Ghosts and Ruins

Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? This gorgeous book is a compendium of old, forgotten haunted houses imagined by artist Ben Catmull, along with the stories and rumors of who haunts them, and why. Each spread features a different haunted house, lovingly and exquisitely rendered in scratchboard on masonite, with a short, nightmare-inducing description of each scene. In “Drowned Shelley,” for example: A chorus of frogs surrounds the house where young Shelley was drowned headfirst in the bathtub by her drunken stepfather. Say her name 13 times while looking in the pond and she will drown you in your sleep. Say her name the wrong number of times while looking in the pond, and she will leave hair in your breakfast dishes. Say her name 13 times while not looking in the pond, and she will watch you when you clip your toenails. Mispronounce her name 13 times while looking anywhere near the pond, and she will kick you somewhere delicate at the stroke of midnight. Catmull’s images are evocative, haunting masterpieces that never tread in graphic imagery, choosing instead to suggest horrors far more frightening than what they explicitly depict.

From Publishers Weekly

Just because Ben Catmull (Monster Parade) tweaks his gothic drawings and paired narratives for humor doesn't mean there aren't shivery chills aplenty in this gloriously nightmarish collection. The book trawls through several haunted houses, with each of the textured, full-page drawings facing a block of spooky or sarcastic story text. The first piece, Drowned Shelley, is the best, describing a house haunted by the ghost of a girl drowned by her drunken stepfather. It starts in sad horror (Say her name 13 times while looking in the pond, and she will drown you in your sleep) and works its way toward the comic (Mispronounce her name... and she will kick you somewhere delicate at the stroke of midnight). The effect of combining trancelike portent and giggles is reminiscent of both Edward Gorey and Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Catmull's pieces are worth savoring, his dark-etched, black-and-white scratchboard-on-Masonite drawings so richly layered they almost seem to be in color. Elegantly evil, and a surefire bet for an early Halloween. (Aug.)

Sean Edgar, Paste

"Far and away some of the most creeping, haunting, regal spook strata released by a comics publisher. The plain-spoken descriptions pave a path to the gorgeous visuals where the reader’s mind fills in the horrifying gaps."

Geek Girl Pen Pals

"The illustrations in this book alone are enough to scare any camper, but the stories that go along with them are sure to keep you up at night."

About the Author

BEN CATMULL grew up in Albany, CA and currently resides in Oakland, CA. His previous works include Monster Parade and Paper Theater.

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