Deck—Haunted: A Cursed Appalachian Tarot Deck

Artist—Genevieve Barbee-Turner

Guidebook by—Genevieve Barbee-Tuner and Sarah McKenzie

Limited Run Deck that can be purchased from www.killerpancakeillustration.com

I found this deck on Kickstarter.com and it caught my interest the second I saw it. I love cryptids and Pennsylvania urban legends. The whole concept of the deck fascinated me. I never realized that Western PA and the surrounding areas had so many things that went bump in the night.

The cards arrived in a magnetic close book style box that was beautifully decorated with an expanded version of the 8 of Swords card on the outside of the box. The inside lid of the box is decorated with the artwork from the 8 of Cups and the inside bottom bears the 6 of Cups. The box neatly holds the deck and the guidebook. Since my deck was a Kickstarter deck, my box is also signed by the artist.

The cards are well made and smooth enough to slide across each other without snagging when being shuffled. It is a good quality card stock that seems like it will be about to withstand years of shuffling and use. On my deck that edges are gilt silver, and the cards are semi-gloss. Just enough shine but not glossy shiny.

This is a 78-card standard setup tarot deck. There is a major arcana of 22 cards and the artist does a fantastic job of illustrating them with tales that add to the meaning of the card. The minor arcana makes up the rest of the cards with the suits being wands, cups, coins, and swords. The artwork again adds to the depth of meaning for each card. I’m impressed with the amount of work that must have gone into finding a legend to illustrate each card’s meaning.

The artwork on the cards is captivating. I want to say beautifully done despite the subjects covered on the cards often being melancholic and sad. The artwork shows depth and detail that being the subjects to life. The colors are often deeper and darker with a muddiness to them that illustrates the darkness and down to earthiness of the themes in the card.

The backs of the cards are a cute little repeating black and white ghost and tombstone pattern. It very much has the feel like it was inspired by a little bit of graffiti left near a graveyard. The backs are the same no matter which way you look at it. For those who read reversals, this deck’s back makes that possible.

The deck comes with a guidebook that explains the meaning of each card and tells the legend illustrated on it. There is enough information to do a reading with the cards if you need the book as a guide and enough of the story to inspire the reader to do a little research about the subject of the cards should they be inspired to do so.

I highly recommend this deck to anyone who is a deck collector or a lover of cryptids. It may be a difficult deck to use for readings, but in the hands of the right person, there is great potential. The artwork is beautifully done and the deck is quality.