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Stackpole Haunted Series
Haunted Indiana: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Hoosier State
A selection of the state's bone-chilling stories of the paranormal, including . . .
The ghosts of Kendallville's Strand Theatre
San Pierre's Dog-Headed Woman
The haunted Purple Head Bridge near Vincennes
Indianapolis's House of Blue Lights
The creepy 100 Steps Cemetery outside of Brazil
The ghosts of Kendallville's Strand Theatre
San Pierre's Dog-Headed Woman
The haunted Purple Head Bridge near Vincennes
Indianapolis's House of Blue Lights
The creepy 100 Steps Cemetery outside of Brazil
131 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 16, 2012
20 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
James A. Willis
20 books27 followersNot since the Headless Horseman went charging through Sleepy Hollow has something come out of the Hudson highlands of upstate New York as thrilling and chilling as author and paranormal researcher James A. Willis. Fueled by a steady diet of boo berry cereal, Creepy Magazine and late-night Vincent Price movies, Willis soon developed a taste for the unexplained and quickly began seeking out all things strange and spooky.
When he wasn’t trying to coax the boogeyman out from under his bed for a photo shoot, Willis pondered such eternal questions as what happens to us when we die is there life on other planets, and what possesses someone to decorate their house with 1,001 milk jugs?
In 1999, after spending more than 15 years chasing after ghosts and visiting crybaby bridges, Willis moved to Ohio and founded The Ghosts of Ohio (ghostsofohio.org), a nationally recognized paranormal research organization. Willis has grown the organization to well over 35 members in three divisions throughout the state: Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.
In 2004, in what seemed to be destiny, Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, the brainchild’s of the Weird US series of books, approached Willis and asked him to contribute to their latest volume, Weird US. To date, Willis has been involved with 6 books in the Weird US series. He is the co-author of Weird Ohio (2005) and Weird Indiana (2008) and was also a contributing author to Weird US (2004), Weird Hauntings (2006), Weird US II: The ODDyssey Continues (2008), and Weird Encounters (2010). Willis’ unique and offbeat writing style was officially recognized in 2006 with his induction into the Grand Order of Weird Writers.
In addition, Willis has been a contributing author to several books in the Armchair Reader series, beginning with Weird, Scary & Unusual (2008) and continuing with several books released in 2010: Armchair Reader Goes Hollywood, Armchair Reader’s All about Ohio, and The Mammoth Armchair Reader. 2011 marked the release of Willis' latest collaboration with Armchair Reader, Haunted America. For 2012, Willis released Haunted Indiana, his first work with Stackpole Books. In the fall of 2012, Willis' The Big Book Of Ohio Ghost Stories was unleashed.
Look for Willis' next book, Ohio's Historic Haunts, to be released in late summer of 2015.
A sought-after public speaker, Willis has given presentations throughout the United States, during which he has educated and entertained tens of thousands of people of all ages in crowd sizes ranging from 10 to well over 600. He has also been featured in more than 50 media sources, including CNN, USA Today, Columbus Business First, Midwest Living, The Canadian Press, and even the Kuwait Times. He is also currently a contributing author to Mysteries Magazine.
Willis currently resides in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and daughter, a Queen-loving parrot, and three narcoleptic cats.
When he wasn’t trying to coax the boogeyman out from under his bed for a photo shoot, Willis pondered such eternal questions as what happens to us when we die is there life on other planets, and what possesses someone to decorate their house with 1,001 milk jugs?
In 1999, after spending more than 15 years chasing after ghosts and visiting crybaby bridges, Willis moved to Ohio and founded The Ghosts of Ohio (ghostsofohio.org), a nationally recognized paranormal research organization. Willis has grown the organization to well over 35 members in three divisions throughout the state: Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.
