October – Booklist
As the nights get colder and darker and we prepare to celebrate the spooky season, sometimes what we crave (from the safety of our own warm home of course) is an old-fashioned, spine tingling ghost story. Please join us in exploring ghostly tales, old and new, fiction and fact? We’ll let you decide!
Nonfiction
Specters in Doorways: History and Hauntings of Utah by Linda Dunning
Reveals the mysteries and miracles of haunted mansions and farmhouses, ghostly hotels and public buildings, spirit-infested hospitals, churches and gathering places, eerie old schools, colleges and universities and the phantoms of Utah’s many old mills and abandoned factories.
Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory by Stacy Horn
Explores the history of Duke University’s Parapsychology Lab and the researchers’ efforts to either prove or debunk claims of ghosts, poltergeists, ESP, and other paranormal activity.
The Letters of Shirley Jackson by Laurence Jackson Hyman
A collection of previously unpublished correspondence from the one the century’s best authors. Includes letters from over the course of nearly three decades that highlight Jackson’s genius. Contains some strong language. Check out some of her scary stories in our collection, The Haunting of Hill House DB021679, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle DB026614.
The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story by Kate Summerscale
Presents the sensational tale of Alma Fielding, a young housewife in 1938 London who is the target of apparent poltergeist activity. Discusses the investigation of Nandor Fodor who works as a ghost hunter and his discoveries of Alma’s past.
Fiction
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
During a postwar summer in rural England, Dr. Faraday is called to see a patient at the lonely residence of the Ayres family, Hundreds Hall, an old Georgian mansion now in decline. Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.
Tales of Horror and Suspense by Edgar Allan Poe
Anthology of eight mysterious stories by American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Contains classic stories like the “Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Feeling ambitious and want to read all of Poe’s work? Check out DB044929.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Returning for a visit to her North Carolina home, Samantha discovers that everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects replaced by sterile white, religious devotion and an uncanny reverence for her long-dead and little-missed grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small southern town. The longer Sam stays, the stranger things get. Contains strong language and some violence.
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Malaysia, 1893. Li Lan’s family has fallen on hard times and when the prosperous Lim family asks Li Lan to marry the deceased Lim Tian, believing it will placate his ghost, she sees a way to provide for herself. But as Li Lan begins conversing with the dead, she uncovers dangerous secrets.
Image Description: In front of a blurry and grey background of bookshelves, a stack of very old books sits in the foreground casted by the shadowy orange glow of the large wax candle on top.