Products

Keeping time with the river for which it was named, Canadian County courses with haunted history. The heritage of persecuted tribes, outlawed fugitives and struggling pioneers runs through the region with the strength of desperation. Apparitions walk the shore of Lake Overholser, and disembodied voices echo around Yukon's Stage Door Theatre. Strange presences peer through the broken windows of the abandoned Concho Indian School. From Deadman's Curve to the Chisholm Trail, Tanya McCoy and Whitney Wilson trace the story of Canadian County's spectral past.

The red brick walls of downtown El Reno have soaked up their fair share of history and sweated out an equal measure of ghosts. The town's thoroughfares carry the fondly remembered clatter of trolley cars and horse-drawn buggies, so long as travelers don't take a wrong turn around Dead Man's Curve or give a lift to the Hunchback of Route 66. The most venerable building in town is the old county jail, where the frontier town's rowdier souls still chafe in captivity. The resident spirit of the Whistle Stop Saloon is considerably more cheerful, even if she overdoes it a bit with the perfume. From the Centre Theatre to the Fort Reno Cemetery, Tanya McCoy and Whitney Wilson catalogue El Reno's most fascinating haunted lore.

Home to numerous tribal reservations that survived the land run that swept around them, Shawnee stands at an intersection of worlds. For travelers of the Wild West, crossing over into Oklahoma Territory meant more than crossing a state line. "Stop for twenty minutes and see a man killed," stagecoach drivers warned visitors to Shawnee's treacherous saloons. The oil boom of the 1920s brought a wave of wealth that only encouraged nefarious activity. Shawnee's quiet present may belie its fevered past, but the spirits of former gunslingers, prostitutes and everyday folk still live on. From strange sounds at the old Sacred Heart Mission to specters roaming the halls of the luxurious Aldridge Hotel, Tanya McCoy and Jeff Provine provide an introduction to Shawnee's haunted past.