Haunted Hikes Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America's National Parks

Combining the popularity of ghost stories with the traditional aspects of a park trail guide, these creepy hikes lead courageous climbers and armchair adventurers through some of the scariest, most mysterious places in North America. Thoroughly investigated, yet often tongue-in-cheek, these tales behind the trails include the chupacabra that roams the swamps inside the Big Thicket National Preserve, the execution-style shooting of two General Motors executives at Crater Lake, and the pair of disembodied legs that have been seen running around inside the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center. A fright factor rating is listed for each hike, along with information on trailhead access, maps, and hike difficulty levels. From the wheelchair accessible to multi-day treks into the wilderness, the included trails cover a wide range of hiking abilities and even feature a haunted Louisiana bayou best reached by canoe or kayak.

Andrea Lankford is the author of Biking the Arizona Trail and Biking the Grand Canyon Area, and she has written for Adventure Cyclist, Backpacker, Canoe & Kayak, EcoFlorida, and Paddler. She is a former National Park Service ranger, where she won several awards for her work as a criminal investigator and implemented the "Heat Kills. Hike Smart" public education program that is credited with preventing heat-related deaths at the Grand Canyon. She lives in Oxnard, California.