The nonfiction book entitled Ghostly Warnings by Daniel Cohen and illustrated by David Linn was an interesting twist after reading about Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in which spiritual aspects are completely avoided. As a believer in an afterlife, however, I found this book intriguing because it is based on fifteen true stories that people from around the world have personally experienced. Because of its length of 64 pages, it is my opinion, that this book is targeted toward young adolescents between the ages of 10 to 13; although the content may be a bit disturbing for these young readers due to the fact that each story revolves around the dead giving the living a “ghostly warning” that usually ends in doom. I enjoyed reading this book and claim to have an open-mind when it comes to the unexplainable; although I must confess, I wasn’t completely convinced of the validity of each supernatural account.

In summary, the author who is considered an authority on ghosts and was the former managing editor of Science Digest, wrote about fifteen particular stories based on truth that caught his fancy. Because of the numerous stories, I will only discuss about half of them and leave the other half to be explored by potential readers interested in this kind of nonfiction that is based on legends, tales, and actual first-hand experiences.

The first account is about a British woman named Mary who was very ill for quite some time and experienced what the people of Britain call “the fetch”. After beginning to feel better, her family had to make a short trip to visit another family member, but Mary was still too weak to travel. She decided to remain at home alone; or so she thought.

After resting in bed a while, Mary was awakened by a rustling sound. Feeling a little stronger, she decided to take a stroll in the garden to boost her spirits. While enjoying the beautiful flowers, she noticed a face peering at her through an upstairs window. Thinking it was one of the servants Mary continued her walk until she felt too tired to continue and thought it best to return to her bed and rest.

When Mary went back into the house, she immediately felt that something was wrong. The house was too quiet and she felt as though she was being watched. Again, she heard the rustling sound like that of a woman’s skirt and thought she saw someone in the shadows. She hurried to her room and caught her reflection in the mirror. She looked pale and drawn even though she looked healthy moments before. To her horror, she saw another figure standing behind her and starring back at her in the mirror. She was shocked when she realized that it was her own face. The figure was her double, but was not breathing. Mary had seen “the fetch” and knew that it meant she was going to die. When her family returned, they found her on her bed feverish and gasping for breath. She was dying, but managed to tell her family what had happened to her. Within an hour, Mary was dead.

The second story is about the French writer Guy De Maupassant who documented his own experience with a ghost. One evening in 1885 when working in his study, de Maupassant saw a figure appear at his door, walk across the room, and sit down across from him. The figure began dictating to him the exact story that he was writing, including all of de Maupassant’s intended words that he was about to write. He was astounded. Upon scrutinizing the figure closer, he was horrified to see that it was himself sitting across the room. His double soon vanished, but de Maupassant was left shaken with this being the first incident of a disease that would overtake the writer which led to his insanity and eventual death.

The third story involves English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley who had traveled to Italy for the carnival in Venice. He wrote about his encounter by saying that even though many masked and costumed revelers were walking the streets, he noticed one particular person following close behind him who was dressed in a hooded, long, black cloak. The poet became very annoyed and finally faced the stranger by demanding who he was and what he wanted. The figure pulled the hood back to reveal Shelley’s own face. The next year, the poet was on a passenger boat that sank in a storm and Shelley drowned.

Story number four is about the great German writer Goethe who wrote that while riding down a path to the town Drusenheim, he saw himself from a distance riding a horse and wearing a pale suit with some gold. Eight years later, Goethe found himself on that same path wearing the suit by chance that he had seen himself wearing all those years earlier and was perplexed.

California artist Catherine Reinhart is the witness for the fifth ghostly warning discussed in this book. She claimed to have seen her double on several occasions, but always about five years older than she currently was at the time. One time, she saw her double walk with a limp and it surprised her. Four years later, she and her husband were in a serious car accident which killed him and injured her leg badly, leaving her with limp for the rest of her life.

The sixth story about seeing one’s double was a positive one. It involved Alex. B. Griffith and he believed his double saved his life twice. The first time was in 1944 when he was a soldier in France. When leading his patrol, he noticed a man who looked just like him running toward them waving his hands and shouting silent words. He stopped his men from proceeding and ordered them to turn back. The men were surprised because they did not see this figure. Griffith couldn’t explain it, but he knew that if he and his men continued down that road they would be killed. As he and his men sat on the ground while he tried to figure out what to do next, an American supply vehicle drove passed them and was destroyed by violent machine-gun fire. A German machine gun was hidden to guard the road and killed the driver.

Twenty years later in 1964 Griffith saw his double again as he and his family was out on a hike in the woods. It was the same double dressed as the soldier who had warned him during World War II. Again the figure was waving his hands and shouting silent words. There had been a terrible storm the night before their hike and the winds were still blowing. No one else saw the figure, but Griffith knew to turn his family around. A few seconds later, a massive tree crashed down on the trail that Griffith and his family would have been on had he not heeded his double’s warning.

