Monday, October 25, 2021

Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween Freebie

 

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

I am so excited for this one because I LOOOOOOOVE Halloween.

This is year I am not only sharing my fave creepy reads, but some that Eleanor and I have enjoyed together.


You can never go wrong with Mary Downing Hahn. Okay, so A Time for Andrew is not great, but for me it is because it involves time travel and that's boring even with ghosts. I have talked about Wait Til Helen Comes before, so this time I am showcasing a couple of our other favorites. Hahn is still publishing and I am thankful that there will be more for Eleanor to read in the future. When we read Helen not long ago, I was relieved to find that though the kids did not have cell phones or tablets or gaming systems, that did not appear out of the ordinary for Eleanor.


We are reading this one right now. A mysterious magic has put the adults to sleep, distracted the teenagers with a potion that makes them super chill at their all-night party, and stolen the little ones. Esther is on her own to save her family and town when one by one her companions have fallen victim to the Queen of Halloween.


I had some issues with this one but overall Eleanor and I liked it a lot. Zera, or Zee as she prefers, is a natural storyteller with a gigantic imagination. The problem ensues when suddenly life starts turning into something that sounds like one of her scary stories and seemingly everyone in town falls under the thrall of the new principal who appeared just as suddenly as the previous one disappeared. Zee and her friends have to save the people they love before it's too late.


Seriously creepy. I-had-to-read-with-all-the-lights-on creepy. You can check out my review here. I had to turn on all the lights just to talk about this one. This is one location I would never want to investigate. Nope. You could not pay me enough money to ever set foot in there.


Naturally no spooky book list of mine is complete without at least a couple entries by Richard Estep (and if you don't believe me, check out my Halloween Freebie from last year). I first became familiar with his work when I read In Search of the Paranormal in 2015. Since then I have read nearly every other book he has published about his numerous and multi-visit investigations. Estep is a professional who does not take this work lightly, nor does he allow for theatrics. I appreciate his commitment to finding real evidence; he does not automatically label everything as 'paranormal'.

Spirits of the Cage remains the creepiest, because the activity was just so aggressive and violent. I could not imagine living in that home, especially with a newborn, only safe in my own room. I would have run screaming at the first sign of the malevolent spirit and never looked back.

Estep's Villisca book is also a fantastic read, and one that is so important because we have to remember that six children were brutally murdered and we will never know what really happened. There are many theories, some grounded in evidence and some so absurd that they practically make a mockery of the killings. Estep has never written about his investigations in that way. I have a lot of respect for him and the people he works with; they don't behave like pompous, loud, dingbats (looking at you, Ghost Adventures.)

I have been to Villisca and even in the bright sunshine of a beautiful fall afternoon, the house is not something to be trifled with. I had some experiences that can't be explained away. For example, I had brand new batteries in my digital camera and took many photos of the home, both upstairs and down. Yet, when I attempted to take pictures in the attic, my camera stopped working. I would press the button and the shutter would start, but then stop before the picture was captured. I stood in the doorway for a good five-seven minutes and only managed to get two. I had no problems in any other part of the house.

This is kind of a conundrum for me. I believe the attic is a likely place where the murderer(s) hid while waiting for the family to return home. But why would the murderer(s) be tied to the house? They didn't die there. Yet something did not want me taking pictures of the attic. A possible explanation I have thought about is that he or they return to the house because it is one of the places they still recognize, the home having been restored to what it looked like in 1912. This could also account for why some people feel a darker, heavier presence (like I did), while others don't.

If you are interested in more spookiness, you can check out my mini investigation of The Palmer House Hotel in Sauk Centre, MN. The story is in three parts so make sure you read them in order. The hotel was so active, things were still happening even as I was checking out. I can't wait to go back.

Happy Haunted Reading!
Sarah

34 comments:

  1. I love Halloween and am gonna miss it when spooky season is over. :(

    The Halloween Moon sounds awesome.

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    1. It ended up being a pretty thoughtful read, even with all the scary stuff happening for the kids trying to figure out how to save their town. You might still like it, ven if it is MG instead of YA. It won't take long to read, the plot moves along pretty quickly.

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    1. I love true paranormal books, but novels aren't my thing because nothing is as scary as the real thing. Except The Shining, I will always read that one.

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  3. You have just introduced me to authors I have never heard of before, but sure will try out! I love taking part in Fraterfest and it's good to stock up on authors and books. I'm especially interested in the middle grade reads!

    Happy Halloween!

    Here's my Ten Pets you can get at Stephen King's Pet Shop

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    1. I have plenty more!! But if you want a good investigator who knows what he is doing, Estep is definitely a great choice to read.

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  4. Oooo some lovely looking books here! Will definitely check some of these out.
    This is my TTT - just a list of the last ten books I tagged as Gothic.

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  5. I'm too much of a chicken to read horror stories.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/12-books-with-orange-covers-pick-a-color/

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    1. I only read the non-fiction, so yes they are definitely not for the faint-hearted. Some of these investigations are so crazy, I could not handle them myself.

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  6. How nice. Some of your books look absolutely intriguing.

    My TTT presents books with food on their cover.

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  7. The Halloween Moon sounds great!

    My list— https://fiftytwo.blog/2021/10/26/ttt-book-covers-that-were-scarier-than-the-book/
    Happy TTT!
    Lori

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    1. We finished it last night and it ended up being a really thoughtful ending in addition to the terror the kids were facing when trying to save their town. Definitely good for upper elementary and MG readers.

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  8. Wow, just reading your experiences in Villisca was enough to get my heart pumping a little faster with fear and the hair on the back of my neck tingling! Definitely would be way too chicken for all of these books. 🙈

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    1. Villisca just has this vibe and I think a good portion of course is due to the fact that eight people were murdered with an axe, six of them being children. But I do also believe that if the killer(s) return, it is because other places they once frequented are no longer recognizable or even standing anymore. I really do think that is why some people get big cases of heebie-jeebies there and some feel more calm. But I personally could never feel calm in such a sad place. You should also check out the link of my investigation of The Palmer House. It was amazing! Not scary at all.

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  9. This is a great post, Sarah! I am a scaredy cat when it comes to the creepy/ spooky/ horror genre, but I do try at least one horror book or movie every year. I'm going to add Mary Downing Hahn to my list, so thanks for the rec. :)
    ~Lex (lexlingua.co)

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    1. I am so glad you will be trying out her books. I still love them, even as an adult. No one does elementary/MG paranormal better than Mary Downing Hahn. Eleanor is a third grader now but we started reading them when she was in first or second. She now owns them all because she loves them as much as I do. I would love to know which ones you choose and how you end up liking them!

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  10. Figured you'd like this one, what with your ghost obsession.. :P

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    1. OF COURSE!! And I never miss a chance to talk about Villisca or the Palmer House.

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  11. Those cover do indeed look creepy.

    Happy reading!
    My TTT https://readwithstefani.com/top-ten-halloween-recommendations/

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  12. If I had young kids in my life to read with, I would definitely want to introduce them to Hahn. Those books sound terrific. I can see why Eleanor likes them. You, too.

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    1. Oh yes, she is so wonderful. Definitely the undisputed master of elementary/MG paranormal. She's wonderful.

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  13. Such a great collection of books this week—and I love that you showcased Mary Downing Hahn. It's amazing how many kids she's managed to terrify in her career.

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    1. YES!! And that she is still successful in doing so, despite the world looking very different now than it did when she first started writing. I love her so much.

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  14. Happy Halloween! I love spooky books, so I'll have to look these up.

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  15. Spirits of the Cage sounds like my kind of book. Great list!

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!

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    1. The moment I read the 'medieval jail' in the title, I knew I had to read it. And it was definitely scary. I could not have stayed there as long as the author did.

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  16. I'm going to have to look into Ghost Girl!

    Lauren @ Always Me

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Thanks for visiting my little book nook. I love talking books so leave a comment and let's chat!