A good read for the Halloween season. An interesting collection of purportedly paranormal activities linked to violent and sudden deaths around the United States with information on each location. Perfect for paranormal enthusiasts.

I loved this eerie book! I’ve read many Ann Rule books and was super excited to see one written by her daughter. It definitely didn’t disappoint. Like her mother, Leslie Rule is a gifted and talented writer. Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, this book will make you think twice. The painstaking amount of research that was done is obvious in this book. It isn’t just a retelling of ghosts of stores. Each location and story was carefully researched for background and facts. So not only do you get the ghost stories, you get an interesting history of each of these locations. She takes you aboard the Queen Mary, to haunted hotels and across the country to investigate these stories. Great read!

This is a great book if you enjoy real ghost stories. The stories aren’t necessarily scary, but several have a chill factor to them. What I enjoyed the most was the updates that followed many of the stories. Not all of the stories featured an update, but the ones that did were great to have to give more information on the ghost story. I love ghost stories and this didn’t disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McNeel Publishing for advanced access to the audiobook of Haunted in America: True Ghost Stories from The Best of Leslie Rule Collection in exchange for an honest review.

This was....hokey. I think of myself as not a true believer in the supernatural, but I don't doubt the occurrence of unexplainable events. I believe anything is possible and ghost stories can be fun. Thrills and chills make for good entertainment and can teach us rather interesting thing about human nature and where we place our value as a society. So I think this book had potential, which is of course, why I requested to read it. Leslie Rule lost my attention at several points throughout this collection, especially when she got into her pattern of pre-explaining the ghost stories, then telling the story itself, then providing follow up to the story. I realize that this is a collection of stories taken from her earlier writings, but as someone who has never read from this author before, I would have appreciated a bit more editing for a more cohesive narrative.

Rule lost a bit of creditability for me the longer the book went on. Throughout the book, I felt that Rule's tone was more self-congratulatory than was warranted, often citing the ethos of her mother, famed true crime writer Ann Rule, as proof of her own substance as a researchers and writer. She seems to place decisive judgements on some of these ghost stories, finding several loose arguments to convince readers of the ever-present supernatural when it may have been more parsimonious to say, "Yeah, this is an old building, it's gonna make some weird noises". Coincidence is usually a more likely answer to these so called "mysteries" and "hauntings". While I do appreciate Rule's perspective that we need not fear ghosts, but rather they are presence to listen to and learn from, I wish she would have adopted the same attitude of ambivalence when it came to their very existence. Any speaker on any topic gains my respect when they are willing to say "I don't know, and I might be wrong." Rule does no such thing. In fact, near the end of the book, she seems to double down on the existence of ghosts, saying several times in the final chapters that you may never know if the strangers you see on the street are ghosts or not.

Overall, this was a brain popcorn read. Mildly entertaining, but didn't offer much substance.

I have always loved reading about ghost stories. It seems everyone has some spooky encounter with the afterlife and no two stories are alike.

The segues from one story to another were flawlessly done. Leslie Rule did a great job with this collection.

Most stories were pretty spooky - especially all the children stories!

I listened to the audiobook version of this book and I thought the narration was a bit dry for my liking. This was the only downside for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a chance to listen to this audiobook in exchange of my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I've always loved stories about the supernatural and the occult and what could be more fun than listening to an audiobook of real people's experiences about ghosts and the paranormal? I binge listened to this audiobook for an entire day until my ears ached and I wasn't sorry because it did not disappoint.

The book does not pretend to influence your beliefs about the supernatural and neither does it answer the age-old question of ghosts being real or not, but it neatly lays out a compilation of other people's experiences with specters and restless souls. It's up to you to decide whether they merit belief or not.

I love how the author seamlessly flows from one story (not sure if I should call it story or experience) to another, all interesting and all worthy of attention. It's not tiresome and it's not slow. If nothing else, this book makes me look forward to more ghost stories straight from the mouth of people who've experienced encounters firsthand.

