Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance read, I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

This was my first time reading a real "paranormal/crime" book. I felt like it was a bit over exaggerating, not to mention it would have been nice to know more about the victims background other then just a first name, that way I could perhaps Google it myself later and look more into the story.

It was alright for me.

This was my first time reading a true crime/paranormal story. I'm not sure if I really enjoyed this or not, it was interesting and it is focused on the paranormal for most of the book. Would of liked more information on the victims rather then just there names.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance read, I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Fox Hollow Farm, the infamous Indiana property where Herb Baumeister allegedly murdered at least eleven men, has a grim past and an unsettling present. This riveting book pieces together the story of the tragic case and explores the paranormal encounters that continue to this day, delving into the psyche of a suspected murderer and the terrifying supernatural activity that lingers in the aftermath of such unspeakable evil.

The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm provides detailed insights from the original criminal investigation as well as the perspectives of the man who survived Herb's attempt on his life. This chilling book also features actual supernatural evidence, from EVPs and psychic confirmations to first-hand accounts of the disembodied hands and voices that regularly manifest on the estate.


My thoughts

Rating:3

Sadly I was hoping to enjoy this one a hole lot better then I did , because I knew of the case and wanted to know more about it but sadly with how this book was written I just didn't enjoy it as much, yes I know it's an ARC but there was times I was almost cross eyed trying to guess what the words were in a sentence because there was letters missing . With that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read it and review it exchange for my honest opinion.

• Title: The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm
• Author: Richard Estep, Robert Graves
• Series: Stand-Alone
• Pages: 240
• Genre: True Crime/Paranormal
• Rating Out of 5 Stars: 4


My Thoughts:
Picture this, A beautiful ranch style home with a few acres of woods around it. Private drive, stream on one side...Sounds perfect right? Now what if I told you that with a handful of steps out the back door and into said woods you would start to find the scattered bones of who knows how many unfortunate victims from the man that once lived there?
The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm details the alleged crimes of a man named Herb Baumeister. Back in the 90’s he brought men back to his home and murdered them. It’s believed he killed at least a dozen men but the number could be much higher. What was worse, once he was done with them, he dragged them out and left them to the elements in the woods surround the home. To this day people are still finding bones.
What first drew me to this title was my familiarity with the location. I remember the news broadcasts about the crimes and the ghost stories that followed. Growing up an hour away and having been there a couple of times over the years, I was interested to see what the author had to say about it.
Estep has definitely done his research; hunting down and interviewing others that have lived there since the Baumeisters, looking into case files, etc. While you get a solid look into the actual criminal history in the first I’d say third of the book the rest is really a novelized ghost hunting documentary. Not to say that is was bad, but at times it felt repetitive as far as the events taking place. That aside I personally really enjoyed this title. If you’re looking for more into the historical aspect you might not be satisfied with what you get. If you’re into paranormal happenings though I highly recommend. Its a solid, interesting read.

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and Llewellyn Publications in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I have been waiting foreverrrrrr for this to pop up on NetGalley and you can bet I snatched it up the moment I saw it - thanks again for the auto-approval, Llewellyn. I have read several of Estep's non-fiction works now and this is probably tied for first with my most favorite, which was his investigation of a former medieval prison in Spirits of the Cage. That book seriously creeped me the fuck out.

As did this one.

So Fox Hollow Farm was this spacious property in Indiana owned by the Baumeister family. It's beautiful and you probably would have no problem living there, until you learn that by the way, Herb Baumeister was probably a serial killer and the whole property is haunted by him, some of his victims, and/or an elemental that enjoys sowing and feeding off the negative energy.

Great, huh?

I have had my fair share of paranormal experiences (the Villisca Ax Murder House in Villisca, Iowa; the Palmer House Hotel in Sauk Centre, MN; the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO; and my own apartment for five years in Lincoln, NE). None of my experiences have been scary, and I have been lucky to see, hear, and take photos of evidence. (I have plenty of stories if you ever want to hear a few!) As such, it takes a fair bit for me to get creeped out, yet this book managed to do so. I was reading it while sitting on the couch, all the lights on in my apartment - DURING THE DAY. Some of it freaked me out that much. I think that mostly came from the idea of the elemental. I don't mess with that kind of stuff and I would never intentionally go somewhere that might be home to dangerous or malevolent entities. I have a young child and would never want to inadvertently bring something home that would put us in danger.

