up on Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy which I still unabashedly read as an adult. Unfortunately, those books left me with more fear of the dark, questioning my belief in the afterlife than Haunted America will. It's so very dry and a lot of the stories are boring. I'm not undermining the affected people's experiences, but Norman and Scott didn't do that stellar of a job with retelling some of them.

Their length of research shows with their extensive bibliography, so they definitely did their homework. They just couldn't tell them that well.

[A Turtles Nest Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed it immensely. Wether your a believer or a skeptic, they are entertaining stories that have you thinking of the unknown and sleeping with the lights on. And I applaud the author for having the perfect little quip for every ending.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many ghost stories! There are stories from every state and a few in Canada. I liked that. Some stories were light on history. Some were light on paranormal experience. So I didn’t love them all, but overall I enjoyed it.

[Takipsilim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memorable collection of ghostly tales from all states including Canada. From the historic to the amusing, the charming to the creepy, the book is one of the best in it's field.

[B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed this series since I was a kid - my Gram had a copy of Haunted Heartland. Since then, whenever I find one in this series, I grab it. This one was notably shorter than their others, though I think that has a lot to do with the fact that Scott died before this one could be published. In spite of being very short and light on the details that made these books stand out for me, it was still a fun little read.

[ARandomNugget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love ghost stories and really enjoyed these. I haven´t looked into them so I don´t know how accurate they are and I don´t believe in ghosts I just enjoy ghost stories. Defenitly recommend it if you want to read some interesting or fun ghost stories. Didn´t take very long for me to read either. I finished it in a day.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

very awesome read. it was nice to read all the differnt haunted places

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors tell a haunting story from each state as well as Canada and it is not scary just intriguing. Interesting read.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't too bad It told some good stories but I'd rather know more about the ghost/hauntings than the backstory of the ghosts.

[Caroline Griffin]

it was boring then it got good then it was boring again

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in the late 80s or early 90s. Outstanding oral history.

[Trina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful!!! And I did not even finish the book. Haunted America my butt. I read 6 stories and I was unimpressed. It was not scary nor thrilling or even slightly enjoyable. I am one of those people that will finish a book no matter what, this one I just could not stomach. I refused to be bored to death for one more day, maybe that is the scary part. This was just a snooze. Beware of book intended to bore the little ones into a early nights rest!!! HA HA, I crack me up!

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bleh...it takes a lot for me to give any ghost book 2 stars. This one is organized by state - and there's only one ghost story per state. Texas gets the Marfa Lights - there are a million better ghost stories in Texas! The real problem was the writing, it felt like they wrote off for the Chamber of Commerce brochures and edited in bland, fourth-hand ghost stories. But, I'll still read every last one...I'm a sucker.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

In October, I choose ghost stories to read, and I like to take this and other books that contain short ghost stories with me when I go to the gym. This gets me in the mood for Halloween. I like this book and Haunted Heartland because most of the stories are not too scary...I don't like them to be "out there."

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is loaded with ghost stories and legends from across the US and Canada. Most of the stories offer a glimpse at the history behind the legends from these different eras and regions, which I found fascinating. The only problem I had with the book were the typos that littered the text, which occasionally made the story confusing.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love real life ghost stories. This book is full of 'em! The downfall of Haunted America is that none of them are scary. The book is interesting, but not nearly as good as those Halloween episodes of Unsolved Mysteries or my favorite true-life haunting show, Paranormal Witness. This is one I'll come back to, reading a chapter or two every once in while.

[Melanie Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly entertaining! Of course, don't believe everything you read, but if you are interested in local folklore (divided by state), this is the book for you. I have always been fascinated by local tales and superstitions, and this book is jam-packed with them. I went for a trip to New England at Halloween, and read this on the plane. A perfect pick for stormy autumn days.

[Alicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get into the book, so I never completed the book. Becasue I live in KY I skipped to and read the stories about KY and even though I recognize a couple of the places being written about I didn't find the stories that interesting.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

OnHas the story of my great-great aunt Leah Smock whom legends have it she was a witch and burned to death. Personally I don't believe she was a witch and she had a family and was rumored to be an intellegent girl. So maybe she just understood what herbs and tinctures would help people.

[Stacey Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun read. There was even a ghost who turned on the television ( which was without power ) every day to watch Star Trek - so of course being a longtime Trekkie, I loved that! Ill probably end up doing that after I die!

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book that I have read, but it was interesting to read some of the ghost stories from places around the United States. I would certainly like to visit some of these places. I think I got this book for a dollar at a used book store, so it was worth that investment.

[Vanora · Rating 3 out of 5]

An annual October read for me -- gets me into the Halloween "spirit"!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

made me look over my shoulder for a while!

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess you could say I "read" this...if you count that I only read the first 35 pages. Unfortunately, I was too disappointed to continue reading it.