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Haunted Cemeteries: Creepy Crypts, Spine-Tingling Spirits, and Midnight Mayhem
Haunted Cemeteries exhumes more than two dozen stories of some of the most actively haunted graveyards from around the world—including the sordid account of a Florida grave robber, accusations of witchcraft and voodoo, and reports of a vampire or two. Tom Ogden, author of four other books in the Haunted series, also includes a “Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Graveyards” providing information for readers who wish to visit the haunted cemeteries and other sites . . . if they dare.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 23, 2017
A decent enough book about some spooky apparitions and various haunted cemeteries from the U.S and abroad. Some of the stories are, or appear to be, made up stories about the various cemeteries. This does detract a bit from the book yet one must continue on. Probably what helped bump this book up a bit was the very cool references at the end of the book. Here the reader can find references to further readings and websites and even more items to help make things go bump in the night more fun and frightful. Such as information on the various cemeteries and hauntings. Things like phone numbers or contact websites and hours. So overall I probably could recommend this to those looking for a good book to start a journey into some pretty cool spook finding adventures.
January 4, 2012
I'm a big fan of this type of book,so I was really excited to read this. It, however, was a disappointment. I really wish the author would have stuck to first hand encounters and history rather than trying to tell a story. Truthfully, the end couldn't have come soon enough.
June 14, 2017
The key to this book is the byline on the cover: Retold by Tom Ogden. Rather than presenting his research as straight nonfiction or inserting himself into the narratives and writing a kind of creative nonfiction memoir, Ogden invents a new character to tell each tale. In consequence, the chapters read much more like fiction, making this a collection of ghost stories rather than a research text.
The first five chapters explore the area in and around Chicago, hitting the expected stops: Resurrection Cemetery, Bachelor's Grove, Graceland. The next 13 chapters breeze through the rest of the US. Four chapters concentrate on Southern California, before moving up to Stull (the Gateway to Hell), spending two chapters in New Orleans, visiting Poe's grave, hitting two Civil War battlefields, stopping off in Salem, and ending up in Maine.
Some of the subject choices are tenuous: The ghosts of St. Augustine are ignored for the story of Carl Tanzler, who lived with the corpse of one of his patients. The story is an anomaly, since it is written as a straight nonfiction article.
The rest of the world is covered in the final seven chapters, which waver between nonfiction articles and fictionalized stories. The subject matter is mostly what you'd expect: the Highgate Vampire, King Tut's curse, the Paris catacombs. I liked the chapters that ranged farther afield: the "Capering Coffins of Christ Church" in Barbados, Tiskhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg (where the Russian composers are buried), Gallipoli, and Devil's Island.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, despite the weird fictionalized way Ogden chose to convey its information.
The first five chapters explore the area in and around Chicago, hitting the expected stops: Resurrection Cemetery, Bachelor's Grove, Graceland. The next 13 chapters breeze through the rest of the US. Four chapters concentrate on Southern California, before moving up to Stull (the Gateway to Hell), spending two chapters in New Orleans, visiting Poe's grave, hitting two Civil War battlefields, stopping off in Salem, and ending up in Maine.
Some of the subject choices are tenuous: The ghosts of St. Augustine are ignored for the story of Carl Tanzler, who lived with the corpse of one of his patients. The story is an anomaly, since it is written as a straight nonfiction article.
The rest of the world is covered in the final seven chapters, which waver between nonfiction articles and fictionalized stories. The subject matter is mostly what you'd expect: the Highgate Vampire, King Tut's curse, the Paris catacombs. I liked the chapters that ranged farther afield: the "Capering Coffins of Christ Church" in Barbados, Tiskhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg (where the Russian composers are buried), Gallipoli, and Devil's Island.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, despite the weird fictionalized way Ogden chose to convey its information.
June 3, 2019
I enjoyed this book. I see some other people had some problems with the fact that there isn't a lot of substance, but its a book about haunted cemeteries. I don't expect a lot except entertainment from it. I enjoyed the first 2 sections more than the last. I could have used a few less of the paragraph long cemeteries in the last section, and gotten a few more long chapters like in the beginning, but overall it was a fun read.
December 13, 2017
This is the first time reading a book like this where the author told about the haunting with stories. What I believe would have made the book better was the story along with the history. It was very brief for each and some of the sites had multiple ghost sightings. I do like books better when the author goes into the history of who the ghost might.
October 25, 2019
Not my favorite. Probably a 2.5 star for me. There was not much substance. Even if it is meant to simply entertain, some of the references were not even very paranormal. I have read other books that are much better researched and are vastly more interesting. There were also some editorial mistakes that were distracting.
December 12, 2019
I love that the author gives the history of every location. To me that's more interesting than the spooky stuff! In the appendix he also gives all the locations, contact info and a brief rundown of touring info.
September 10, 2019
Not bad, pretty informative without being super dry. It reads a little like an enthusiastic haunted historical tour guide has cornered you and you're too polite to quit the conversation.
November 24, 2019
Great book to read if you like stories like this! Will be recommending this book at all my friends and family!!
February 23, 2022
So many new cemeteries added to my bucket list. Excited to visit some of these and develop stories of my own. Thank you for compiling all of this information. 🖤
dnf
October 23, 2024He lost me when he says in the introduction he created fictional characters
September 22, 2016
Haunted Cemetaries: Creepy Crypts, Spine-Tingling Spirits, and Midnight Mayhem--Tom Ogden
An interesting set of tales of haunting at cemetaries, interspersed with facts concerning the cemetaries mentioned.
I read this over a period of a month, in between other book readings. It was interesting for the historical info I got about the cemeteries, and the people involved in the tales, but the tales themselves read like fiction. It reminded me of self-help books that include sample events that are suppose to contain real people, their names changed. That part of the stories I didn't like so much.
The stories and the interesting info about the cemetaries--that's the part I found very interesting.
There are three parts to this book, with twenty-five stories (tales,) in total. The first section is all tales about cemetaries in and around Chicago. Part II centers on the United States; and part III, on other countries. Very enjoyable.
Three stars.
An interesting set of tales of haunting at cemetaries, interspersed with facts concerning the cemetaries mentioned.
I read this over a period of a month, in between other book readings. It was interesting for the historical info I got about the cemeteries, and the people involved in the tales, but the tales themselves read like fiction. It reminded me of self-help books that include sample events that are suppose to contain real people, their names changed. That part of the stories I didn't like so much.
The stories and the interesting info about the cemetaries--that's the part I found very interesting.
There are three parts to this book, with twenty-five stories (tales,) in total. The first section is all tales about cemetaries in and around Chicago. Part II centers on the United States; and part III, on other countries. Very enjoyable.
Three stars.
November 2, 2014
Condescending
Before this author writes in his OBVIOUSLY condescending manner, about WICCA,he should educate himself first. We have NO devils,demons,satan,or hell. These are ALL christian concepts & beliefs. We have NEVER had them in our spiritual beliefs. That being said, snidely referring to a witch's familiar as a demon, is completely ridiculous! Just for some knowledge for the author, even the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has been forced to acknowledge WICCA/PAGANISM as VALID spiritual path. All branches of the military have to respect it, just as they do christianity,muslim,jewish, & countless other valid religions. Fallen soldiers are also permitted to have our Holy Pentacle on their tombstones. Just like christians can have their crosses.
Before this author writes in his OBVIOUSLY condescending manner, about WICCA,he should educate himself first. We have NO devils,demons,satan,or hell. These are ALL christian concepts & beliefs. We have NEVER had them in our spiritual beliefs. That being said, snidely referring to a witch's familiar as a demon, is completely ridiculous! Just for some knowledge for the author, even the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has been forced to acknowledge WICCA/PAGANISM as VALID spiritual path. All branches of the military have to respect it, just as they do christianity,muslim,jewish, & countless other valid religions. Fallen soldiers are also permitted to have our Holy Pentacle on their tombstones. Just like christians can have their crosses.
August 15, 2013
There were some good stories in here, and some not so good stories. On the whole this is probably a 2.5 star read, but I'll go the extra 1/2 in GR's system. I ran across a few in here that was entirely unfamiliar with and came up with a couple of cemeteries I definitely have to visit should I find myself near them sometime. I wasn't crazy about how most of the stories were told from a fictionalized POV. I think they would have been much better told from the POV of someone who had actually witnessed some of these things. Not great, but not a bad read for a "dark & stormy night"!
January 7, 2016
I expected this book to be more about the cemeteries themselves, the history, perhaps the many notable names that were buried in them, and haunt them. What is was, was more along the lines of picking out one famous person buried in each cemetery Odgen talked about, and telling their ghost story. It was, in my view, a lack of information on the history of the actual cemeteries. Also, several times, Odgen almost flat out says that he does not believe the ghost stories he is relating are true. When you read something like this, you don't expect it to be laced with skepticism.
October 19, 2016
Having read several books of this type, I would say that this one was not as well written as some of the others. I was disappointed that the author used some of his own books as resources for his research. That is a big no-no. I did like that there was a fair amount of history included with most of the entries, which helped put the stories into perspective. I also learned that there is a Confederate cemetery in Columbus, Ohio that I had never heard of before. Now I have a new place to look up and explore. Overall, not a bad book.
April 2, 2016
The book was decent, but not great. I'm didn't like how he told the stories from the point of view of a fictional person. It mainly got three stars because there were a few stories that I hadn't heard before, and with how many TV shows I've watched and books I 've read on the subject that's a hard thing for me to find. I will give the rest of the books he's written about "true" hauntings a chance.
November 6, 2010
Para quem gosta de lendas e mitos urbanos relacionados com fantasmas não pode perder este volume, que tenta reunir as principais histórias da área.
Claro que, mais uma vez, 2/3 do livro são dedicados a acontecimentos passados nos Estados Unidos da América e apenas o último capitulo é dedicado a "aparições" internacionais, mas este é já um padrão conhecido.
Claro que, mais uma vez, 2/3 do livro são dedicados a acontecimentos passados nos Estados Unidos da América e apenas o último capitulo é dedicado a "aparições" internacionais, mas este é já um padrão conhecido.
September 21, 2015
I love ghost stories especially those centered around haunted houses and cemeteries. This one disappointed me greatly. I am not sure if it was the third person point of view or his condensing tone over the Wiccan religion. I think it was a bit of both. There was potential book but the author apparently seemed to have thrown it out the door.
June 15, 2013
It had some neat stories I defiantly wanna check it done of these places but it was hard to get through and kinda dry I was hoping for ghost stories....not stories about people who may our may not have possibly seen a ghost and there was a little but too much historical info
November 23, 2016
Darn it! My life for a hauntings book that has real, tangible photos or sounds as evidence of ghostly supernatural existence! While these stories are lovely and interesting, I need more. More. More.
October 28, 2011
Some great ghost stories in here. I need to check out some of these cemeteries.
July 6, 2013
Although this book was good, I wish the author would have included pictures of the graves he spoke of and if they themselves went to the areas mentioned, what they themselves experienced.
November 7, 2014
This made me want to visit some of these sites.Not only are they historical but are filled with spirits and ghosts!
November 6, 2015
Boring
I didn't read it all the way thru cause it was to boring and unreal. I just wasn't interested in it.
I didn't read it all the way thru cause it was to boring and unreal. I just wasn't interested in it.
January 18, 2016
A good source of information and addresses for the ghost hunter is a lot of us. First hand accounts of sightings a folktales.
Fun to read and a bunch of historical cemeteries to check out.
Fun to read and a bunch of historical cemeteries to check out.
November 9, 2015
Not scary at all, but quite interesting. I really enjoyed the historical backstory that was included with the legends.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews