The History Press [new releases]

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.

With a flash of green light, a portal opens up in the Beaver Dunes. But even the strangeness of another dimension struggles to compete with Oklahoma's hair-raising heritage. The woods still whisper of a woman with doe eyes and deadly hooves. Tulsa's ivy-covered Hex House remains haunted by the ghost of its infamously manipulative owner. From the traveling mummy of John Wilkes Booth to the grandma who seasoned plum cakes with arsenic, Heather Woodward explores the peculiar and petrifying portions of Oklahoma's past.

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.