In 2004, in what seemed to be destiny, Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, the brainchild’s of the Weird US series of books, approached Willis and asked him to contribute to their latest volume, Weird US. To date, Willis has been involved with 6 books in the Weird US series. He is the co-author of Weird Ohio (2005) and Weird Indiana (2008) and was also a contributing author to Weird US (2004), Weird Hauntings (2006), Weird US II: The ODDyssey Continues (2008), and Weird Encounters (2010). Willis’ unique and offbeat writing style was officially recognized in 2006 with his induction into the Grand Order of Weird Writers.
In addition, Willis has been a contributing author to several books in the Armchair Reader series, beginning with Weird, Scary & Unusual (2008) and continuing with several books released in 2010: Armchair Reader Goes Hollywood, Armchair Reader’s All about Ohio, and The Mammoth Armchair Reader. 2011 marked the release of Willis' latest collaboration with Armchair Reader, Haunted America. For 2012, Willis released Haunted Indiana, his first work with Stackpole Books. In the fall of 2012, Willis' The Big Book Of Ohio Ghost Stories was unleashed.
Look for Willis' next book, Ohio's Historic Haunts, to be released in late summer of 2015.
A sought-after public speaker, Willis has given presentations throughout the United States, during which he has educated and entertained tens of thousands of people of all ages in crowd sizes ranging from 10 to well over 600. He has also been featured in more than 50 media sources, including CNN, USA Today, Columbus Business First, Midwest Living, The Canadian Press, and even the Kuwait Times. He is also currently a contributing author to Mysteries Magazine.
Willis currently resides in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and daughter, a Queen-loving parrot, and three narcoleptic cats.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 19, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. It was a really good paranormal book. The best part was it had stories that I had never heard before.
Re-read 2018
I have to admit that this type of book is a guilty pleasure for me. I'm a huge fan of "real" ghost stories, both on television and the written page. It had been awhile since I had read this one and decided to grab it off of Scribd. It was still a good read, though a few things mentioned have been debunked since the book was originally written.
Re-read 2018
I have to admit that this type of book is a guilty pleasure for me. I'm a huge fan of "real" ghost stories, both on television and the written page. It had been awhile since I had read this one and decided to grab it off of Scribd. It was still a good read, though a few things mentioned have been debunked since the book was originally written.
September 9, 2018
Interesting Indiana history but Indiana history isnt the most interesting
March 11, 2022
In the way of Indiana paranormal books, this one is alright. There were a few stories I hadn’t heard before, but most were a rehashing of ones I had already read. There were also weird grammatical errors, which don’t detract from the content but were strange. I am also confused about the Purdue University Airport story being in the Eastern Indiana section? Maybe I’m missing something here. This book is a good starting point for beginners in learning Indiana paranormal history.
May 12, 2022
Just a quick detour from my regular stuff! I totally “stole” my daughter’s library book while she was at school. A 12yo history nerd who would definitely rate this one a 5, is my guess. A fun quick read.
October 31, 2020
Fun for Hoosier history nerds.
April 26, 2021
Once again... Not enough chills and thrills for me. There were a lot of interesting stories, just not what I was looking for.
December 6, 2021
A basic book of scary tales, but also some unexpected gems of local history and folklore.
April 20, 2022
It was okay.
October 15, 2022
Really dry, where's the scare?
July 24, 2024
I knew a majority of the stories in here but this was a fun time!
June 4, 2025
It wasn’t bad, just personally was not very interesting.
January 19, 2016
I've read a few books on Kentucky ghost stories (since I'm from Kentucky), and I wanted to expand into Indiana (as most Kentuckians have ties to Indiana, as well). But this wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be a creepy account of the most well-known stories. Instead, it gives brief summaries of as many odd stories as it can, from all over Indiana. I was a little disappointed by that. Still, it has a lot of stories I had never heard or read about before, especially those from the North part of Indiana, so at least it was fresh.
I think my biggest issues with Haunted Indiana are that a few of the stories lack online presence. After almost every story I would be so intrigued I googled the information, and mostly I found others online giving more detail or at least telling similar tales. A few, though, only turned up books written by this author as 'proof'. I also wish the author would have given some detail as if he had been to the locations. I was constantly going back and forth over whether or not he visited the haunted places, or if he just collected information and re-told it. Finally, in the back there is a bibliography. It would have been really great to have that information cited in the text so I could look up the articles used. Like I said before, I googled most of the stories, so it would have been nice to know exactly what the author looked at, too.
