TW: Abductions, possession, animal death



When Sourcebooks reached out to offer me a review copy of Unexplained: Real-Life Supernatural Stories for Uncertain, I was incredibly excited to read such a creepy book for October. I've never listened to a podcast - not a single one - but apparently this book is based of a podcast of the same name, so it may be even more up your alley if you're already a fan of the podcast. Either way, this was a terrifying, chilling book full of true, unexplained mysteries.


A telling of 10 true, explained stories in modern times. From stories of reincarnations, UFO sightings, Mothman prophecies, curses, and poltergeists - these stories will chill you to the bone. 


This book was different than I expected it to be. I expected 10 chapters that only shared 10 different mysterious tales. While the book did have those things, it also gave additional context to each story. The author also gave a lot of his perspective to each story, and though I'm sure it comes across in a way more interesting way during a spoken podcast, those perspectives typically came across as very dry and hard to read in the book. Don't get me wrong - I loved reading the actually unexplained stories (and I'm still having some nightmares surrounding those), the "extra" bits in each chapter was so boring.

I am looking forward to looking into some of those stories more (and to not touching some of the others with a 10-foot pole because I am not bringing that evil upon myself). There were some stories I'd definitely heard of - those of the Mothman and Slenderman. Though I'd never actually known what the Mothman Prophecies were, I am looking forward to watching the movie based upon those events.





Reading this book felt kind of like watching a season of The X-Files, but without my main man Mulder. I'm actually almost certain some of these stories, or those like it, were mysteries within the show, so that all felt familiar to me. I will say that reading each of those tales was so haunting. More than half of them left me feeling actual terror. I'd definitely recommend reading this if you're already a listener of the podcast. And if you're into unexplained mysteries, you'd also probably really enjoy this. It's a good starting point, but I definitely left each story wanting more information. Again, the book can read as really dry at times - almost like a textbook - but the actual events themselves are really interesting.



Goodreads rating: ★★★☆☆














*I received this book free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions, as always, are 100% my own.