New book explores Southern California’s spookiest locations

A new book is inviting kids to explore the spooky world of some of Southern California’s most haunted locations.

“The Ghostly Tales of Southern California” is a part of the Spooky America series, a collection of books adapted from the Haunted America series. This particular installation covers nine places of interest, including ghost towns, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the Camarillo State Hospital, and even Universal Studios and Disneyland.

Published by Arcadia Publishing, the book is meant to appeal to a broad, younger “middle-grade” audience. Author Dan Alleva “leaves it up to the reader” to decide whether or not ghosts are real.

“It’s a hope that these kids are getting a real laugh out of some of these stories, and start to become interested in different places in their country,” said Alleva. “It’s almost like an inspiration to travel as much as it is an opportunity to read something really cool.”

“Ghostly Tales of Southern California” does deal with some source material that might be considered scary, dark, and dreary. However, Alleva says it’s written in a way that is not so much a watering down than a repurposing.

“One of the things that is absolutely integral before anything when writing these books is that you should never as a writer sort of pander or play down to the reader, or expect that they don’t know as much as you. No audience is that more true than with children; they’ll know when you’re trying to pull one on them,” said Alleva. “Within these adaptations, it’s not so much the supernatural that has sort of be repurposed; the actual supernatural events themselves are very multigenerational in terms of how these stories are told. A lot of them are rich nuggets from our American folklore.”

He likens Ghostly Tales to the popular Goosebumps series.

“It is incredibly cool and rich in detail, but doesn’t read down. It really kind of lifts the reader up,” said Alleva.

“Ghostly Tales of Southern California” is available at all major retailers, and your local book stores.