Haunted Highways: Ghost Stories and Strange Tales

by Dan Asfar

Lights on the road. Ghost hitchhikers. Eerie covered bridges. In this fascinating collection, Dan Asfar shows how ordinary streets and highways can suddenly become terrifying haunts. Based on true accounts, these stories may force you to think twice before driving late at night.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1894877292
• ISBN13: 9781894877299
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Ghost House Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Author takes liberties with the material, but entertains

I don't really believe in the supernatural to begin with, but I find ghost stories very amusing, so I gave this book a shot. Most of the tales are local urban legends from numerous places in North America and Great Britain. Some are familiar, some were new to me. Almost any of the accounts can be found in some form on the Internet. What the author adds is some context and back story, although a little research on almost any of the tales will find that the author has either exaggerated or fabricated freely to do so. For example, in the tale of the hitch-hiking ghost on Arkansas highway 365, the author makes claims, without being specific, that the ghostly girl asking for a ride home always went back to a specific home in Woodson where the bewildered motorist would actually meet the parents of the unfortunate girl years after her death. Years go by and the parents died or moved away or something, but the girl kept returning to the same home. Well, that's very interesting. This story occurs in various incarnations in a lot of regions, but here the author claims that in this instance there are some verifiable people (unnamed) involved -- the actual parents of the dead girl, and also an identifiable home that she is returning to. Presumably they (the parents) could be found and questioned or at least found out about. A little searching on the Internet reveals that this is not the cases at all. The legend in Arkansas has just as many discrepancies and variations as anywhere else, and there is no one house or even town where it is claimed that the girl returns to, and there is no indication of who the girls family is or was. The reason is simply that its just a localization of a common urban myth, with no evidence of its veracity forthcoming. The author simply stated a variation of the tale as fact, possibly even embellishing it. No big deal. Its very entertaining. Just don't take any of it too seriously.

This Book Is Exactly What It Should Be

As someone who is a big fan of the ghost story genre I'm always a bit annoyed by folks who take these books too seriously. What they don't seem to understand is that even some of the most famous "true" ghost stories are based on easily disproved evidence and questionable eyewitness testimony, so it's just plain self-defeating to complain when a book like this cheats a bit on the facts. How fun would it be to read a book of ghost stories where the author proves that there was no ghost in every single story? I'm a big believer in the supernatural, but I'm smart enough to know that only a very small percent of the stories told in nonfiction ghost books are actually credible. Of course Mr. Asfar ignored a few facts here and there "for dramatic flair", because he knew how boring the book would be if he didn't! A book like this shouldn't be judged by how "factual" it is, but by how much it manages to entertain the reader. By that standard I liked this book a lot. Yes, the author is fond of descriptive words, but he uses them in a way that is justified by these stories' obvious hyperbole and yes he did use the word "horrible" a lot in one story, but in fairness to him he was talking about something that was really horrible! He also understands that most of his readers probably are younger folks looking for good campfire fodder and aren't humorless devotees of the paranormal who are looking to him to confirm their beliefs. I urge you not to take the negative review below too seriously, as the reviewer obviously has an agenda of some kind and is nitpicky to the point of absurdity (her complaint that each and every story doesn't take place directly on a highway being particularly laughable as even the most slack-jawed of junior high school student could tell you that the title was probably chosen more for its alliterative qualities than any intended emphasis on a particular form of roadway). If you're looking for a book of serious supernatural journalism, then this isn't a book for you (although it has been my experience that most of those more serious books take just as many liberties with the facts as this one does), but if you are looking for a light, fun read that will give you something to talk about on a dark, spooky night, then I highly suggest that you pick it up.

If you like ghost stories you should read this book!

This book as many scary and informative stories and is a very enjoyable read. If you know nothing about ghosts, or even if you do, this book is a great rad for anyone who likes reading about ghosts. All of the books in the Ghost Stories series are great, especially Haunted Schools and Haunted Highways! Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. None of the stories in this cololection are boring or incomplete, although some might leave you guessing. I particularly enjoyed the scary stories, but there are all different kinds, too. You should get this book!