I say that Baumeister was 'probably' a serial killer because he committed suicide in Canada and was never tried for any of his alleged crimes. We will never know for sure, but in all actuality, he probably murdered at least a dozen young men in the 80s and 90s. When it became clear that the police were onto him, Baumeister fled to Canada and took his life, leaving nothing but grief and trauma behind.

The book is really two-in-one. We get a brief history of Baumeister, his life and alleged crimes, and then we also get Estep and his teams' investigations and evidence. There is admittedly very little in the way of info on Baumeister due to his death. There is one man who claims to have survived Baumeister's attempt on his life and in doing so went on to become his sometimes-lover for a few years, but because Baumeister was never brought to trial, we don't know much about his alleged crimes, or even how many victims there may be. It is possible that not only did he lure young men back to his home from bars, but that he may have been responsible for a string of bodies left along a highway that just happens to be a route he would have taken for business. I can't imagine that his former wife would be too eager to provide any information about him or their life together with their children. As such, the book relies heavily on the paranormal aspect, so if you are looking for a heavy dose of true crime, you will be disappointed.

I, on the other hand, was straight-up here for the paranormal and I was not disappointed one bit. The problem with books like this, is that hard physical evidence is hard to come back, and you can't really do much except show photographic evidence. Though, I have read a few books on my Kindle that link within the text to EVPs online, which is cool. However, personal experiences are hugely important, and I have had many myself, so it is easy for me to believe in some of those reports, at least from sources I trust. Estep falls into that category.

As I have come to expect from the author and the teams he puts together, the research is sound, the investigations are thorough, and there are very little dramatics. (Ghost Adventures, this is not. Thank God.) Instead, we get reasonable explanations for occurrences, multiple investigators trying out a series of locations on the property, all trying to corroborate the experiences of others, or debunk things that have a far less interesting explanation than 'ghost'.

I still have a hard time believing in the use of dowsing rods. I feel like there is far too big a margin of error, whether intentional or not on the part of the user. Luckily there are many pieces of equipment that Estep and his teams use, all of which will be familiar to those who are interested in this field of study. He also takes time to briefly explain the equipment for those who do not have such background.

My only issue with the book comes because of the intentional typos. I realize this is an ARC, but these typos are very specific, in that all 'fi' and 'ff' letter combos are missing, so the word office would look like 'oice' and so on. I have only noticed this occurring in the last few months, and have so far only found it in books I get from Llewellyn. I am not sure what the purpose is, but it does get kind of annoying. This issue does not impact my rating, but is something to watch for, should you request a copy from the publisher as well.

All in all, this is great read and very spectacularly sinister. Highly recommended.

Likes: I haven't heard of a haunting quite like this one. Usually there are so many haunted places out there that have interesting and creepy backgrounds but really no ghosts haunting them. I'm all for ghost stories so hearing about a new serial killer that made such an imprint on the area is interesting.

Dislikes: The place and the killer behind it all is cool, but book fell flat. That middle section that described all the hauntings that took place after Baumeister died felt like it was trying too hard. There was some ominous sentence about how there were more hauntings to come after every paragraph it seemed. I also felt like there wasn't enough background on Herb's background as a killer. It was like a listing of facts instead of telling an actual story. I know this is nonfiction but I would've liked to learn a little more about his home life and just how he managed to kill so many. On top of all of that, the formatting of the ebook was awful. There were so many letters missing that I had difficulty reading sentences. It took me half the book to figure out that 'gure' meant 'figure.'

In 1996 Herb Baumeister "allegedly" murdered at least eleven men at or around his home at Fox Hollow Farm. With no court case, and confession, Herb Baumeister was never charged with the murders of many transients and gentlemen picked up at gay bars. Baumeister would go on to run to Canada and commit suicide, but that doesn't seem to be the end for residents of the home. Robert Graves, the current owner, and paranomal investigator Richard Estep have worked together to put together the new book The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm. 