The seventh story goes back almost four hundred years ago, but was still documented. The powerful Hohenzollern family who were the German rulers of Prussia declared that they had a warning ghost who appeared as a lady in white. She was seen in the old place in Berlin in 1619 when a page was walking down a corridor and saw the White Lady. As the ghost moved toward him, he placed his hand on her arm and asked where she was going. From behind her veil, the White Lady drew out her hand which was holding a large key and slammed it down on the page’s head, killing him instantly. Two other servants witnessed the incident as they ran to help the page, but stood back to let the White Lady pass. Other people died over the years when the White Lady was seen in the palace, such as Federick the Great, Prince Louis of Prussia, and Archduke Francis Ferdinand which led to World War I.

A fairly recent event which is the subject of the eighth ghostly warning in the book is about a wealthy, Michigan woman named Celeste McVoy Holden who experienced the supernatural through two forms of communication; “automatic writing” and the Ouija board. She and her baby girl had recently left her violent husband Jack and had fled to a lake house she owned. After inviting a friend Buell Mullen to come stay with her for a while, Mrs. Mullen said that as she entered her bedroom, she sat down to write her own husband a letter, but her hand was forced to write the simple, yet ominous message, “Beware! Beware! Beware! Jack!”

After telling Celeste about what happened, the women went in to town and bought Ouija board to try to find out more answers. They placed the board on a table and began to ask questions. As their hands gently rested on the planchette, Celeste asked what was going to happen. The board spelled out the message, “Murder, you and your child. Prepare.” Heeding the warning, they locked every door and window and waited up all night. When morning came, nothing had happened. They were relieved, but thought that they had taken the board too seriously. Two days later, however, a friend called Celeste and said that Jack had driven up to the lake house, but stopped off at a party first, got drunk, was waving a gun around saying how he was going to kill his ex-wife and baby. The people at the party got the gun away from him and told him to leave. No one saw him after that night, but no one knows if he managed to go the lake house that night unarmed. Perhaps the locked doors and windows deterred him.

The other ghostly warnings include the story of Lady Beresford and the black velvet ribbon; a man named Jones who witnessed a “living ghost” or a premonition of another man in a brown suit committing suicide; the Reverend James Crawford and his sister-in-law who on September 8, 1777 saw a ghost on a horse crossing a river they wanted to cross; a man’s dead, jealous wife scaring him and his new wife; an English clergyman named John Rudell in 1665 wrote in his diary about his encounter with a dead girl named Dorothy Dinglet who roamed the fields in Cornwall and warned him of pestilence that would ravage the land the following year – it turned out to be the worst and last plague to strike England; a female ghost who appeared to Lord Lyttleton telling him of his death which would take place three days later – not believing his experience was real he told his friends before dying three days later; and finally a Middle Eastern story that described Death as a woman in black who appeared to a young man who out of fear escaped to Samarra only to be met by her there.

In terms of accuracy, the author claims to be an authority on ghosts and backs up that claim only by listing titles of other books about ghosts that he has written on the inside back cover. He also writes a quote by saying, “I don’t make up ghost stories; I deal with legends and with factual accounts.” He was also the former editor of Science Digest that was mentioned earlier in this review. The Illustrator, David Linn studied art and illustration at Brigham Young University, graduated with honors, and has worked on numerous other books, magazines, record companies, and for corporate clients. His drawings are well done and add visual understanding, as well as intrigue to the ghost stories.

As far as content is concerned, the author goes into some depth to reveal that ghost stories can be considered nonfiction by the documentation and personal accounts he has researched over the years. The scope of Ghostly Warnings remains purely about ghostly encounters that usually warn people about impending death and usually cannot be avoided. The depth of Cohen’s stories are limited, however, probably due to the audience he has targeted, the intended length of the book, and because there are probably too many stories to tell.

The style it one that uses clear language and should, therefore be easily understood by potential readers. Some words appear to be carefully chosen, so that the mysteriousness of the subject matter is enhanced, in an effort keep the readers captivated. The author’s tone is a little enigmatic at times too in an effort to add to the eerie feel of the book and follows more of a conversational quality.

In regards to organization, the overall structure of this book is simply story narrative because there is no order of the stories. All take place in different eras of time and in various places throughout the world. Some characters in a few of the stories may be familiar to potential readers because they may have a good knowledge of history and others are not.

The only reference aids in the book are informational sections on the inside front cover giving the reader a glimpse into what the book is about and limited background information about the author and illustrator on the inside back cover. The book also contains a Table of Contents listing the chapter titles and their page numbers. These titles give the reader a hint as to what to expect before they read about it and are also very intriguing. The cover of the book is captivating as well and pulls the potential reader in to want to know more about what the picture is trying to convey.

Therefore, concerning the illustrations on the front cover and throughout the book, David Linn does a superb job of helping the reader to connect what is taking place in the stories to the picture which helps to explain it. Only the front cover is in color; all the other illustrations are black and white, charcoal-type sketches that in my opinion, adds to the chilling drama of each story. Photographs would have been impossible for some of these stories because of the time period in which they took place.

As a future middle school English teacher, I would offer this book only as a choice of interest among other books because some students might find it too scary or disturbing to read. If any of my students did in fact choose Ghostly Warnings to use as a source for a project, I would require them to write a review, expository, or persuasive essay of the book; to add further research about ghostly encounters that are verifiable; show illustrations or a short Internet video on the topic; and present this book and their project as if they were telling a ghost story around a camp fire using a flashlight as a prop. ( )