This is a really interesting collection of haunted objects and locations. I really enjoy how both the written narration from the author and talent from the audiobook narrator come together to produce a humorous yet compelling work. This is one I found having a physical copy of the book was beneficial for as there were some items in the books I wasn't familiar with and it was nice having the illustration.

Do you believe in ghosts? In magic? What about curses? Have you ever come across an object or a place that you think was cursed?

This book is all about things that are supposedly cursed to bring bad fortune on the owners. The cursed objects range from jewelry to dolls to cars to chain letters. (Modern chain letters aren’t exactly physical objects, but who among us hasn’t been threatened with something bad happening if we don’t forward a letter or email or Facebook post to 15 of our closest friends?)

The author’s tone is spot on. He doesn’t take the supposed curses too seriously, but he also doesn’t make fun of them (much). His tone makes the book a fun, quick, slightly spooky (but never scary) read. You can easily read this one for a few minutes at a time or settle in for a long spooky indulgence. I listened to the audiobook which was great, but then I learned that the physical book has pictures and now I wish I’d read that version!

Have you ever come across something you think is cursed? Or been to a cursed place? Tell me about it!

This is a quick listen that is well-performed to capture the humor amongst the stories comprising of a list of cursed objects worldwide. The audio is great for listening in little doses at a time - the topics quickly change and Ocker refreshes any memory lapses if an object that was previously introduced appears again.

I'm sure that this would make for a fun cocktail book to have out around Halloween, when more people are typically interested in these types of stories. And while many here are expected to be in this collection -from the Hope Diamond to King Tut's tomb treasures, there are also items that newer to the pop cultural realm, like the items investigated by the Warrens that have since inspired many films - not to mention countless items that I had never heard of at all!

As an audiobook, this is a fast and fun listen - great for short jaunts around town - though it could also serve as quite a fun discussion starter on a road trip to see the autumn leaves! And for those interested in the darker sides of history, there are plenty of jumping off points introduced here that can be a foundation for more in-depth research elsewhere. This was fun!

Whether or not you believe in cursed objects is not the point in this story. This story focuses on the back stories of many cursed objects. It even touches slightly on voodoo dolls!! Everyone that I know has either a good luck charm or an object that nobody is allowed to touch or bad things will happen..... Elf on the shelf anyone?

Listening to the objects and their stories was refreshing. The hope diamond was a big one for me after watching the titanic in my younger years. To know that many "cursed" objects can merely be bought of Ebay is a tad concerning, but to each their own. This book will look fantastic on my shelf and I think my 12 year old will find just as much interest and joy in it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed this collection of true stories of some of the creepiest things out there. Some of the stories I have heard before but some of them were new and that’s always interesting. Knowing that these things are out there always seems to make the movies about them more real. Even if for example the Annabel doll really doesn’t look like a Victorian era creepy doll.

If you are a fan of true story high creepy factor then this collection is something for you to read or listen too. Thanks to NetGalley for providing the audio book for review.

Happy reading!

I got this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Cursed Objects is a non-fiction book that has a look at all kinds of cursed objects from around the world. It looks at famous items like the Hope diamond but it also looks at a lot of lesser-known items so if you have a bit of background knowledge like I do I doubt you'll find this book is just repeating stories you've already heard, this was a major positive for me

I really enjoyed the witty humour in this book. I wasn't sure what type of tone it would take but I'm glad it didn't take itself too seriously

This book crosses over my love of history and my love of all things that are weird so if you're a lover of either of these things then I recommend this book to you. Also, we're in the month of October which means its now spooky season so this is the perfect book to celebrate

Have you ever alternated between physically reading a book and listening to the audiobook - or, read along with an audiobook? That's how I read this book. Unfortunately, I think I did this because I wanted to learn about the cursed objects, but didn't love the narration or the writing. Note: The physical book has some drawings to see.
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When I first read bout this book and the books structure I was hopeful for creepy short stories about cursed objects throughout history. This was my mistake. I guess I was hoping for spooky takes about haunted objects and that's something completely different. In actuality, this is a collected history and suspected history for the cursed objects. I felt like the narrator for the audiobook had an animated gimmicky tone. Although, some of the writing and phrases used by the author are also a bit hoaky, and weirdly casual.
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Basically this book wasn't the book I thought it was going to be. I found it pretty bland. It wasn't really for me.

Intriguing and very well done, it's a pretty straight forward approach with how the author projected his finds in a nonfictional manner. This is definitely a book for friends and family who are enthusiasts of dark lore, occult, and other supernatural endeavors.