The infamous Indiana property sat empty for a while, until the Graves family purchased it to turn it into their family home. The book The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm puts together the bits and pieces of a true crime story, as well as the strange and frightening paranormal encounters that still occur in the home, even as of today. The book features an interview with a man who escaped the attempt on his life, though he is referred to by the alias "Tony" throughout the book. 

One of my favorite parts of the book is Robert Graves discussing when Ghost Adventures came to investigate the house. As Zak Baggans is sort of laughed at among the ghost and paranormal community, it was interesting to hear Graves treat the cast with respect, but also indicate that he did not agree with their findings. Richard Estep's investigation comes from a first person description and is much more detailed. 

The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm is available from Llewellyn Press September 8, 2019.

Herb Baumeister was a (suspected) serial killer in the 80s and early 90s whose crime spree centered around the luring of gay men out of bars and strangling them. While he fled to Ontario and committed suicide before any sort of trial, he is linked to at least 11 murders due to human remains found spread in the woods around his home, Fox Hollow Farm. As the site of such a multitude of grisly murders, Fox Hollow Farm has naturally become a lightning rod for reports of supernatural happenings, which Richard Estep tackles in this book.

Admittedly, when I requested this book I did so expecting it to be a bit heavier on the True Crime aspect of the story. While the beginning third of the book does give some detail about Baumeister's life and (suspected) deeds, it does not go nearly into the depth that I normally like to see in true crime (details on victims, an in depth snapshot of Baumeister and his family life, police reports, etc). This is especially disappointing throughout the entire back two-thirds of the book, which reads like an episode of Ghost Hunters committed to print, with EVPs, thermal imaging, shadowy figures, a medium, and even Elementals given in depth coverage as Estep and his team attempt to chronicle any paranormal activity in the house and on its grounds.

It has to be said that I'm a skeptic at heart, which tends to hinder my enjoyment of any sort of treatment of the paranormal like this. I persevered, and while reading it with a grain of salt, the back half is a fun read. I'd definitely recommend this more for people with interest in the paranormal than I would for fans of true crime.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd..**

I absolutely devoured this book. It definitely falls into the 'cant put it down category', given that Im a True Crime fan and love anything paranormal. So this combination of the two is absolute perfection. Well written and perfectly paced, it tells the story of Herb Baumeister, the infamous serial killer that many people will have heard of. Less well know is the fact that his mansion, the site of many of his horrific deeds, is the site of a huge amount of paranormal activity. What exactly haunts the property is a matter of conjecture, ranging from Herb himself, to his victims, to native american spirits, to an embodiment of pure evil... This book is an amazing read, and is highly recommended to all lovers of the paranormal or true crime. Even if youre a skeptic, there will be enough here to keep you intrigued...

I so enjoy the paranormal. This was an easy read, it flowed so well. It grabbed my attention and I finished it in one day. I also liked that even though the author is a paranormal investigator he questioned things he saw and heard, as it should be. A little creepy for sure, and I don;t think I would ever want to venture into the woods at Fox Hallow Farm during the day or at night,

WOW. I am most impressed by this book.
After receiving a review copy - I kept away from reading reviews already written on this story.
Fox Hollow Farm is the site of many many murders from a man who was himself, I believe, haunted.
Rob and Vicki Graves and their family purchased the farm after it sat for many years empty after the horrors of all the gay murders were discovered.
I must say that I've never really believe that there could possibly be ghosts and hauntings. But this story is one that I whole heartedly believe 100%.
Some parts of the story had my heart racing and I just couldn't put it down.
I have a whole new look at spirts and entities that are in this world, and in some ways glad that I am not sensitive to these things, and so very grateful to those like Richard Estep and his team, that can and are able to speak with and help the ghosts that linger and want to be known.
Highly recommend this book. Actually couldn't recommended it any higher.
There were a lot of typo errors in the book, but as a preview this is to be expected. Thankyou.

