Every one of them happened.
Haunted houses, lonely highways and people who walked into the dark and never came back. All of it on the record.
From the axe murder house in Villisca, Iowa, to a nineteen-year-old who vanished mid-phone-call on a Minnesota back road, American Dark collects 100 true American stories, each with a case file, the history, and where things stand today.
Free to download. Complete one short sponsor offer to unlock it. Most take about a minute.
Read one out loud at your next campfire. Watch who stops talking.
Two halves of the American dark
Part One takes you inside the houses, prisons, asylums and hotels where something terrible happened. Part Two follows the people who vanished. Every chapter opens with a typed case file and closes with what remains today.
Twelve of the hundred case files
Filter by haunted places or vanishings. The other eighty-eight are waiting in the book.
Also inside: Eastern State Penitentiary, the Bell Witch, the Mothman, the Black Dahlia, the Zodiac, the Springfield Three, Amelia Earhart, Flight 19 and seventy-something more.
Try it before the lights go out
The opening lines of three stories, lightly trimmed for this page.
A few things you'll be thinking about at 3 a.m.
The call didn't drop with a click. Brian kept saying Brandon's name. He heard nothing.
No bones. No teeth. No remains of any kind.
There is a staircase in San Jose that climbs seven steps and ends at the ceiling.
Three steps to your copy
Pick PDF or Kindle
PDF reads anywhere. The Kindle edition is an EPUB file that you can send to your Kindle with Amazon's Send to Kindle, or open in Apple Books and Kobo.
Complete one short offer
Tap the button and a window with a few sponsor offers opens. Choose any one and complete it. That's what keeps the book free.
Download and read
Your download unlocks as soon as the offer is confirmed. Then wait for dark, turn off the lamp, and start with story No. 001.
Pack it for the camping trip.
Bring it on the road trip, to the cabin, to the sleepover. A hundred true stories, and not one of them is made up.
Before you turn the page
Is the book really free?
Yes. There's no charge for the book. To unlock the download, you complete one short offer from our sponsors, such as a quick survey or a free sign-up. Read the terms of any offer before you complete it, and pick one that suits you.
Are the stories actually true?
Yes. Every chapter is built from public records, court documents, newspaper reporting and published histories, with sources listed at the back. Where a famous legend has no evidence behind it, the book says so. Ghost sightings are reported as witnesses told them.
How do I read the Kindle edition?
The Kindle option gives you an EPUB file. Amazon's Send to Kindle (the app, the website or email) accepts EPUB and delivers it to your Kindle and the Kindle app. It also opens in Apple Books, Google Play Books and Kobo.
What's the difference between the PDF and the Kindle edition?
The PDF keeps the full designed layout: the cover, case-file boxes and a clickable index. The EPUB reflows to fit any screen and lets you change the font size, which is easier on small e-readers.
Is it okay for kids?
It's written for adults and older teens. It covers real murders, disappearances and deaths, told without gore. Some chapters deal with suicide and with crimes against children.
Will there be more?
Yes. Volume I is the first of ten. The full collection will reach one thousand true American stories.