My favorite thing about Haunted Indiana, although it wasn't what I set out for when I bought this book, is that it did prompt me to do a little research. I think the folklore of a state/town says more about it than it's history ever will, so when I found a story that had a lot of hits online of people telling their versions, I was delighted. Especially when it was people actually from Indiana, as they tended to have more details than the author.
I really don't think I would recommend this to someone looking for chilling stories or a spooky read, but I would say anyone from Indiana or Kentucky (even Ohio or Illinois, for that matter), that has an interest in this sort of thing, would really enjoy it. If nothing else, they could learn a little more about the area and lore of their ancestors.
I think my biggest issues with Haunted Indiana are that a few of the stories lack online presence. After almost every story I would be so intrigued I googled the information, and mostly I found others online giving more detail or at least telling similar tales. A few, though, only turned up books written by this author as 'proof'. I also wish the author would have given some detail as if he had been to the locations. I was constantly going back and forth over whether or not he visited the haunted places, or if he just collected information and re-told it. Finally, in the back there is a bibliography. It would have been really great to have that information cited in the text so I could look up the articles used. Like I said before, I googled most of the stories, so it would have been nice to know exactly what the author looked at, too.
My favorite thing about Haunted Indiana, although it wasn't what I set out for when I bought this book, is that it did prompt me to do a little research. I think the folklore of a state/town says more about it than it's history ever will, so when I found a story that had a lot of hits online of people telling their versions, I was delighted. Especially when it was people actually from Indiana, as they tended to have more details than the author.
I really don't think I would recommend this to someone looking for chilling stories or a spooky read, but I would say anyone from Indiana or Kentucky (even Ohio or Illinois, for that matter), that has an interest in this sort of thing, would really enjoy it. If nothing else, they could learn a little more about the area and lore of their ancestors.
July 7, 2012
Mr. Willis writes about the hauntings of the State of Indiana in this book. It was an enjoyable read, but there really was very little in the way of verification - this is a collection of ghost stories divided into regions within the State, and some of them were familiar from stories I've heard over the years in general.
Two stories did stick with me, and one was because I had seen it on a ghost hunting television series, about a bus-full of kids who were killed because the vehicle they were in stalled on a train track - and if you park your car where the tracks were, someone will push it out of the way. The other story that stuck with me was about a little girl who drowned under a covered bridge, who will appear when you pause near the area of the bridge and honk three times.
As for the rest, they were watered down and vague enough to barely be scary at all.
As a ghost story book, it seemed to be nicely researched as to places, but not exactly as to whether there were actual hauntings happening or not.
The author did mention the Grey Lady, who is in one of the local libraries here in Evansville, which somehow didn't surprise me, as she has her own web cams set up in her library.
Two stories did stick with me, and one was because I had seen it on a ghost hunting television series, about a bus-full of kids who were killed because the vehicle they were in stalled on a train track - and if you park your car where the tracks were, someone will push it out of the way. The other story that stuck with me was about a little girl who drowned under a covered bridge, who will appear when you pause near the area of the bridge and honk three times.
As for the rest, they were watered down and vague enough to barely be scary at all.
As a ghost story book, it seemed to be nicely researched as to places, but not exactly as to whether there were actual hauntings happening or not.
The author did mention the Grey Lady, who is in one of the local libraries here in Evansville, which somehow didn't surprise me, as she has her own web cams set up in her library.
October 19, 2012
It was an easy, enjoyable read without a lot of facts to back up the claims. One of the ghost stories took place a mile and half from where I grew up and I had never heard the story before. It was an interesting book though.
July 9, 2014
Some of the stories were chilling, but for the most part, this was better as a documentation of the offbeat history of the state.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews