BOOK REVIEW: Haunting America: The Making of Myth and Legend by Karen Stollznow

 

3.75 Stars

If you’ve watched Netflix’s Files of the Unexplained episode on the Myrtles Planation then you’ve come across author Karen Stollznow, and that’s how I came upon this book. I liked the way she infused historical accuracy into the haunted tales. While I can certainly appreciate a good ghost story as well as a place that emits an eerily haunting aura (Halloween is one of my favorite holidays), I’m also in the skeptic category and have limited patience for cheap gimmicks or misleading and manipulated narratives with an agenda, which some of these locales perpetuate. 

This book explores 8 supposedly haunted sites, many of which claim they are the “most haunted.”🙄 While some of the ghost stories and folklore may have come about more organically, others are clearly purposeful propaganda, part of a business plan to make money rather than understand the past and the people associated with it.  Each chapter relates the circulated myths, folklore, urban legends, and ghost stories about the locations and then details what historical records actually reveal. It's a bit of compare and contrast, and often there’s a big discrepancy. Personally, I found the realities more interesting and certainly more informative than the myths or, in some cases, tired old haunted theatrics, distorted facts, and the power of suggestion. Truth is, as Twain once asserted, stranger than fiction.

This title is a needed addition—call it a voice of reason—in a world where misinformation and "fake news" runs rampant. History can be lost or distorted. And some of these places certainly have their sights set on rewriting it, if they haven’t already.

The title’s intent is a solid five stars; the execution a three. The book could certainly benefit from an editor and professional formatter. The infamous Alcatraz escape is incorrectly listed as July instead of June. There are distracting punctuation and quotation mark errors throughout. Pagination doesn’t align with typical publishing standards. Photo captions are sometimes disconnected from the photo. For the price and given this is its second printing/edition, I’d expect better quality.

In addition, the narrative could be clearer in places. For instance, each chapter begins with the reported story and then leads into the more verifiable information and historical accuracy. Basically, Stollznow repeats the myth and then debunks it. However, it would be beneficial to more clearly designate the claims with “according to legend…” or “the ghost stories told say…” to better differentiate what the general public and tourists have been told to believe from what historical records and science indicate really happened.  

Locations discussed include Alcatraz, Coral Castle, The Lemp Mansion, The Myrtles Plantation, The San Antonio Railroad Tracks, Silver Cliff Cemetery, Wavery Hills Sanatorium, and the Winchester Mystery House. Before visiting any of them and hearing their supernatural tales, this would be a handy guide to read first. If nothing else, it's a reminder to always look deeper, research, and think critically about your surroundings. 

GOODREADS

*Paperback purchased from Barnes & Noble. All reviews written by Book-Bosomed Book Blog are honest opinions.

BOOK REVIEW: Broken Plea: The Explosive Search for Truth Behind the Idaho Murders by Christopher Whitcomb

 

4.5 Stars

To date, this is really the only reliable book on the Idaho Murders.

Based on unredacted law enforcement reports, court files, (particularly the prosecution’s discovery which was turned over at plea), and crime scene photos along with interviews of sources named (defense forensic expert Brett Turvey is interviewed) and anonymous, Whitcomb walks readers through the case, the players, the evidence, or lack thereof, with the benefit of his years of law enforcement expertise, explaining investigative concepts and theories along the way. The tone of the book never feels sensational nor does the author approach the subject matter for shock value. That’s not to say there isn’t shocking details to be explored.

-Posed bodies with post-mortem abuse;

-Bloody crime scenes absent of a blood trail;

-A knife sheath with serious chain of custody issues that may or may not belong to the never located murder weapon but changes positions nonetheless;

-A lab that delivered not the accused name after DNA analysis, but the (undisclosed) name of four brothers unrelated to the accused;

-A prosecution expert who believed the accused streaked through the multi-floor college residence, dodging a beer pong table in the nude waving a knife… or two?

-A police force who took speed reenacting to a new level, madly dashing through the now conveniently torn down house to try to prove a quadruple homicide could be completed in their tight timeline. (Spoiler alert: It can’t be duplicated.)

“It did not happen in four minutes. The prosecution’s narrative makes no sense whatsoever….” (199). -Dr. Brett Turvey

-Two in-the-house-at-the-time-of-the-murders roommates who heard nothing and everything but saw their unconscious roommate on the floor in her underwear and yet waited 8 hours to call for help while they scrolled social media and played with photos and videos.

This is a must read for not just true crime followers, but anyone who ever caught a snippet of this case on the news. Because what’s largely been reported in the mainstream media has been more fantasy than fact and more biased than accurate.

Thankfully this book doesn't emit any grifter vibes. Instead, it feels more whistleblower, bringing to light things that have been largely buried and ignored that shouldn't have been because they were critical to the integrity of the case.

“In this era of crowd-sourced inquiry, is it not our obligation to point out gaping holes in the prosecution’s narrative, and in lieu of a trial, look deeper?” (418).

Did one stranger who seemingly never knew the King Road residents existed brutally attack, stab, beat, and strangle four victims in a multi-story unconventional layout party house on Homecoming night in less than ten minutes or was this the work of multiple perpetrators with multiple weapons and a grudge, grievance, and plan to muddy the crime scene and confuse the investigators?

Those seeking the truth can only hope that someone finally digs deep enough to unearth what really happened November 13, 2022, that a day will come when there’s more answers than questions, when integrity and justice matter more than a university’s reputation. Until that time, this book is the first to help set the story straight, or at least as untangled as any case can be when witnesses with inconsistent and contradictory narratives were never interrogated, where law enforcement made obvious and blatant mistakes, and when reasonable doubt continues to mount.

GOODREADS

*Hardcover purchased from Barnes & Noble. All reviews written by Book-Bosomed Book Blog are honest opinions.