One of NPR’s Great Reads of 2016“A lively assemblage and smart analysis of dozens of haunting stories…absorbing…[and] intellectually intriguing.” —The New York Times Book ReviewFrom the author of The Unidentified, an intellectual feast for fans of offbeat history that takes readers on a road trip through some of the country’s most infamously haunted places—and deep into the dark side of our … haunted places—and deep into the dark side of our history.
Colin Dickey is on the trail of America’s ghosts. Crammed into old houses and hotels, abandoned prisons and empty hospitals, the spirits that linger continue to capture our collective imagination, but why? His own fascination piqued by a house hunt in Los Angeles that revealed derelict foreclosures and “zombie homes,” Dickey embarks on a journey across the continental United States to decode and unpack the American history repressed in our most famous haunted places. Some have established reputations as “the most haunted mansion in America,” or “the most haunted prison”; others, like the haunted Indian burial grounds in West Virginia, evoke memories from the past our collective nation tries to forget.
With boundless curiosity, Dickey conjures the dead by focusing on questions of the living—how do we, the living, deal with stories about ghosts, and how do we inhabit and move through spaces that have been deemed, for whatever reason, haunted? Paying attention not only to the true facts behind a ghost story, but also to the ways in which changes to those facts are made—and why those changes are made—Dickey paints a version of American history left out of the textbooks, one of things left undone, crimes left unsolved.
Spellbinding, scary, and wickedly insightful, Ghostland discovers the past we’re most afraid to speak of aloud in the bright light of day is the same past that tends to linger in the ghost stories we whisper in the dark.
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Some very interesting points about the haunted places I knew about, and a few I had no idea existed. The author wisely takes a step back throughout most of the book, giving the ‘facts’ as they’ve been laid out by history and changed through time. An interesting read.
This was an interesting perspective on hauntings and haunted places. I loved reading about the history of some places I want to see and some I have seen. There were moments that felt a little preachy, but overall I enjoyed this book. Jon Lindstrom did a wonderful job with the narration. I enjoyed his accents and changes in voice when reciting quotes from people or articles.
This is my unsolicited review.
After reading “Ghostland,”I feel as though I’ve taken a road trip with author Colin Dickey and his wife. In this informative book, Dickey does not seek to prove or disprove the existence of the paranormal. However, the book does read a bit like his introspection on the subject. From Southern plantations to redone California properties, Dickey visits many sites and explores the psychological and sociological implications of their ghost stories. I’d not heard of many of these haunted locations, so it was an interesting exploration.
In fairness, my father, who is a huge “ghost hunter” fan, did not care for the intellectual and sometimes belittling approach taken by this book toward some of the subject matter. My mother, however, enjoyed the way the author linked the stories to the histories of the sites and the implications of the resultant stories. To me, the book meandered a bit in some chapters, and there were times the author seemed to condescend to “ghost enthusiasts.”
For the curious, though, I think “Ghostland” gives much to consider.
I was so excited about reading this book as part of my library’s summer reading program, but UGH. How do you make ghost stories utterly boring?
The format of the book is that the author gives examples of a ghost story (or general theme of ghost stories, like haunted houses), then spends page after page over-analyzing why this ghost story exists…and the reasons do not include “because humans like a good tale.” The explanations sometimes feel like the author is straining to find an overly politically correct reason for the stories, making the nearly all the stories seem racist, misogynist, or just plain cruel. I get his point in some of the cases, but it just got to be too much.
All in all, I enjoyed the ghost stories and the history behind them and his criticism of the “ghost-hunting’ shows on TV, but sheesh, the philosophical and political explanations drained most the fun out of this book.
Each chapter explores a purportedly haunted place in America, from the early homes of Salem, Massachusetts, to a Toys R Us in California. Dickey visits each and explains the history behind the place, when it was first reported as haunted, the ways in which haunting is tied to the commercial value, and so on, generally systematically dismantling the notion of the haunting. “Many times a ghost story is simply an attempt to account for scattered tidbits, some disconnected facts, that don’t add up,” Dickey writes halfway through the book, but he’s said as much at least a half dozen times before that. Ultimately, Ghostland was just too repetitive for me. Each chapter followed the formula I’ve described, and, while the setting changes from hotel to home or brothel to bar, each feels the same. After 150 or so pages, I’d had my fill.
Nope. Disappointed.
Not what I expected and hard to read- did not finish
To philosophical and not enough stories about ghosts
I started this book but after reading the introduction and one and one-half chapters I decided, for me, it was not worth going any further. In the introduction the case is made that there are no “real” ghost. I’m fine with him making that case. Then I read the chapter on Shiloh, about Civil War battlefield “ghost”, basically refuting all these stories. OK, that’s fine. Then I started the chapter where he and his wife are looking at numerous houses in California ( I’ve forgotten which city) in hopes of finding a house tp purchase. Then he sites how many have bad additions constructed in order to be codes or permits to add on. That is fine and I would think accurate information. But for me, I decided this man is really wasting my time.