“Vividly re-creates the context of storytelling in Kentucky in times past.” —Margaret Read MacDonald, author of Ten Traditional Tellers A good ghost story can make your hair stand on end, your palms sweat, and your heart race. The bone-chilling collection Tales of Kentucky Ghosts presents more than 250 stories that do just that. William Lynwood Montell has assembled an entertaining and diverse array of tales from across the commonwealth that will keep you checking under the bed every night. The first-person accounts in this collection showcase folklore that Montell has drawn from archives, family stories, and oral traditions throughout Kentucky. The stories include that of the ghost bride of Laurel County, who appears each year on the anniversary of her wedding day; the tale of the murdered worker who haunts the Simpson County home of his killer and former employer; the account of the lost mandolin that plays itself in a house in Graves County, and many more. Tales of Kentucky Ghosts brings together a variety of terrifying narratives that not only entertain and frighten but also serve as a unique record of Kentucky’s rich heritage of storytelling. “Lynwood Montell is truly an icon in the field of Kentucky folklore.” —James McCormick and Macy A. Wyatt, authors of Ghosts of the Bluegrass “Lynwood Montell successfully reports on family stories, bizarre creatures, urban legends, classic country ghost tales, strange glowing lights, talking cats and so much more.” —Thomas Freese, author of Ghosts, Spirits, and Angels: True Tales from Kentucky and Beyond “Sure to both entertain and chill its readers while also allowing them to consider their own supernatural heritage.” —Manchester Enterprise

“Probably no section of the country can rightly claim more mystifying, more intriguing, or more enduring ghost stories and unexplained phenomena than Kentucky.” With this statement, based on years of personal research and investigation, the author presents his second collection of such tales from the Bluegrass State.

"Lynwood Montell has collected ghost tales all over the state of Kentucky, from coal mining settlements to river landings, from highways to battlefields. He presents these suspense-filled stories just as he first heard or read them: as bona fide personal experiences or as events witnessed by family members or friends. There are over 250 stories in Ghosts across Kentucky that are set in specific places and times. They include tales of graveyards, haunted dormitories, animal ghosts, and vanishing hitchhikers. Montell describes weird lights, unexplained sounds, felt presences, and disappearing apparitions. Phantom workmen, fallen soldiers, young lovers, and executed criminals appear in these pages, along with the living who chance upon them. Though the focus is on the stories themselves, Montell also includes a chapter explaining our fascination with the supernatural and the deep truths these storytelling traditions reveal about our lives and our pasts.William Lynwood Montell, emeritus professor of folk studies at Western Kentucky University, is the author of several books, including Killings."

Are ghosts real? Are there truly haunted places, only haunted people, or both? And how can we know? Taking neither a credulous nor a dismissive approach, this first-of-its-kind book solves those perplexing mysteries and more--even answering the question of why we care so very much. Putting aside purely romantic tales, this book examines the actual evidence for ghosts--from eyewitness accounts to mediumistic productions (such as diaphanous forms materializing in dim light), spirit photographs, ghost-detection phenomena, and even CSI-type trace evidence. Offering numerous exciting case studies, this book engages in serious investigation rather than breathless mystifying. Pseudoscience, folk legends, and outright hoaxes are challenged and exposed, while the historical, cultural, and scientific aspects of ghost experiences and haunting reports are carefully explored. The author--the world's only professional paranormal investigator--brings his skills as a stage magician, private detective, folklorist, and forensic science writer to bear on a topic that demands serious study.

