Download or read book Ghosts of the Illinois River written by Sylvia Shults and published by Crossroad Press. This book was released on 2018-06-07 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, the Good lord deliver us." There are all kinds of bumps in the night to be found along the Illinois River. The river has seen centuries of history come and go, and has witnessed its share of mystery and dark deeds. Sylvia Shults is your guide on a trip down the longest river in Illinois. Come and meet the GHOSTS OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER.
Download or read book Ghosts Along the Mississippi River written by Alan Brown and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some of the nation's most compelling ghost stories owe their origin to "The Father of Waters." Ghosts along the Mississippi River is the first book-length collection of ghost tales from the small towns and bustling cities that have grown up along its banks. The states represented in this book include Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Unlike most collections of "true" ghost stories, Ghosts along the Mississippi River draws from the folk traditions of the northern and the southern United States. These tales are populated with Federal and Confederate soldiers, Native Indians, wealthy entrepreneurs, actors, college students, hotel owners, preachers, slaves, and planters. According to some paranormal investigators, the large number of ghost stories from the Mississippi's river towns, and from watery sites all over the world, are proof that large bodies of water are conductors of psychic energy. Granted, no concrete proof exists that there is a definite connection between the river and any actual ghosts or spiritual phenomena. What is indisputable, though, is the fact that the ghost stories included in Ghosts along the Mississippi River are an invaluable record of the values, dreams, fears, and lives of the people who have called the river home.
Download or read book Haunted Rockford Illinois written by Kathi Kresol and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-02 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow local historian and “Ghost Lady” Kathi Kresol as she researches the spirits, curses, and curiosities from the Forest City’s shadowy past. Just beneath the glossy surface of Rockford’s rich heritage lies a dark history of tragedy, a troubled and turbulent past leaving scars that still resonate today. Geraldine Bourbon’s final struggle echoes throughout the farmhouse where her estranged husband pursued her with a pistol from room to room before gently laying her corpse on the bed. The sobs of society darling Carrie Spafford still keep vigil over the family plot of the cemetery where she sowed the heartbreak of her twilight years. From the vengeance of Chief Big Thunder to the Witch of McGregor Road, author Kathi Kresol shares the legends and lore of Rockford’s haunted history. Includes photos! “There are reasons why Kathi Kresol believes Rockford is so haunted. The tour guide said there are good ‘conductors’ for the supernatural in the city’s downtown area. These factors include being near a body of water, having limestone in the area and the area having a Native American influence.” —Beloit Daily News
Download or read book American Hauntings written by Troy Taylor and published by Whitechapel Productions. This book was released on 2017-04-13 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the mediums of Spiritualism's golden age to the ghost hunters of the modern era, Taylor shines a light on the phantasms and frauds of the past, the first researchers who dared to investigate the unknown, and the stories and events that galvanized the pubic and created the paranormal field that we know today.
Download or read book Spoon River Anthology written by Edgar Lee Masters and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-03-02 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVAn American poetry classic, in which former citizens of a mythical midwestern town speak touchingly from the grave of the thwarted hopes and dreams of their lives. /div
Download or read book Fractured Spirits written by Sylvia Shults and published by Macabre Ink. This book was released on 2023-07-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first half of the twentieth century, the Peoria State Hospital was the premiere mental health facility of its day. Dr. George Zeller instituted the eight-hour workday for his staff, removed patient restraints, and made the asylum into a model for the care of the mentally ill. Today, there are only a few buildings of the hospital left. Some of them are still in use, others are inhabited only by ghosts. Our guide to these ghosts -- and the history they represent -- is Sylvia Shults. In Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital, she brings a passion for paranormal investigation to her adventures at this haunted hotspot. The spirits come to life once more as Shults explores their former home. Other voices help her tell the story: this is a collection of people's experiences at the Peoria State Hospital. Ghost hunting groups, sensitives, former nurses, and ordinary people share their stories with us, their voices resonating to create a panoramic view to rival the vista of the Illinois River. To visit the remaining buildings of the Peoria State Hospital today is to visit a small piece of history. A ghost story over a hundred years in the making, Fractured Spirits is narrative nonfiction at its finest.
