​ USBORNE’S WORLD OF THE UNKNOWN: GHOSTS, DOES IT STILL HOLD UP?

What does the teen of today really think of Usborne’s World of the Unknown: Ghosts?
We interviewed AJ to find out…

 Today we turn to our youngest member of the Ginger Nut team, fourteen-year-old AJ, to take a look at the recently rereleased Usborne’s World of the Unknown: Ghosts by Christopher Maynard which was first published way back in 1977 and is widely credited with tuning many young minds into lifelong horror fans. Adults of 2019 undoubtedly have much nostalgia for this cult book, but we are interested in whether it has any relevance in the technological driven world of today or whether kids will be turned off by it. In the form of an interview, we have gone through the book with AJ for her thoughts on this legendary work.
 
The 2019 version also has a forward from Reece Shearsmith of The League of Gentlemen, Psychoville and more recently Inside Number 9 following a social media campaign which attracted a lot of support, helping to bring the book back from the grave and into print after twenty years of unavailability.
 
In 1977 this was one of Usborne’s earliest books and although they never published a second edition, they used the same blueprint on many other books which were very similar in structure to this on, for example, poltergeists and other types of supernatural entities which were bigger and included much more detail than Ghosts.
 
GNOH: This book was a big deal in the late 1970s/1980s how do you think it stands the test of time?
 
AJ: I think it has aged incredibly badly, I can understand why kids liked it thirty years ago though, when there were no mobile phones and readers had no choice but to use books if they wanted to find out about vampires, werewolves and stuff. But in the days of ghost websites, You Tube channels on hauntings and colour photography this book looks just ghastly and I don’t see the point in republishing a relic from the time of the dinosaurs. 
 
GNOH: What if you were ten instead of fourteen?
 
AJ: Ok, maybe, I would have flicked through the pictures and the small pieces of texts would have been easy to read and might have grabbed my attention. I might have used it for ideas for Halloween, but the cheesy drawings would have put me off. The terrible sketch on page one of the bats with the human face had me shaking my head straight away; “this is really old” I thought. No kid will read this. I like nostalgia connected to horror, shows like Stranger Things and the 1980s, but this book does not click the way a TV show does.
 
GNOH: Is there anything you liked about it? It must have some good points?
 
AJ: Too many of the stories were very vague and felt like anyone could have made them up and the hard facts included were minimal. The best pages were the ones which had slightly more detail, but not enough of them had enough intrigue to make me want to follow them up on the internet. For example, the poltergeist bit on page five was so rubbish, just a few pictures of broken plates. Boring, seriously, boring.
 
GNOH: Did any of the pages pique your interest enough to check them out on the internet?
 
AJ: Ok, a couple. Firstly, “The village with a dozen ghosts” was cool, but the internet now says there may now be fourteen! But it is nice to read that this myth is still going strong. I’ve never heard of the village of Pluckley, maybe if they have a haunted hotel we can visit there. We stayed in a haunted hotel in Whitby a few years ago and I was surprised the ancient ‘Withered Hand’ they have in a museum there was not in the book, it was much creepier than a lot of the stuff they did feature. Like I said, most of the others were too vague, fifty words about a ‘Waterfall Ghost’ in Australia is not going to catch the attention of many kids. I could just as easy make up fifty words about the ghost that lives under my bed and make it way scarier.
 
GNOH: What did you think of the balance between pictures and photos?
 
AJ: There were hardly and photos in the book and I tracked some of these down on the internet, so I suppose this means they’re famous examples. I can understand the desire to republish the ‘original’ book, but things have moved on and the pictures needed a serious makeover as they’re both cheesy and outdated. Many kids will just laugh at them and just not treat the book seriously.
 
GNOH: When I was a kid, I remember lots of other books like this (more 1980s), but much gorier, I recall seeing a charred leg from (supposedly) human combustion. Do you think this book needed more stuff like that?
 
