2026 Spooky Reading Part 1

Ya'll know I love a good ghost story or a book full of strange and unusual tales! For 2026, my spooky reading has taken somewhat of a backseat when it comes to my general reading selections. I've been focusing a lot more on certain social issues that are important to me, as well as books for my work teaching middle school. But, I've managed to squeeze in a few paranormal non-fiction titles that I wanted to share. Here's what I've read between January 1st and June 30th:

1. Hauntings and Apparitions, by Andrew MacKenzie (1983)

Although this is an older title, it's a Society for Psychical Research publication, and I found it to be an awesome little collection. Part of the book dealt with the history of the SPR and its methodology and evolving belief systems. The other part was a deep-dive into some of SPR's case files. Some of the stories I had come across before in other SPR works, but for the most part, it was an enjoyable read, both entertaining and educational. 

2. The Wisconsin Road Guide to Mysterious Creatures, by Chad Lewis (2011)

I always enjoy Chad Lewis' work, and even though I'm not super familiar with the Wisconsin area, I was really excited to read about some of the state's strangest monsters and other unexplained phenomena. I'm a long ways away from Wisconsin, but I really appreciate the format of these books, which make it easy to find locations accessible to the public. Who knows? One day I might go monster hunting out that way! 

3. Phantom Phenomena, by Darkness Prevails (2024)

I'm not gonna lie. I bought this book at Five Below on a whim, and was really disappointed. I'm pretty sure its AI-generated slop. If not, I sincerely apologize to whatever minimum wage intern was forced to churn out these stories.  It was a quick read and may be really fun for someone young just getting into the paranormal. That's all I say about it. 

4. Haunted Shores: True Ghost Stories of Newfoundland and Labrador, by Dale Jarvis (2004)

I don't live anywhere near this area, nor have I ever visited it. But, for whatever reason, I picked this book up and I'm glad I did. Although it seemed a little disjointed at times when it came to how the stories were organized, the stories were fun. It was a nice mix of historical background and storytelling. 

5. What Happens After Death--Scientific and Personal Evidence for Survival, by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler (1997)

Okay, so this one started off fantastic. I was scribbling notes and formulating ideas for topics to study more in-depth. And then, it went off the rails. The first half of this book is the 'scientific' part. It is a thorough and engaging look at the history of afterlife studies. The second half is a weird narrative of the author's communication with her guides...who aren't exactly what you may think they are. She goes on about past lives on other planets, time not being linear, and all sorts of strange and fascinating ideas. I was intrigued and read this section more like science fiction than fact. I can't quite wrap my head around it, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. 

6. Searching for Ghosts and Poltergeists, by Bill Breman (2011)

Although this book was meant for younger readers, there were some little hidden gems in here. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything I wasn't already familiar with. I found this book available to read for free on the Internet Archive and didn't realize exactly what it was at first. But, I can't resist a ghost book, even one for kids, so I finished it and added it to the list! 

7. A Ghost Hunter's Guide to the Most Haunted Places in America, by Terrance Zepke (2012)

This book got a little over-repetitive in its telling of each haunted location, but overall, I found it a light, fun read. I always enjoy hearing what haunted locations make the "Best of" lists for other people, and this was a fair sampling of some places with both the history and the haunted reputation to earn them a top spot. 

8. The Haunting of Bishop Pike: A Christian View of the Other Side, by Merrill F. Unger (1971)

Last year, I read Bishop Pike's book about the death of his son, the strange communications he began receiving after, and his quest to finding the answers to the question of what happens when we die. That book was extremely controversial, as was its author. This follow-up offers a Christian rebuttal to Bishop Pike's rather radical ideas. I was surprised that Unger wasn't more preachy about the topic, but this book still kinda gave me the ick. It was interesting, though, to read about the events that happened from another perspective. 