Download or read book Open Mic Night at Westminster Cemetery written by Mary Amato and published by Carolrhoda Lab ®. This book was released on 2018-09-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Lacy wakes up dead in Westminster Cemetery, final resting place of Edgar Allan Poe, she's confused. It's the job of Sam, a young soldier who died in 1865, to teach her the rules of the afterlife and to warn her about Suppression—a punishment worse than death. Lacy desperately wants to leave the cemetery and find out how she died, but every soul is obligated to perform a job. Given the task of providing entertainment, Lacy proposes an open mic, which becomes a chance for the cemetery's residents to express themselves. But Lacy is in for another shock when surprising and long-buried truths begin to emerge.
Download or read book Ghost of the Ozarks written by Brooks Blevins and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1929, in a remote county of the Arkansas Ozarks, the gruesome murder of harmonica-playing drifter Connie Franklin and the brutal rape of his teenaged fiancée captured the attention of a nation on the cusp of the Great Depression. National press from coast to coast ran stories of the sensational exploits of night-riding moonshiners, powerful "Barons of the Hills," and a world of feudal oppression in the isolation of the rugged Ozarks. The ensuing arrest of five local men for both crimes and the confusion and superstition surrounding the trial and conviction gave Stone County a dubious and short-lived notoriety. Closely examining how the story and its regional setting were interpreted by the media, Brooks Blevins recounts the gripping events of the murder investigation and trial, where a man claiming to be the murder victim--the "Ghost" of the Ozarks--appeared to testify. Local conditions in Stone County, which had no electricity and only one long-distance telephone line, frustrated the dozen or more reporters who found their way to the rural Ozarks, and the developments following the arrests often prompted reporters' caricatures of the region: accusations of imposture and insanity, revelations of hidden pasts and assumed names, and threats of widespread violence. Locating the past squarely within the major currents of American history, Ghost of the Ozarks: Murder and Memory in the Upland South paints a convincing backdrop to a story that, more than 80 years later, remains riddled with mystery.
Download or read book Ghosts of the Quad Cities written by Michael McCarty and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-17 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A haunted history of this Midwestern region filled with supernatural lore . . . Includes photos! Divided by state lines and the Mississippi River, the Quad Cities share a common haunted heritage. If anything, the seam that runs through the region is especially rife with spirits, from the Black Angel of Moline’s Riverside Cemetery to the spectral Confederate POWs of Arsenal Island. Of course, the city centers have their own illustrious supernatural residents—the Hanging Ghost occupies Davenport, Iowa’s City Hall, while the Phantom Washwoman wanders Bettendorf’s Central Avenue. At Igor’s Bistro in Rock Island, Illinois, every day is Halloween. In this chilling tour, Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin—both Bram Stoker Award honorees—hunt down the haunted lore of this vibrant Midwestern community.
Download or read book Tales from the Haunted South written by Tiya Miles and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2015-08-12 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book Tiya Miles explores the popular yet troubling phenomenon of "ghost tours," frequently promoted and experienced at plantations, urban manor homes, and cemeteries throughout the South. As a staple of the tours, guides entertain paying customers by routinely relying on stories of enslaved black specters. But who are these ghosts? Examining popular sites and stories from these tours, Miles shows that haunted tales routinely appropriate and skew African American history to produce representations of slavery for commercial gain. "Dark tourism" often highlights the most sensationalist and macabre aspects of slavery, from salacious sexual ties between white masters and black women slaves to the physical abuse and torture of black bodies to the supposedly exotic nature of African spiritual practices. Because the realities of slavery are largely absent from these tours, Miles reveals how they continue to feed problematic "Old South" narratives and erase the hard truths of the Civil War era. In an incisive and engaging work, Miles uses these troubling cases to shine light on how we feel about the Civil War and race, and how the ghosts of the past are still with us.
Download or read book Haunted Peoria written by Stephanie E. McCarthy and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the heart of Peoria's Haunted Memories is the rich and compelling history and folklore of the Peoria area. Buildings and cemeteries in and around the city provide ideal stomping grounds for many restless specters. In this collection of haunted sites, the reader will be introduced to some of Peoria's best-loved mansions, institutions, and graveyards, as well as many of its more illustrious citizens. From Bartonville State Hospital to Bradley University, historic downtown theaters, hotels and taverns, and local churches, where ghostly congregants and ministers continue to worship, this book presents these ghost stories and legends for the fi rst time together in print. In addition to providing thrilling tales, Peoria's Haunted Memories serves as a unique guide for the intrepid supernatural sleuth seeking confi rmation that the dead do not always rest in peace.
