Great Lincoln's ghost! From authoritative authoress Susy Smith comes this crinkled copy detailing PROMINENT AMERICAN GHOSTS! Who were they? Where are they? Who do they spook? Susy's gonna give us the rundown!
The appeal of any text by Susy Smith is her discerning taste, a cut above certain other authors who pile up endless anecdotes to no real end. Here we get a delightful historical tour, with deep dives into local histories and persons, and even if you think ghosts are capital-F FAKE the context and emotions around each story will draw you in. The Winchester Mystery House of Santa Clara is one such story, a tale of loss and longing as gun magnate widow Sarah Winchester threw herself into additions on her manic manse, compulsively adding random rooms, hidden passages, and dead ends meant to "confuse malevolent spirits" even while she met with mediums to contact her husband and child on the other side. The house is a big tourist attraction to this day.
After Steiger's rancid recycling of hack haole "Huna magic" it's nice to read some real Hawaiian mythology concerning Madame Pele, goddess of fire and lightning. Beware traveler, if you meet Madame Pele on the road it's advised you mind your manners ... if not, she just might blow her top!
Of course, Susy tells the tales of Ocean Born Mary and the Bell Witch, two very prominent ghosts who showed up time and again in the paranormal genre, usually in the likes of Steiger and Warren Smith's quickie paperbacks without any substantial sourcing. But Susy Smith is nothing if not meticulous, and would you believe that Ocean Born Mary does seem rather thin on the ground, when you get down to her? Susy loves her anyways though, and you gotta admit she is a romantic image all red haired and green eyed in the sea mist, burying pirate treasure, like something out of a classic gothic paperback. Smith gets cheeky in another chapter, looking for any and all ghosts named Smith and almost coming up snake eyes - but thankfully there's a little old lady ghost in Maine who fits the bill!
These are just a few of the all-American apparitions Susy runs us through in a very dense 218 pages. She also includes a nice bibliography, per usual. Always a class act!
Dell Publishing, 1967
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