About 75% of the book is focused on the paranormal aspects of Fox Hollow Farm. I'm not going to go into whether I believe the paranormal aspects of the story. I think that that is for the reader to decide for themselves but in terms of the story altogether, the first 25% gives us an overview of Herbert Baumeister, his life, and his eventual exposure as a serial killer. One problem that I had with the book was that we are not given enough detail about the crimes that Herb committed. We are told that so many lives were lost on the property but we are only given small and vague descriptions about how those crimes happened. All we are told for sure was that victims were strangled with a hose in the indoor pool but other times we are told victims were shot or stabbed. It was hard to get an idea of what would have happened to the victims when they were there, even though there was one living witness. When we ended up hearing from him personally, he mainly talked about the paranormal aspects of Herb Baumeister and his relationship and feelings toward him. He did however gives us a lot of insight on Herb's personality and quirks which I found very interesting.

I really didn't like that almost no information is included about the men that were killed. We are given a few names in quick succession in the beginning during the summary but almost no information on who they were, where they went missing from and how they may have ended up at Fox Hollow Farm. This made it really hard to connect with the other parts of the book that deal with the paranormal side. If more attention had been given to the victims and who they were, I'probably would have been more interested in what spirits might be lurking on Fox Hollow Farm. Because of this lack of information, it's hard to connect with the victims and their continued presence on the farm. There was even a part of the book where they were collecting bones from the farm and identifying victims but they still did not give us information about them or even the names of the eight confirmed victims. There were tons of pictures of the house and the rooms inside but no pictures of his victims. I hope that when the book is released, they will include pictures of the victims as well.

Going into this book, I didn't know anything at all about Fox Hollow Farm but because it was true crime I was intrigued. The book was a quick read and I did finish it within a couple days. I found the parts about Herb and the murders to be very interesting and it was also interesting to learn about what issues that paranormal investigators go through during their investigations. I've never watched shows like Mythbusters or anything like that so I haven't had much exposure to the process and types of equipment and strategies that go into paranormal investigations, but it was very interesting to learn about it. I would recommend this more for people who are into paranormal investigations and I think that people who are looking for a detailed true crime story might not like the lack of detail about the actual crimes. However, I do think that the book does a good job at showing us the lingering fascination that Fox Hollow Farm holds on people.

While this is not my normal genre, I do enjoy books on the true/scary spectrum occasionally. This book did not disappoint. It was disturbingly scary. Herb Baumeister was a serial killer in the 1980's and early 1990's. His prey was young men which he brought back to his home and farm. He later kills himself in 1996 just before he is about to be caught. This story is told by Richard Estep , a paranormal investigator and Robert Graves. Some parts were very scientific which was fascinating and not at all over the top or exaggerated just for the hype of the story. It seemed very genuine and told in a factual manner. Depending on whether you believe that paranormal activity exists will likely sway you one way or the other on your feeling of the book. I am telling you...it's a good read....just keep the light on.

Herb Baumeister was a serial killer in the 1980's and 90's. At first he would pick young men up hitchhiking and kill them leaving them on the side of the road. Later he bought Fox Hollow Farm and began picking up men in gay bars, brought them back to his home where there was a indoor pool in the basement, where he would then kill the men and take their bodies out to the 18 or so acres of woods behind the house. In 1996 as the police were narrowing in on him he killed himself.

This book starts out by giving you a look at Herb Baumeister's life and his crimes. Then it goes into a the paranormal aspects left behind by Herb and his victims. The story is told not only by Richard Estep and Robert Graves but also by the homeowners living in the home now.

It seems the most seen spirit is one of a young man wearing a red t-shirt whose lower legs are invisible. This spirit has been seen multiple times by multiple people.

Richard Estep and Robert Graves take you with them on their paranormal investigation of the house and property. This book is filled with not one but 2 chilling events. You get Herb Baumeister's story and the ghosts left behind.

I am a huge fan of True Crime and the paranormal. this book is well written and brings both of my favorite genres to me.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com and chose to leave this review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Llewellyn books for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I will be honest that I thought this would be more of a true crime read as opposed to a paranormal ghost hunting one. While the gruesome events of Fox Hollow Farm were covered, this book focuses mostly on the alleged paranormal occurrences following the discovery of quite a few bodies that were the results of a prolific serial killer.

