Haunted America

Ohio's Miami Valley region has a rich and sometimes frightening history. Author Jennifer Eblin explores the chilling origins of such ghosts as the haunt of Xenia's Eden Hall and the specter rumored to be the restless soul of a murder victim peering from the Daniel Hertzler House in Springfield. Readers will wander the halls of the Piqua Hotel with a departed waiter and catch a show at Middletown's Sorg Opera House with the apparition that never misses a performance. From the raucous poltergeist of Warren County's Golden Lamb that is known to shriek and knock paintings from the walls to unearthly groans emanating from the gallows at Montgomery County's old courthouse, Eblin reveals the eerie legends and strange stories of the Miami Valley.

St. Charles is the second-oldest city in Missouri and one of the oldest cities in the United States. For most of its history, it could have been featured in any bad western movie, with a legacy of street shootings and lynch mobs. When you sit on the banks of the Missouri River, it does not take much of an imagination to see, feel and perhaps even smell the ghosts lingering there. The scoundrels, the criminals and the victims of traumatic events are the spirits that cannot rest. Join Michael Henry for some of their stories as he keeps vigil with representatives of the city's restless past, from the lost dogs of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the mysterious Lady in White.

Celebrated tour guides and writers Geordie Buxton and Ed Macy invite you to voyage into the fathoms-deep waters of the Holy City with their new collection, Haunted Harbor. This cache of macabre, eerie and never-before-told stories includes tales of strange occurrences at Castle Pinckney, the reappearing face of a mysterious soldier at Fort Sumter, the influence of real-life pirates on Sullivan's Island resident Edgar Allen Poe, the unexplained sounds of Seneca guns and many more. Determined to combat the usual vague, repetitive ghost stories, and armed with a chilling repetoire of spectral lore, Buxton and Macy have researched unique and ghastly tales that contain "real historical bonds or tangible specificity." Haunted Harbor drips with detailed stories of the pirates, military soldiers, prisoners and sailors who stalked the Charleston waterfront on ship and on foot hundreds of years ago, and who have refused to leave.