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Ghosts along the Mississippi River
Some of the nation's most compelling ghost stories owe their origin to “The Father of Waters.” Ghosts along the Mississippi River is the first book-length collection of ghost tales from the small towns and bustling cities that have grown up along its banks. The states represented in this book include Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Unlike most collections of “true” ghost stories, Ghosts along the Mississippi River draws from the folk traditions of the northern and the southern United States. These tales are populated with Federal and Confederate soldiers, Native Americans, wealthy entrepreneurs, actors, college students, hotel owners, preachers, slaves, and planters. According to some paranormal investigators, the large number of ghost stories from the Mississippi's river towns, and from watery sites all over the world, are proof that large bodies of water are conductors of psychic energy. Granted, no concrete proof exists that there is a definite connection between the river and any actual ghosts or spiritual phenomena. What is indisputable, though, is the fact that the ghost stories included in Ghosts along the Mississippi River are an invaluable record of the values, dreams, fears, and lives of the people who have called the river home.
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 5, 2015
I thought that this book would be awesome. I always love reading about supposedly true ghost stories, and what better place to hear about these mystical beings than from the grand and historic banks of America's most famous river?
Yeah, well, turns out that Alan Brown is not much of a storyteller - (not by going off this book, anyway) - and by that, I mean he has compiled countless true cases, (some of them potentially creepy), based around some of America's most historic and haunted buildings ... and has evidently done a shit load of research. Judging by the cover, and the size of the book, Mr. Brown has put together a very promising compilation that had me listening with its very title, and then instantly hooked when I saw that all the stories were separated into their respective state of origin. I don't know why, since I've never the hell been, and probably will never the hell go ...
But I have always held a strange fascination for the southern and midwestern states of America. I'm not gay, I'm not black, and I believe in God, so them down in Mississippi would fucking love me, I'm sure. They like ignorant outsiders, don't they?.
Anyway, this book focusses on several interesting locations in states such as Iowa, Louisiana, Illinois, and Missouri. And it was, admittedly, pretty fun looking up all these "haunted" locations on Google Maps, since the author kindly gives you the very address and directions to find some of these places. I remember floating through the city of Alton, Illinois, on Street View, and being inspired to set a story there, just because it looks cool.
But aside from all my misguided dreams about going to all those small-town places in America, where I would probably get ignored at the bar - if not told to get the fuck out - this book offered little more than an occasionally interesting historical perspective on how each locality came to be ... before and after the Civil War ... and how their river-based economies pretty much set them up for life, and then fucked off and left them in the middle of nowhere, thanks to to the construction of railroads and stuff.
If you want to read about America's many little towns and municipal establishments along the Mississippi River - and how some of their more popular buildings and museums came to exist - then forget reading Alan Brown's other book, titled Towns & Architecture Along The Mississippi River, which focuses mainly on ghosts. Instead, just get Ghosts Along The Mississippi River, which focusses mainly on towns and architecture.
Despite the sarcasm, I am not complaining about the heavy historic content. In fact, that is one of the few things that save the book from being completely boring and unsatisfying. What really annoyed me was how formulaic and careless Brown's approach was to detailing the so-called hauntings of all these places.
Basically, every sub-chapter zones in on one place, in one city, in one state. Brown gives you a pretty extensive account of each place's respected line ownership ... who lived and died in each, throughout the course of history. And then, in the last two paragraphs of each sub-chapter, he basically leans in, gently tugs your sleeve, and tries to find yet another way of saying, "Now keep this under your belt ... but some locals say that this place is haunted".
Oh, really? Well I never saw that coming.
And then, for what begins to feel like the hundredth time, Brown just goes through the same monotonous tangent, repeating text-book specifics that constitute the basics of any domestic haunting. "They heard disembodied footsteps". "Doors slammed by themselves". "Uncanny smells filled the corridors". "People reported ghostly sightings". Goddammit, he rarely gets any more specific than that.
It baffles me that this book even went ahead with being published. I'm not saying that it's terrible - (it's far from terrible) - but it's just so bloody mediocre; it offers nothing new, or even remote creepy; and so you can just put it up on that virtual shelf of so many other similar books and just forget it entirely, as I most assuredly will.
Take John Pinkney's Haunted: The Book Of Australian Ghosts for the sake of comparison. Nobody would argue that America boasts a vastly more interesting history and landscape than Australia ... and yet, I found myself so much more engaged with the ghosts that Pinkney was writing about ... since he actually made the effort the delve deeper into the cases he related ... and he conveyed these hauntings in a manner that - more often than not - effectively caused its reader (yours truly) to shudder.
With Arthur Brown's book, the creepiest thing on offer is the sense of deja-vu you get, as you constantly ask yourself, "Didn't I just read this chapter?"
Perhaps I'm just desensitised, after reading so many books about this subject, and even taking part in actual seances - participating in (and fucking witnessing) spirit communication - whilst staying in England.
