Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items by J.W. Ocker, read by Tim Campbell

This is super perfect book to read or listen too during the spooky season. The narration was spot on and honestly he hit accents perfectly and was appropriately snarky where written. There are well over forty different cursed objects discussed in this book. Objects that range from ones that are popular to ones a little more unknown. I was going to make a list of all the objects discussed but after thirty decided the list would be too long. So instead I will go over my four favorite items discussed.

Black Aggie

Black Aggie is an unauthorized replica by Edward Ludwig Albert Pausch based/stolen from Augustus Saint-Gaudens who made the Adams Memorial as a grave marker for Marian Hooper Adams and Henry Adams. The creepy thing about it is that the forgery apparently rests not too far from Marian Hooper Adams last known residence.

The curse is said to cause a pregnant woman to miscarriage is she walks through the shadow. Online sources even tell that if you sat in the replica’s lap you would die.

The Bronze Lady

The Bronze Lady sat in between two trees, opposite the mausoleum as if guarding the door to make sure no one should leave. It is said that if you slap or insult the statue you will suffer misfortune.

The Conjured Chest

Jacob Cooley was a plantation owner who had his slave Hosea make a chest of drawers for him. Jacob Cooley didn’t like it and beat Hosea to death. What resulted was curse that stated that it would be fatal for anyone of that family to use the chest.

0888 888 888

It’s said that anyone who owns this number dies. To date there has been only three owners, one being the CEO, who died of cancer. The second owner Konstantin Dimitrov was in the mafia and promptly assassinated. The third and final owner Konstantin Dishliev was gunned down outside a restaurant. The number has been disconnected since the previous death in 2005.

I found this story really interesting. I think the author did a really good job combining 'cursed objects' and their history, with a bit of skepticism and humor. I really liked the fact that there was a lot of history in this, not just the history of the objects, but also the history going on in the world around that time.

I enjoyed the voice of the person performing/reading this audiobook - easy accent, read well. Nothing to complain about.

For the actual content... I wasn't blown away, let's just say that. It was pretty bland and I'm sure there are better books about the same topic(s) out there. It felt too shallow, and I think it would have been great if there was more fleshed out. You can't have to much backstory in these cases - or even local folklore surrounding the objects and/or buildings . you want to know more. So I guess that's something Ocker managed to do - getting you interested into the whole "cursed objects"-thing.

I was fortunate enough to be gifted both an eBook and audiobook for review. This is a work of non-fiction but written in the narrative style I have grown to absolutely adore. J. W. gives us a wide range of objects and tells us the creepy origins to current location of each. I heard some of my old favorite trivia tidbits in there and enjoyed learning new ones.

Narration was well done. It felt like I was listening to a podcast like Lore and I didn't want to stop once it started. Beautiful book and I look forward to indexing it for future awkward conversations with strangers at parties. If the world ever has parties again...

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me a free ARC (audiobook) of Cursed Objects by J. W. Ocker. I loved it! I read an early version of this as an e-book, but I enjoyed the audio book version even more TBH. The narration was PERFECT. I love books about the occult and I am proud to add this to my collection. This book covers everything from the Hope Diamond to Shakespeare's grave and even dreaded chain emails. Breaking down the myth behind the most famous curses in history, this book is full of fun facts and interesting lore. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes spooky history facts!

This short book is filled with stories of the creepy, cursed objects we've all heard of as well as many that you maybe haven't. The history of each object is both detailed and concise, and as an audiobook, it was an interesting, quick listen that taught me about a few historical items I hadn't heard of while reminding me of some of the most famous ones.

The book did feel a little repetitive after a while, but that's also just the nature of a non-fiction book focusing on the history of well-known items that have haunted pasts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

My thoughts and feelings about this book are in no way influenced by the fact that it was given to me for review.
4/5 Stars

I very much liked that. I love learning about darker subjects and while I won't use any of this information, I did enjoy learning about all the objects immensely. The author has such a nice way of writing that makes it feel more like a fun lecture than a bogged down instruction.

