Rating: 9 out of 10
Cover: A
Audiobook Narration: Excellent delivery by Mark Sanderlin
Don’t Go There is a book tour of the world’s most unsettling places. If you’ve ever walked into a place and felt like something was deeply wrong, this book is basically an entire atlas of that feeling.
J.W. Ocker clearly knows his subject. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about the location’s history. The extensive research efforts are noticeable; he covers the familiar territory but goes much deeper into local lore and obscure factoids I have never heard before, along with places that you just don’t hear about in general. The writing is well done; his kind, quirky personality shines through, making the read macabrely enjoyable.
This is great! I love learning about spooky cursed places. There are some things I could not have known, like that Mount Everest is just as much feces as it is dirt. Or that the mountain has jumping spiders! Also, there is a place that apparently has batsquatches. I mean, I guess I’d take the batsquatches over jumping spiders or sleeping on dirty poo sludge. Fun read, I recommend. (9/10)
Thank you to J. W. Ocker, Quirk Books, and Libro.fm. I received an advanced review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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Publisher: Quirk Books/ Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781683695028 / 9781668158517
Narrator(s): Mark Sanderlin
288 pages / 8 hours 6 minutes
Travel / Special Interest / Haunted & Unexplained
History / Essays
Reference / Curiosities & Wonders
Embark on a guided tour of 30 of the most dangerous and mysterious locations that we simply cannot stay away from.
Have you ever visited a forest or an abandoned building and gotten a bad vibe? There are places that are rife with rumors of hauntings, monsters, and sinister phenomena that can’t be explained. And there are just as many sites that are the confirmed home of disasters, murders, and man-made mistakes. Everyone’s heard about the Bermuda Triangle, but do you know these chilling sites?
Roopkund: There’s a lake tucked high in the frozen Himalayan Mountains . . . and it’s full of skeletons.
Mount Shasta: This mysterious mountain in California inspired the I AM cult and is said to host UFOs, bigfoots, and lizard people.
Nahanni National Park: Called the “Valley of the Headless Men”, this national park in northern Canada is famous for legends of a hidden gold mine . . . and a series of decapitated miners.
Pine Barrens: Best known as the home of the Jersey Devil, this desolate pine forest has also hosted pirates, the mafia, and moonshiners.
Ciudad Blanca: This fabled pre-Columbian “Lost City of the Monkey God” in Honduras doesn’t want to be found, and explorers seeking it have met violent ends.
Award-winning travel writer and dark history expert J. W. Ocker explores these and many more locales around the world in this fascinating illustrated compendium that will ignite curiosity . . . and perhaps inspire some dubious travel plans.
Author Bio:
J. W. Ocker is an Edgar Award–winning travel writer, novelist, and blogger. His previous books include Poe-Land, A Season with the Witch, the New York Times–reviewed Cursed Objects, The United States of Cryptids, and Cult Following. He is also the creator of the blog and podcast OTIS: Odd Things I’ve Seen (oddthingsiveseen.com), where he chronicles his visits to oddities around the world.
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