Spooky Season Reads

Behind its iron gates, the Victorian-era structure of Franklin Castle harbors rumors of everything from insanity to mass murder.

For more than half a century, the castle's dark façade has lured curiosity seekers from around the world. Disembodied voices echo from empty rooms, doors open and close of their own accord and cold spots drift about the manse. Witnesses swear to sightings of a woman in black and a young girl in white, believed to be the ghostly apparitions of the wife and daughter of the original owner, Hannes Tiedemann. Using previously unpublished photographs, interviews, family accounts, floor plans and nearly forty years of research, authors William G. Krejci and John W. Myers finally reveal the true and definitive history of Cleveland's notorious Franklin Castle.

Does the restless ghost of a murder victim haunt a Gulfport home? Does a doomed pirate search for his lost treasure at John's Pass? Are sea captains and Civil War soldiers still combing the area, years after their deaths?

With wit and style, the Queen of Haunts, Deborah Frethem, calls upon years of experience as the general manager and guide of Tampa Bay Ghost Tours to present legends of sinister deeds and whispers of the past from Florida's haunted peninsula.

Vermont’s hills hold the echoes of a spirited past. Haunting stories and wandering ghosts are found in numerous burial places from the Riverside Cemetery in Burlington to the Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.

The Bowman mausoleum in Cuttingsville contains some heartbreaking symbolism. Throughout the state, disturbing tales of mountain madness, murder and “vampires” can be found carved in stone. Discover the graves of humble farmers with independent spirit like Justin Morgan, Ethan Allen, and “Snowflake” Bentley who changed the course of history. The ancient gravestones in Rockingham were once removed and put on exhibit in New York City, while innovative gravestone carvers from Barre to Bennington left artistic interpretations of death to awe and inspire.

Author and tour guide Roxie Zwicker explores these historic and legendary graveyards.

Like so many cities bordering Lake Michigan, Racine has a long and storied history. Some of that history is stranger than fiction.

The Live Towerview neighborhood, brimming with stories of the city's earliest burial sites, is a hotbed of ghostly activity. Former asylums like the ambitious Taylor Home Orphan Asylum and the infamous Racine County Insane Asylum are filled with chilling tales of the unexplained. The local Masonic Temple houses the restless souls of some of the city's earliest residents. So do Chances Food & Spirits and Ivanhoe, two of the most haunted taverns in southeastern Wisconsin. Historian Rory Graves uncovers some of Racine's most notorious haunts.

Historian Rory Graves uncovers some of Racine's most notorious haunts.

Every city has its odd and scary side, and Dayton is no exception.

The ghost of Paul Sorg still sits in his favorite seat in the Sorg Opera House more than a hundred years after his death. The so-called phantom terrorized truck drivers crossing the Englewood Dam before disappearing for good. The famed Butter Street Monster roams Germantown. Magee Park is home to numerous bigfoot and ghost sightings--and even a unicorn sighting. A building of many names, the tower on Patterson Boulevard in Kettering near Hills and Dales Park has been the source of many stories for generations, but only now is its true story finally told.

Dayton native, author, and host of the Dayton Unknown blog Sara Kaushal leads a chilling tour of Gem City's strange and unusual history.

Discover school spirits and downtown haunts of Bloomington, Indiana

For many, the most terrifying sight in Bloomington is the bathroom in a freshman dorm, but even more disturbing things lurk in the dark corners of this college town. Two haunted portraits hang in the Indiana Memorial Union Building, and the ghosts of suicides roam the stairwell in Ballantine Hall. At the end of every night, bartenders at a downtown pub pour a shot of whiskey for a not-so-dearly-departed spirit. At a nearby old manor, two ghost children stir up trouble. Farther out of town, in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest lies Stepp Cemetery, a remote and desolate graveyard that is one of the most haunted locations in Indiana.

Join Bloomington native Klara Lee Sweet on a spine-tingling tour of the city's spectral history.

Gear up for a frightful journey into the mysterious Ocala National Forest.

Central Florida is known as the happiest place on Earth. But an hour’s drive from the amusement parks lies a forest swirling with mystery. For generations, locals have whispered about a dark energy coming from the Ocala National Forest and drifting into nearby towns. Supernatural beasts and apparitions. Ghost lights galore. From cults to monsters to the spirts of those who ventured in yet never reemerged, the woods have long been a source of rumor and tragedy. The vengeful Coyote Woman who dispatches those with evil natures. The soldier of Fort King who vanishes when addressed. The spectral monk of Astor, on the hunt for his killer. Author and folklorist Christopher Balzano takes readers among the trees and beyond to offer a glimpse into the true stories, urban legends and haunted folklore whispered among the residents of these deep woods..

While the Salem witch trials get the most notoriety, Virginia's witchcraft history dates back many years before that.