I recommend this to anyone wanting a quick and informational read on the more macabre aspects of history. I think I'll look into the author's other books as well and see if there's anything else of theirs I'd like to check out.

I loved this and the narrator was fantastic. He has a great soothing voice.
This book is similar to a podcast I follow, some of the stories /information was the same but also learnt about some ones. Great job

This book was incredible! Even my 9 year old loved hearing the stories of cursed objects. There are some fascinating tales! Did you know... The Hobbit was thought to have come from the story of a real ring? Well...not one that had to be thrown into a volcano but you know...a cursed one?!

I loved listening to this as an audiobook and the author had the perfect eerie voice for it!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for granting me access to a review copy of Cursed Objects in exchange for an honest review. I received the audio ARC, so my review will include commentary on the narrator's performance and how I feel this book translated from a written text to a listening experience.

Cursed Objects is an interesting non-fiction collection of short essays on various cursed objects known to history from around the world. It starts by presenting its own curse to the reader if they choose to steal it or aid in its theft, then defines the difference between cursed and haunted objects, the latter of which are mostly excluded from the book. From there it begins with the big things everyone interested in cursed items has heard of: the Hope Diamond, King Tut, Otzi the Iceman, etc. From there it moves into lesser-known objects such as the unlucky mummy, and more modern objects such as James Dean's car Little Bastard, killer arcade game cabinets, and chain letter emails. The book also discusses suspiciously not cursed items and the author's own experimental purchase of a supposedly cursed dog statue.

I enjoyed the author's enthusiasm and humour about this macabre subject while still being as informative as possible. It was an immensely entertaining read, though I did begin to lose interest near the end with the discussion of electronic curses in the 21st century. I'm sincerely not sure if that's the fault of the book, or if I should have split my reading into two sessions to take a break somewhere in the middle. At just 5 hours 11 minutes, the audiobook is a very quick listen for those of us who prefer faster playback speeds, so I did turn this into a single afternoon sitting experience.

As someone who loves looking at old photographs and having a visual to attach to what I'm reading in history books, I do feel slightly robbed of the experience of all the photos and figures the print book contains while I was listening to the audiobook version, but not so much that I would decrease my rating for that alone. An omission I do feel hurt the book, on the other hand, is the lack of citations. The print book may have them, I don't honestly know, but the audiobook at least does not. There's no mention of footnotes or endnotes, and there was no reading of a works cited at the end. I acknowledge a properly formatted works cited wouldn't be a very interesting listen for the average listener, but it would fall at the end where anyone uninterested in the sources could end the session and mark the file as read. Perhaps this is the former history student in me uncomfortable at the thought of submitting a paper without citations, but I cannot turn a blind eye to the lack of even an indication that sources were noted down and kept track of.

The narrator's performance is strong, and his voice is well suited to this type of book. I listened mostly at 2x speed, and his voice remained clear and easy to understand. I'm not yet at the fangirl level with audiobooks that I seek out specific narrators, so I can't say I would specifically pick up an audiobook title because of this name, but it would certainly be a tipping factor if I were undecided on a title, and I would be happy to listen to more of his performances.

For the book itself: 4 stars.
For the narrator's performance: 5 stars.
Overall: 4-4.5 stars.

I'm a really rational person. I think critically about stuff, I can balance fiction and reality, I know objectively that curses are not real. But also let me tell you about how NOT to read this book.

DO NOT consume this book while walking your dog in the middle of the night in a dark park.

The narrator, Tim Campbell, has a really pleasant timbre to his voice that quickly turns menacing when you can't actually see what's farther than 5 feet ahead of you. He actually reminds me a lot of an American Neil Gaiman.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book if you enjoy funny things (that aren't trying to be So Cool) about creepy stuff (that may or may not be real, depending on your perspective) read by a nice-sounding man (who could also be a murderer WHO KNOWS).

I received a copy of this audiobook from NetGalley and Tantor Audio in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

Book 193 towards my goal of 280! 4/5 stars for this nonfiction read. Super interesting! Would make a great Spooktober read! Very quick tales of several interesting items! A quick listen, but totally worth your time! Really enjoyed the narrator for this one as well! Highly recommend!

