A series of super short stories about hauntings, UFOs, Bigfoots, and more up and along the Hudson River which is fun because it’s where we live and we’ve either heard about the places and in some cases visited around them.
It’s not full-length chapters going in to great deal, instead enough to give you a taste if you wanted to dive in more OR in some cases, that’s all there was. They’re fun and could be read about a campfire at night.
People who, such as yours truly, read such books know what they’re getting into. These kinds of haunted regional books are popular with tourists and those interested in paranormal subjects. This one is really no different than others that give similar regional, or statewide treatments. I find them fun to read.
This particular volume does focus on a fairly small region and divides it into the northern, central, and southern Hudson Valley. It really doesn’t focus on traditionally fictional accounts, such as Washington Irving’s stories. These are narratives about reported hauntings, UFO sightings, and cryptid stories. They necessarily have to take reporters’ word for what they’ve seen.
I also find that such books also incorporate a fair amount of local history. Those of us who enjoy local history can find quite a bit to our liking in books like this. Not that means we understand it all as “true” or accurate. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun, and perhaps a source of folklore. Cheri Farnsworth is a name familiar to those who are interested in the lore of the region and proves an able guide in this little book. I wrote a bit more about it in my blog post on the book, located here: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.