Canadian Ghost Stories

Rating:
Summary: Less than spine-tingling ghost stories
Review: The book's title already tells about its content -- ghost stories from Canada. A big part of the book are narratives about people's supernatural encounters who shared their stories with the author. In the introduction, Barbara Smith points out that people have occasionally been "so overwhelmed by their experience that they have not been able to recall all the details. " (p 9) That's understandable, yet what remains is the doubt that a thorough research of circumstances could have helped to fill the gaps. Additional to the first-hand experiences people kindly shared with Barbara Smith, the author tells some more or less spooky folklore tales from all over Canada. She even adds the tragedy of "one ship [... which] will haunt our collective consciousness forever." (p 93) One may wonder why she felt the need to add the Titanic's horrible fate in a book about Canadian ghost stories. Barbara Smith doesn't fail to explain that to her readers: "My purpose here is to remind you that the ship will always be connected with Canada. The Titanic sank onto the underwater Newfoundland Ridge, and many of the recovered bodies are buried in Canadian soil in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Oh yes, and aboard the Titanic was an ancient, evil, Egyptian mummy whose ghost is known to have left a trail of deaths in its ruinous wake." (p 97/98) What has the Egyptian mummy to do with Canada?

The book is divided into six chapters -- "Haunted Houses," "Transported To Beyond" (ghost stories about traveling in or around Canada), "Spirit Snippets" (supernatural experiences from callers to various phone-in shows on radio stations), "The Spirit's Inn" (haunted hotels), "Historically Haunted," and "They Came Back" (incidents of people's spirits coming back). Despite the interesting theme, Barbara Smith's presentation of those ghost stories makes them sound boring. It just isn't enough to quote people having told her that "the ghost is said to still haunt the house." (p 57) In which way? Why? Such details are missing throughout the book.

However, something else is not missing -- Barbara Smith continues to enumerate the other ghost stories books she already published. At one point she even mentions having presented "a writing course to aspiring authors [...] for several years, at least a couple of times each year." (p 238). Those remarks aren't really professional -- she could have mentioned her earlier works and activities in the introduction or maybe in a final conclusion. However, they are out of place during a story, interrupting it rather than letting it flow. The author's narrative style strives to address the reader by asking questions like "Is there such a thing as ghosts? Isn't there such a thing as ghosts?" and to include the reader in the immediate answer: "I don't think we can ever know for sure." (p 10)

Readers hoping for "chilling paranormal tales" and "spine-tingling stories of the supernatural" as promised on the book's back will be disappointed by "Canadian Ghost Stories," yet readers who are just interested in Canada's ghostly folklore without deeper research or detailed description of a haunting might be well entertained by Barbara Smith's ghost stories collection.