Do You Love Creepy Ghost Stories? You’ll Love This New Release!

Can Christians enjoy creepy ghost stories? Maybe.

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Can Christians Enjoy Creepy Ghost Stories?

“Do you believe in ghosts?” the storyteller asked the campers as we sat on hard wooden benches around a crackling campfire.

“No!” we all shouted back. At eight and nine years old, our parents and church school teachers had instilled within us a healthy sense of Christian theology. Ghosts don’t exist. At least not the kind like Casper, who floated around in a white sheet.

“Do you want to hear a ghost story?”

“YES!” we all screamed.

Even my young eyes realized how our response startled the storyteller. “I’ll tell you about a ghost,” he paused dramatically. “The Holy Ghost!”

We listened politely, although we really wanted to hear a hair-raising creepy ghost story. Even though our parents and churches warned us against tempting the unknown. We wanted to experience fear in a safe environment.

The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theatre serves up a creepy ghost story Christians can enjoy. It instills the tang of fear about the unexplained while telling a story about possible hauntings and ghosts from a Christian perspective. We all have a skeptic inside us, and we’re all curious about those who claim to have psychic powers.

The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theatre

By Jaime Jo Wright, Bethany House Publishers, October 2023, 384 pages.

1915, Kipper’s Grove, WI

Present Day, Kipper’s Grove, WI

Greta Mercy and her family can’t get a break. Her parents’ untimely deaths leave Grace and her five brothers orphans, but the county allows her and her older brother to keep the younger boys. When Gerard dies while working on Mr. Barlowe’s sumptuous theater, Grace knows only a miracle will allow her to keep her dwindling family out of the poor house. 

And everyone in town knows the rumors about Grove House, where those with power send the unwanted to live out their lives away from the public eye. But when Grace attends a lavish event at the theater with her rich friends Elanor and Oscar Boyd, she witnesses a horrible scene. In the aftermath, Mr. Barlowe and the police claim it never happened and charge Grace with disrupting the peace.

When her younger brother goes with two friends to investigate the theatre to prove Grace’s innocence, the three boys go missing. Who can Grace trust to help her find her brother before it’s too late?

Present Day, Kipper’s Grove, WI

When Kit Boyd’s best friend disappears on a ghost walk in the historic Barlowe Theatre, Kit feels frantic. Adopted at birth, Kit harbors a deep fear of abandonment—even though she’s had loving, adoptive parents from infancy. 

Evan Fisher, the handsome host from the ghost show, surprises Kit when he offers to help her find Madison. Growing up in a Christian household, Kit has deeply held beliefs about ghosts and hauntings. She doesn’t expect anyone on a show about ghosts to have faith in the Almighty. 

Someone vandalizes the food bank where Kit works, and Evan insists it ties in with Madison’s disappearance. Kit reluctantly agrees when someone tampers with her car, and she has a wreck on the way home. The only way to feel safe again is to find Madison and put to rest the notions of a haunted theatre once and for all. 

What I Loved About This Book

Wright has penned another creepy ghost story where the impossible seems possible, and nothing is as it seems. Her use of time shift keeps the novel flowing between centuries and highlights the truth that evil always exists, and powerful people will go to any lengths to have their will done. 

Readers who grew up in adoptive families will relate to Kit and her struggles with fear of abandonment. Greta’s story of determination will inspire readers to never give up despite overwhelming circumstances.

Fans of Kristi Cambron will love this book.