Strange but True: Mysterious and Bizarre People

by Tom Slemen and Thomas Slemen

Book Overview

Contains 62 stories of phenomena that have defied explanation, as well as little-known facts about infamous people and historical events. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760712441
• ISBN13: 9780760712443
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble, New York
• Length: 394 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Strange But True: Mysterious People Rocked Me

I have over a hundred books on Forteana, the Occult, and Bermuda-Triangle type of mysteries, but I have never read anything like Thomas Slemen's book, Strange But True: Mysterious People. I don't know how he does it but Slemen draws you into the sinister and bizarre tales of his book, and it leaves you with an appetite for more of his tales. I have all of his English books as I live in London, and a friend in New York is so into Slemen, she has asked me to mail the books I have to her. Slemen's website is worth checking out: tomslemen.mainpage.netI would wholeheartedly recommend the book to all lovers of mysteries and the unknown.

Strange, Yeah....But How True?

Strange But True is a potpourri of bite-sized stories about (Surprise!) strange people and/or events. I am a "Strangeness Buff", and even though I have a TON of books that run along the same lines, there was a lot here that was new to me, and a lot that makes you want to read more; The chapters on Springheel Jack and The Tunguska Alien were especially interesting. Slemen's writing is compelling, and his style makes for fun reading. The drawback was that the book has no bibliography, so it's impossible to do any further digging for information, and there's no telling where Slemen got his facts from. As such, that always left me feeling a tad doubtful about some of the more unbelieveable stuff.....It is a fun book, though, and fans of the Unexplained will have a good time.

very entertaining, but questionable

I really enjoyed this book and have reread it several times now. It has to be one of the most thought provoking set of stories ever written. The range of topics, both in the variety of subject and the historical timespan, is also a good point of the book.However, some of the facts in some of the stories are questionable especially in light of the lack of bibliography. For instance, the story concerning the explosion in Siberia in 1908 was factual in regards to time, place and who/when it was investigated. Whether or not a supernatural/alien creature haunted the explosion site, as this book claims, is highly questionable. Many video documentaries on the Siberian explosion have not mentioned anything about such a creature and since there is no bibliography to this book it is impossible to find where these claims originated. It must be admitted that this makes the authors version highly suspect.At any rate, the book is very entertaining and is highly recommended.

Most excellent in every sense

I usually read books simular to this one. This book was entertaining with its tales and stimulating with the real facts it gave. St. Germain, EA Poe, Vampires....very interesting.

An astounding book of mysterious people

I could not put down Strange But True once I started to read. I have read a lot of mystery/paranormal books, but this one is the best and most unusual one I've perused so far. I enjoyed the chapter on Spring-Heeled Jack and the mysterious Count St Germain, who kept popping up throughout history in various guises. The book is a real gem for lovers of mystery.