9. Humanoid Encounters 1 A.D.-1899: The Others Amongst Us, by Albert Rosales (2017)

I bought the first two books in this Humanoid Encounters series for a very specific research project a few years ago. I'm just now finishing up this chunkster. It is FILLED with strange, unexplained encounters with humanoid creatures, ranging from fae-type beings, aliens, mermaid, to who knows what else. This was definitely a fun read and I found a few more rabbit holes to go down in addition to my original project!

10. Freaky Stories About the Paranormal, by M.H. Seeley (2016)

This was another one of those books for kids that caught my attention while perusing the Internet Archive. I was actually really impressed with it. There was a wide range of strange and unusual topics covered in this book, and while the info was short and sweet, it was accurate and not dumbed-down for a younger audience. 

11. Haunted French Quarter Hotels, by Nicole Beauchamp (2025)

My sister always brings me back ghost books from her vacations, and this year's trip to New Orleans resulted in Haunted French Quarter Hotels! I can't say enough good things about this book. I loved the writing style. I loved the blend of historical research, personal experiences, and popular legend. And, of course, I love all things having to do with the French Quarter. My only complaint is that there could have been so many more stories and so many more places added to this book. 

Spooky Reading 2022 Wrap Up

In 2022, I decided to share my paranormal non-fiction reading with you all via quarterly updates. It's time to wrap up a year in reading with my 4th quarter spooky reading list of 2022! According to my GoodReads account, I managed an impressive fourteen (14) paranormal nonfiction books read between October 1st and December 31st. That brings my total for the year up to 39! Let's take a look at this last set of books I checked off my list.

1. Area 51: Discerning Facts from Fiction, by Conrad Bauer. I downloaded this Kindle ebook for free, and it was a nice, short concise history of the lore surrounding the secretive area known in UFO and conspiracy circles as Area 51. 

2. Unexplained Blackpool Hauntings, by Christine Miller. This was another free ebook I downloaded and it was a fun collection of haunted locations from the Blackpool area. Again, short and concise, but reasonably well-written and entertaining.

3. No Common Task: The Autobiography of a Ghost Hunter, by Peter Underwood. I'm a huge fan of Peter Underwood's work, so I was happy to read this account of his early life and some of his early forays into the paranormal field. I'm not gonna lie--it was a little dry at times, but if you're interested in how Underwood got his start and the man behind countless collections of true ghost stories, it's worth a read. 

4. Buckeye Legends: Folktales and Lore From Ohio, by Michael Jay Katz. Being so close to the Ohio border, I was really interested in taking a look at some folklore from a nearby area. There were a few really fascinating stories in here, and a few that were a little blah. 

5. The World's Weirdest Abductions, by Chip Norton: I went through a period last year where I did a deep dive into alien abduction theory, so I was familiar with most of the cases contained in this short little free ebook, but it was a quick and weird read and sometimes that's exactly what I'm looking for. 

6. The World of Lore: Dreadful Places, by Aaron Mahnke. I've been a fan of the Lore podcast since the beginning, and was pleased when Aaron began publishing the best of the best of the tales in book form. I'm pretty sure the text of the books is word for word from the podcast scripts, minus the sponsorship info, but I'm cool with that. There were a few stories that really caught my attention, such as one from the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

7. Haunted Potomac River Valley, by David Thompson. You can't go wrong with these collections of haunted locations published by Haunted America, and I had to pick up this volume, as it featured a few places in West Virginia. These books are always a good mix of history and reported ghostly activity, and this one was no exception.

8. Spirits, Ghosts, and Troublesome Entities by Leanne Halyburton. This book, which was another free ebook, wasn't bad, but it just seemed a little disjointed, and relied heavily on the author quoting the experiences of her social media fan base who wrote in with their stories in response to her requests.

9. The Hollow Earth, by Raymond Bernard. I found this vintage paperback at Goodwill and knew I had to have it in my collection. Basically, it's the same information stated over and over and over trying to make the case for a Hollow Earth, with openings at the North and South Poles. Oh, and there's some info about how UFO's probably aren't from space, but come out of these openings at the poles instead. 