Oh, I love the narration too. Exquisite and easy on the ears.

I actually managed to find this as a library copy in time for Halloween, and really enjoyed it. It wasn't until I was about half way through that I realised the author was the daughter of True Crime Queen Ann Rule, who I have also really enjoyed reading.

I am not a fan of anything too scary, so this book was absolutely perfect to listen to - ghostly stories but nothing too creepy or scary. I also enjoyed the little anecdotes that Rule slipped in here and there about her mother and their shared belief in ghosts and the afterlife. I also really appreciated the little updates that Rule had after many of her stories (which had been previously published in some of her other books), and it was really interesting to see how the advent of the internet had really helped her research her various cases and ghostly interactions.

I also really liked the narrator. She brought a real warmth to the stories, and it felt almost like sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories to friends, which was totally the vibe I was getting from the book as well.

A wonderful grouping of ghostly encounters for anyone interested in the paranormal.

I love Ann Rule true crime book, but this is the first book I’ve read by Leslie Rule. I will definitely be reading more of her work.

I’ll admit, I picked this book after binge-watching every episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, and I was a little nervous. I’m usually turned off by traditional “ghost hunter” stuff because I think it comes off as gimmicky, but this was fun. At no point did I feel like Rule was trying to scare me. She was simply presenting the information as she would a true crime case.

Overall, this was a fun read. The narrator was absolutely perfect!

3 stars

This is a “best of” collection of ghost stories drawn from a paranormal researcher’s previous anthologies, most of which include an update section. I like how much variety this collection has, & that the writer doesn’t focus on scary or grotesque stories.

[What I liked:]

•There are 17 chapters organized thematically, each one full of several ghost stories based on interviews with the people who encountered them & supplemented by archival research. If you like ghost stories, there’s a lot to enjoy here!

•I appreciate that the writer’s focus is not on especially macabre or evil or scary stories. There are certainly tragic ones, but there are plenty of heartwarming ones too. She attempts to humanize the people involved in these stories, both the ghosts & those who encounter them.

•I’ve never read any of this writer’s books before, but I thought it was cool how she included updates sections for the chapters, some of which were first published nearly 20 years ago. The updates include any further research the writer has done, & sometimes changes in her own perspective on the stories. Those were interesting.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The writing style is a bit cheesy at times.

CW: suicide, murder, child abuse, child death, domestic violence, substance abuse

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

This is a great collection of ghost stories and haunted places. I got the impression that these stories were all told in previously published books, but this collection will appeal to both new and existing readers - she has included new updates to the stories, providing new material throughout.

I like that it is broken into differently themed sections; I think this is a book that you don't have to read from start to finish, but can just pick up and find an interesting tale or two. I listened to the audio version; the narrator was good, but I think this is a book I would prefer to read versus listen to. It also sounded like there were probably some pictures in the book, I would have liked to see those.

Do I believe in ghosts? I really do not know. But the idea of them fascinates me. So, this book hit the spot. I really want to travel to many of these places and see what happens! Don’t laugh…I really do!!

Leslie Rule is the daughter of the author Anne Rule. She has a lot of her mother’s insight in this book. Leslie has a wealth of knowledge and she has done a ton of research on the history of these places and the people who possibly haunt them. She even added the story of the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis. I have heard this story numerous times. I loved hearing about through Leslie’s eyes!

The narrator, Lisa Flanagan did an excellent job. She is very matter of fact and sincere.

Need a great book about true life hauntings…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this audiobook from the publisher for a honest review.

A collection of unexplained ghost stories with some historical elements but with mostly just speculation offered as to the potential causes.

Given the amount of times the author mentions that she "investigates" paranormal phenomenon, the fact that there is no actual investigations including in this book was surprising. There's a real brief mention of EVP but that's it. If you're after paranormal investigation stories, this book is likely to disappoint.

This book is nothing more than a mostly interesting collection of second and third hand accounts worthy of the Midnight Society.

