• 20th Century Ghosts

  • By: Joe Hill
  • Narrated by: David LeDoux
  • Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,846 ratings)

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20th Century Ghosts  By  cover art

20th Century Ghosts

By: Joe Hill
Narrated by: David LeDoux
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Publisher's summary

A dazzlingly original, award-winning collection of visions and nightmares from the New York Times best-selling author of Heart-Shaped Box.

Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon on an afternoon in 1945....Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town....Francis is unhappy. He was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing....John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead.

The past isn't dead. It isn't even past.

©2005, 2007 Joe Hill (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award Winner, Short Stories/Collections, 2008

"Most of the stories display the unself-conscious dash that made Hill's novel an intelligent pleasure....Not just for ghost addicts." (Kirkus Reviews)

Featured Article: From Page to Scream—35 Spine-Chilling Listens that Inspired Horror Movies


There’s nothing better than turning off all the lights, grabbing a cozy blanket, and settling in with a good horror flick. Many of those standout suspenseful flicks have distinguished literary roots—based on books written by some of the most masterful authors in the genre. Here’s a spotlight on the books behind exceptional horror movies—a few of our favorite spooky or terrifying tales that will no doubt have you sleeping with the lights on.

What listeners say about 20th Century Ghosts

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful and recommended

I am not a fan of short stories in general and I had never heard of Joe Hill. I don't even know what possessed me to buy this particular book but I think it must have been good luck that I did.

The beauty of the language he uses to describe everything from an inflatable boy to a boy who turns into a giant bug is beautiful. Almost like listening to poetry. Some of the stories are just plain weird and others are downright poignant. The little novella that ends the collection, voluntary commital, is probably one of the best short stories I have ever heard. I find myself giving this book repeat listenings.

If you dislike the twilight zone I doubt you would enjoy this.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narrator, please stop whispering ! ! ! !

PLEASE!! Stop whispering on audio book narrations. I listen to these books while driving, there is road noise and outside noise all the time, when you listen to narrators like Gene Engene, Frank Muller, Jim Dale, Dick Hill and many others, they don't ever whisper, ever. When the author writes 'he/she whispered', it is wholly unwarranted to whisper the line, if you cant relay the idea of dramatic without whispering, perhaps you should seek out a living in movies or tv, the makers of "The Matrix" absolutely love people to breathe the lines instead of speak, followed by 120db gun fire.

Please leave the inflections of volume to the author who wrote the text, I understand this is largely on the mixing engineer and directors/producers to take care of this in post perhaps, so lets get on the ball.

This book, what I heard of it was another wonderful installment from Joe Hill. It's always fascinating to hear Joe Hill's unique style and his fathers influence seeping through in so many under tones.

All of these stories are ghost stories, you just have to change how you think about ghosts, not all 'ghosts' are spectral apparitions, some are inside us always.

A great book very worth the time, if this is your first Joe Hill book, be sure to also catch Nosferatu and Heart shaped box here on Audible.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful Hodgepodge of Creepy

Story after story after story. This is a collection of creepy, funny, horrific, darling gems. All of which come at you, one after the other, from various angles. Sometimes right up front, sometimes sideways, the best of them sneak up behind you and gently tap you on the shoulder.

The title story, 20th Century Ghost, is a fine tale that pays a sweet tribute to the era of the silver screen.

In the Rundown had me dreading the ending - so much so I almost skipped ahead to the next story. Glad I didn't. It has the perfect ending. (If you appreciate films like Inception and Limbo, you'll love the way it ends too.)

Bobby Conroy Comes Back From the Dead gave me a new reason to love George Romero.

My Father's Mask is my favorite story from this collection. I really hope that Joe Hill finds his way back to Jack.

Only cause of complaint.... Audible why can't you code this audiobook work its titles!?!?! I shouldn't have to go to Wikipedia to find out the name of the story I've listened to - it should be on my screen.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Maybe its just me......