With entries that range from specific works to authors, folklore, and popular culture (including music, film, television, urban legend, and gaming), this book provides a single-volume resource on all things ghostly in the United States and in other countries. The concept of ghosts has been an ongoing and universal element in human culture as far back as recorded history can document. In more modern popular culture and entertainment, ghosts are a popular mainstay—from A Christmas Carol and Casper the Friendly Ghost to The Amityville Horror, Ghostbusters, Poltergeist, The Sixth Sense, and Ghost Whisperer. This book comprehensively examines ghost and spirit phenomena in all its incarnations to provide readers with a holistic perspective on the subject. It presents insightful information about the contribution of a specific work or author to establish or further the evolution of ghost lore, rather than concentrating solely on the film, literature, music, or folklore itself. The book focuses on ghosts in western culture but also provides information about spirit phenomena and lore in international settings, as many of the trends in popular culture dealing with ghosts and spirits are informed by authors and filmmakers from Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. The writers and editors are experts and scholars in the field and enthusiastic fans of ghost lore, ghost films, ghost hunting, and urban legends, resulting in entries that are informative and engaging—and make this the most complete and current resource on ghost and spirit lore available.

A collection of haunting tales set among the landscapes and landmarks of the Bluegrass State. Tree branches scratching at your window on a stormy April night . . . The hot, sticky oppression of a stifling summer’s day . . . November leaves rustling as a chill sneaks into your bones . . . The darkened days of winter . . . No matter what the season, it’s always a good time for a ghost story. From masterful storytelling duo Roberta and Lonnie Brown comes Spookiest Stories Ever: Four Seasons of Kentucky Ghosts, a creepy collection of tales from their home state. Featuring familiar Kentucky landmarks such as the Palace Theater and the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville and Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, these accounts from across the commonwealth are sure to put a tingle in the reader’s spine. These notable stories, including tales of the “chime child” who can see and talk to ghosts, graveside appearances, and the Spurlington Witch of Taylor County, occur in all four seasons and come from every corner of Kentucky. An essential part of the American storytelling tradition, these ghost stories will delight those who love getting goose bumps all year long.

The bestselling author of "Ghosts Across Kentucky" now presents an all-new collection of amazing ghost stories of the state.

Myths and Mysteries of Kentucky reveals the dark and ominous cloud of mysteries and myths that hovers over the Bluegrass State. This book offers residents, travelers, history buffs, and ghost hunters a refreshingingly lively collection of stories about Kentucky's unsolved murders, legendary villains, lingering ghosts, terrifying myths, and haunted places.

"While dozens of books and articles have rehearsed the chilling lore surrounding the "infamous Bell Witch of Tennessee," Rick Gregory takes a different approach. He illuminates the oral traditions that preserved and disseminated the tale; discusses the major factors in its regional, national, and international spread; analyzes how the legend mirrors other national and international stories with similar themes; and finally describes its modern circulation through the World Wide Web and other technologies. In exploring the Bell Witch story in this manner, Gregory sheds light not only on the folklore of Tennessee with its strong tradition of oral history but also provides insight into the persistent, global phenomenon of folklore itself"--

In this sequel to Conversations with Kentucky Writers, L. Elisabeth Beattie brings together in-depth interviews with sixteen of the state's premiere wordsmiths. This new volume offers the perspectives of poets, journalists, and scholars as they discuss their views on creativity, the teaching of writing, and the importance of Kentucky in their work. They talk frankly about how and why they do what they do. The writers speak for themselves, and their thoughts come alive on the page. Beattie's interviews reveal the allegiances and alliances among Kentucky writers that have shaped literary trends by bringing together people with shared interests, values, subjects, and styles. The interviewees include authors who are captivated in other writers and in what they have to say about the process and craft of writing; educators who are interested in Kentucky writers and what their work reveals about the nature of creativity; and historians who are concerned with Kentucky's literary and cultural heritage. The interviews reveal patterns in Kentucky literature from mid-century to the millennium, as authors talk about how their sense of place has changed over the decades and reveal the ways in which the roots of Kentucky writing have produced a literary flowering at the century's end. Includes: Sallie Bingham, Joy Bale Boone, Thomas D. Clark, John Egerton, Sarah Gorham, Lynwood Montell, Maureen Morehead, John Ed Pearce, Ameilia Blossom Pegram, Karen Robards, Jeffrey Skinner, Frederick Smock, Frank Steele, Martha Bennett Stiles, Richard Taylor, and Michael Williams.