Ocker provides a broad overview of various cursed objects and the history and traditions which are behind them. I found the selection to be generally diverse and interesting, going far and beyond the classic Annabelle and Hope Diamond stories I was expecting. The writing was also pretty entertaining with the author having made a clear effort to bring humour to an otherwise dark subject.

Unfortunately, in reading this in audiobook format I think I missed out on a great deal by lacking the visuals of these objects. My reading experience was further hampered by this as an audiobook because the chapters were so short and created their own narrative - which made it personally difficult to keep track of what was happening and the lore of a given object. As such, I would recommend this book in an ebook/hardcopy format.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Tantor Audio in exchange for an honest review.
What a wonderful treat for the spooky season! Cursed Objects is a nonfiction book all about various cursed objects/relics from around the world. It presents a whole host of various objects with their legends and mostly leans on the skeptical side, giving it a really fun and enjoyable tone. I really liked the format of this book. It is split up into fairly small chunks (each segment of the audio book is around 5-10 minutes) which makes for very easy listening. I loved that I could dip in and out of it, and that listening to the end of each section wasn't a huge commitment.

The audiobook itself is pretty short but it is absolutely packed full of information. It covers a large range and variety of cursed objects, and I found every story interesting in some way. I will say, while I did enjoy the audiobook enormously I would probably recommend buying this as a physical book rather than an audio one. It was a great audiobook but you are told that the physical book has illustrations which I am sad I missed out on, and I think the information would have been slightly easier to digest had I read it with my eyes rather than my ears. But if you want something to listen or experience more casually, then the audiobook is definitely the way to go.

Overall, I strongly recommend this audiobook/book. It's a fun collection of spooky information told well, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Cursed Fun

Audiobook Review:
I am still relatively new to audiobooks, and I found this one to be an incredible delight, more than I thought it would be. I reviewed it in early autumn, the perfect time to consider cursed objects with Halloween right around the corner. The book has so many little factoids and stories to keep your interest, and the narrator of this audiobook was fantastic. He had an almost tongue-in-cheek approach, like he was in on a joke and sharing it with you, evoking a surprisingly light-hearted tone and inviting you to be amused along with him. He even added accents and surprising inflections here and there that added to the fun. Despite the title, this is not a horror-filled or scary book at all. The stories for each object are first introduced with some facts, like the original time period, current resting place, and how many people have been supposedly affected by the curse. Many objects are well-known, like the Hope Diamond and King Tut's tomb, but others are less widely known—at least to people like me who don't have a particular interest in this subject. If you have any interest in cursed objects or just like a creepily fun book to listen to or read for Halloween, this book could be right up your alley.

What a great read for autumn. I love this book and played it for my kids. Its fun for anyone who is interested in ghost stories and the like.

Horror is one of my favorite genres. The Conjuring, Insidious, Sinister . . . Anything supernatural or haunted and I’m totally there!

When I first saw Cursed Objects available to request on NetGalley, I rolled the dice and hit “request.” There was a 50/50 chance I would be approved for something that was so incredibly up my alley. I anxiously awaited a response.

We won’t mention how I thought it had been an eBook and not an audiobook. Oops.

Bing! New email alert.

“The book you requested is ready for download. Let us know what you thought!”

Holy shit. SERIOUSLY?? Hell yes!!

Until I realized I requested the audiobook instead of the eBook. Oi vey. I must have been too excited about the book to notice that huge detail.

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love audiobooks, but this . . . This one wouldn’t be the same. I would be missing out on all the stunning photographs that accompanied the text. How was I supposed to know what Robert the Doll looked like?? (Spoiler alert, I already know what he looks like. But he was the first one one the top of my head that I could think of that was mentioned.)

But, holy batsmokes, Batman! The narrator completely made up for that. Tim Campbell completely blew me away with his narration of the various cursed objects and their histories. He was phenomenal! There were times where Tim Campbell’s voice would drop into a Scottish or Irish accent and I nearly died. I can’t get over how well he speaks, and how drawn into these items’ worlds I was because of how he spoke.

Damn, y’all.

Bravo, Mr. Campbell, bravo! You had me hanging on your every word. Also, please narrate some more horror.

J. W. Ocker’s Cursed Objects is about just that: cursed objects around the world with an account of how they supposedly became haunted. Or cursed, I guess. The objects ranged from ones you may know from pop culture—Annabelle in the Warren’s Occult Museum—to the not-so-known—a cursed chair now hung on a bar wall so no one winds up victim.

I must say, I really wanted to take a trip around the world to see all these items myself! I can never get enough of the supernatural realm. Too bad the world is too hectic right now or I might have snatched a ticket to London, or Zac Baggin’s museum in Las Vegas by now.

J. W. Ocker’s Cursed Objects was phenomenal and just in time for the spooky season. I obsessively listened to the audiobook, dying to learn about the next haunted item on the list.

