Ah yes, as we are besieged by all manner of children in costume demanding either candy or souls from us (not to mention a vast lame horde of kids without costumes–kids without costumes??–call child services!) we have certain reference books from New Page that we are keeping on hand to while away the time between knocks at the door.
The Encyclopedia of Haunted Places is 320 pages of locations to go and encounter some spectres. What’s most impressive about this tome is that it purports to list “Ghostly Locales from Around the World”…and it does! Granted, most of them are in North America, but check it out: here’s two in South Africa, one in Iran, eight from Europe and so forth. Still…there’s only one German haunted location, for example? Also, there’s a glossary for those of you out there who don’t listen to Art Bell and a directory of paranormal investigators. Never know when that might come in handy.
Next up, we have Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures That Stalk the Night. What’s really nifty about this book is that it’s not just what we generally conceive of as the Anne Rice vampire or the Buffy vampire, but it’s vampires from all over the world! Check out vampire legends from Iceland, Ireland, India and, of course, Romania. Just so you don’t think it’s limited to countries starting with the letter I. This is a really sweet book that I hope to make use of for a project very soon.
Lastly, there’s The World’s Most Haunted Places, straight from the folks who bring you GhostVillage.com. Whereas the Encyclopedia mentioned above is a quick overview of a whole slew of places, this book takes you for some in-depth profiles. Twenty-nine chapters with as many places, from the obvious–The Tower of London and the Queen Mary–to the perhaps not so obvious–the White House (no jokes, please) and a Spaghetti Warehouse in Houston. If you celebrate the fact that many arts channels are showing all kinds of haunted “reality” shows, then this is the book for you.
As for us, we can’t get enough of this whacked out stuff. For more books along these same lines, check out New Page at their website here.
Buy Encyclopedia of Haunted Places from Amazon.
Buy Vampires from Amazon.
Buy World’s Most Haunted Places from Amazon.
