Haunted Magazines' Spooktacular Year

December marks the end of a fantastic year for our friends at Haunted Magazine. From the beginning of the month, the long-running paranormal publication has been available in hundreds of WHSmith stores across the UK, while a stateside trial in Barnes & Noble bookstores continues.

Haunted Magazine, produced by Dead Good Publishing, is a much-loved part of the British paranormal scene. For over a decade it has been a must-read for any paranormal enthusiast with each well designed issue containing a mix of articles about paranormal investigation, interviews with the stars of ghost hunting television shows, and supernatural movie news.

The quarterly magazine, which has notched up 32 issues over its 12 year history, is already available digitally worldwide. Here in the UK and in America it's available in physical print as a one-off purchase or annual subscription.

It's hard to ignore the reach of the magazine when you're an active part of the paranormal community, but these two new deals with retail giants on both sides of the pond will mean the magazine now has the potential to reach a much wider audience.

It was back in the spring that the creators of the supernatural mag, Paul Stevenson and Andy Soar announced the first of these deals. The big news was that the British magazine was set to reach a new audience in America, thanks to a deal that will see it on the shelves of hundreds of Barnes & Noble bookstores.

Ever since, editions of the award-winning magazine have been available in over 500 Barnes & Noble store across the United States. The chain is one of the biggest booksellers in the US, with the largest number of retail outlets spanning all 50 states.

Paul, the magazine's editor and co-director of Dead Good Publishing said at the time, "we are so excited that from issue 30 of Haunted Magazine, B&N will be stocking Haunted where we hope to reach out to a new audience who maybe unaware of Haunted Magazine."

Paul credited the "brilliant team of writers" who've help get the magazine where it is today. All of their great and varied content is brought to life by the world-class design skills of Andy Soar, the co-director of Dead Good, who works alongside Paul and the team of writers to put together each edition.

Andy said, "Paul's right, this is a team effort that has helped secured this massive step for Haunted. We feel that Haunted is in the right place for this to happen and to succeed. It gives us the chance to reach out to people who may or may not be aware of Haunted and who may stumble across Haunted by accident."

Just before Halloween, more exciting news came from Haunted Mag HQ when it was announced that the independently run publication would soon be available alongside such prestigious titles as the Radio Times and New Scientist on the shelves of WHSmith in the UK. It landed in high street stores across the country just in time for the publication of its 32nd edition at the beginning of December.

Speaking at the time of the announcement, Andy said, "whenever we get asked about the magazine, the first question is almost always 'can I get it in WHSmith?' It's almost a frustration to us as we've been running successfully from our website and more recently the online Newsstand."

He continues, "WHSmith in the UK is instantly the most recognised store for magazines and from our perspective the biggest shop window that we can ask for. So when the opportunity arose, it's something that we talked about for a while. But we just couldn't shake the fact that we simply needed to represent our brilliant writers and our advertisers that make Haunted so unique in the best way possible."

This shop window presence means that even those with a passing interest in ghost stories or the latest supernatural movie releases, who aren't aware such a magazine exists will now have the joy of stumbling across it as they browse the titles on offer at one of WHSmith's high street stores, as well as branches in transport hubs.

The magazine success is undoubtably down to its unique style and its passionate team of regular and guest writers. Paul told us, "we are blessed with some fantastic writers for Haunted Magazine, an eclectic mix of types and when you marry that up with the wealth of paranormal stories out there, famous, infamous and some not well known it can only be a good thing that more people have the chance to access, read and enjoy the stories of the paranormal and that's what being in WHSmiths can bring. We embrace the paranormal, we hug the supernatural and we high-five things that go bump in the night. It maybe Andy and myself that people know as Haunted Magazine, but we are but a small part of #teamHaunted, which include a myriad of writers, readers and supporters, who are passionate about the paranormal and understand what Haunted Magazine is all about (we hope anyway)."

The team have recently been pushing the boundaries and offering readers more. In the first edition of 2021 they gave readers a bonus 'UFO Today' pull-out magazine - a timely supplement reflecting the growing buzz around UFOs which seems to be re-emerging within the paranormal community within the last few months.

The latest edition also includes a paranormal pull-out, this time following author Richard Estep on his haunted ghost trip as he attempts to get his paranormal kicks on Route 666, plus the haunted history of the infamous Hinsdale House, and Danny Robins talks about his new podcast series, 'Uncanny'.

The new edition also features Amanda Woomer's argument for why Victorian Christmas traditions should be brought back, Brian Baker examines the viral subculture of paranormal YouTube, and there's a very good feature on the real-life science and parapsychology and supernatural beliefs behind the original 'Ghostbusters' movie.

Issue 32 of Haunted Magazine is available in WHSmith stores in the UK now. American readers from can grab a copy from early January at Barnes & Noble stores across the USA as the stateside trial continues.

The team are due to announce that issue 32 will also be in shops in Canada, Australia and New Zealand too.

The magazine is also available digitally, and here in the UK, in the US, Canada, Australia and across Europe in physical print as a one-off purchase or annual subscription via haunteddigitalmagazine.com.