Review of "Ripley’s Believe it or Not: True Ghost Stories," December, 1977

Review of

Ripley’s Believe it or Not: True Ghost Stories, December, 1977

Four out of five stars

 These are not the most frightening of ghost stories, unless you are a child 8-10 years old with a very vivid imagination. Which is what I was at one point in my life. To me, the phrase “True Ghost Stories” on the cover lent them a validity that had me thinking about spectral monsters everywhere, from under my bed to lurking in the corners.

 The premise is that there is evil in the world, from Satan trying to buy souls with gold to murderers getting away with their crime until the ghost of the victim appears to tell the truth to the ghost of a dog delivering the bloody glove that destroys the alibi of a murder suspect.

 My favorite in the collection has nothing to do with the commission of a crime. It is based in London during the height of the blitz and a German bomb has landed in an old cathedral that houses the corpse of a man embalmed in medieval times. While the bomb has not exploded, the fuse is still active, and it will go off if not defused. Lieutenant John Sleigh arrives to deal with it, but another bomb lands on his truck destroying his tool that will freeze the fuse in place. The ghost of the corpse then rises and uses the chilling nature of its presence to freeze the fuse so that the Lieutenant can remove it.

 My second favorite is also placed in England during the Second World War. An English fighter squadron gets lost over water and is low on fuel. Suddenly, a plane from World War I appears and guides them back to their home airfield. The two favorites are two examples of many stories involving supernatural actions that emerged from World War II.

 Gentle stories that are lacking in gore, the titles in this collection represent tales told down through the years about crimes and events where spirits were involved.