A haunting story about the employees of a fast food restaurant told in a unique style. 

The Ghost That Ate Us is both a comical story and a story that can be read between the lines about society and the people living in it. With multiple themes, symbolism, great characters, a compelling story, a meta-storyline, and a mystery that dives deep into the bowels of American lifestyle. 

I recommend reading this in physical book form because you don’t want to miss out on the great pictures and the layout.

It consists of 299 pages.

Plot

Daniel Kraus is a fiction writer who decides to write a non-fiction book about the events that led to tragic deaths of multiple people and the tragic end of the Burger City Franchise Location #8 off I-80 near Jonny Iowa. He interviews survivors of the Burger City Poltergeist, digs into their history and uses audio and camera footage to complement his story. His investigation is about what led to this tragic events and how it all escalated into death. While he stays neutral, questioning if there was an actual poltergeist, a mass hysteria or something else, the end puts the whole story upside own with last-minute discoveries. 

It all starts with the cardboard mascot that moves a bit. Then there’s a cold spot in the freezer and the men’s room seems haunted. But the real culprit is in the basement. While there is no ultimate conclusion whether it really was a Poltergeist, or other paranormal phenomena at work, or just mass hysteria, escapism, or even meth, which is a very common drug in that area, the end gives us something that can explain things. Not exactly what and why and how, but we can say that in the end it made a believer out of Kraus.

Short Review

The story is a mockumentary, found footage horror and a meta-horror full with social commentary and symbolism and metaphors. It’s a very unusual book and maybe hard to get into when you first start. It has a lot of footnotes, descriptions and commentary of Kraus himself about his investigation. But once you are on your way, you really get sucked into this compelling tale. 

You’ll not only get used to the writing style, but also the unusual characters. While Kraus interviews the survivors, he also describes the events from September 2016 until July—December 2017. These events are told a bit more like a conventional novel. You get to know all the characters, the people who work at Burger City #8. Bob Nutting the manager, Kit Bryant, Quindlen Arthur, Clemens Dumay, Amy Mold, Yesenia Ruiz, Amber Smyrna and her mother Darcy, Dion Skerry, Mickey McCormick, Zane Shakespear, Javier Villareal, Tamra Longmoor and Dez Mozley and the Geezers, a couple of elderly people who frequently visited Burger City #8. But not all of them make it through the Poltergeist events and not all of them want to speak freely to Kraus. Gradually you’ll find out what stories they have to tell, but also what became of them after the events. And you’ll learn the true meaning of the title.

It’s a tragic story told with humor, about colorful characters whose lives ended tragically, or made it out alive but their lives are still full of sadness and hopelessness. The chapters come to life in a wonderful way, very organic and naturally the characters are introduced to the story and their roles are slowly evolving and dissected. 

While the story questions if there was a real Poltergeist, or if it was mass hysteria or just a game of pricks used as escapism to brighten up their dull and hopeless lives in a harsh and boring world, it’s also more than that if you read between the lines. The story is laced with symbolism, metaphors and social commentary about America, consumerism, capitalism, and individualism. While some of the characters are being hollowed out by the Poltergeist or symbolically for what it stands for, other grow fat from it. I think it’s a great metaphor that even uses the biblical symbolism, which some characters relied heavily on.

Although it can be humorous at times, the story itself is a tragic tale of an America in decline, of the places where America isn’t great at all, where people are struggling to survive and trying to forget that they are struggling by using drugs. And the employees at Burger City are ultimately the victims who fall prey to this America. Everyone in a very different way, either searching for something, running away from something or being used as a puppet, like a possessed person. 

None of the characters lead a happy full life, their lives are boring, harsh, dull or hard. They all lead separate lives, until the Poltergeist unites them in a single goal. It gives their lives meaning and maybe even that there is more to this life. It starts out as an anchor they want to hold on to and find each other to do so. Until it all goes terribly wrong of course. 

While their stories are tragic and sad, they are their stories. These stories play an important meta part of the novel. Because in the end it’s all about stories. Stories can create a Tulpa, bring something to life just by telling the story over and over to other people, so the story grows and as the believe in the story grows, the weight of the story becomes bigger and bigger. It can also create a Poltergeist, a haunting that grows and becomes worse over time the more people talk about it.

It’s a symbol of how powerful stories can be. Not only in a fictional book, but also in the real world, where people tell their stories, either for peace or hate, can become powerful when it grows. The characters in this book are being consumed by the Poltergeist/ The Story, and so can real people. The story itself is like an addiction, like meth, to escape whatever it is you want to escape. 

The Ghost That Ate Us is more than a fun mystery meta story about a haunted fast food place and its employees, told in a believable true-crime way. It’s a social commentary full with symbolism and metaphors that makes this book even more interesting and layered.