National Geographic Guide to the World's Supernatural Places was part of a Halloween display at my local library. I was immediately attracted, although it was heavy enough that my arm grew tired of holding it. The subtitle claims the book is about more than 250 places from around the world. A few of those places are given two pages. Most have one. A few have half a page and some are grouped in two-page spreads with a paragraph each on five sites under titles such as '5 Creepiest Castles in Germany' or '5 Gruesome Indian Blood-Fest Sites'. Some entries are a paragraph at the bottom of another site's page, such as 'Fingal's Cave' with the 'Giant's Causeway' entry.

The guide is divided into six sections in this order: 'Haunted Places', 'Vampire Haunts', 'Witchcraft and the Dark Arts', 'Sacred Places', 'UFO Hot Spots', and 'Myths and Legends'.

The entries are lavishly illustrated with photographs or reproductions of paintings, etchings, woodcuts, etc. Most are in color.

Besides familiar names to lovers of supernatural lore such as the Bermuda Triangle, Glamis Castle, Bran Castle (the home of Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula), Myrtles Plantation, the Winchester Mystery House, Beijing/Peking, the Chase vaults in Barbados, Salem, Stonehenge, Mecca, Glastonbury Tor, Jerusalem, Sherwood Forest, Easter Island, etc., there are many less or possibly unknown places for American readers. I found out about Asian and Australian creatures and hauntings. Although I'm not in the preferred diet categories of many vampire-like beings who are only a head and bloody entrails, I'd just as soon never meet one. I also have no desire to encounter a spirit that looks like a spider with a human head (see Koh Lipe Island on p.46).

I'm not a big enthusiast of unidentified flying objects, so that section didn't hold much interest for me. The rest were fascinating.
I wish the information were not so brief, but this is a beautiful book I wouldn't mind owning. ( )