Something I need to mention is that I don't feel the inclusion of Debbie Constantino's death was appropriate. The author states that they were friends (but wasn't aware she had be murdered?) but it honestly comes across as though the author just wanted to use the stories that Constantino was also involved in. It also felt like the author was trying to excuse Mark Constantino's actions because she "didn't want to believe he was evil". The entire inclusion of the Constantinos felt completely unnecessary.

The narration was adequate and in line with the author's desire to create fascination and not fear in her readers.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free digital copy of this book to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

Do you believe in ghosts? I can’t decide!! These stories certainly make it seem like they are out there! Some of them are so realistic it’s crazy. I thought the author did a good job of explaining ghosts, how they appear to people, and also honoring those who have passed.

🌀Synopsis
A collection of ghost stories. There is a combination of old and new. Ghosts that speak, appear, follow people, move objects, etc. There are so many different locations and situations, plus the stories that are told come from all different people- not just the author.

Haunted America is from the previous books on ghosts and hauntings by Leslie Rule. I am familar with her mother; Ann Rule but had no idea Leslie Rule wrote about spirits. The book is very interesting and Rule is always careful to give archival history about any story that may be related to a haunting. I enjoy this quite a bit and will look into her other books.
Recomended if you want more than just urban legends about ghost.
The narrator of this book did an excellent job keeping the listener engaged.
Thanks to @netgalley for the oppertunity to listen to thie Audibook in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion

I didn't think the narrators were a good choice for this book. They did not add any mystery or suspense to the stories. Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Audio for an ALC of this novel in exchange for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio version of this book. Everything I write is of my own opinion thoughts and feelings. This book was amazing! I love that Leslie is into ghosts but nothing of the mean paranormal what I mean is she is only interested in friendly ghosts. This book is packed with amazing history and stories of several historical places and the hauntings they have.

I am into true crime and paranormal.. I really enjoy Ann Rule and was pleasantly surprised to find out that :Leslie is Ann's daughter. I loved that she had so many different experiences in her book and the address -phone numbers so one could go look them up and experience them as well. I will most certainly read her other books.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Leslie Rule's stories of hauntings around the United States. While I understand that this is a compilation of stories she has collected throughout her career (she mentions this in the introduction), this in no way took away from my enjoyment; in fact, I think it made it better. Not only does she share ghost stories but she 1) does research to validate the claim, and 2) she actually investigated most (if not all) of the stories herself. Some of the stories I had heard before but there were a few of her own personal ones, especially the pet ones and the Salem one, that really resonated with me. Highly recommended for those curious about the paranormal or love a good ghost story.

Narration was excellent; the narrator uses different voices for the characters and it helps bring the stories to life.

I got to listen to the audio-book for this book and I must say the person reading did an awesome job, she did some of the voices, but the way she narrated the stories of the ghosts was so haunting and empathetic, I really suggest that this audio-book would be terrific to be listen in a long road trip, and if you’re listening with someone else you can always pause it and discuss the current story.

Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, giving names and in some cases faces to what happen in this places, is a haunting experience, and makes us closer to the sadness of how some lives have ended… but not all is scary or even a bad experience but gives us the insight of what others may have experienced… in the end of each chapter we are given the contact of the place mentioned in the story, I am not in America but I can appreciate this being given, its a way to book some haunting vacations.

I’ve learned in this audio-book that this author has several other books about the paranormal, and I will actively search for those, because the way the stories are introduced and even the personal aspects connecting the story to how the author come to learn of the ghost, feels very close to home, it was something that I really enjoyed. I highly recommend this audio-book, it was a really nice experience for me, and it was exactly what I wished to get in return with this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Audio for the free AAC, and this is my honest opinion.

I wasn't familiar with Leslie Rule books but I found this enjoyable. It's part ghost story, part true crime, and part paranormal investigation. I enjoyed the *update* section where the author tried her best to connect the ghostly sightings with actual history but usually could not so it was mere speculation. I laughed each time although I don't think it was intended for that reason. Overall, it was a good seasonal read this fall.