Eight Haunted Stories

by Robert Vitarelli (Editor), William Carroll (Illustrator)

"The Prince Of Darkness" by Tom Clayton
"Crosby's Dream" by Tom Clayton
"And Then There Was Rhoda" by EJ Zagorski
"Weird Willie" by Joyce Chalmers Perry
"The Cat's Meow" by Grace Justice
"Sport And Rusty McGee" by Anne E. Schraff
"The Old Porter House" by Joyce Chalmers Perry
"The Shoes Of Uncle Antonio" by Tom Clayton

Genres: Horror

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like More Haunted Stories this is another hopeful stab on my part at a Scholastic Scope/Bookmobile type anthology of scary stories for grade-schoolers. Much like More Haunted Stories, this doesn't make the grade but it's a little closer. Instead of that decade earlier book, EIGHT HAUNTED STORIES is from 1973 and does actually have weird stories (instead of stories about kids learning to believe in themselves or solving "the mystery of the haunted mine" or what have you) but they're still not works of fiction so much as they're re-tellings of classic urban legends and folklore in a simple fiction frame. That strange girl in your new neighborhood who knows so much about your house? She died there 5 years ago! That prophetic dream you had? It will come true! Those boys that run away from your gag haunting of the Porter place? They were running from the ghost standing behind you! etc. and so forth (including a condensed version of the TWILIGHT ZONE perennial, "Dead Man's Shoes"). Perfectly fine for what it was but none of these stories will every be reprinted and will be forgotten to the ages, so no need to go into detail. I did like the slightly eerie, stippled/pointillist black and white illustrations by William Carroll peppered throughout - again, nothing amazing but a few were just freaky enough to have weirded out an 8 year old me in 1975 if I had ever stumbled over this book.

[Alicia Brautigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

For children, not a bad thing but not for me