Thursday Thoughts: Scaring Myself Silly

I'm a huge fan of all things creepy and spooky and scary. As such, I engage with a lot of scary media--books, TV shows, movies, haunted houses, etc. While this is great to feed my need for scary stuff, it also sucks because not a lot truly scares me anymore. The last book I read that truly scared me was way back when I was a pre-teen, and that was Cujo by Stephen King. Most movies don't scare me to the point I can't sleep--at least not since I was a teen and watched the original "Candyman" in theaters with my friends. Yes, jump scares will always give me that immediate jolt of terror, but then it becomes comical. 

So this spooky season, I've decided it's time to push my limits just a little. To do so, I've started engaging with more real-life horror / scary stories, in addition to my favorite movies and haunted houses. 

Part of this is utilizing the app, Atlas Obscura. For those who don't know what that is, it's an app that you can use to find cool, strange places near your location. It gives you a brief history and whether you can visit. You can track the places you've visited and add your own notes so others can see them. It's really very cool. You should check it out. 

Anyway, back in September while I was in NY visiting family, me and my girls decided to try the app, and we stumbled upon The Love Canal containment zone.  If you're unfamiliar with this, I strong suggest you go watch this video. 

All done? Great! So me and my girls drove through this area, and yes, it's as spooky as it sounds. Granted, we were there in the middle of the day, but just knowing the history, seeing the fence, the dilapidated crumbling building, the desolation... definitely has a really creepy vibe. 

If you'd like to see our video of this, please GO HERE! Be warned: there's some coarse language. But you can see how abandoned this place looks, save for the two or three places still standing. Oddly enough, there's a vibrant community just a block away. 

Anyone else use the Atlas Obscura app? What do you think of it? 

Ever visited any place spooky or haunted before?

Kara's Book Cravings: Haunted America

 

Because I love everything spooky and scary, I was browsing Amazon for exactly those types of books, and I stumbled upon this one:

As you can see, there's no author listed, and that's because the book was produced by Publications International, LTD. Which... okay. I mean, I know a human had to have written this, but the lack of a named author bugged me. For me, this read more like a textbook stating facts rather than a person sharing scary stories. Don't get me wrong -- there were a handful of really great sections in here, and I've once again added a few titles to my TBR. Overall, though, I wasn't as impressed with this book as I thought I'd be. Oh well. You win some and lose some, right? 

Has anyone else read this particular book? What did you think? 

Do you have suggestions for anything similar that I can check out?