More Weight: A Salem Story

More Weight: A Salem Story by Ben Wickey (2025) 532 pages 

I loved the in depth history, mostly in black and white, of the 1692 events. So much more disturbing than Arthur Miller's version of events in The Crucible. The focus on Giles and Martha Corey works well. I also appreciated poets Longfellow and Hawthorne's tour of Salem in the 1860s. It goes in an otherworldly direction, which seems odd, until you realize that this part has been a ghost story all along. The two parts connect because Longfellow had written a play about the Salem Witch Trials focusing on the Coreys and Hawthorne is related to one of the judges with his family living in the Salem area for generations. The Intro and Outro about the aftermath of the witch trials leading to modern day Salem is super dense with litigation from mishandled justice, politics, consumerism, and ongoing fictions and frauds. So much fascinating educational material. It took longer to complete than I expected, but I'm glad I stayed with it.

The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings

 The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings by Dan Jones, 96 pages.

This short book is an adaptation of a real medieval ghost story that was originally written in Latin at an English monastery. In it Snowball the Tailor is accosted on the road by a spooky ghost that takes various forms and demands that Snowball go and complete the necessary tasks to send the ghost's soul to heaven, which is quite the trial.

I picked this book up because a reading challenge I am participating in wanted me to read a book based on the cover alone, and this book has a cool one. I'm really glad I did. While this isn't necessarily something I would have picked up on my own, it was really interesting. One of the things I found the most interesting, mostly because it's something that is under-represented in depictions of the period, is how truly woven into daily life religion was in the Middle Ages. And also, on a related note, how weird Christianity was during the Middle Ages. I would definitely recommend this one for anyone interested in the period, and also to enjoyers of campfire ghost stories.

It Will Just Be Us

It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan, 263 pages

Sam Wakefield lives with her mother in their ancestral home in Virginia, outside a small town where the Wakefields have gotten the reputation of being particularly spooky, even witches. Makes sense, as their sprawling mansion is haunted by a century and a half of Wakefield ghosts, with whom Sam and her mother get along just fine. But when Sam's pregnant sister comes to stay after a fight with her husband, the ghosts take on a new and scarier method of haunting, offering unnerving glimpses of Sam's unborn nephew. While she wants to avoid the sources of these particular spooks, Sam's not sure how to do it safely, for herself and her family.

This is a Shirley Jackson-esque gothic ghost story, but with a twist that turns the horror up to 11. A fantastically creepy tale, though not one to be read at night. *shudder*