Colonial Virginians shared a common belief in the supernatural with their northern neighbors. While the witchcraft mania that swept through Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 was significant, fascination with it has tended to overshadow the historical records of other persecutions throughout early America. The 1626 case of Joan Wright, the first woman to be accused of witchcraft in British North America, began Virginia's own witch craze. Utilizing surviving records, author, local historian and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Carson Hudson narrates these fascinating stories.

Beyond the sunny shores and emerald waters of Panama City, restless spirits lurk.

The ghosts that haunt this lovely city are reminders of Florida's past: the battles, murders, and destructive acts of nature that took the lives of countless men and women. Staff at the City Center for the Arts can still hear the footsteps of inmates pacing the cells of the Old County Jail that once occupied the grounds, and a phantom known as Virginia still frequents the elevators of the historic Bay County Courthouse. Not all spirits bring doom and gloom, however--one local family learned how to befriend the resident ghost of their new home that was fond of whistling at night. Using extensive research and interviews, author Beverly Nield details the ghastly history of haunted Panama City.

A collection of chilling tales from the most haunted places in Western Michigan.

Western Michigan is home to some of the state's most picturesque places - and also some of its most chilling tales. Ghost story researcher and enthusiast Amberrose Hammond exposes the mysterious and spirit-ridden world of many beloved Michigan destinations as she skillfully weaves narratives of a world unseen by most. From the lingering spirit forever working in the Grand Theatre and the band of melon-headed children prowling the Saugatuck State Park to the lights of the Lake Forest Cemetery staircase waiting to reveal one's place in the afterlife, these tales are sure to give pause to anyone daring enough to experience these hauntingly beautiful spots...after dark.

Historic, haunted, chilling tales of the town of Akron as told by one of Northeast Ohio's most respected paranormal investigators!

Run down the apparitions that float about Rubber Citystreets and façades like the shadow of a passing blimp. Stroll along forgotten canals amid the restless chatter and clank of spirits cut down before their hard lives became easier. Catch a show at the Civic Theater with a ""former"" engineer who prophesied that death wouldn't keep him from work. A more restive spirit is that of John Tedrow, a twenty-something mauled and murdered during a drunken brawl in 1882; he wails for help and resolution.

In this ghostly tour through Akron's haunted and sometimes brutal past, paranormal specialist and historian Jeri Holland digs into the ghost tales and local legends that linger here like this city's industrial heritage.

Historic, haunted, chilling tales of the town of Richmond as told by one of Virginia's most respected paranormal investigators!

With over four hundred years of history, Richmond abounds with ghostly tales and ghastly deeds from the past. Step into the shadows and take a tour of thirteen of Richmond's most haunted sites. Visit Church Hill, home of the famous St. John's Church, and discover the events that led to the tragic tunnel collapse of 1925.

Discover the long-forgotten Civil Warhospitals of Shockoe Bottom, where hundreds of wounded soldiers met their end. Feel the icy chill at the bottom of a staircase where a young apprentice was murdered in cold blood by his jealous master in 1826.

These stories and more await as you discover the mysterious, tragic and terrifying events of Richmond's dark past.""

Beyond the façade of stately Louisiana platations are stories of hope and subjugation, tragedy and suffering, shame and perseverance and war and conquest.

After sixteen workers chopped down most of the Houmas House's ancient oak trees, referred to as "the Gentlemen," eight of the surviving trees eerily twisted overnight in grief over the losses wrought by a great Mississippi River flood. An illegal duel to reclaim lost honor left the grounds of Natchez's Cherokee Plantation bloodstained, but the victim's spirit may still wander there today. A mutilated slave girl named Chloe still haunts the halls of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville. Cheryl H. White and W. Ryan Smith reveal the dark history, folklore and lasting human cost of Louisiana plantation life.

Discover what life was like in the heyday of the abandoned mines that dot the Nevada landscape, now host to the spirits of those who lost their lives in pursuit of gold, silver, and salt.

Step into the Silver State's past, where the echoes of once-thriving boomtowns and mining operations reverberate through the desert to this day. Explore the remnants of a drowned town exposed by the receding waters of Lake Mead, and an abandoned pet cemetery sure to send chills down your spine. The bones of prehistoric creatures lie beside the former residents of Berlin, and in Goodsprings, reports of ghostly celebrity sightings stir up excitement.

Join author Heather Leigh on a journey through the eerie history of Nevada's ghost towns.

A haunted history of one of Western Michigan's oldest cities

Once a booming lumber town, Muskegon today harbors not just ghosts of long-gone industry but maybe actual ghosts, too. An apparition in Victorian clothing walks past Hackley Library patrons and disappears into a wall. Some believe him to be none other than philanthropist and lumber baron Charles Hackley. In the Hume House, the ghost of a young woman gloomily peers down at visitors from an upstairs window. Visitors to the museum on LST 393 often see a shadowy figure or hear someone walking behind them as they walk through the hallways, but when they turned around to look, no one's there.

Join author Marie Helena Cisneros delves into thirteen spine-tingling supernatural tales from Muskegon's past.