A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts by Leanna Renee Hieber, Andrea Janes

 
A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts by Leanna Renee Hieber, Andrea Janes
My Rating: ★

I received a copy from Kensington Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this ARC because I was interested in the stories behind the hauntings of America in addition to the known hauntings and ghost sightings of women that sounded extremely interesting. I don’t know if the final edit of the book is better than what I read, but the ARC I read is in a state of confusion. It can’t seem to decide what it wants to be: the story behind hauntings, historical events, historical sights, famous hauntings, feminist manifestos, feminism and justice, but sometimes something about justice but the exact point didn’t quite land. I think all of these things would make great subjects on their own as well as smaller groups of them in combination, but not all of them together in one book.

I also find it strange that not a single haunting covered throughout the chapters were personally witnessed by the authors. That seemed like it would be a given due to the author’s personal experiences. One runs a ghost tour company in addition to being a tour guide for said company. The other declares that they have a long history with spirits. However, we don’t get to see their personal experiences with any spirits or any kind of ghost sighting at any point throughout the book. The opening was wonderful and interesting. It made it seem like we, the readers, were about to be in for quite the read given their experiences in addition to wanting to bring facts to the table. That fizzled out fast and I read a mishmash that wasn’t quite sure what it wanted to be while also not having personal experiences with at least one of the hauntings.

That said, there was some good and interesting information covered. There were even some historical facts on things that happened that I was unaware of. I had heard of the events, but I didn’t know what happened after or about the alleged hauntings. However, these things were overshadowed by the rest of the book, which made me reach the final chapter feeling like I had some kind of metaphorical whiplash. Parts of it were solid on their own, but together, I think that different parts of the book would’ve worked out much better being explored as separate books.