New York State's rich and colorful history has given rise to a wealth of blood-curdling, spine-tingling tales of the supernatural. Spanning the entire length and breadth of the Empire State, this carefully researched collection of fright-filled folklore explores the unexplained phenomena, colorful spirits and haunted history that make up New York's paranormal legacy: · Popper, a grumpy poltergeist with a tendency to pop open lids, causes a media frenzy on Long Island horses refuse to cross a bridge in the Genessee Valley--where a peddler was killed long ago · Henrietta, a saucy widow with a penchant for the drink, haunts a hard-to-find speakeasy in New York City on moonlit nights · a ghost soldier wanders Fort Niagara in search of his missing head slaughtered during the Revolutionary War · Loyalist Jane McCrea returns to haunt her former home in Fort Edward · a ghost pig, capable of splitting itself in two, chases away visitors to Fishkill · in Nyack, a couple wins an unusual lawsuit, making it illegal to knowingly sell a haunted house in New York State · Martha Mesereau, one of Staten Island's most famous spirits, waits patiently for her husband's return from the Civil War · vehicles and hitchhikers disappear without a trace along Devil's Elbow, an ominous stretch of road in the Catskills
In the mysterious shadows of the Appalachian Mountains, ghosts linger long after their bodies have been put to rest. This old, eroded mountain chain stretches from northern Alabama in the south all the way to Maine in the northeast. Veteran ghost writer Susan Smitten has written a spine-tingling collection of tales to thrill and entertain: in Tryon, North Carolina, a woman's great-grandmother continues to watch over her family from beyond the grave; East Tennessee State University has been called the most haunted campus in the southern United States; the old lunatic asylum in Weston, West Virginia, is a ghost hunter's paradise; old habits die hard -- or don't die at all -- for the founder of the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia ... and more, from all over the Appalachians.