Author J.W. Ocker’s Don’t Go There (subtitled A Tour of the World’s Most Sinister Spots) is much more than a mere travel book. It is that, certainly, although its aim is to warn readers about places to avoid more than ones to recommend — although some readers will certainly take the writer’s warnings as challenges. It is also a captivating chronicle of paranormal places and eldritch events.
Ocker divides his book into the sections Fearsome Forests, Wretched Waters, Insane Islands, Deadly Deserts, Risky Ruins, and Spooky Snowscapes. High strangeness abounds in famously familiar areas such as The Bermuda Triangle, Dyatlov Pass, and Skinwalker Ranch, of course, but along with these places, Ocker also discusses less headline-grabbing — but no less fascinating — locales like Mexico’s Isla de las muñecas, the reputed island of haunted dolls; Louisiana’s allegedly cursed Manchac Swamp, alleged home of the werewolf-like rougarou and human murderers; and the family-cursed settlement of Dudleytown, Connecticut, now a ghost town with an off-limits area.
Ocker — author of such books as Poe-Land, A Season with the Witch, Cursed Objects, The United States of Cryptids, and Cult Following — provides an intriguing, chilling look at some of the eeriest places on Earth and the reasons why they have received their reputations, from cryptid sightings to weird entities, UFO sightings, hauntings, dimensional portals, and other paranormal phenomenon. Well researched, the book is a thoroughly entertaining read.
Ocker makes for a fine tour guide of terror as he writes Don’t Go There in a thoughtful, accessible style, infused with some wry, sometimes dark humorous commentary. The result is a welcome addition to the libraries of both those of us who have long been enthralled by mystifying occurrences and locales, and neophytes to the subject.
For more information including ordering options, visit https://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/book/dont-go-there/.
Don’t Go There
By J.W. Ocker
Publisher: Quirk Books
On sale: 07/14/2026
ISBN: 978-1-6836-9502-8
Hardcover
Price: $19.99 US
author J.W. Ocker
