Product Description

Explore Hundreds of Fear Facts--From Aliens to Zombies!

Within these warped pages, ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA invites you to join our quest for the terrifying truth about all things ghoulish and ghastly. But beware! Surprises lurk at every turn. . . .

Page 20: Discover a timeline of ALIEN LIFE on Earth--beginning 4 billion years ago.

Page 82: Meet a man recruited by the U.S. government to become a PSYCHIC SPY.

Page 49: Spend a rainy night with real-life GHOSTBUSTERS as they investigate a poltergeist sighting.

Page 5: Take a trip to a mysterious library in search of DRACULA's shocking origins.

Page 18: Gaze into the cold, dead eyes of P. T. Barnum's hideous FEEJEE MERMAID.

Page 12: Encounter new photos of the actual sea monster that inspired the mythical KRAKEN.

Page 110: Learn the secret ingredients allegedly contained in a Haitian ZOMBIE poison.

And much, much more!

Bursting with evidence--special investigations, exclusive interviews, rare images, and chilling eyewitness accounts--ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA proves that truth is not only stranger than fiction . . . it's also a lot scarier.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18462 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780439922555
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"4.5 ALIEN SKULLS OUT OF 5. Delivers on all levels...[E.H.] would make a great spooky holiday present." -- Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest

"4.5 ALIEN SKULLS OUT OF 5. Delivers on all levels...[E.H.] would make a great spooky holiday present." -- Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest

"GRADE: A. A handsome hardcover volume with a lenticular frontispiece...A must-have for your reference shelf." -- The-Trades.com

"A fun blend of fact and fiction (with many comparisons between the two), this gorgeous hardcover won't disappoint." -- Rue Morgue Magazine

"A handsome hardcover volume with a lenticular frontispiece...A must-have for your reference shelf. GRADE: A." -- The-Trades.com

"Aimed at kids and teens, [E.H.] is also nice reading for the not-so-adult grown-ups. . . . Tons of references and links for each one of us to further investigate the unknown." -- Razor Reel

*** A YALSA Quick Pick *** -- *** Nominated for the BRAM STOKER AWARD for "SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NONFICTION" ***

From the Author
"TURN BACK! NOW! WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"

Yes, it's a suggestion I hear almost every day. Obviously, I am deaf to those words. Turning back is never really an option for a person in my line of work. Wherever curiosity leads me, I have no choice but to follow.

What is my work, exactly? Well, the time has come to tell you.

Ever since I was a child--small and sickly but cunning nonetheless--my quest has been to unmask the origins of fright. From the day I was old enough to read, I plagued Mother Gee with one bold query after another:

Did Dracula ever exist?
Is there life on other planets?
Are some houses truly haunted?

Most of the time, Mother refused to answer. She was too busy shielding me from sunlight, dust mites, and other air-borne dangers. But not always . . .

On one occasion, she handed me a strange book. I'd never seen it in our house before. It contained startling facts about the Kraken, that slimy armful lurking in many a seaman's nightmares. Much to my delight, the author declared that the Kraken was based on an actual creature. A real-life monster!

"If my favorite thirty-foot cephalopod is real," I wheezed excitedly, "then tell me . . . what other surprises prowl this planet and beyond?"

Silence was Mother's reply. She hadn't meant to tutor me in terror. No, her mission was to protect me. As the next sixteen chapters will prove to you, my own mission became something very different.

Not everyone is destined for such a quest. That's why we have a special policy here at headquarters. The rules require us to say one thing to unsuspecting viSITORs. Just this once, I must offer to you those same seven words that I am so unwilling to obey:

Turn back. Now. While you still can.

In truth, the decision belongs only to you....

Signed,
Joshua Gee
Chief Investigator of the Unexplained
ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA

About the Author
According to eyewitnesses, Joshua Gee lives and works in New York City. ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA is widely believed to be Investigator Gee's first book.

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA is the perfect book for anyone who loves the spooky, the eerie, and the downright weird. Want to know about ghosts, vampires, ESP, werewolves, or anything else even partially paranormal? Then this is definitely the book for you!

The book is broken down into four main parts: Real Nightmares, "That's the Spirit!", Every Day is Halloween, and Fearsome Fates.

In part one, you can read about vampires, sea creatures, aliens, and werewolves. Part two covers ghosts: where to find them, how to catch them, when they've been caught on film, and animals who could have been extras on the movie Pet Sematary. Part three includes weird shops (where you can even buy a three-pound jar of dead flies), ESP and other psychic abilities, phobias and superstitions, and the most horrific books you could ever find on a bookshelf. Part four covers zombies, pixies and faeries, mummies, and everything death related.

This book is hilariously horrifying. Although that may sound like an oxymoron, author Joshua Gee has made sure to make the facts he covers interesting, funny, and entertaining. Besides being a reference book, this is one tome that you'll find yourself reading over and over again for its pure entertainment value.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

Horrifying...ly good!
This is a surprisingly good book. I ordered it out of my niece's school's book order for a laugh, then started reading it and was enthralled! It has a Guinness Book of World Records feel to it, including a ton of information pertaining to each subject and interesting facts about everything surrounding the subjects. This book has cool pictures and illustrations, is easy to read and jam-packed with information on the superstitions and lore that have been part of our culture since the dawn of time. One of the cool things is that the book doesn't claim these figments of lore are real, per se, but rather, provides one with the facts and stories related to the topic so that one can make their own decision, or just be entertained and become more informed. I would definately recommend this as a cool book to own if you have any interest in the supernatural and cultural history :)
Schematics: cool holographic cover, thick book

"Blood sweet blood"
In spite of the `horrifica' in the title, this author's tongue was tucked firmly into his own cheek during the compilation of this witty encyclopedia. Joshua Gee never comes right out and says, for example, that vampires really exist. Instead he leads his reader on with teasers such as, "If we could ask Stoker himself whether or not he believed in vampires and werewolves, what might he say? Well, hopefully nothing. After all, he's been dead since 1912!"

Mindful of the age of its intended readers, this encyclopedia doesn't go into too much shocking detail. For instance, it never does state what Vlad Dracula a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler did with all of those six-foot wooden stakes. Mr. Gee just drops a big hint: "It [impalement] is best described in a foreign language that the reader does not understand..."

Nevertheless, there are lots of interesting bits of folklore and science to entertain your young Buffys and Van Helsings. For instance, did you know that vampire slayers had to ride a horse "...as black as the blackest ocean" or that vampire bat spit contains a substance called `draculin' that prevents its victim's blood from clotting?

Although this is a standard, hard-bound book with multiple pictures (in gory color) per page, there are lots of interactive features to engage the computer-savvy reader, such as a quiz on the `real' versus movie Dracula: "Who would win in a furious fight to the (un)death? YOU decide."

I'll go with the real Dracula whose "victims accumulated on his front lawn like `a mighty forest'!"

"Encyclopedia Horrifica" has something for everyone who is interested in the supernatural, from aliens to zombies. It's not really arranged in an encyclopedic format, i.e. A to Z, but there is an index if you need to look up, say, "The Call of Cthulhu" or `fugu sashimi.'

This review wouldn't be complete without mention of the many wonderful pictures that adorn this book, from the holographic spider that crawls in and out of a skull's eye socket on the front cover, to the scariest photo of all: an eyelash mite in its natural habitat on your skin, magnified 240 times to look like a wormy alligator. Ugh!