This was a really fascinating collection and a great spooky time, although dealing with hard topics and reckoning with the darkest pockets of American lore and culture. Corcoran’s book is effortlessly readable, rich in atmosphere and meticulously researched. I highly recommend this one for anyone who enjoys horror, travel literature and cultural criticism.

I built a house on a piece of land in a city where there was no history of other homes being built. It was a weird feeling, because it felt like there was no history there, where most of the US is full of stories and ghosts. Corcoran knows how to find the record of these ghosts, Corcoran is a great researcher and she combines lore with personal experience and interviews to portray the underbelly of the land, going to several unique places in the country. This is a fun book for anyone who loves history or ghosts or travel memories. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

This book is a fascinating mix of travel guide, history, and pop culture analysis, exploring how the eerie side of America’s past lingers in its landscapes. As she journeys across the country, she connects real historical events - such as witch trials and colonial violence -to the Gothic stories and horror films they’ve inspired. The book is engaging and thought-provoking, showing how history and folklore shape the way we see different places. Whether you love spooky stories, cultural history, or just exploring the darker side of America, this is a great read.

Corcoran has such a wonderful, poetic way of describing each American state she visited. She had a real understanding of the areas, the people, customs, the past, and stories within. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book. Corcoran's will and determination and patience to engage with people and hear their stories - past and present was truly what made the book so readable. It gave such an insight into an America we wouldn't usually see or hear about. Haunted States shows how entwined the past and the present are. With ghosts, the uncanny, being the connection between now and an, at times, uncomfortable past. I recommend this book to everyone, it won't disappoint. A well deserved 4 stars.

HAUNTED STATES by Miranda Corcoran is a travel journal through the US and finding the deeply dark and mostly horrifying history of the US. She connects it to film, history, and social issues in a way that feels uniquely fresh and terrifying.

I particularly loved the section following the southern US through Texas for all the personal reasons. My family is buried in cemeteries between Mobile, New Orleans, and east Texas, so it felt quit eerily cozy to read about the conditions in these places where my own problematic heritage lies. Seeing these places through the eyes of someone from Ireland was also quite intriguing, especially the social aspects of travel and life in the deep south.

Corcoran's writing is deeply rich, very much living up to the gothic vibe of the whole book. The way she describes details as simple as the heat she's feeling or the state of the world in the 1970s is fascinating. I found myself drawn into every word, wanting to marinade in the environment that she was experiences that is familiar to me, yet a complete stranger through her eyes.

The book is very knowledge and it's obvious the amount of care and research that went into it. Corcoran handles sensitive topics with a level of care that respectful and intimate.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't quite it for me. This was my first foray into travelogue genre, so maybe the genre isn't for me.

From the description, I thought it would be right up my street, but unfortunately, it read more like a travel diary, which could get bogged down and distracted by descriptions and the minutiae of America, veering slightly off topic. At times, I even forgot that the topic of interest was to explore the haunted sites throughout the States, but the writing was very strong and does encourage you to look at horror outside of the normal lens of being lowbrow gore.

The book was immensely well written, and the author's research was thorough, but sadly, I got a bit bored as the book progressed. The introduction was incredibly strong, and the cultural reflection at points was very interesting.

I would definitely consider exploring future works by the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Repeater Books for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't for me, the description sounded amazing! i Ghost tour around America! However i found it to be boring and more a personal tour rather than the highlight being the haunted sites themselves. If the author produces another book i would defiantly give it another go but this one fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Haunted States is well-written and full of information, however — a majority of the book’s delivery bored me. There were certain moments I found myself fully invested, while others made me excited to just be done with it.

This was a unique read, different from anything else I've read. Leading the reader across the expanse of the United States while exploring supernatural folklore was supremely engaging. Anyone not interested in ghost stories or dark histories and cultures will probably not be a huge fan of this guidebook. Overall I found the writing compelling and enjoyed the journey across the country.

This was a really interesting read! There are so many road trip style books and so many haunted America books but this really focuses on areas that are haunted not just buildings. Have you ever thought of the desert as being haunted? It's a really unique perspective and I thought it was a great read.

If you're looking for a book that delves into the most chilling myths and darkest folklore of the United States, this is NOT the one for you.

Despite its title, Haunted States is not so much a journey through the horrors of the world's most haunted country as it is a cultural reflection on why America harbors so many ghosts and skeletons in its closet.

During her journey across the United States, Irish writer Miranda Corcoran (a background that lends her significant authority on ghosts and spirits) embarks on a wide-ranging exploration of the nature of the fears and horrors that permeate American culture. Some of these fears are imported from old Europe, of course, but most stem from a highly complex historical legacy and an equally complex, layered society that is still evolving today.

Overall, the book is slow and, at times, tedious: there are many digressions from the main theme, consisting of mere descriptions of America as it is (though, to some, that alone might seem terrifying). However, here and there, the author's insights prove illuminating, revealing the deep roots of fear and discomfort in our societies—even the most modern ones.

Considering that horror culture is often undervalued, regarded as lowbrow or associated solely with gore and sensationalism, lacking any deeper significance, books like this prompt reflection on the origins of fear and its moral, spiritual, intellectual, and societal expressions.

Discovering these small gems of insight may make it worth reading a text that is expansive and occasionally somewhat unfocused.

Thank you to Miranda Corcoran, Repeater Books, and Netgalley for the ARC!

This part travelogue part cultural criticism written from the perspective of an Irish academic taught me so much about the eerie underbelly of my own country. Her journey through the US along with it's corresponding legends, folklore, true crime, and references in media was so fascinating. The descriptions of the changing landscapes and cultures of different regions of the United States also reminded me just how diverse and unique our country is. I think Corcoran's position as an outsider (and someone who doesn't drive- having to use our shoddy public transport to travel) lends to some really distinct and interesting commentaries and connections in this way. It's critical at times yes, but it's not without a lot of thought and what is clearly very conscious and thoughtful observations. The American Gothic is intrinsically tied with the past and the reality our own imaginations of American history and values. That is, a history of violence and oppression. However, the inclusion of beloved books and movies that have come out of this ideal highlight insightful responses to what is both wrong with our country and usually unidentifiable or hard to articulate. It's an incredibly refreshing take on our ideas of "haunted", and an essential read for anyone interested in American history and how it influences horror.

.Through a mix of interviews, travel experiences, and historical and cultural insights, Miranda Corcoran explores this Gothic landscape not as a believer in all things supernatural but as someone fascinated by its social and political significance, arguing that these monsters and ghosts reflect their place and time and carry with them their local histories and cultural tensions, which change as we travel from the verdant woods of New England to the oppressive swamps of the South.

The American Gothic, she proposes, isn't just a literary genre but a lens through which we confront the silent truths of our collective past.

But what if the Gothic isn’t just about horror and despair, but also a means for subversion and joy? Perhaps these monsters can teach us to resist, laugh, and hope. Such questions run through the narrative of Haunted States, making it more than a catalogue of eerie locales.

The book shows that America, like the supernatural, defies a single definition. The nation’s regions and cultures are as fragmented and contradictory as the Gothic imagination.

Each locale, from Hollywood’s faded glamour to New England’s haunted forests, has distinct fears, histories, and hopes.

Haunted States is rich with these narratives that are both as enlightening as they are entertaining. An engaging, thought-provoking exploration of America’s dark history. Well written and thoroughly researched, blends travel literature with cultural criticism, examining how past horrors, real and imagined, continue to haunt the American consciousness. Highly Recommended.

a more in-depth review is featured on the BIRD's Eyeview of Books Podcast

I love a good anthology/collection of stories. This collection is full of history and fun little tidbits. You call tell that the author spent a lot of time researching the variety of historical topics. If you like history, gothic horror, and collections... read this. You'll be happy to have this on your bookshelf, as well.

#NetGalley #HauntedStates

Corcoran's hybrid travelogue, meditation, and critical analysis works exceptionally well as a way to delve into American culture through the Gothic myth-making of the countries various regions. It is theoretically sophisticated, but also clear in its leveraging of academic discourse. It features both beautifully wrought descriptions of travel across American landscapes and pertinent observations about American narratives and their connections to (or disconnections from, American realities). Corcoran's status as an outsider looking in on a country not her own is useful in illuminating areas that we might take for granted (including the notice of American transportation's unspoken hostility to the disabled and under-resourced). I'm well versed in books engaging in American psycho-geography, including the works of Colin Dickey, W. Scott Poole, and Leanna Renee Hieber, and Andrea Janes. Haunted States is one of the best I've read in this area of exploration and valuable addition to the field. .

Similar to Colin Dicky's "Ghostland", Miranda Corcoran's "Haunted States" is less concerned with pointing you in the direction of spooky specters and thrills and more interested in telling the stories of the often disenfranchised and forgotten past of the United States. Corcoran's own skepticism (and un-American point of view as she hails from Ireland), is refreshing and prevents the narration feel as if it's being spouted by a certain Travel Channel ghost hunter. At times the narration can get a little wordy for my taste, and as a librarian I have a hard time thinking of where I would categorize this title. I can say with certainty it would not be with the Lonely Planets and Rick Steves. But as someone who appreciates locations off the beaten path, that's fine with me.

I thought this was a really well-written and interesting blend of travel memoir and literary criticism. I particularly liked that the author is Irish and took almost entirely public transport across America which gave a more unique way of seeing a country where the bus and train systems are so temperamental as you think that this is nigh on impossible. The book is divided into different regions within America - the traditional Gothic of places like New England; the voodoo of New Orleans and the South; and the nuclear gothic of Arizona and Texas with finally a tour of California and the dark gothic of California. I definitely enjoyed New England and the South far more as it focused on writers in that area whereas the other regions were predominantly focused on film - but that’s purely a personal preference. I also thought that the travelogue dipped in moments where Corcoran met friends along the way and clearly felt compelled to include their works in the book in a way that felt a little jarring. I’d also perhaps have liked to have been introduced to more authors and to have discovered some that I wasn’t previously aware of but in all an interesting and unusual blending of genres and ideas.

fascinating set of tales told in a very critical, dry way but which works to balance out the stories themselves. i could have used more of that, though. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

A nice ride through haunted places in the US and a cultural voice of the country itself. I really enjoyed this book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book combines storytelling and exploration of haunted U.S. sites, delving into each place's history and connecting it to the legends that endure.