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Hell House & Other True Hauntings From Around the World
Whether you're a skeptic looking for proof or a believer steadily collating evidence, ghost stories are a constant source of fascination. In this book we'll convert the cynics and arm the enthusiasts with facts and figures, firsthand accounts of ghostly sightings, and the frightening truth behind the stories.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
7 people are currently reading
228 people want to read
About the author
Alison Rattle
29 books26 followersAlison Rattle grew up in Liverpool, and now lives in a medieval house in Somerset with her three teenage children, her partner - a carpenter - an extremely naughty Jack Russell and a ghost cat. She has co-authored a number of non-fiction titles on subjects as diverse as growing old, mad monarchs, how to boil a flamingo, the history of America and the biography of a nineteenth-century baby killer. She has worked as a fashion designer, a production controller, a painter and decorator, a barmaid, and now owns and runs a vintage tea room.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 25, 2021
The cover is great, the book is not so great though. I wish it had more facts and real pictures
December 28, 2022
Short, digestible stories of the paranormal from all parts of the world. The most interesting part of this read was noticing the similarities in the reports of all the hauntings accross the globe while simultaneously reading how differently the various cultures tend to influence the beliefs about what these spectres are and where they come from. For example: some regions believe they're the spirits of the dead who haven't moved on while others believe they are neutral entities that have been possessed by a living witch.
The writing itself is mid-tier. Felt like reading a 200-page tabloid, just not as sensationalized. Dont expect anything scholarly from this book. That said, even though this isn't the most compelling piece of paranormal literature, it IS and interesting read from an anthropological point of view.
The writing itself is mid-tier. Felt like reading a 200-page tabloid, just not as sensationalized. Dont expect anything scholarly from this book. That said, even though this isn't the most compelling piece of paranormal literature, it IS and interesting read from an anthropological point of view.
June 14, 2011
I expected this to be a more serious look at 'hauntings' but instead it devoted a half page or so to each of a number of stories from around the world of 'famous' hauntings. Not so famous, not particularly useful information and not interesting. Should have been warned of its quality by the plastic red eyes attached to the front cover I guess!
September 16, 2008
A very good and quick read, I would have given it 5 stars if it had actual ghost pics in the book.
May 15, 2011
Very interesting! Lots of different types of stories, that were not boring and gave just the right amount of information.
March 9, 2009
scary book really blood chilling
June 24, 2023
Pretty good book. It gives enough information to let you know if you want to dig further into the location. The cover I have is amazing. My one issue is calling a 12 year d murder victim “wretched”. What the hell is that about? Please note that the author did not say he was found in wretched condition. They literally said “this wretched child”.
January 14, 2023
I enjoyed this book. Reading about haunted West Virginia is fascinating, so reading about the Greenbrier ghost was perfect. Worth the read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2023
Love hearing haunted tales for any where, was alittle disappointed when the Japanese forest wasn't in it
February 13, 2024
Letto in lingua italiana, molto interessante
December 8, 2024
Very interesting book.
January 1, 2025
My all-time favorite haunting stories.
July 2, 2011
I'm a sucker for all things spooky and weird unless that something is Pee-wee Herman who is just too darn spooky and weird for my liking. So when I came across this creepy cover while perusing through books online my curiosity was whetted enough to open the wallet and splash the cash.
A lot of effort went into the design of Hell House. Those eyes on the cover are actually two red rubies plastic orbs sunken into the book cover itself. The cover is made to resemble wood (although it's very thick cardboard) and the center part with the skull is all glossy and smooth to the touch. The effort didn't stop there though as the pages of the book are of excellent quality made of paper, each page sepia colored to give an old style look, that's obviously a cut above the average; only my lack of knowledge on different types of paper stops me doing it justice by labeling it with its correct term.
It's all well and good for a book to have great presentation but unless you just want it as some book candy for your shelf it needs to have some substance inside also. Thankfully, Hell House wasn't all looks and no substance otherwise it may well have called itself Kim Kardashian. Where it is found lacking though is in the originality of the content. As someone with an interest in the supernatural who has read numerous books of this type I found not a single haunting to be original to me. They're all famous cases that can be found in multiple other books of this ilk such as Flight 401, the Moving Coffins of Barbados, the Amityville House etc. To its credit the authors did try taking on a different approach, to give the subjects an air of freshness, by categorizing the hauntings by country and basing each chapter upon that country.
No factual book about hauntings would be complete without accompanying pictures of those hauntings for if a place is haunted surely there will be photographic evidence of such, right? Well, one would think so but there's only one ghost photo and that's of the infamous 'Brown Lady of Raynham Hall' which is considered to be a fake done by double exposure of the film (to me the lady on the stairs looks like a statue of the Virgin Mary so that would be my guess as to what was used for the double exposure). And the really odd part...the Brown Lady isn't one of the cases explored in the book! Instead of genuine pictures of strange phenomena there are pictures of the places involved in the cases instead. So, for instance, the odd happenings on Flight 401 are accompanied by a picture of an airplane.
Even with its faults this is still a good book to pick up and pass a spare hour or two with although I am probably swayed slightly by its appearance as if it was just a regular paperback I wouldn't have been as impressed. It would work well for someone who has a fleeting, or is just starting to gain, interest in ghosts and hauntings but you won't find much new material if you're seasoned in this genre.
I liked it though.