*I received this book in exchange for honest review from Netgalley*

Learned a lot of interesting things. Thought it would be creepy but was presented in a fun way. Certainly makes you think

I loved this audiobook! Tim Campbell's narration adds the right amount of snark to match J.W. Ocker's humor. Some of the cursed objects will be familiar but I guarantee you'll learn something new!

I love microhistories, particularly any that have something to do with spooky things and or the supernatural, so this book seemed right up my alley. Spoilers, it was!

I’ve heard lots of these stories before, but I feel like every retelling adds something new to them, so it was cool to revisit tales I’d heard before, and there were plenty of objects in this collection that I’d never heard of at all. I especially liked how Ocker covers objects from all over the world. Each object has its own history, and I feel like a lot of is shaped by culture, so it was cool to see more objects and places than just America. Also, it’s neat to see the similarities between certain objects, their lore and legends across cultures.

It was a quick read, for sure, and provided excellent entertainment while working and sewing. Also, it’s September, which means it’s officially Halloween season, so this book helped me get a good start to my favorite time of year. Now, if we can just get the weather to chill out and stop being so hot, I think I can start enjoying fall to its fullest potential.

Cursed Objects comes out in just about a week, on September 15th, plenty of time to put you in the mood for Halloween, so be sure to keep an eye out for it.

I already knew I was a big J.W. Ocker fan so I was SO excited for Cursed Objects. As a big scaredy cat, I was a tiny bit nervous though that it would be scary, but thankfully it wasn't. There is an approachability to Ocker's writing style that comes through big time in Cursed Objects-whether you are a fan of humor, history, Americana, horror, or art history, there is something for everyone in this book. Each chapter made me laugh, think, and feel, which I think makes this basically a perfect book, The "cursed objects" each got just a few pages, yet within that short span, Ocker unearths the often moving pasts of these objects and posits why they each have such staying power in our histories and our cultural psyches. Although these objects span millennia, religions, and cultures, Ocker weaves a thread through them that speaks to their universality and the (un)suprisingly contemporary nature of their legends. This is my second book by Ocker and it too was delivered with his trademark humor, academic openness, and a seemingly inherent personal humbleness that certainly have me excited for whatever he chooses to write next. Lastly, I hate audio books, as in I can't listen to them at all, but the audio version of this was all I was able to get, and it is actually easy to listen to! (Although I'm still going to try to get a physical copy!)

I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. When I asked for this book, I was hoping for more of a history than pretending cursed things are real. I'm glad to say it is. I found this book really informative. I knew about some of the cursed objects while others were new to me. The author had a great tone. It wasn't dry, had some good moments of humor and was extremely fast paced to read. The only negative thing I can say is that it was very Westernized. I get that is where the most information is readily available but I would have loved more global gaze.

I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a very enjoyable entertaining survey of cursed items around the world. The author kind of separates the items by type at first, then by collection. The writing style lends itself to the audiobook format as the author has a conversational writing style. As stated, the book is a survey of cursed items and is fairly short. It was long enough to have just enough detail on the various objects, but short enough to keep your attention.

My only compliant is that I wished more time had been spent on the famous cursed items and on internet creepypastas.

Highly recommend if you're looking for a light non-fiction read during the Halloween season.

Author of New England Grimpendium and The Season of the Witch, Ocker has proved himself adept at telling tales of the weird, supernatural and unexplained. In his latest, he examines objects and places from all over the world. like the Hope Diamond and King Tut’s tomb that have supposedly “cursed” those who have come in contact with them. Campbell’s no nonsense narration is a good counterpoint to the fantastical tales

A fun jaunt down the path of the weird.
Fact is separated from fiction as a myriad of cursed objects are examined and their histories revealed.

If you’re a die hard curse/black magic type this may seem too light and brisk for you. If however you’re like the majority of folks who are mildly curious, you’ll learn some fun facts to bust out at the next cocktail party you attend.

Easy background listening.