Download or read book Ghosthunting Illinois written by John B. Kachuba and published by Clerisy Press. This book was released on 2010-03-12 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lock the doors, draw the curtains, and light a candle as you join author John Kachuba on a guided tour of Illinois's most terrifyingly haunted places. Your hair-raising journey will take you to: • Old State Capital, Springfield -- Lincoln lay in state here before his burial in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Could his ghost haunt the spot where his body lay? • Harpo Studios, Chicago -- When the Eastland steamer capsized in 1915, the building served as a temporary morgue. Oprah's employees have encountered the ghosts of the victims, including the "Gray Lady" who floats through the halls. • And many more scary sites. Maps and travel information are provided to every haunted location for those brave enough to make the journey in person.
Download or read book The Eastland Disaster written by Ted Wachholz and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pictorial chronicle of the events of July 24, 1915, when the steamship Eastland capsized and sank in the port of Chicago, killing over eight hundred people.
Download or read book Ghosts of Southeast Kansas written by Cheryl Carvajal and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2007-03 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the history-the haunted history-of many towns and cities in southeast Kansas. These stories mix folklore, eyewitness testimony, and historical fact into gently woven tales which show current paranormal activity, speculate about who might be haunting, and even suggest why the activity occurs. This collection includes friendly ghosts like Charley, who has saved the lives of his Independence family more than once, and more haunted figures like the Lady in Black, who wandered the streets of Caney more than a century ago, looking for her baby's grave. They tell of well-known haunted places, such as Coffeyville's Tavern on the Plaza, William Inge's childhood home, and The Old Haunted House of Fredonia, but they also reveal secret places that even witnesses themselves are reluctant to discuss. These tales, from funny to frightening, are perfect for reading alone, or aloud-except on dark nights, when the Kansas wind is howling. About the Author Cheryl Carvajal has been writing since she learned how, beginning her first play at the age of six. She lived in Kansas and Oklahoma for several years, and she recently moved from southeast Kansas to Bothell, Washington, with her husband Richard, her two young children, and her black tabby. She earned her bachelor's degree in English at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma; her master's in Literature at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale; and her doctorate in English at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She spent two years researching this book, and one more writing and publishing it. Dr. Carvajal is a playwright, and several of her plays have been performed at the William Inge Center for the Arts. She also writes fiction and poetry, sings, draws, paints, juggles, teaches English and theatre, and works actively to inspire others to enrich their lives through involvement in the arts.
Download or read book Ghosts of Grand Rapids written by Nicole Bray and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Grand Rapids’ sinister and spooky past is illuminated . . . examines local hauntings and reveals the truth behind some long told urban legends” (The Collegiate). Come nose around in the creepier corners of the Grand Rapids of yesteryear. Discover why Hell’s Bridge persists as such an oft-told urban legend and what horrific history earned Heritage Hill the title of Michigan’s most haunted neighborhood. Mingle with the spooky inhabitants of the Phillips Mansion, Holmdene Manor, San Chez Restaurant and St. Cecilia Music Center. Meet the guests who never quite checked out of the Amway Grand. Read the true stories behind the Michigan Bell Building and the Ada Witch Legend. Nicole Bray, Robert Du Shane and Julie Rathsack illuminate the shadows of local sites you thought you knew. Includes photos!
Download or read book Haunted Places in the American South written by Alan Brown and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2002 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collecting ghost stories from 55 historically haunted sites throughout the United States, Brown reveals what is lurking behind slamming doors, eerie lights and sightings of Confederate soldiers.
Download or read book 44 Years in Darkness written by Sylvia Shults and published by Crossroad Press. This book was released on 2016-10-12 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the later part of the nineteenth century, Rhoda Derry spent over forty years in the Adams County Poor Farm, curled in a fetal position in a box bed. She had clawed her own eyes out. She had beaten her front teeth in. Her legs had atrophied to the point where she could no longer stand on her own, or even sit in a wheelchair. She had been committed there by her own family when they could no longer care for her at home. She spent decades locked away from the world. Her crime? Falling in love. Rhoda suffered a mental breakdown after being “cursed” by the mother of the boy she was engaged to marry. Committed to the almshouse for violent insanity, she was eventually rescued by Dr. George A. Zeller. She was transferred to the Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville, Illinois, where she spent the remainder of her days in peace and comfort. Rhoda died in 1906, but her spirit seems to live on … Sylvia Shults, author of Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital, returns to the hilltop to tell the story of Rhoda's life, and her afterlife. She examines the social pressures that led to Rhoda's breakdown and her eventual insanity. And she explores the stories that continue to be told about Rhoda, and her presence on the hilltop.