10. Real West Virginia UFOs, by Dave Spinks. One of my Mothman Festival pickups for 2022! I can't resist a collection of WV ufo sightings, and this one was a good one. Please see my review HERE. 

11. Where the Ghosts Walk: The Gazetteer of Haunted Britain, by Peter Underwood. This was just another hefty collection of British ghost stories from the king of British ghost stories. 

12. Truth Seeker, by Tom Moore. Tom Moore runs a paranormal investigation team here in WV and for several years, wrote a newspaper column in Parkersburg about his paranormal experiences. This book is a collection of those articles. Please see my review for it HERE. 

13. Chasing American Monsters, by Jason Offutt. I needed more cryptozoology books to round out the last quarter of the year, and this was a fine choice. Chasing American Monsters is broken down state by state and showcases a few of each area's iconic critters. 

14. Thirty True Tales of the Weird, Unusual, and Macabre, by Pat Bussard. Pat is a journalist who started her own group of paranormal researchers. She writes extensively on a variety of paranormal topics, and this is an eclectic collection of those writings. Everything from ghost hunting to Mothman to tarot cards is covered, complete with an introduction by the late, great Rosemary E. Guiley. 

Thanks for following along with my love of spooky reading, and I'll see ya back in early April for my 1st quarter of 2023 update. Until then, you can check out my Book Reviews page, or follow me over on GoodReads to see what all I'm reading in addition to my paranormal nonfiction. Stay spooky, ya'll! 

1st Quarter 2022 Spooky Reading

2nd Quarter 2022 Spooky Reading

3rd Quarter 2022 Spooky Reading

3rd Quarter Spooky Reading 2022

Another three months have passed, which means its time for another quarterly update on my yearly spooky reading! Ya'll know I love to read anything and everything I can in the paranormal non-fiction genre. As a paranormal investigator and researcher, I'm always trying to learn as much as I can about this field, and exploring books from a variety of viewpoints in a variety of different topics is a great way to accomplish that. As a blogger, it's also a great way to get new ideas for content to share with you all. And, as a paranormal enthusiast, I just love reading a good, spooky ghost story! 

Unfortunately, this quarter wasn't a great one for me. I only got around to eight paranormal nonfiction titles (and my general reading list wasn't much better). I managed to get a couple of gems, though, so let's take a quick look!

1. Living Among Bigfoot, by Tom Lyons:  This is the first in a whole series of books about one gentleman's encounters with Sasquatch. I found this as a free download, and while it was a quick, enjoyable read, I probably won't pick up any more in the series unless they become available for free as well. I'd just rather get the whole story in one volume, as opposed to a bunch of REALLY short (more like essays) books.

2. Strange Creatures From Time and Space, by John Keel:  John Keel is one of those authors you just HAVE to read if you research anything Fortean or strange. Keel has a very distinct style of humor to his writing, and each of his books, while usually overlapping heavily with his others in the content department, are full of really interesting cases of high strangeness and Keel's theories as to why these events are happening.

3. Queen Victoria's Other World, by Peter Underwood:  I love Peter Underwood's collections of ghost stories from various places around the British Isles. This book is a little different...instead of focusing on ghostly tales of haunted locations, it takes a look at the life of Queen Victoria and her interest in Spiritualism and the occult. There are also quite a few haunted places and ghost stories thrown in, with the note that no doubt Queen Victoria would have been familiar with this tale since she lived at this location, or visited it, or so forth. That part felt a little...forced for content...but it was still an interesting read.

4. Freak Files: The Unexplained Tales, by Gia Scott:  A free ebook download I found on Amazon. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about. Just a quick read about some spooky stories.

5. Real Celebrity Ghost Stories, by Sherri Granato. See above, but focusing on celebrities, lol. 

6. Life After Death, by Hans Holzer:  I love me some Hans Holzer. He was the author who inspired me as a kid to be a 'ghost hunter' in the first place, so I'm always thrilled when I come across one of his books. I found Life After Death at Goodwill and flew through the battered old paperback, loving the stories of people who claim that they have proof that life doesn't end with bodily death.

