Librarian’s Corner: Spooky books

submitted by Amelia Herron, Manchester District Library

The spookiest month of the year obviously requires the spookiest books, but sometimes truth is far scarier than fiction. In Blood on the Mitten, the author, Tom Carr, describes truly terrible (and true!) murders throughout our great states, highlighting 57 different murder cases from all around Michigan. This is sure to keep anyone up, both itching for more and cowering in fear.

If true crime and murder aren’t up your alley, try Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places by Brad Steiger. This book gives real, first-hand accounts of ghost encounters from poltergeists to possessions. Steiger also includes historical records of ghostly encounters as well as other shadowy figures to scare even the most stringent non-believer.

Have you ever wondered where the idea of witches originated? Or who thought up the first vampire? Leo Braudy has all these answers and more with his book Haunted: on Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds. While the stories that are cooked up about these creepy characters are spooky and fun, the more interesting stories are found in their origins.

And if none of these particularly frightful nonfiction books strike your fancy, you can always curl up with Halloween Nation by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne. Bannatyne describes the history of the spookiest night of the year, from seances to zombies. Once again, history can be even more compelling than the stories that follow, so be sure to pick up this book and find out the weird truth behind all of the strange Halloween traditions that people follow throughout the country.

For as little as $1 a month, you can keep Manchester-focused news coverage alive.

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.