Here’s a book I read cover to cover MANY times: The Scholastic FunFact Book of Ghosts – Demons and spirits from the world beyond.

For a kid, it was less fiction and more like a guidebook of ghouls and apparitions. My brother recently acquired a copy after he asked me about the book. He vaguely remembered it and I found a tiny bit about it on the internet. You can buy this book on Amazon right now from some generous sellers for a mere $244.89. A drop in the bucket for us 70’s and 80’s nostalgians.

I was hoping to find some scans of the book but really there wasn’t much, so I thought hey, what better place to remedy that than the awesome Euclid Boo blog?!

But first I want to share the most memorable parts of this book for me personally.

I remember thinking to myself, “I can’t WAIT to turn 12 and see this sick increase in poltergeist activity!”

 

This demon dog terrified me, so much so at night, I was sure sometimes that our sweet-as-pie Norwegian Elkhound stared at me in a certain way…

 

Gef, the talking Mongoose. There’s some information about him on the web, it’s such a fascinating, freaky little tale.

The ghostly elevator, the spirit that reaches out for a coin on it’s grave, the riveter stuck in the hull of a ship, Tom Colley and Captain Kidd’s ghost… this 32-page book is full of goodness and really stunning illustration. Going back and reading it again I really see how much this book shaped my ideas (and fears) of ghosts and the supernatural.