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I’ve been binging reading. I’m not sure if it’s a product of how we consume media as a society or if it’s just my ADHD. Either way, there’s a clear pattern to my reading habits.

Right now, I’m into books on high strangeness. If that term is leaving you scratching your head, think of the weirdness going on at the time of the Mothman sightings in Point Pleasant, or reports of what’s been happening at Skinwalker Ranch. Basically, it’s a situation with head-scratching events that usually involve intermingled points along the paranormal continuum. It’s not just one flavor of supernatural at a time. It’s a mishmash with any combination of UFO activity, ghostly happenings, cryptid sightings, and general chilling weirdness that makes you want to say WTF??!

I love hearing about this kind of stuff. I love writing about it. Collecting these stories have been a hobby of mine for as long as I can remember. I also, obviously, love reading. The intersection of these two are my absolute favorite. I’ve collected a few here that I’ve read and am waiting to read. I thought I’d share them here for anyone asking themselves what books are good reads for Halloween.

These books, unless otherwise stated, are nonfiction. They all claim to be real. Whether or not you choose to believe that is your agenda; arguing one way or another is not what we’re here for. Either way, these books are packed with good, spooky stories—and that’s what we’re here for.

While I’ll be offering affiliate links for each book I can, I also want to encourage checking out Libby to see if you can get these books through your library. If you don’t know, Libby is a wonderful e-book and audiobook platform many libraries utilize for their digital media. Reading should never be limited only to those with the additional income to purchase books. You can find out more about Libby here, including links to apps for your operating system. I will always encourage checking out via libraries before buying, but if it’s your cup of tea and you know you’ll enjoy it, I’ve got a link for you! A word of warning, though: a handful of these are independently published and might be difficult to find in a library. That’s usually the case in non-fiction paranormal books.

Books about real paranormal events

1. Communion by Whitley Strieber This book is one of the OGs! Whitley Strieber, after having what he believes to be an abduction encounter, confronts the realization that he’s been having these events his entire life. He pursues this with logical arguments and reasonings in order to get as close to the reality of his memories as possible. Strieber fully admits where his recollections have gaps and the shortcomings with using hypnosis to reach these memories. The encounters he has range from absolutely chilling to spiritual and sometimes even borderline comical.

If I recall correctly, Strieber recently got the rights to the book back, which is why you can now find it on Kindle and why it has the original cover art that so closely depicts one of the beings he recalls. If you have Kindle Unlimited, the book is free, so there’s no reason not to try it! If you don’t have Kindle Unlimited, you can sign up with my code to get a free month’s trial here!

2. Devil’s Den: The Reckoning by Terry Lovelace, Esq. This book is a follow up to Terry Lovelace’s first book examining the events that happened to him and his military buddy while camping at Devil’s Den. Lovelace, a lawyer, had an abduction experience with a good friend while serving as EMT drivers in the military. The government became heavily involved after his encounter, forcing Lovelace and his friend to never talk to each other again.

Why would I recommend the follow up book? As far as I can tell, the story is all in the second book, along with further in-depth examinations of what Lovelace now understands to be interactions with beings as a child. It also includes stories from other abductees who Lovelace himself interviewed and did checks on for validity before adding them to this book.

Lovelace himself come across as a reliable witness, not claiming to have answers for things he doesn’t know, and offering proof where he can. Believe him or not, it’s difficult not the creeps reading these stories. Like Strieber’s accounts, the stories run from borderline silly to downright terrifying. This book is also available on Kindle Unlimited.

3. Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insiders’ Account of the Secret Government UFO Program by James T. Lacatski, D.Eng., Colm A. Kelleher, Ph.D., and George Knapp Behind this novel’s sensational title is a hell of a book. The book is written by people who were involved with the UFO/AEP program the US government ran that would later be revealed in a 2017 article by the New York Times.

Although this is a follow up book to the original by scientist Kelleher, it’s built as a sort of correction to the aforementioned article as well as a run down on the very real, very impactful situations that have afflicted government officials of all rank and importance at and following their time at Skinwalker Ranch.

In the thick of it is also the scientific experiments run by Kelleher and his team. Skinwalker Ranch is both mysterious and seemingly so overrun with high strangeness that it seems unbelievable. Against that unbelievable-ness, though, are testimonies from hundreds of years of inhabitants and visitors to the land that Skinwalker Ranch now sits on. The stories are baffling and utterly terrifying. There’s enough scary stories to leave you awake at night, staring at the ceiling and wondering just what in the hell is going on in the Uinta Basin. This book is also available on Kindle Unlimited.

4. The Vertical Plane: The Mystery of the Dodleston Messages: Second Edition by Ken Webster (available only in paperback) If you’ve never heard about the Dodleston Messages, I have a treat for you! I have been lost down this rabbit hole since the podcast Astonishing Legends did a series on it with friend of the pod and Mothman Prophecies screenwriter Rich Hatem.

This is one of the few stories that truly get under my skin. The story, which takes place in the 80s, starts when the writer, Ken Webster, gets a message from a 16th/17th century man on the PC Ken rented from the library of the school he teaches. This happens as Ken has had poltergeist activity while renovating his small cottage.

What ensues is a wild encounter with both past and future, and possibly another dimension. The interactions come to a head with our past friend in danger and the nefarious future group, taking responsibility for connecting the two, gloating. Things get even weirder when history and obscure real-life history and linguistics get involved. I was alarmed to hear the name of an ancestor I’d just found at the time while doing genealogy as being a classmate of our friend in the past.

This is the story I think of when I can’t sleep. The man who wrote it won’t confirm his physical identity in fear of his career being affected. If it’s fiction, it’s terribly written fiction. The story isn’t for money or fame—until now it wasn’t being printed and the only reason Webster made this second edition was because he didn’t want those who truly wanted to know the story to have to pay the ridiculous price collectors were charging. It can’t be for fame because there’s not a person to point at and take responsibility for the story. What we’re left with is the possibility that it either happened or didn’t happen, and by the time you’re done reading it, both of those options make you equally uncomfortable.

5. Monsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena by Linda S. Godfrey While all of the books mentioned on this list are good reads, this book gives the most joy to read. Godfrey isn’t trying to prove anything in this book. She’s simply conveying the stories from sources she finds credible.

And those stories are bizarre. From creatures following a family home from vacation to a dogman appearing outside someone’s room and everything in between, Godfrey delivers the stories with wit, taking the stories seriously without being too serious about the subject.

That’s the books I recommend to start with if you want to read real scary stories and real paranormal stories this Halloween. I have either read or am in the process of reading each and every one of these books, so I can personally attest to each of them. Some are harder to wrap your head around than others, but that just sort of comes with the territory, doesn’t it?

Thanks for joining me on this exploration of weird books perfect for Halloween. Like I said, I love this stuff and can’t get enough of it. That’s why I want to know what true story paranormal books you love. Are you interested in any of the books listed? Do you have any books you think should have been added? I’d love to know about it! I could talk about this stuff for hours, so don’t be scared to drop off a suggestion or even just talk about a story you find bizarre. Weird stories are always welcome here!

Hope you get to light some candles or a fire and get lost in a scary book this autumn!

Love, Kara