Perhaps, these days, I just crave more, in order for this genre to frighten and excite me. But I don't think that's quite true. I'm still a sucker for a good ghost story. I still get shivers from watching films the The Changeling and What Lies Beneath, albeit for the millionth time.
Personally, I just think that Arthur Brown - (evidently a competent researcher and writer) - simply phoned this one in. And so, to any ghost enthusiast who considers buying this book, I really can't recommend it.
Yeah, well, turns out that Alan Brown is not much of a storyteller - (not by going off this book, anyway) - and by that, I mean he has compiled countless true cases, (some of them potentially creepy), based around some of America's most historic and haunted buildings ... and has evidently done a shit load of research. Judging by the cover, and the size of the book, Mr. Brown has put together a very promising compilation that had me listening with its very title, and then instantly hooked when I saw that all the stories were separated into their respective state of origin. I don't know why, since I've never the hell been, and probably will never the hell go ...
But I have always held a strange fascination for the southern and midwestern states of America. I'm not gay, I'm not black, and I believe in God, so them down in Mississippi would fucking love me, I'm sure. They like ignorant outsiders, don't they?.
Anyway, this book focusses on several interesting locations in states such as Iowa, Louisiana, Illinois, and Missouri. And it was, admittedly, pretty fun looking up all these "haunted" locations on Google Maps, since the author kindly gives you the very address and directions to find some of these places. I remember floating through the city of Alton, Illinois, on Street View, and being inspired to set a story there, just because it looks cool.
But aside from all my misguided dreams about going to all those small-town places in America, where I would probably get ignored at the bar - if not told to get the fuck out - this book offered little more than an occasionally interesting historical perspective on how each locality came to be ... before and after the Civil War ... and how their river-based economies pretty much set them up for life, and then fucked off and left them in the middle of nowhere, thanks to to the construction of railroads and stuff.
If you want to read about America's many little towns and municipal establishments along the Mississippi River - and how some of their more popular buildings and museums came to exist - then forget reading Alan Brown's other book, titled Towns & Architecture Along The Mississippi River, which focuses mainly on ghosts. Instead, just get Ghosts Along The Mississippi River, which focusses mainly on towns and architecture.
Despite the sarcasm, I am not complaining about the heavy historic content. In fact, that is one of the few things that save the book from being completely boring and unsatisfying. What really annoyed me was how formulaic and careless Brown's approach was to detailing the so-called hauntings of all these places.
Basically, every sub-chapter zones in on one place, in one city, in one state. Brown gives you a pretty extensive account of each place's respected line ownership ... who lived and died in each, throughout the course of history. And then, in the last two paragraphs of each sub-chapter, he basically leans in, gently tugs your sleeve, and tries to find yet another way of saying, "Now keep this under your belt ... but some locals say that this place is haunted".
Oh, really? Well I never saw that coming.
And then, for what begins to feel like the hundredth time, Brown just goes through the same monotonous tangent, repeating text-book specifics that constitute the basics of any domestic haunting. "They heard disembodied footsteps". "Doors slammed by themselves". "Uncanny smells filled the corridors". "People reported ghostly sightings". Goddammit, he rarely gets any more specific than that.
It baffles me that this book even went ahead with being published. I'm not saying that it's terrible - (it's far from terrible) - but it's just so bloody mediocre; it offers nothing new, or even remote creepy; and so you can just put it up on that virtual shelf of so many other similar books and just forget it entirely, as I most assuredly will.
Take John Pinkney's Haunted: The Book Of Australian Ghosts for the sake of comparison. Nobody would argue that America boasts a vastly more interesting history and landscape than Australia ... and yet, I found myself so much more engaged with the ghosts that Pinkney was writing about ... since he actually made the effort the delve deeper into the cases he related ... and he conveyed these hauntings in a manner that - more often than not - effectively caused its reader (yours truly) to shudder.
With Arthur Brown's book, the creepiest thing on offer is the sense of deja-vu you get, as you constantly ask yourself, "Didn't I just read this chapter?"
Perhaps I'm just desensitised, after reading so many books about this subject, and even taking part in actual seances - participating in (and fucking witnessing) spirit communication - whilst staying in England.
Perhaps, these days, I just crave more, in order for this genre to frighten and excite me. But I don't think that's quite true. I'm still a sucker for a good ghost story. I still get shivers from watching films the The Changeling and What Lies Beneath, albeit for the millionth time.
Personally, I just think that Arthur Brown - (evidently a competent researcher and writer) - simply phoned this one in. And so, to any ghost enthusiast who considers buying this book, I really can't recommend it.
July 11, 2024
First book I have read with so few reviews. In a recent trip to Vicksburg this book stood out at the Cairo gift shop then again at a bookstore downtown, so I picked it up. Solid 3.5, interesting stories! So many date typos though! Elvis most definitely didn’t die in 1997.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews