Article
Paranormal activity: Perkins’ Recommended Reads
What was that noise? Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead. Samhain signifies “summers end” or November.
What was that noise?
Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead.
Samhain signifies “summers end” or November. Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and beginning of a new one. Many of the practices involved in this celebration were fed on superstition.
The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil and ensure next year’s crops would be plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.
Digital book (DB), braille (BR), large print (LT), and audio described videos (DVD) copies of these titles are available from the Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.
Prepared by Vicki Vogt
Registration Services Manager
Perkins Library
Bazaar of Bad Dreams
Stephen King
A collection of twenty old, new, and newly revised stories and poems from the master of horror and suspense. Each entry is introduced by King, with insights into their creation. The stories range from the mundane to the fantastic and horrific. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2015.
The Big Book of Ghost Stories
John Polk
Seventy-nine ghost stories—written over a span of more than a century—organized around themes such as haunted houses, trains, and seances. Includes tales by Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, H.P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, Chet Williamson, and others. With brief biographical sketches of the authors. Some violence and some strong language. 2012.
Download The Big Book of Ghost Stories
The Boy Who Drew Monsters
Keith Donohue
After nearly drowning, 10-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outdoors. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, Jack Peter spends his time drawing monsters—that take on a horrifying life of their own. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2014.
Download The Boy Who Drew Monsters
Conversion
Katherine Howe
When girls start experiencing strange tics and other mysterious symptoms at Colleen’s high school in Danvers, Massachusetts, rumors lead to full-blown panic. Only Colleen connects their fate to the ill-fated Salem Village three centuries ago. Some violence and some strong language. For senior high and older readers. 2014.
Dead In Good Company: A Celebration Of Mount Auburn Cemetery
John Harrison
A collection of essays and poems by noted authors and personalities about the famed “garden” cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2015.
Download Dead In Good Company: A Celebration Of Mount Auburn Cemetery
Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room, and Beyond
Mickey Bradley
The authors continue their anecdotes about weird happenings in the world of baseball begun in Haunted Baseball (DB 67877). In “New York’s New Jersey” a construction worker recalls burying Red Sox paraphernalia under the new Yankee stadium’s freshly poured concrete in 2007. 2010.
Download Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room, and Beyond
Ghost Ships of New England: Mysterious Tales of the Sea from Yankee History and Folklore
Christopher Rondina
Sixteen strange-but-true tales of phantom ships, spectral seafarers, haunted lighthouses and more are gathered in this spine-tingling collection by a gifted storyteller. 2009.
Download Ghost Ships of New England: Mysterious Tales of the Sea from Yankee History and Folklore
Gloucester’s Sea Serpent
Wayne Soini
A Gloucester native and local historian investigates one of his hometown’s most intriguing mysteries: did a Loch Ness-like sea monster really stop by its harbor in 1817? For high school and adult readers. 2010.
Download Gloucester’s Sea Serpent
Godzilla: The Official Movie Novelization
Greg Cox
An enormous mutated reptile battles MUTOs—Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms. These gigantic parasitic creatures feed on man-made radiation and now threaten humanity’s very existence. Violence and some strong language. 2014.
Download Godzilla: The Official Movie Novelization
Joe Citro’s Weird New England: Your Travel Guide to New England’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
Joe Citro
The six states of New England have produced more than their fair share of oddities, eccentrics, and things that go bump in the night. This spirited compendium of offbeat histories and unlikely tourist sites cheerfully presents scores of quirky attractions, from Fort Blunder, the mistake on Lake Champlain, to the smallest show on earth in Bridgeport, Connecticut. For high school and adult readers. 2005.
The Modern Guide to Witchcraft: Your Complete Guide to Witches, Covens, and Spells
Skye Alexander
This basic primer for the interested student of witchcraft is divided into two parts. Part one is an introduction to the history and types of witchcraft, including the toolkit any witch needs. Part two is a collection of spells that focus on positive thinking and supporting rituals. 2014.
Download The Modern Guide to Witchcraft: Your Complete Guide to Witches, Covens, and Spells
The Night Strangers
Chris Bohjalian
After pilot Chip Linton crash lands his plane into Lake Champlain, killing thirty-nine passengers, he, his wife, and their ten-year-old twin daughters escape to a small New Hampshire town. But their Victorian house is haunted, and the town is full of witches, who focus on the twins. Some violence, some strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2011.
O’ Artful Death
Sarah Steward Taylor
Intrigued by a macabre cemetery statue in a Vermont artists’ colony, Sweeney St. George, an unconventional young professor and art historian, is drawn into a one hundred-year-old murder–and faces a very modern killer–in this twisty mystery. Edgar Award Finalist. Contains some strong language. 2003.
On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears
Stephen T. Asma
Philosophy professor probes Western perceptions, phobias, and self-preservation instincts to examine the cultural and conceptual history of monsters. Describes strange animal encounters and manifestations in ancient and medieval times, and expounds on the biblical and scientific explanations of these creatures. Includes observations of humankind’s psychological demons. 2009.
Download On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears
Download Braille, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears
Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors
Joe Citro
Dozens of spooky mysteries, eerie events and ghostly encounters are gathered in this collection of true tales from every corner of New England. 1997.
Download Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors
The Raven and Other Poems
Edgar Allan Poe
A selection of eerie and mysterious poems written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Includes “The Raven,” which made him famous in 1845, and the haunting lilt of “Annabel Lee.” Introduction by Philip Pullman. For grades 6-9 and older readers. 2000.
Download The Raven and Other Poems
Download Braille, The Raven and Other Poems
The Secret of Bog Lane: An Ancient Evil Reaches from a Seaside American Town into the Heart of the Amazon Jungle
Americo Tulipano
A family settles into a Cape Cod home with an unusual subterranean tropical garden. Thousands of miles away in the Brazilian jungle, an explorer makes a disturbing offer to an isolated tribe. Ancient evil finds a high tech host in this gripping thriller. Violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2011.
Trick or Treachery
Donald Bain
Cabot Cove, Maine. After warning that the ghost of the town’s legendary murderess will soon rise to wreak havoc, paranormal investigator Lucas Tremaine crashes a Halloween party, where one of the guests is murdered. Mystery writer—and costumed attendee—Jessica Fletcher must determine who was the killer. 2000.
The Witches of Eastwick
John Updike
Eastwick, Rhode Island; 1960s. Thirtysomething divorced witches Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie would eventually like to conjure up new husbands for themselves. But their powers remain largely unfocused until a rich, vulgar, sexy stranger moves to town. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 1984.
Download The Witches of Eastwick
Download Braille, The Witches of Eastwick
Witches: Salem, 1692
Stacy Schiff
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra (DB 72130) examines the Salem Witch Trials, which began in 1692 in Massachusetts, ending less than a year later with nineteen men and women hanged. Schiff details how the panic spread during a pivotal moment of American history. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2015.
