Sophia Rose Reviews- National Park Mysteries and Disappearances: Pacific Northwest by Steve Stockton and Bill Melder

Today Sophia Rose returns with an audio review perfect for the Halloween Season.
Enjoy!

National Park Mysteries and Disappearances: Pacific Northwest by Steve Stockton and Bill Melder

Narrated by Chris Abernathy

Volume 3

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Published:  9.13.22

Times:  3 hours 59 minutes

Rating: 4 stars

Narration Ration: 4 stars

Format: MP3

Source:  Tantor Audio

Sellers: Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

GoodReads Blurb:

Some of the most visited national parks in the country have a dark side.

Aside from crowds of hikers, campers, and general tourists, there's a dark side to many that can be found in the great states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. From strange disappearances, grisly murders and bone-chilling paranormal hauntings and ghost sightings, these pristine locales have a lot more to offer than just serene hiking trails or camping. In this third installment of National Park Mysteries & Disappearances, Steve Stockton, along with Bill Melder, presents the listener with a side to these locations you've never heard before.

So, put aside your nature guidebooks, forget about the pretty leaves, and the relaxing streams as well as the miniature golf, the funnel cakes and all the other "tourist traps" and prepare for a wild ride on the dark side of these major national parks.

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

After putting in my earbuds and listening my way through the spooky and atmospheric mysteries associated with Great Smoky Mountains NP and then national parks in California, I was eager to press forward into volume three taking me to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho parks for more thrills and chills.

 

The book is set up featuring mysteries and disappearances first and then ghostly sightings organized by state so first we visited parks in Oregon, then Washington, and finally, Idaho. 

Each story involves a short history of the park, the person/s involved, and then the facts related to the disappearance or death.  Many of the stories are left with no conclusive answers even if the remains were found.  Some were obvious cases of foul play, but others are simply a person getting inexplicably lost or finding themselves ill prepared when encountering an emergency situation like weather, injuries, or wild animals.  Many of the victims were actually experienced people in the wilderness though, sadly, some are children.  After several cases were presented, the local ghost stories were presented and this involved the history of the place and the people and a few indigenous peoples’ myths included for the locales.  I was not surprised that Portland’s Shanghai tunnels were on that list for ghost stories.  And, a couple times the story really hit home when it was a location I have visited and even the exact trail like in the Craters of the Moon park story.

 

The author doesn’t try to dress it up with drama because, in truth, the bare facts and speculations are plenty to get the listener intent on the story and feel the cold creep up and down the spine or sadness for the result.  I didn’t find it dry and was intrigued so that a few stories had me going on line and searching for more details.

 

Chris Abernathy remains the narrator like with the first two books I like the way he presents the book.  He keeps it low key and yet not pedantic.  In the audio version, I did sometimes not realize the book had shifted to a new story at first when the story took place in the same park and setting and this would confuse me for a short period.

 

All in all, this presentation of real stories and ghostly settings in the national parks of the Pacific Northwest was entertaining, but also fascinating.  I know I have a much healthier respect for the wild country now.  I hope there are more stories from the series for other national parks and I can recommend these to those who enjoy true crime and mysteries, but want shorter stories and a quick listen.

 

Author Bio:

Steve Stockton is a veteran outdoorsman, paranormal researcher, and bestselling author of Strange Things in the Woods and More Strange Things in the Woods.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/strangeandodd

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ThirteenPastMidnight

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose