Having been horribly disappointed by the two ghost story books I chose to scan around Halloween (the one about Alaska that I reviews and a "definitive" book from M.R. James that I found so boring I couldn't even bring myself to survey it), I eagerly grabbed this one from the library shelf in the hopes of trying to get something better.his was definitely something better.Let's begin with the determination to use "retold" instead of claiming authorship over the stories.Almost any word of collected tales and legends is loss to be an adaption of oral tradition.If you are passing to use the "by" label, then you want to have written them yourself.Better level than "edited by", I think retold is the way to go.After all, what Schlosser is doing carries on the heroic tradition of those who came before her.This is just designed to make a broader audience by writing them down.The stories themselves felt strong and companion to me.I don't know if I'd read or heard some of them before (that's quite possible, as I've been in bed with ghost stories almost since I could read) or if we take a place of similar stories playing out in different parts of the country.Either way, every page in this book was a welcome return to the form of ghost story I like best-haunting tales of things gone wrong, cruelty repaid, and horrors revisited again and again. While the words is soft (there are no oaths or swear words in here), the note can be quite brutal.People are skinned alive, bloodied before recognition, and dismembered, depending on the story.There are a few that are just sad, such as when a distressed lover dies and remains at his or her designated spot, and a few that are just tragic (the shipwreck of the old 96 is included).Overall, however, the spirit is dark without being gory.It's only the correct pitch, in my opinion, for these kinds of tales.The classical story was frequently the best-make it scary, but don't have anyone to suffer their dinner over the campfire or wood stove.You get to take a passion of folklore and oral tradition to get this book.The stories are all extremely short, and their endings are as predictable as a Pittsburgh Pirate losing season.You'll often experience the clincher before it happens, but that's okay.The fun is not so often in the reveal as in the getting there.You either appreciate this or you don't, and which camp you come into will learn how often you like (or don't like) the book.The oddest thing about this assemblage is that, since these are older tales from the south, we have slaves mentioned here and there.I make a lot of reference to Schlosser for not sanitizing the stories that include, for better or worse, things we'd rather not mean almost as being established history.Personal favorites for me was a Jack O' Lantern story that was one I hadn't heard before, a history of vampirism set in the backwoods, and one almost a sticky finger bone.Each were well plotted and creepy in their own way.I'm certain you'll get your own favorites if you take this book.I liked Spooky Virginia a lot, and am looking ahead to seeking out more books in this series.If you're a fan of the classic campfire ghost story, you should search for this one and its companion volumes, too.
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