Princess Fuzzypants here: The parts of the book that I liked I really liked. But I almost gave up on the book in the first chapters. It seemed like it was Bigfoot in his various guises and had it not turned to more haunted stories, I might have not finished. As it was, there were bits where I skimmed and in some cases leapt forward. Perhaps I am being unfair but when I see a title like this book has, my expectations are for ghost stories. I would say less than half of the book fit into that category. For someone else, it might have been fascinating reading.

It certainly shows the ‘enemy’ might not be the only scary thing on the battlefield. Some of these things might fall into supernatural and some might fall into natural but unproven or discounted. It was not what I expected. Three purrs and two paws up.

I was interested in this book because I thought it would review ghost stories of past wars. Though there was some of that I felt a lot of the content really stretched the concept of a haunted. There was an entire chapter about big foot type creatures and another about reptiles and insects that attacked soldiers.

The focus of the book was almost entirely the time period of the 20th and 21st century wars in the Middle East. The book read like a laundry list of incidents and didn't create a sense of ghostly tales. I had thought there might be some stories of hauntings in areas where battles had been fought. In one sentence Gettysburg was mentioned with no other detail and then dismissed. In all, I was disappointed both in the lack of history and residual paranormal experiences.

This was well researched and had lots of fascinating stories that were new to me. I had thought this would be another wonderful addition to the books I had read about haunted battlefields and the like but this book explored cryptid sightings rather than ghosts, which made for a different take on the hauntings of these locations. While there was plenty of detail, at times it came off dry for me. Nonetheless, this was an interesting book and I recommend it to anyone who is intrigued by cryptid sightings.

Anything to do with military history, from the Roman Empire to World War II & beyond, is a must-read for me, & I also love the paranormal so a mix of the two was too good to pass up. The book is called Haunted War Tales but a large section of it deals more with cryptids such as Sasquatch rather than ghostly goings-on. Still very interesting but not what I was expecting at first glance.

I still found myself going down rabbit holes with this book though. The argument that there are national parks so vast in the USA that some areas are still unexplored or inaccessible & so who knows what is out there is intriguing. (Cue X-Files theme) On the other hand, most sightings here are in the midst of stressful situations or in isolated places which can lead to the mind playing tricks. On the subject of the hauntings, I'm slightly less sceptical as I've had experiences myself which are not easily rationalised away.

Overall I found this a fascinating read, & I've added some of the books mentioned in this one to my TBR list for later reading. It's written in an accessible way, easy to follow, & the author presents the evidence for & against without trying to influence the reader one way or another.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Globe Pequot/Lyons Press, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

I personally didn’t enjoy reading this book. I enjoy a good ghost tale, and was looking forward to digging in to haunted war tales but I felt that the stories were just touches with the bizarre after the first chapter of feeling the paranormal at Gettysburg.

The book was well written however and easy to read but I personally wouldn’t pick it again.

R. C. Bramhall opened Haunted War Tales nicely with ghostly experience he had at Gettysburg while walking the battlefield. But the promise in the title was misplaced rather the book should be entitled "Weird War" which is a more accurate description of the collection of incidents he provides in six chapters. Rather than ghosts on battlefields, Bramhall talks about soldiers' encounters with Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti and other humanoid creatures during the past century or so. He does have provide interesting tidbits on some of the shenanigans that the Nazis were up to before and during World War II (think Indiana Jones). He also discusses strange happenings in World War I trenches. He finishes with a tour of different US forts and military reservations - discussing strange sightings and ghosts that are seen there. I should have paid more attention to the subtitle - "True Military Encounters with the Bizarre, Paranormal, and Unexplained." If I had I would have different expectations for the book.

This was OK, just stories about different things but not so sure what I thought about each story and so not a bad read but not that great either.

An intriguing read for all. The author has put together an interesting collection of stories for all interests. A good read overall.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

True tales of spooky places – add in military history – then this is a must read. Interestingly enough we are going to Gettysburg for spring break this year and this is all over my radar. Well researched and written so beautifully. This is a must read for history buffs, military history fans as well as those of us who like a little (or a lot) of hauntingly good stories.

This book features many interesting and often haunting (and indeed haunted) military tales. I am interested in anything to do with the military so this book greatly appealed to me, The author himself worked for Special Ops in the past (and was stationed in Afghanistan etc), so that, coupled with the obviously extensive research engendered in this book, gives this a very authentic flavour. It's also very well-written and engaging. It is well worth a read (but obviously, it is not for the faint-hearted given the nature of the tales. There are descriptions of tiger attacks and deaths etc)

This was a really insightful, intriguing and spooky read. It features many military stories, from all over the world, highlighting the bizarre, paranormal and unexplained. I loved these stories and I learned so much from this book, you can really tell that a lot of time and research was put into this.
The stories range from informative, creepy and gruesome. They were some stories I've heard about before, such as the accounts of The Bonin Islands- a brutal tale not for the faint of heart.
Overall, there is a lot that I took away from this book and it gave me a lot to look forward to researching on my own.
Thank you to Netgalley, Lyons Press and the author for my eARC of this book.
all opinions are 100% my own, and I am leaving my review voluntarily.