Haunted Dixie: Great Ghost Stories from the American South

by Frank D. McSherry Jr. (Editor), Charles G. Waugh (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

From its mist-shrouded bayous and abandoned plantation houses to its battlefields sown with the souls of the Civil War dead, the American South is a colorful landscape laden with potential for horror. Haunted Dixie is an essential collection of spooky stories in which ghosts and apparitions express this supernatural spirit of the southern states. Its fourteen selections abound with haunts and specters that capture the history, traditions, lore, and local color that set the South apart from any other region of America.

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Each state is represented by a tale of terror steeped in the eerie atmosphere of the southern Gothic:

A curse from the deathless past imperils a living Louisiana belle in Talmage Powell’s “The Jabberwock Valentine.”

A haunted house in North Carolina gives up its buried secrets in Orson Scott Card’s “Lost Boys.”

A Civil War soldier from Tennessee fights a final battle from beyond the grave in Ambrose Bierce’s “Two Military Executions.”

The romance of New Orleans’ historic Storeyville district manifests as a spectral femme fatale in Robert Bloch’s “Sleeping Beauty.”

So brace yourself for a stiff dose of southern discomfort. A confederacy of fears awaits you in these pages.

Genres: Horror

211 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[Melissa Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I anticipated this to be a collection of scary stories that would keep me on the edge of my seat and have me coming back for more. Unfortunately it was not that. I had to push myself to finish many of the stories. Many others were not “short” stories at all. I did really enjoy quite a few. Although the content wasn’t always there they were all very well written.

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for some great ghost stories like the ones I remember hearing as a child. This book wasn't quite it, though there were a few good stories in here. This is a complication of different authors. I believe most of these stories are written as fiction - created in the minds of the authors. When I found this book, I was actually looking more for a book that told those ghost stories that people actually believe are true, you know the ones that have been passed down through generations and are old folk lure. So while I enjoyed some of these, it's not what I had in mind. That's why I could only give this book 2 stars.

[Amy L. Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the worst collection of stories, but the only one that *really* impressed me what Robert Bloch's Sleeping Beauty. I'd recommend tracking down his collections over this one. "The Tree's Wife" by Mary Elizabeth Counselman was also worth reading, but had more dark humor than creep factor.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

these stories were mostly published a long time ago and each one is a real intense journey into the paranormal. believe it or not