Haunted Cape Cod

by Barbara Sillery

The lively ghosts found on this magical, mysterious Massachusetts island include a pirate, a preacher, a witch, a whaling captain, and a sea captain's wife. The area's history stretches back to the Indians of thousands of years ago, to the Vikings, to the Pilgrims, until the present day. This book highlights the most interesting stories, featuring such sites as a haunted rare-books store, several inns, a guesthouse, a tavern, and a theater.

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2021

About the author

Barbara Sillery is an award-winning television producer/director and script writer as well as an author of four books. Her first book is based on the documentary The Haunting of Louisiana. She then went on to write two more books of ghostly lore: The Haunting of Mississippi, and the Haunting of Cape Cod and the Islands. Her book Biloxi Memories is also based on a recent documentary she produced for PBS station WYES in New Orleans.

"Barbara's gift for storytelling holds in the written word just as it does before a television camera."
-Phillip J. Jones, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

Reviews

[Jaksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad book, a kind of tour guide to haunted locales on Cape Cod among various inns, homes, churches, etc., or wherever haunted events are said to play out.

The writing is very basic, however, and the writer does 'wander' all over as she describes various legends, locations and what supposedly happened where and when. Well-researched? Precisely, with names and dates of various sea captains, innkeepers, church-goers, and so on, plus their families and who lived when and married whom and had how many children. That sort of anchors the chapters, each about a different building/location, firmly in history.

As for the hauntings? It's mostly witness accounts, or interviews, and nary a 'professional' ghost-hunting team in sight. The few times they are mentioned is almost an afterthought, or whenever an owner of a building refuses to allow a team in to investigate.

I'm a skeptic and have a very scientific frame of mind in most things. However, since I've had at least three 'spooky' things happen to me, and all when I was wide awake, alert, and very aware of what was going on, I do remain very cautious about the subject. No, I wasn't dreaming, on some weird medication or 'drinking.' Three times, and with others close by and so...

I enjoyed the book and since I also own a house on Cape Cod, I need to search some of these out myself. Some of the locations are open to the public, or are now restaurants or inns. Others are private property. All are located in the many small towns on the Cape which, for the most part, have kept part of their 18th to 19th century charm.

Enjoyable read. Four stars.

[Patti Larche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history of places and buildings on Cape Cod. Not scary.