Ancient Ghosts: A Collection of Strange and Scary Stories from Northern Norway

by Edel Marit Gaino, Olivia Lasky (Translator), Lea Simma (Translator)

Grab your flashlight and dive into this chilling anthology of Northern ghost stories! From zombies and cursed mirrors to sea monsters and ghost dogs, these stories by Sámi author Edel Marit Gaino are sure to get your skin crawling. Crack open this spooky collection and read about strange and scary happenings from old times up to the present day. With stories that combine the paranormal with important life lessons, this collection is sure to leave you covered in goosebumps!

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

71 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories, while more eerie than anything with no real buildup or suspense or fear, read like many other indigenous stories I've read. They aren't told necessarily to scare you to death, but to scare you into respecting sacred land or following some other rules for living well. I appreciate them for what they are, but they're not what I expected. I really loved the illustrations though!

[Tayler K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled across this at work in the library and had to snag it because I'm interested in Norway. I didn't notice at first that it was translated from Sami instead of Norwegian. I don't know much about the Sami except that they are an indigenous group in Norway and associated with reindeer.

There was a little info at the back of the book about the author, illustrator, and translators, but I think it would have been really nice to have an introductory note to give context about the people and stories.

The first few stories especially seem to be kind of warning stories for children not to mess with graves or bogs and moors. Some of the other stories didn't quite make sense to me and felt like there was no point or I was missing something. I can't tell if these are purposely very simplistic for children, if they're meant to be passed orally and that's why they're simpler, if it was a matter of translation, or any combination of those. Some of them could be old traditional stories but some had more modern settings.

None of the stories are nearly as spooky as the awesome cover art.

Overall I was kind of disappointed but I'm giving 3 stars because I'm glad it exists.

[Vampfiction · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book of Norwegian tales. Some were scarier than others. The last story is the longest and I think the best.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag of young horror stories. Some are distinctive and different, and gain from the novelty of being set in remote lands of the far north of the planet. Some are bog standard stuff, and even when they go somewhere nicely dark they collapse into a heap before revealing nearly all they could have done. The narrator comes up with an unusual use for an old wreck of a fishing boat, but has to fear it becoming their coffin. A girl is pestered by a demonic grouse. Someone drunkenly taunts a grave site – but finds a sobering outcome. What’s best is when the stories relate to the landscape and how unique it feels to us – people in the forest stirring up ageless subterranean secrets when they build a fireplace for the night. It’s the generic see-your-future-spouse-in-the-mirror-at-midnight, or phantom household pet, that let this down, and make it much more mundane in not offering nearly enough chills.

All of which seems to suggest this is actually weaker in the original Sami, for however much it may want to blend traditional stories in with the modern, western ghost tale, the original readers would actually get the frisson of the novel even less than I did. Still, for the ways it conveys the bog and woodlands of the far north, this remains an eye-opening volume, and a very interesting let-down. But a let-down all the same.

[Cynthia Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of ten paranormal stories from Norway. The stories are accompanied by illustrations, black and white impressions, daubs of black ink that grew to resemble the picture that the artist had in mind. There are 25 illustrations in all, including 15 full-page ones.

I found the cover, with its image of a ghastly, skeletal body with sharp claws and fangs, disturbing, yet intriguing.

Unfortunately, most of the stories barely measure up to the fear evoked by the cover image.

The Old Graves On Our Moor: The narrator, a child, learns from his uncle of the finding of a 1000-year-old undecomposed corpse. Later, the child has an encounter with it.

The story isn’t really scary but the sense of brooding atmosphere that the author incorporates into the telling might frighten a child on a dark night.

The Copper Kettle: Three friends set up camp at a wild reindeer bog, where one of them has a frightening experience with a supernatural being.

The third story, The Grouse, is preceded by a note with a trigger warning for sexual assault and the numbers of two helplines. This story was really scary but there is nothing paranormal about it. This one is about the depravity of men.

The Mudhole is another story about the real danger posed by quicksand.

In The Mirror, two teenage girls, playing around with an old superstition on New Year’s Day, learn a lesson.

In The Raven, the shooting of a raven ensures the end of a hunter’s shooting adventures.

The Dream-Seers: This one was more of an anecdote than a real story.

None of these stories are likely to give you sleepless nights, but even the momentary sense of unease can be effective in a well-written story.

But the heavyweights, it seems, had been saved to bring up the rear in this book. The Four-Eyed Dog was one story that really gave me the shivers.

The Invisible Dog started out really scary. It even built on the promise, but the conclusion undid the effect.

The scariest of the lot was the last story, The Fishing Trip, which was beautifully written. This was the only story in which the terror was actually palpable and not something to be nurtured by one’s imagination.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Ancient Ghosts is a fascinating little collection of short spooky stories from Sami author Edel Marit Gaino set in northern Norway and based in Sami storytelling traditions. Some of the stories are a little too short and vague to quite get the job done, feeling more like brief (albeit atmospheric) anecdotes. Not all of the stories are my cup, but most of them have great atmosphere and interesting concepts, and work solidly well as YA/MG friendly spooky stories. The lessons the stories teach definitely give the feeling of traditional storytelling. Some of the stories were ones I deeply enjoyed and will be thinking about for awhile. My favourite story is probably The Grouse, but I also really enjoyed The Old Graves On Our Moor, The Copper Kettle, The Mirror, and The Fishing Trip. It's a quick read, so it's definitely worth checking out.

[Tasya · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has 10 illustrated stories which worked really well in bringing the stories to life. It was also quite short, a quick read that can be done in one sitting. Unfortunately the stories themselves were lacking- they were too short and lacks resolution (even a hanging one) to bring about any feelings. Many of the stories felt like it ended with a lesson "that's why xxx". My favorites are The Old Graves On Our Moor, The Mirror, and The Fishing Trip. All three have the best storyline, pacing, and tension building.

[Shauna Morrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realize that this is a collection of "scary" stories for young adults and that I myself, am an adult but I did not find any of these stories scary.

I don't know if it is because the scare factor is lost in translation or if the stories are not scary in their original language either.

They felt more like cautionary tales to keep children from making potentially dangerous mistakes.

They were unfortunately not my cup of tea.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories were a reflection of a culture I was unfamiliar with. There were clues to how they lived. Many of the stories were nice and cold for a summer read. I want to study more of the Sami culture.

The stories are very short and mild, I might have given the book 3 stars except that the illustrations were terrifying. I loved it!

[Caleste Hawthorne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read ghosts stories that come from Northern Norway. The book was very short and included a number of stories on what you shouldn't do or what lessons children needed to know to stay safe. Nothing too grisly happens though a kid does die in one story and another one references sexual assault and how a woman was saved from men.