I like Joe Hill and have read/enjoyed (hard copy) Hear-Shaped Box.

This collection of stories was a little difficult for me to warm up to. I only really liked Black Telephone. The rest felt..... unfinished. Maybe its just a writting style Im not used to.

I have to say I liked the reader. He sounded a little like he had a head cold but that "stuffiness" made all the "kid" parts see so real.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Why did I wait so long to hear this?

Yes, I knew he's Steven King's kid. Yes, I listened to Heart-Shaped Box ages ago. Yes, I knew this book existed, but still it took me too long to get around to queuing this up and enjoying these well crafted tales of the bizarre and quietly disturbing tales (well, all except the award winning, but lengthy, Better Than Home, whose subject matter just didn't flow with the rest of the collection).

Hill's stories range from fairly straight-up horror to fun-house mirror fantasy. Vampire hunters and child killers make appearances, as do inflatable boys and painfully realistic underachieving boys with possible super powers. Not to mention the sweet movie house ghost of the title ... What was I waiting for?

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining, page turner, creepy, imagination...

If you're a fan of spooky stories and prefer them in small blocks, you'll appreciate this book. I have a few personal favorites within this grouping and I'm sure you'll pick out your own. I've already listed to some of the stories twice, just out of "what?! ...did I really hear what I thought I heard?"

My sister also bought the book and absolutely loved it. We were comparing notes after each story... Her favorite story in this book was "the black phone". Mine leans towards "the cape" but I really enjoyed them all. After I finished this book I downloaded "The heart shaped box" and look forward to reading it.

Thank you Joe Hill!

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent stories

joe hill is an exciting new author. i read "heart shaped box" to my husband while traveling, and although the graphic images were tough to read and stomach sometimes, we really loved the story and liked the 20th century touches.

i was eager to try his short stories, and was not disappointed. pop art was an astounding story. the opening story (button boy) was riveting, and the closing story (box forts by morris) was awesome! some stories ended far too early, like the one about the mom and two boys and the geeky teenager who ran across them on the road. i guess mr hill was leaving the outcome of these up to the reader's imagination, but for a first story compilation from a new writer, these stories really read like they were written from a pen with the years of experience like his father!

i did get tired of really sad, life-beaten boys and girls.

by the way, i thought the reader did well voicing teenagers, especially boys, and younger children.

looking forward anxiously to more joe hill!

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Dreadful, and Not in a Good Way

This was a BIG disappointment, not even close to "Heart-Shaped Box." Many of the stories seem like ramblings in someone's journal - very little structure. None was spooky, scary, creepy (insert your anticipated gost-story adjective here).

The reader makes this audiobook painful to get through. He overacts the parts like crazy. He takes whispered parts literally, causing a lot of volume adjustments while driving. I kept waiting for him to blow his nose or otherwise get over his nasal congestion. It never happened! As a result, his diction is terrible. "B" words start with an "m" sound. (Cows were "mauling." Context suggested that they may have been "bawling" but I can't be sure.) End-of-word "t"s are accomplished with a throat closing rather than tongue and roof of the mouth. And he has an overall lazy approach to making words distinct. "At least" sounds like "aleast". You get the picture.

Some customers evidently enjoyed this book, based on the collective rating (3.5+ at this writing). MY recommendation is to use your credit for something else.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Too whimsical for me

I just couldn't get into the stories--one of the few I quit listening to before I finished. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for them.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great stories, great narrator, average production.

Maybe it is because there were productions of each short story and they were just put together for this collection but I was not impressed by the inconsistencies in production. Sometimes, there are scary, cool music breaks between each story, making it easy to know when one is finished. Other times, the same music will play randomly in the middle of a story. Worse, there is often no breaks in between each story other than the announcement of the title. It made no sense.
The stories themselves are fantastic! Joe Hill is a great writer. The narrator is super good too and I enjoyed him. The rating is for those two reasons (as it should be). The production of this book, however, rates only one star.

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5 people found this helpful