Dark Mansions

by Dinah Williams

A big, beautiful mansion sounds like a great place to live. But what if its many rooms hold only memories of pain and suffering? What if sad spirits haunt the hallways and ghostly screams echo out the large windows? No amount of money can stop a house like that from becoming a nightmare. Among the 11 mansions in this book, readers will discover a beautiful plantation where a ghostly hound howls on stormy nights, Manhattan's oldest home where a spirit shushes schoolchildren, and an architect's dream house that turned into a nightmare with the swing of an axe. Riveting true tales and full-color photos will keep children turning the pages to discover more spooky stories.

Genres: Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Dinah Williams, an editor and children's book author, is fascinated by odd and unusual stories. Her nonfiction books include Terrible but True: Awful Events in American History; Secrets of Walt Disney World; and Spooky Cemeteries, which won the 2009 Children's Choice Award. Dinah's newest book, True Hauntings Deadly Disasters, is coming from Scholastic in 2020. She lives in Cranford, NJ with her husband and daughters, who hate all things scary.

Reviews

[Am Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book for kids/teens, especially if they like the horror genre. The book features 11 supposedly haunted mansions, all located in America with the exception of 1 which is in England. There are photos of each mansion (not very good ones though) and their history is talked about briefly. The ghosts that are said to haunt the mansion are also named and described, including the incidents in which they were supposedly seen/heard.

[Kadee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty interesting. Had some interesting facts as well. I would definitely like to see some of these places in the future (but no way would I go inside, I’m too much of a wimp for that).

[Caro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written with good pictures. This is a good one for just a quick venture into spooky places. A quick and easy read with interesting stories.

[Paula Greenfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about haunted places. It's part of the Scary Places series.