AJ: A few more real shocks might have helped. That question has got me thinking about the age this book is aimed at, maybe we should downgrade it to about six or seven? Even for a parent to read to a kid for a ‘spooky story’ at bedtime? The stuff is just so basic, as a very ‘first’ beginner book to ghosts a very small child might get excited by it.
 
GNOH: This book has been number one in the Amazon YA Horror category for a while and other ghost categories. At the time of writing is about to break the Amazon UK 200? Only Stephen King does that….
 
AJ: Then is it being sold under false pretences. IT IS NOT YOUNG ADULT. I am a ‘Young Adult’ and I can guarantee my kind WILL NOT read this, it is a nostalgia trip for old people or very small kids who still believe in the Tooth Fairy.
 
GNOH: How much did you learn?
 
AJ: I like ghost stories, horror novels and films and my dad is slowly letting me watch all the classics, but I doubt I learned much here, younger kids might though. This book was like a baby version of Wikipedia, if I wanted to find out about poltergeists I would go to Wiki not here. Some of their later books look much more informative as they have more focus on specific areas of the supernatural. If a kid did not know anything about the paranormal at all this might be a starting point, but for anybody who knows anything it is just too simple. I also just realised there is no Wendigo in the book, sorry guys, you missed out another cool ghost!
 
GNOH: You’re being a tad disrespectful AJ, do you have any idea how influential this book is?
 
AJ: No, not really, it just looks old and crusty, if I took this to school my friends would ditch me with embarrassment.
 
GNOH: Part of the reason the publisher Usborne never republished this book was because they used it as a starting point for lots of other titles which had much more detail on specific paranormal stuff, such as their ‘Paranormal Guide Series’ which included titles such as ‘Poltergeists? The Evidence and the Arguments’ (1998). Another would be ‘Tales of Real Hauntings’ (1997) also by Usborne, but these factual books began to slowly disappear as the internet developed and kids went online to find out about ghosts.
 
AJ: I’m not surprised, most kids I know read hardly anything and it is Netflix for everything. I’ve always talked to my dad about books since I was small.
 
GNOH: What did you think of the haunted German submarine story UB-65?
 
AJ: At least it seems to be based on facts – I looked this one up on the internet, but the story on Wikipedia was a bit different. The version in the book is a bit basic and does not really catch the imagination.
 
GNOH: Did any other pages just out at you?
 
AJ: No, but lots really irritated me. The ‘Haunted House’ (pages 16-17) has a very stupid list of twelve things you might expect to find in a haunted house such as watching out for muddy footprints appearing on the stairs. I have never seen such rubbish. Instead, why not list some real-life hauntings or mention a few houses or famous examples instead of such a dull ‘vague-book’ page? But, as I said, it might creep out a six-year-old.
 
GNOH: What could they have done to spice it up in a second edition instead of just releasing this 1970s version?
 
AJ: Kids who use the internet love watching top-tens of just about anything on You Tube (I especially love ‘Watch Mojo’) and this could have featured lots of interesting ‘Top Tens’ such as haunted houses or castles, top UK ghosts, top American ghosts or top urban myths. A new edition could have included stuff that has come from the internet age such as cursed chain letters or stuff like Slenderman. To be honest, stuff like Slenderman would freak kids out more than anything in this book.
 
GNOH: Final Impression?
 
AJ: Hated it. Please don’t make me look at this book ever again or I will quit Ginger Nuts forever. If the publisher had tested this book on a real child audience they would have thrown it back at them. It belongs in a museum. Maybe that freaky place Ripley’s Believe It or Not might take it? On seconds thoughts, it’s just too boring. Sorry to all the dads who love this book, but this is 2019 not 1977!
 
GNOH: Thanks very much AJ, we’re sorry to have wasted your time. By the way, what are you currently reading?
 
AJ: No problem, but please don’t give me any more rubbish like this I have got too much other stuff to do. I’m reading I’m Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. The Bronte was recommended by the horror writer Alden Bell (Reapers are the Angels) and Serial Killer my dad.  
 
AJ