7. Mermaids: The Myths, Legends and Lore, by Skye Alexander: Ironically, I came across this book at a thrift store right as the whole Little Mermaid controversy was reaching a head. This is a beautiful little book filled with the origins of the mermaid myth, the mermaid in popular culture, and, well...anything and everything else you could want to know about mermaids. It gets super repetitive at times, but it was a fun read. 

8. The Grafton Monster, by George Dudding:  George Dudding is a prolific writer of all things paranormal, especially strange things going on in the Mountain State! I try to collect as many as his works as possible, so when I saw him at the 2022 Mothman Festival, I decided to pick up The Grafton Monster. My husband is from Grafton, so it's a topic that I love discussing with him, as he knows so much about the general area and his mom was living in the area at the time of the sighting. This was a fun book on a subject that there just isn't a whole lot of information available on. 

So there ya have it! That's what I've been reading lately, but I'd love to hear what paranormal nonfiction books you've been reading and loving lately. Join me over on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook or let me know in the comments below! 

Theresa's Book Reviews

Second Quarter Spooky Reading 2022

Another three months have passed, and I've added another eleven paranormal non-fiction books to my completed reading list! I'm pretty proud of that number! Even though I've technically had plenty of opportunity to read, sitting in hospital waiting rooms and doctors' offices, I've been too stressed out to really concentrate. There's nothing more frustrating than someone with ADHD, wanting to read and can't! But, like I said, I'm pleased with what I did accomplish.

As a paranormal investigator and researcher, part of my continuing education is staying informed about various aspects of the field, and how all those different topics work together. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve my work as a paranormal investigator, as well as gathering new ideas for blog posts.  Plus, sometimes I just like to read a good, spooky ghost story. 

Per usual, you can find my reviews on my Book Reviews page, and follow me on Good Reads to see EVERYTHING that I'm reading throughout the year. But, let's take a look at the spooky stuff I've read in April, May, and June of 2022: 

1.  Ghosts of the River Towns, by Rick Fisher: I picked this one up while I was a speaker/vendor at Dave Spinks' WV Monster Con, back in March. It's a short, fun read featuring a variety of haunted locations in Pennsylvania. 

2.  Monsters, Cryptids, and Mysterious Wild Beasts, by Jannette Quackenbush: You can never go wrong with a title from the prolific author on all things spooky, Jannette Quackenbush! This was another paranormal convention pick up---I got to see and chat with Jannette at the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo last January. I've reviewed this

3.  Otherworldly Encounters, by Novar Slevik. I also picked this one up during Monster Con. It's largely about UFO sightings and close encounters in the New England area. It's a really good, quick read full of interesting sightings. 

4. The Greatest Mysteries of the Unexplained, by Andrew Holland. This is one of those Bargain Books you can pick up for about $6 at BAM!, but it wasn't bad. Lots of very basic information about a wide variety of weird and paranormal topics, but well worth the read for some quick entertainment.

5.  Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover Up, by Timothy Good. I was able to download a FREE ebook version of this for my Kindle via Amazon, and didn't realize that it was an actual book that's been around for a long time! Although originally published in the 1980's, there's still a lot of good information about ufology. 

6. The Appalachian Bigfoot, by Dr. Russell Jones: This is Dr. Jones' second Bigfoot book, and it was a really, really informative text about anything and everything you'd need to know about Bigfoot in Appalachia. I reviewed this one for the blog earlier this month, so definitely check out my post on that for more info! 

7. Disneyland of the Gods, by John Keel: John Keel is an interesting author, and his tongue-in-cheek style of writing can take some getting used to. However, it's so worth it! Keel was one of the greatest Fortean writers of our time, and this book was just a mish-mash of the strange and unusual. 

