Book Review: Weird Hauntings by Mark Moran & Mark Sceurman

What a great book this was! Except I should get it out of the way right up front; there are some typos with the title, "Weird Hauntings: True Stories about the Most Haunted Sites in America." First, none of them are actually 'weird.' Or 'hauntings,' per se. And a great many of the stories were obviously not remotely 'true.' And the places were far from the 'Most Haunted Sites.' Also, I didn't think the book was great. However, I can confidently state that the 'in America' part was mostly true. I think they went to Canada at least once.

So this is basically a compilation of 'true ghost stories' compiled by some authors-some good, some not so good. For example, there were 2 or 3 stories in there from Joseph Citro, who is a brilliant writer who has compiled some awesome and extremely well researched spooky stories about Vermont in a few different books.

The rest of the authors are people who basically share local legends. There is a lot of 'haunted bridge here' and 'haunted train tracks there' kinds of things, and many stories about how you can 'sometimes' hear someone moaning or something at a lake at midnight on Halloween.

Throughout are lame Photoshop pictures of different 'ghosts' who appear to be predominantly the participants of a community college drama class who volunteered to be photographed in a number of scary poses in front of a green screen one afternoon. They're then badly edited into a number of cheesy backgrounds and are filtered until they look see-through or blurry or bloody or what have you.

A number of the stories are told without any apparent regard for witnesses. For example, one story says that a hermit could hypnotize rattlesnakes with his flute or something and would go up and shoot the snakes up on a mountain and would sell them at the local trading post for their skins. But then one day his flute didn't work on them and their eyes turned red and they hypnotized him and he couldn't reach for his gun and his body was found several days later, dead by snake bites, and everyone said 'why didn't he use his gun'?

So...who witnessed that story, to fill in the details on the red snake eyes and such? Did he have a hermit friend who maintained a safe distance from this scene, but was close enough to see what color the beady little snake eyes were? Did he have hermit binoculars? Did one of the snakes talk? Did the hermit psychically send a vision to a local medium?

Also, the normal haunted house stories all tend to skip over the most interesting parts. Like, they'll spend 3 pages talking about hearing footsteps and a feeling of being watched, and then it's "Other odd things happened as well. Once I fell asleep and woke up on my neighbor's roof, and the sky was purple and I could see into the future. Another time a strangely fascinating face appeared at my window and told me bizarre things. But scariest of all was the time that [something really boring and not scary] happened, which I'll go into a ton of detail on." Constantly. Why not fill us in on the awesome parts that you skipped over? Who the heck is editing this thing?

Overall, not a terrible read, but a shallow and 'non-filling' read. Some moderately interesting stuff but not enough to justify the time and effort required to read it all and filter it out.

FL

Flint Lockwood: [Hanging from a licorice rope held by Sam] Let go, Sam!

Sam Sparks: But you'll be stuck down there forever!

Flint Lockwood: It's not ideal, no. 

Sam Sparks: Come with us, Flint. We'll live underground, and use bacon for clothes. 

Flint Lockwood: That's not a very good plan, Sam. 

GW

I said before that George Washington is my favorite president, and I definitely meant it. There are so many things I admire about him that it's almost too many to count. An honest, God-fearing man, he was a chosen leader led directly by inspiration to set up the greatest country the world ever knew. Until we irrevocably screwed it up in the 20th and 21st centuries...

So apart from being a gifted military leader, a devout Christian, and a capable political leader, there's one thing about him that I think stands above everything else. Namely, when a friend, Lewis Nicola, wrote Washington a letter floating the idea that Washington establish himself as a monarch or king over America, Washington flatly dismissed the idea.

Would our current president dismiss the idea? Uh, no.

There are enough awesome Washington quotes to fill a full volume, but the following are some of my favorite. Can you even imagine a modern president saying anything like:

It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. 

The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. 

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected. 

Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth. 

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. 

Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. 

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. 

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it. 

The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it. 

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

SAoH

"Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it."

-Saint Augustine of Hippo

Book Review: Anytime, Anywhere by John H. Groberg

One of my very favorite books ever is John Groberg's "In the Eye of the Storm" which has been renamed "The Other Side of Heaven" after the movie version. "Anytime, Anywhere" is Brother Groberg's 3rd book, which is just a random grouping of spiritual stories from his many adventures living all over the world over the course of a 30-year stretch as a full-time general authority.

It's a great book. Often I sell the books I buy if I don't see myself picking them up again for a 2nd read, even years down the road. This one is a definite keeper. Great stories, really neat and interesting spiritual stuff, and just a whole lifetime of adventures that they had with their 11 kids, moving all over the world.

I particularly enjoyed the story of some Tongan saints who drove to SLC from California so they could present President Benson with a handmade blanket so he would be warm enough (this was at the end of his life when his health was very frail). They arrived and were honored to be allowed to leave the blanket in his office. They were leaving when President Benson's personal nurse called and asked if someone happened to be there to see the President. He spent most of his final days resting in bed but on this day got dressed and said someone was going to visit him that day. John Groberg took the Tongan saints over and translated for them, and they presented President Benson with the blanket, which he accepted sweetly and with thanks. The Tongans were so moved by the experience that no one said a word to each other on the entire return trip.

The only knock against the book is that it's a little heavy on the wrap-up. Each chapter is a memory and a story, but at least 1/3 of each of the chapters is kind of a 'here's what I learned and what we all can learn from this story" thing that he does. I think it's appropriate to put a little slug in there but in most cases it was literally 1/4-1/3 of the entire chapter. It's OK to let us draw our own conclusions, a little.

But don't let this stop you from checking it out if you have an interest. There's more than enough meat on the bone here. I wish more general authorities would write books like this. They're just simple spiritual stories, all of them neat. Some dramatic, some just small but cool. You know they all have interesting occurrences like this. Spill it! :)

MM

"Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort."

-Marshall McLuhan