STRANGE BUT TRUE: THE WEIRD HISTORY OF HAUNTED HOUSES

Every haunted house has a story. Some have several, and none of them agree.

Why do footsteps cross empty hallways? Who keeps knocking from inside sealed rooms? Why does the furniture move when nobody is watching—and why do so many ghosts seem determined to stay in houses with terrible plumbing?

STRANGE BUT TRUE: THE WEIRD HISTORY OF HAUNTED HOUSES opens the doors to centuries of eerie legends, famous investigations, clever hoaxes, unexplained disturbances, and genuinely strange events. Travel from ancient haunted dwellings and gloomy English manors to American mansions, abandoned prisons, cursed plantations, spirit photographs, séance rooms, and hotels where some guests apparently never checked out.

Along the way, discover the stories behind Borley Rectory, the Winchester Mystery House, the Bell Witch, the Myrtles Plantation, the White House ghosts, the “legally haunted” house of Nyack, and many other unsettling places around the world. Meet determined ghost hunters, shameless frauds, frightened families, skeptical investigators, and witnesses who insisted that something impossible happened inside their homes.

This entertaining history also explores the ordinary forces behind many hauntings, including hidden animals, creaking pipes, carbon monoxide, sleep paralysis, faulty memories, and the remarkable human ability to turn one suspicious noise into a fully employed ghost.

Funny, atmospheric, and packed with bizarre true stories, this book is perfect for fans of haunted history, paranormal mysteries, old houses, ghost hunting, and the wonderfully unsettling possibility that the previous owners may not have entirely moved out.