8. Haunted America: Dead But Not Gone in West Virginia, by Sherri Granato: Haunted America was another FREE ebook I downloaded from Amazon, and I'm really glad I didn't pay anything. It was short...VERY short, and didn't really offer anything that couldn't easily be found online, despite the fact that the author had personally visited the locations mentioned. I've read some of the author's other books and they were much better. This wasn't bad...it was just way too short to be considered a 'book.' 

9.  The Vampire's Bedside Companion, by Peter Underwood: I love Peter Underwood and have made my way through quite a few of his paranormal titles over the past few years. The Vampire's Bedside Companion is a unique mix of allegedly 'real' vampire encounters and lore, plus several works of vampire fiction from various authors. 

10. Paranormal Creatures, by Conrad Bauer: Another FREE ebook from Amazon! Conrad Bauer offers a ton of books on lots of paranormal topics, and this title was a nice little collection of some well-known and some lesser-known examples from cryptozoology.

11.  The Signet Handbook of Parapsychology,  edited by Martin Ebon: This is a hefty tome of essays, plucked from parapsychology journals and papers on a variety of parapsychology topics. It's taken me over a year to get through it all, but it was worth it. Entries were written by some of the 20th century's greatest parapsychologists on topics such as animal behavior, dreams, ESP, and afterlife studies. 

So let me know what YOU'VE been reading lately, or if you've read any of the titles above and have any opinions you'd like to share! Let me know in the comments below or find me over on Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook page!  You can also check out my First Quarter Spooky Reading and let me know what you think as well! Happy haunting! 

First Quarter Spooky Reading 2022

Here at Theresa's Haunted History, I've always advocated a spirit of life-long learning when it comes to the paranormal field. No matter how experienced you may be, no matter how many years you've been chasing down the ghosts, there's ALWAYS plenty left to be learned. One of my favorite ways to indulge this continuing education into the world of the unknown is to read everything I can possible get my hands on! 

Reading a variety of books from different authors on different paranormal topics is how I got my first real taste of this field as a kid...and it's how I continue to get my fix well into adulthood.  However, not everything I read gets reviewed here on my blog's Book Reviews page.  I still wanted a way to share with you what I've been diving into when it comes to my paranormal nonfiction, so I thought the best way to do this would just be a quarterly re-cap, with links and a brief summary of the books I got around to finishing. As with so many of my projects, there just aren't enough hours in the day to really get to EVERYTHING I want to, and unfortunately, I only read a mere 8 books on the paranormal from January 1st to March 31st! 

1. Haunted Shenandoah Valley by Denver Michaels: Like the title would suggest, this book covers hauntings from all over the Shenandoah Valley, including a small section from West Virginia. Denver Michaels is a prolific author of the paranormal, so each story was well-written, interesting, and had plenty of historical background thrown in. This is a great book for anyone interested in the hauntings of that location, or even those interested in Civil War-based ghost tales, as there are quite a few from the Shenandoah Valley!

2. Strange Twist of Fate edited by Curtis Fuller: I found this battered paperback in an antique store for $2 and had to add it to my collection. As it is a collection of articles originally appearing in Fate Magazine, the topics range from ghosts to UFOs, to psychic ability and all sorts of other Fortean phenomena. And as such, some of the stories are really fascinating and well-written and some are rather...head-scratching. 

3. The Wild Man of North America by Louis Petolicchio: Back in December, I picked up my signed copy of this book (and met the author!) while stopping by the Yeti Expo at the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum in Sutton. Unfortunately, the author passed away before I could return to the museum and let him know how much I enjoyed his book. This is a collection of vintage newspaper clippings from all over the country featuring stories of Wild Men, many of which we'd probably classify as a 'Bigfoot' today. 

4. The Ghost Hunter's Guide by Peter Underwood: Peter Underwood is another one of those super-prolific writers on the paranormal, and even though the publication date for this one is a little...dated...the information really isn't. The basics of paranormal investigation and ghost hunting haven't changed much since the days of Harry Price...and I can't decide personally if that's a good thing or not! 