As more of a Scully than a Mulder, I read much of this with skepticism. Richard Estep is a paranormal investigator and he discusses the findings of his group from their multiple visits to Fox Hollow Farm. Having watched a plethora of the ghost hunting shows, I was familiar with the equipment the team used and the evidence they discussed as they toured various parts of the farm.

Estep did a decent job of talking about the various evidence they got and how they attempt to debunk/ find a reasonable explanation before assuming a paranormal cause. Although his beliefs are stated and he is a believer in the paranormal, he and his group do their best to keep it as scientific as possible. This is no Ed and Lorraine Warren with the overdramatic approach a la Amityville Horror.

If you like 'real' haunting stories and investigations of these types of locations, you will enjoy reading this book.

The story of the murders at Fox Hollow Farm was unfamiliar to me before reading The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm.

The first part of the book provides some backstory into the multiple murders that occurred at Fox Hollow Farm and gives examples of paranormal activity that has been experienced by its new owners (ironically, the resident family’s last name is “Graves” because the woods around their home is essentially an unmarked graveyard) and their tenant. The remaining chapters are about what happens when psychics and paranormal investigators visit the property.

The investigators detail their encounters with both benign spirits and malevolent presences sometimes referred to as “The Frog,” “Sounds like Joe,” and possibly even the ghost of the home’s former owner himself, serial killer Herb Baumeister.

The descriptions of the rooms in the house with the worst negative energy and creepy encounters with some of the paranormal entities gave me goosebumps. This book convinced me that I have zero desire to ever visit this place. I’m fairly sure the only thing that grows at Fox Hollow Farm is fear.

Thank you to NetGalley, Llewellyn Publications, and the authors for the chance to read this book in return for a fair review.

I found this to be an interesting read initially. And I admit to getting only as far as 40% of the way through.

However, two things prevented me from fully enjoying this book.

Firstly, the copy I received from Netgalley had some formatting errors that made it a problematic read. There seemed to be an issue with words that featured "ff", "fl" and "fi" in them - for example, offering, field. Such words had the "ff" missing and this made it awkward to read. It is surprising how many times these types of word issues arose. I think it may be to do with these letter combinations linking together when set (in some typefaces, the f'and f can run into each other, as does the f and l etc).

Secondly, I did realise when requesting the book that the main focus was on the paranormal aspect of the killings. (My error, in hindsight the title should have alerted me more to this!) I was more interested in the factual account of the killings and the crimes. In the part of the book that I did read, this was covered too briefly for my personal tastes.

However, the book did read very easily and I enjoyed the writing very much. The dual narrative from both authors is interesting and their writing styles are easy on the eye and pull you into their tale.

For those with more interest in the supernatural and paranormal investigation area, this will no doubt prove an immensely enjoyable read, it simply wasn't for me.

***UPDATE*** 28 May 2019. Following on from my original notes (above), later that evening I picked up my Kindle with the intention of choosing another book to read. But, I decided to read another chapter of this book. That chapter led to another and before too long I was well on with the book.
I have just finished it now over breakfast. I stuck it out!
Ultimately, this proved to be a very frustrating but compulsive read. A bit like one of those horror films that you know from the very start is going to leave you feeling disappointed but that you have to watch to the end just in case something remarkable occurs.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Llewellyn Publications and the authors, Richard Estep and Robert Graves, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Horrors of Fox Hollow Farm in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
Well, I'm not going to be sleeping tonight!!! Thankyou for the scare ( FYI, it takes a lot to scare me.)
The book itself was well thought out and written. From the writing, it is apparent that a significant amount of research has gone into this book, from the horror of a serial killer to the subsequent hauntings that were experienced at the farm.
Whether you are a believer in the paranormal or not, this book is a spine tingling good read.
Make up your own mind though, just not after dark........

Part true crime story, part ghost story, this is the account of the Indiana farm where Herb Baumeister murdered at least 11 people. Together with the horrific details of the crimes, Estep share the stories of hauntings, disembodied voices and even body parts that are regularly encountered on the property. Horrifying on every level, this is a book I recommend you read in the daylight