Halifax Haunts Reviewed

I’ve just finished reading another Maritime flavoured book this week — Halifax Haunts: Exploring the City’s Spookiest Spaces by Steve Vernon.

If you love a good ghost story, and you’re interested in Nova Scotian history then you just may enjoy this book; I know I did.

This is the first book I’ve ever read by Steve Vernon; he’s written two other books on Maritime ghost lore, Wicked Woods and Haunted Harbours with another one coming out in early Fall. Reading Halifax Haunts, I found his storytelling style to be a wonderful reminder of how good yarns used to be told and a fitting style for this type of book.

Although I read Halifax Haunts in the comfort of my home, one could pack this book along with them, do a walking tour of Halifax and use the book as a handy tour guide. And indeed, Steve made this suggestion in the preface. There’s an overall map of Halifax included in the book and each chapter also includes a smaller map of the given location. Not only that, but GPS coordinates are also included.

Steve Vernon has selected thirty-three strange and spooky locations in Halifax and each gets their own dedicated chapter. I’ve added the word ’strange’ because there are a couple of stories/locations that aren’t strictly ’spooky’. For instance, Chapter Four recounts Sea Serpent Sightings and Chapter Twelve is about The Georges Island Tunnels of Mystery. I found both of these chapters fascinating by the way.

I think what I enjoyed most about this book was the amount of historical information packed into it. Although I was familiar with a few of the stories there were a number that I hadn’t heard before so that was also a highlight for me. Once again though I have to mention Steve’s way of telling a story, because that’s what made both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ stories readable and entertaining.

Halifax Haunts: Exploring the City’s Spookiest Spaces is available from Amazon, directly from Nimbus Publishing and any good bookstore in Nova Scotia.