I could not get enough of that narrator, though! If Tim Campbell narrates anything else, someone please send it my way!

And if there are more haunted, horror, or cursed items books coming out, you’ll know where to find me!

Full of factual tidbits, told in a storytelling manner, I found this easy to listen to and follow. It is more of a chronicle of items in the world that have been considered cursed, their place in history and the circumstances concerning their stature. Good audiobook for commuting because it’s broken into short sections for each object.

This was easily one of the most interesting AND entertaining books I have had the pleasure of listening to this year. I really enjoyed this is book in audio format but I think this is just one of those books that NEED to be held in your hand and I cant wait to buy my own copy!

If you want to learn about some of the most infamous, creepy, and bizarre real-life cursed objects throughout history then I highly recommend you grab a copy of this book


I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great introductory guide to the legends of various cursed objects. It was interesting, though not especially scary, and the narrator did a good job telling their stories. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Unfortunately I am unable to provide feedback as this was archived. Bummed was looking forward to this audiobook. I think with the app I was struggling to download quickly when not connected to WiFi. I apologize to the publisher.

Cursed Objects did not live up to my expectations. The narrator was great and there were lots of stories about cursed objects, but I was expecting some seriously scary history about these objects. I wanted stories that creeped me out or as the description mentions this being a chilling volume. None of this happened to me. I found that the book seemed more like a skeptic's guide to cursed objects which would be perfectly ok but that's not the impression I got from reading the galley's description.

I think this book would be great for readers who are easily creeped out and want to hear the "myths" behind the cursed objects, followed up by the facts. The facts quickly demolished any creepy I felt about the book. This book does a great job of telling the reader what people wanted to believe about the objects versus what really happened. If that's what you're looking for, then be prepared to thoroughly enjoy this book.. If you're looking more for something in the horror genre, then you should probably look elsewhere.

I'm giving this book 3 stars because it has lots of good information but it doesn't live up to the hype of being "scary."

Listened to this as an audiobook. Loved it! Many of the cursed objects in this book I had heard about previously but still learned some info about them I did not know before. And there were several I had never heard about. Learned so much and am now eager to learn even more. Loved the author’s snark and humor and the narrator chosen for this audiobook was fantastic. Four and a half stars.

I was utterly thrilled when NetGalley announced they had started to also make audio books available. I had only recently gotten into audio books after mostly listening to podcasts beforehand. One of the first I requested was Cursed Objects by J.W. Ocker because... well, come on! This is my first audio book review, but I will be covering many of the same points. Thanks to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review.

Cursed Objects starts out with its very own curse, warning the reader against stealing the book. This is a very wise warning as it is, as Ocker himself admits, the most comprehensive compendium of cursed objects in the world. You don't want to mess around with those. And yet Cursed Objects is full of people messing around with these objects. Why do we believe in curses and especially in cursed objects? Some objects make sense. Of course some of the rich people who owned the Hope Diamond got themselves into weird situations. Others make less sense. But how can an object make you see werewolves? Ocker makes it clear you don't have to believe in cursed objects to enjoy reading about them, nicely side-stepping the question some may go into the book with.

Cursed Objects starts if with an explanation of cursed objects and how they differ from the other paranormal objects we may be used to. It was a nice little technical section before getting into the different sections of the book which cover different types of objects. One of my favourite stories is 'The Ring of Silvianus' which is in the first section 'Cursed Under Glass', which is closely linked (at least in pop culture awareness) to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. I was also fascinated by the last few sections that looked at the business of cursed objects and why certain objects that we might expect to be cursed aren't. It really broadened the book and added something of more interest.

Cursed Objects isn't a scary book. Those wanting to gasp out loud and be horrified may be slightly disappointed, but those wanting to hear fun stories about weird objects will feel right at home. There is a real levity to the book that I enjoyed. It's a joy to read about/listen to stories about objects from all across the world and it is very clear that Ocker has a respect for these objects and the cultures they stem from. He does his best to tread lightly and with respect wherever cultural misunderstandings are a possibility. The research that has gone into this book shows Ocker's personal commitment to the topic.

Tim Campbell is a great narrator who really brings out all of Ocker's hard work, which is everything you could ask for from a narrator. His tone is serious when discussing the more seirous aspects of these objects, but also very humorous when the book calls for it. The audio book I listened to was about 5 hours long, which is the perfect length. It is something that can be listened to in one go or dipped into occasionally for the different stories. I will definitely be going back to this and re-listening.

I absolutely adored Cursed Objects. It was a joy to listen to and I will definitely be looking for a hard copy as well. Ocker is an author I will be keeping an eye on and Campbell did a great job as a narrator.