by Ellen Datlow
First published 2019
This collection brings together thirty supernatural tales that range from traditional hauntings to bizarre manifestations. The anthology opens with Paul Tremblay's "Ice Cold Lemonade 25¢ Haunted House Tour: 1 Per Person" and moves through stories like Joyce Carol Oates' "The Surviving Child" and Alice Hoffman's "The Other Woman." Each story explores different aspects of ghostly encounters, from M.L. Siemienowicz's memory-haunted characters to Seanan McGuire's height-restricted horrors in "Must Be This Tall To Ride." The collection includes both contemporary voices like Stephen Graham Jones and classic reprints from F. Marion Crawford. These tales span campfire scares and literary explorations of the supernatural, covering everything from puppet motels to hungry ghost dogs. The stories examine how the dead linger among the living, whether through violent hauntings, gentle visitations, or the absence of expected spirits entirely.
Genres: anthologies, horror, supernatural, ghost-stories
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, literary-horror, supernatural-elements
816 pages · Paperback · Saga Press
Content warnings: death