Haunted Stark County: A Ghoulish History

Haunted America

by Sherri Brake, John B. Kachuba (Foreword)

Stroll along silent corridors of an abandoned asylum and linger among graves of Civil War dead - and discover the eerie ends of Stark County's departed souls.

Ghostly diners, violent crimes of passion, phantoms peering from theatre balconies, canal workers who still walk the towpaths - the haunted history of Stark County includes characters and legends as bizarre as they are terrifying. Take a bone-chilling journey with Sherri Brake, owner of Haunted Heartland Tours, as she recounts tales of superstitious pioneers and the horrors of the great influenza epidemic of 1918.

Genres: Nonfiction, Horror

131 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2009

About the author

I live in south central West Virginia with my husband Perry. I have 2 teen kids and a really cool business that I began in 2004. Haunted Heartland Tours http://www.HauntedHistory.net
I am the author of 3 books. Haunted Stark County (2009) and The Haunted History of the Ohio State Reformatory.(2010) Both published by the History Press.

Book 3 is a 618 page mammoth on the Haunted History of the West Virginia Penitentiary and was published Dec 31st 2011.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up in Canton, Ohio, the county seat and biggest city of Stark County, and after more than a decade of traveling around the world as an international teacher, I returned to live and work again in 2021. Sherri Brake's 2009 book Haunted Stark County is a history of the county, which includes cities such as Massillon, Alliance, North Canton, Louisville, Canal Fulton, and, of course, Canton, through the lens of paranormal phenomena and ghostly encounters. I'm a bit of a ghost skeptic but, I guess, not enough of one that I couldn't be convinced to change my mind with some good evidence. While Brake's book certainly didn't provide the evidence I need to become a believer, I did appreciate it as a history of the county full of mini-biographies of area business owners, founding fathers, and notable residents. To be honest, there's very little about ghosts here at all, which is probably a good thing given how interesting some of the history is, at least to Stark County residents like me. Brake lived in Canal Fulton at the time of writing, and that very small city is arguably overrepresented here, but I still enjoyed the stories. On the other hand, it's clear this was either self-published or published through a very small press, leading to a few typos and grammatical errors ("then" in place of "than", for example) throughout. Even so, I enjoyed Haunted Stark Country and learning some interesting new trivia about the place where I'm from.

[Tabby Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a super good book. I could not put it down. My family and I learned so much about our hometown
My husband and I was just in Canal Fulton at Lock 4 on Sunday WOW! I wish I had known about all of the places that are in the book that would have been awesome

[Emily Wiersma]

If you live in or around Stark County this is a great book to read to learn about the haunted side of this area. I liked learning about the history of where I moved to about ten years ago. Now I can't wait to go on one of Sherri Brake's tours, and have my own little tour of stark county.

[Autumn Marie Spirnak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good historical book if you live in or by the area. Really makes you think twice of place you may have driven or walked by here and there on a daily stroll without thought. Or why a specific building is always abandoned and never been bought out.

[Josh Minnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad historical read. Got a good amount of facts. However the author did include a handful of historical inaccuracies that even an untrained historian like myself could point out and realize they were wrong. A man living from the late 1700s to the early 1900s for instance. I did my own research of the man and found the author's death date was off by a good 40 years. Another example is when she stated two frontiersmen who died in 1783 apparently had a grandfather who fought in the American Civil War. These errors hurt the author's credibility a bit in my opinion, so the book will get 3/5 stars from me. Interesting read nonetheless.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - far more Stark County / Ohio history than ghost story! I knew NONE of this. And for this reason, it will be staying on my shelf instead of traded / donated / given away.