5. Men in Black by Conrad Bauer: I picked up the e-book version when it was being offered for free, and I'm really glad I did. Although it was a quick read, it was fairly thorough and well-researched, mentioning plenty of famous Men in Black cases, including some high strangeness associated with the Pt. Pleasant Mothman flap. 

6. Paranormal Crimes by Conrad Bauer: Another free-to-me find by the same author as Men in Black, this one was actually pretty interesting as well. Relating paranormal phenomena to crime was a really unique concept, and it was fun to read. However, some of the 'crimes' were quite the stretch. 

7. Ghosts of Hampshire and Isle of Wight by Peter Underwood: This was my second book by the legendary Peter Underwood that I finished this quarter. It is a huge compendium of haunted locations from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. As I'm not familiar with these locations, there were times when the extensive history got a little dry for me, but it's a great collection of ghost stories that can be enjoyed by anyone, no matter where they're from. 

8. Phantoms of Dixie by Hans Holzer: This was another battered, old paperback I picked up at a local antique store, and just one of the hundreds of books published by ghost hunter, Hans Holzer! This was actually a kind of weird read for me...I'm not entirely sure I agree with Holzer's definition of 'Dixie,' as some of the deep south states only got a few pages dedicated to them, while Texas was over half the book...with a little Oklahoma?? thrown in. Still, you can't go wrong with Hans Holzer and there were some great cases discussed. 

So that's my first quarter reading list! I've got a TBR pile a mile high of paranormal non-fiction I want to get to this summer, yet I continue to buy more and more books...from conventions, from thrift stores, and from free offers on my Kindle. There will never be enough time to read everything I want to read...but check back in 3 months to see what additional titles I was able to finish.  Happy Reading...and as always, stay spooky! 

Spreading Spooky Cheer!

This is the season of giving. Christmas is right around the corner, and yesterday was #GivingTuesday, a day for you to donate to your favorite charities and nonprofit organizations. This year, I'm even lower on cash and energy than usual, but I still wanted to do something to give back. I might not have much money or time to donate...but what I do have is books!

Valley Park

I've actually been toying with this idea for a couple of months. I LOVE to collect paranormal nonfiction, and over the years, I've amassed a pretty huge library. I love scouring thrift stores, yard sales, and second-hand bookstores for great deals on used books...and of course, most of my family and friends know that if they're going to buy me a present, they can never go wrong with a ghost book!

But, occasionally I'll find myself with duplicates. Sometimes I'll be gifted a book I already own. Other times, I'll buy myself a book, not realizing that I already have it on my shelf. And, occasionally, I'll purposefully buy books I know I own if I find them cheap enough! For less than a dollar a book, it doesn't matter whether I own it or not...if it's paranormal nonfiction, it's coming home with me! 

Sherwood Circle

I enjoy having a few extra copies of books lying around so I can share them with friends, family, and even clients. But, sometimes I amass a few too many, and it's time to purge. So, today I gathered up my extra copies and decided to hit some area Little Free Libraries! If you're unfamiliar with the concept of Little Free Libraries, click on the link for more info. In short, these are awesome little structures that pop up in neighborhoods, parks, churches, and all sorts of other places. The idea is to 'give a book, take a book.' It's completely FREE, and you're more than welcome to help yourself with no obligation. When you're done reading, you may keep the book, return it to the Little Free Library, pass it on, or donate another in its place.  There are several in the Hurricane area, but the link has a map of all the registered libraries in YOUR area. Definitely check it out.

Anyway, I also threw in some shameless self-promotion and stuck a business card into each book. I figured that anyone who would be interested in the subject matter of the donated books would probably be interested in checking out Spectral Research and Investigation's website! It was a fun little outing, and I hope it inspires you to give what you can this holiday season, even if its something as simple as a battered old paperback about ancient aliens! Stay spooky my friends. 

Sable Point Apartments