A lot of effort went into the design of Hell House. Those eyes on the cover are actually two red rubies plastic orbs sunken into the book cover itself. The cover is made to resemble wood (although it's very thick cardboard) and the center part with the skull is all glossy and smooth to the touch. The effort didn't stop there though as the pages of the book are of excellent quality made of paper, each page sepia colored to give an old style look, that's obviously a cut above the average; only my lack of knowledge on different types of paper stops me doing it justice by labeling it with its correct term.
It's all well and good for a book to have great presentation but unless you just want it as some book candy for your shelf it needs to have some substance inside also. Thankfully, Hell House wasn't all looks and no substance otherwise it may well have called itself Kim Kardashian. Where it is found lacking though is in the originality of the content. As someone with an interest in the supernatural who has read numerous books of this type I found not a single haunting to be original to me. They're all famous cases that can be found in multiple other books of this ilk such as Flight 401, the Moving Coffins of Barbados, the Amityville House etc. To its credit the authors did try taking on a different approach, to give the subjects an air of freshness, by categorizing the hauntings by country and basing each chapter upon that country.
No factual book about hauntings would be complete without accompanying pictures of those hauntings for if a place is haunted surely there will be photographic evidence of such, right? Well, one would think so but there's only one ghost photo and that's of the infamous 'Brown Lady of Raynham Hall' which is considered to be a fake done by double exposure of the film (to me the lady on the stairs looks like a statue of the Virgin Mary so that would be my guess as to what was used for the double exposure). And the really odd part...the Brown Lady isn't one of the cases explored in the book! Instead of genuine pictures of strange phenomena there are pictures of the places involved in the cases instead. So, for instance, the odd happenings on Flight 401 are accompanied by a picture of an airplane.
Even with its faults this is still a good book to pick up and pass a spare hour or two with although I am probably swayed slightly by its appearance as if it was just a regular paperback I wouldn't have been as impressed. It would work well for someone who has a fleeting, or is just starting to gain, interest in ghosts and hauntings but you won't find much new material if you're seasoned in this genre.
I liked it though.
January 2, 2017
An excellent collection of true haunting and supernatural cases from around the world.
January 7, 2012
I have always been a sucker for a good ghost story but the true ones are so much more scarier such as the ones in this book some of which I have heard of and some new to me but made my toes curl beneath me and shivers run up my arms nonetheless! They are not just stories we have come to know from aroun the United States but also from all around the world. One in particular was set in Jamaica and told of the ever feared duppy which is believed to be the shadow of a dead person and most folks in the region spread the blood of white chickens around their home to ward off this evil.
I loved everything about this book..the cover is just awesome resembling an old timey book with a skull like image and two bulging red eyes popping from the center. Then the pages on the inside are lightly tinted giving you the feeling of reading an older book and has beautiful photographs and illustrations to depict each of the stories within.
It will make a fine addition to your library if you like to be a bit creeped out or just simply enjoy ghost stories. But remember to keep a light on and a cover to duck under when you begin reading!
October 22, 2015
Hell House by Alison Rattle and Allison Vale is a new coveted ghost story read. I tend to dive in for the local haunts, but found this as well as a gift for my husband last year as a stocking present at Christmas and have taken it to read. The stories are divided up by mainly Continents/region: North America, Caribbean, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia.
What drew me in was the name; HELL HOUSE.
The tales are mostly ones I have heard of but not read thoroughly on, and the authors provide many details and facts to support the hauntings.
This is one of the novels you read by a campfire, or keep by your bedside to read one story before bed, that is if you're not scared to enter the Hell House.
What drew me in was the name; HELL HOUSE.
The tales are mostly ones I have heard of but not read thoroughly on, and the authors provide many details and facts to support the hauntings.
This is one of the novels you read by a campfire, or keep by your bedside to read one story before bed, that is if you're not scared to enter the Hell House.
January 7, 2015
This book had one of the few introductions that I was willing and enjoyed reading. The lack of captions under pictures made it hard to identify whether an image was actually taken there or if it was only for imagery. Overall I really liked the page style, the older page style makes it more appealing to look at. Some stories I liked more than others, but that's just my opinion. I was interested in knowing where the author found some of the historic information mentioned this book. Could it be something they made up? Is it factual? No sources cited, nothing to back up their conclusions.
June 25, 2008
It was a beautifully designed book with a pretty
cover, but none of the stories really went into much
depth about each location - each haunting site had about
3 pages dedicated to it. So this gave me more the feeling
that it was pretty much a coffee table book about various
haunted dwellings.
cover, but none of the stories really went into much
depth about each location - each haunting site had about
3 pages dedicated to it. So this gave me more the feeling
that it was pretty much a coffee table book about various
haunted dwellings.
November 22, 2007
This book details specific true hauntings from around the world. It is a trite bit of brain candy but fascinating if the paranormal is your cup of tea.. and it is mine!
March 6, 2008
It was pretty interesting. But i felt like alot of stuff was crammed in (with collections that happens).
Read
August 8, 2009This is one of my summer reads and the book isn't even scary!! But its good story book to scare your friends with!
August 7, 2011
I think this book is geared more towards kids. Not enough detail for my liking.
October 20, 2012
C-R-E-E-P-Y! But Good...
November 18, 2015
Scary and mischievous.
October 3, 2016
Extremely interesting!
January 15, 2017
I like the historical references that go along with the alleged/rumored hauntings.
November 23, 2016
love that it was stories from all over the. world including Australia..we sometimes get forgotten. but a bleak reminder of how horrible humans can be
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews