As anyone who reads my little reviews regularly knows by now, I love a good ghost story. So, when I first saw that Dark Horse had released a collection of "Hauntings," I knew I had to read it. Took me a while to finally pick it up, but now I own it and have finally read it.

There are some great stories here from some amazing creators. "Stray" is a particularly good story (and I've been meaning to start reading Beasts of Burden, so this was a nice little intro to that series), as is "Gone." There's a Hellboy story that I know I've read before, but still really enjoy, and "This Small Favor" was a nice twist on the haunted house story. There is also an older story here, with perfect illustrations by Gary Gianni, as well as an interview with seance medium Larry Dreller.

The interview I found particularly interesting, being a non-fiction element in a mostly fictional collection. It adds to the flavor of the book, and also references Hans Holzer, godfather of modern paranormal investigations. In fact, the book is dedicated to Holzer, the Fox sisters, and Edward Gorey.

Definitely a worthy addition to any collection of spooky tales. ( )

I didn't pick up this series when it first started coming out because it sounded creepier than I care for. But one of the stories is now an ongoing series (Beasts of Burden) that makes regular reference to their past adventures, so I ordered it up from the library. Very quick read and not so creepy/gory after all. Many of the stories were too short to have much impact, but the Hellboy one was excellent. The binding is gorgeous; it justifies the cost increase over a standard trade paperback. ( )

Several entertaining short stories centering on hauntings. Quality varies, but the best stories are quite good. ( )