Secret Obake Casebook

Rating:
Summary: The scariest of the "Chicken Skin" series
Review: I have collected all of Glen Grant's Obake (Japanese word for "ghost") books that I could get my hands on. My sister introduced me to these books a few years ago, which are the collected "stories of the supernatural" by Hawaii's reknown Time Walks host, Glen Grant. She gave me one a year as birthday presents, but I got impatient and tracked down the rest on my own.

His previous books (_Obake: Ghost Stories of Hawaii_, _Obake Files: Ghostly Encounters in Supernatural Hawaii_) focused on more folkloric ghost tales... urban legends, haunted places/objects, various spirits/ghosts/demons from Hawaii's multicultural heritage, etc. I think the reason I found this one scarier is because these stories are based on "actual" crime events... murder, rape, and suicide (the book includes a parental warning that, while he tries not to use unsuitably vulgar or graphic language, some parts of the book may be inappropriate for young children).

Mr. Grant is a fine storyteller (though there are several typos throughout the book, which I found a bit distracting). He has made a career of collecting people's personal stories of supernatural encounters and researched the connection to the myths and legends of Hawaii and her mult-ethnic people and acutal historic events. Even if you don't believe, it is a fascinating study in Hawaii's ethnic and social history. However, if you have spent any *real* time in Hawaii (I grew up there), you would have to acknowledge that the Land is very much alive... whether with local spirits, gods, or otherwise. My sister, an intelligent, practical person, could not read a few of his books at night. And if I still lived there, I would have been very uncomfortable too. OTOH, the stories also make me eager to find out more about Hawaii's recent and Ancient past. This is the mark of a good folklorist and storyteller.