As a huge fan of the horror genre, it’s no surprise that I finally got my hands on one of Aaron Mahnke’s Lore books this Halloween season. A few of Mahnke’s books within the series are titled, Lore: Dreadful Places and Lore: Wicked Mortals. The one I have chosen to read though, is his most popular among the series, Lore: Monstrous Creatures. If you’re interested enough in the series itself, but not the reading part, Aaron Mahnke also has a podcast that you can find on Spotify called Lore.
This book is a series of different stories within each chapter. Most of these stories include the lore of certain mythical creatures that you and I have most likely heard about before such as ‘Mothman’ and ‘Annabelle’ from The Conjuring. Though I have heard these stories before and have a basic knowledge of what happened in them, Mahnke describes them as if you’re hearing it for the first time, adding his own input which is sometimes comical. In addition to being well written and enthusiastic, Mahnke also went out of his way to make sure each story he added had credible sources as well as strong evidential factors that help make the stories ‘authentic’.
The book itself holds way too much for me to fit into one article, but I can tell you that most of this book is not just about cryptids and possessed dolls. Towards the very end of the book, Mahnke introduces the infamous ghost stories that we all love to hear and read. Most of the stories we read are short and lack a good description of what exactly happened, but Mahnke manages to give the reader every little bit of detail without being too wordy and boring. He usually begins with factual backstories that can be historically traced and researched, as well as stories from the twenty-first century of ghosts still roaming the halls of a house that was once theirs long ago. One ghost story in particular is that of a young man named Elisha who fell in love with a woman of lower status. Their love was forbidden by Elisha’s family, so when he was called to war they were filled with great pleasure knowing that the two would be separated. Not long after the war had started, Elisha was sent home with a dreadful case of Smallpox and quarantined to a sick room. As he got home, his lover vowed to quarantine with him, causing a joint death sentence for the both of them. The house they resided in has since been turned into a museum by the Tolland Historical Society and has been rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of both Elisha and his lover.
Mahnke goes on to describe the ghostly encounters that have since happened within the home such as apparitions, strange feelings of loneliness, and dogs refusing to step foot into the house.
The reason I appreciate this book is simply because of Aaron Mahnke’s ability to tell a story of history and terror, without boring the reader to death. If you enjoy reading about the history of old buildings and lore, this book is a great read to continue your Halloween season festivities straight into November.