Buried Alive! and Other Stories Scarier than Fiction

by Ted Pedersen

Picture It's a week before Christmas at a quiet college in Atlanta, Georgia. A student answers a knock at her dormitory door. Two men burst into the room--take her captive--and drive her to a remote section of woods. A terrifying ordeal for anyone. But Barbara Mackle's nightmare is only just her kidnappers have decided to bury her alive ! Good thing this is only a plot for a scary movie, right? Wrong !

Everything in this story actually happened.

Truth is scarier than fiction. And each of the dozens of stories in this collection proves it--because each one is absolutely true. From tales of miraculous survival to ghostly hauntings to confrontations with unexplained phenomena--each hair-raising story is certain to send chills from head to toe. But be warned! You might not want to read these stories alone....

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before there were Creepypastas and Youtube Channels filled with weird, possibly true stories, kids had books like True Fright: Buried Alive to fill them with creepy-cool dread! I've been on a Youtube kick lately. I'm hooked on strange videos like 10 Mysterious Disappearances in National Parks and 5 Ghost Photos that Can't Be Explained, etc. There are thousands and thousands of similar videos, and many channels that upload more every day. (SlappedHam and Mr. Nightmare are two of my favorites) When it dawned on me that I read stories like this in books as a kid (as did my children as well), I decided to go look for some OOP goodness to see how old-style scary true stories compare to the more modern version.

True Fright: Buried Alive gathers 15 stories, followed by a short blurb on how Ted Pedersen gathered the tales. The stories are varied, ranging from paranormal experiences like a demon cat to more natural scares like kidnappers, fire and snakes.

True Fright: Buried Alive! is the second book in Pedersen's True Fright series. I have purchased a copy of the first book -- True Fright: Trapped Beneath the Ice. Can't wait to read it! Ted Pedersen has written several other books for kids (including one in the Nickelodeon book series Are You Afraid of the Dark....gotta read that one!) as well as four Deep Space Nine Star Trek novels.

I enjoyed this book. Each story is just a few pages long. The tales are well-written, interesting and totally appropriate for middle grade readers. The stories are a bit scary, weird or spooky....but not overly or graphically so. My favorite story in this collection is The Pond is Full of Snakes, the last story in the book. It gave me the chills....I can't deal with snakes.

All in all, a fun read! And very nostalgic for me! I used to order books like this each time those little book order forms were passed out at school. I bought similar books for my kids too and then read them when they were done with them. :)

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Karina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago in middle school, and I thought it was awesome! But now that I re-read it as an adult I think it's just okay.