Haunted Legends

Where's this book been?
by Ellen Datlow, Nick Mamatas | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 9780765323019 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/26/2024
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Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, July 26, 2024
I got this softcover from a local Savers thrift shop on a senior-discount Tuesday. It's an anthology from 2010, with the stories themed on various urban legends or folk tales - some of them widely known, others much more localized. I enjoyed many of the authors' takes on the theme. Among my favorites:

"Oaks Park" by M. K. Hobson, inspired by one of the more local legends - this one about an Oregon amusement park reputedly haunted by the ghost of a small child. The author's spin on the story features a 39-year-old woman who's been feeling more and more detached from her life, struggling to avoid triggering her husband's ire and worried about her daughter - and remembering her own childhood visit to the haunted amusement park, with its nightmare of her own future... (This is the kind of story I would not have enjoyed in my youth, but having lived a few more decades I find it quite compelling - even though I don't share the protagonist's life or fears.)

Laird Barron's "The Redfield Girls," in which a group of women meet near Lake Crescent, a deep glacial lake rumored to be cursed. When two of the women go missing, there's a cascade of grief among the survivors - and a heart-wrenching revelation.

"Chucky Comes to Liverpool" by Ramsay Campbell deals with the rumors that the "Chucky" movies about a toy doll possessed by an evil spirit were the inspiration for a real-world crime: the heinous and brutal murder of a small child by two slightly older children. [Campbell's notes at the end point out that there was no evidence that the actual killers were influenced by, or had even seen, any of those movies - but the rumors did spark a "ban Chucky" scare in the city.] The story deals with the ban-the-film efforts of parents - and the equally strong "want to see the film!" efforts of the kids. But young Robbie, whose home life isn't the best in any case, not only gets obsessed with the films but makes his own deductions as to how best to save everyone from Chucky - with harrowing results.

Joe R. Lansdale's "The Folding Man," in which teens out joy-riding taunt the wrong car, and find themselves pursued by the implacable, robotic-with-strange-powers "folding man" to terrifying effect. (The inspiration for this one was a rather vague "black van" urban legend from Lansdale's youth; he began to wonder just what might step out of that van if it were real...)

Released 3 wks ago (10/11/2024 UTC) at LFL - Southwood Dr (2300) #173754 - Library in the Woods in Nashua, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this lovely autumn day. Hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

Released for:

** 2024 October Spooktacular challenge **

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