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The Ghostly Register: Haunted Dwellings, Active Spirits: A Journey to America's Strangest Landmarks
Sign your name--if you dare--in The Ghostly Register, a spine-tingling guide to the most fascinating documented haunts in America. Read the eerie tales of spirits, bizarre occurrences, and unexplained phenomena. You will be spellbound by the account of ghostly manifestations of a tall Stetson-wearing figure aboard The Wild Goose, John Wayne's former yacht; the strange happenings and tragic history surrounding the Toys 'R' Us store in Sunnyvale, California; and the mysterious building in Idaho from which the trapped spirit of a mummified rat makes its escape to the otherworld.
The ghosts whose exploits are described herein are good people, bad people, disappointed lovers and the people who scored them, murderers, murder victims, little old ladies, even prostitutes. Their personalities--and spooky activities--are as unforgettable as they are unsettling.
The Ghostly Register, a collection of incredible, titillating tales, is also a guidebook, complete with locations, directions, records of investigations, the best times to witness the manifestations, and educated guesses, based on histories, as to the identity of the ghostly inhabitants. Specialists in psychic phenomena are also listed.
The ghosts whose exploits are described herein are good people, bad people, disappointed lovers and the people who scored them, murderers, murder victims, little old ladies, even prostitutes. Their personalities--and spooky activities--are as unforgettable as they are unsettling.
The Ghostly Register, a collection of incredible, titillating tales, is also a guidebook, complete with locations, directions, records of investigations, the best times to witness the manifestations, and educated guesses, based on histories, as to the identity of the ghostly inhabitants. Specialists in psychic phenomena are also listed.
378 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 1986
2 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Myers
33 books5 followersArthur B. Myers, of Wellesley, freelance writer, journalist, investigative reporter, editor, college writing instructor, and in his later years, author of a number of books and articles about ghosts and other paranormal phenomena, died April 8, 2006. He was 88.
He was the author of 21 books and more than 150 articles and stories in magazines and other publications for both children and adults, including Saturday Review, Coronet, Ladies’ Home Journal, Sports Illustrated, Collier’s, Women’s Day, Cricket, Boys’ Life, and American Girl. Mr. Myers also wrote a number of articles and stories for remedial reading guides published by Random House, Houghton Mifflin, and Educational Development Laboratories.
“My favorite books are several I have written on the occult,” he was fond of saying, acknowledging his interest in the unknown. “They are serious investigations of hauntings, cases of possession and other such phenomena.” Those books were generally timed for publication around Halloween, and he enjoyed being interviewed by local and national personalities. His first of five books about ghostly goings-on, The Ghostly Register: Haunted Dwellings, Active Spirits – A Journey to America’s Strangest Landmarks, was published in 1986. It described incidents throughout the United States and Canada. Some chapters involved Massachusetts cases, such as the reported ghost of author Edith Wharton at her mansion in the Berkshire Hills, several incidents at the Colonial Inn in Concord, and reports of a ghost at the former John Stone’s Inn in Ashland who supposedly put five-dollar bills in the tip jar on the bar, and many others. Following its publication, Mr. Myers was invited to speak at the annual Boston Globe Book Fair. His topic was “Ghosts and the Extreme Likelihood of Their Existence.”
Once, after being interviewed on Larry King Live, Mr. Myers overheard the notoriously tough and skeptical host of the national television show say to someone backstage, “You know, I really believe this guy!” He wrote four other books on ghostly subjects, including Ghosts of the Rich and Famous (1988), which detailed supposed sightings of the ghosts of John Wayne and Natalie Wood among others; and The Ghostly Gazetteer: America’s Most Famous Haunted Landmarks (1990).
Mr. Myers was born October 24, 1917, in Buffalo, New York, the son of Edward A. and Isabelle (Baker) Myers. He graduated from the Buffalo public school system and from Hobart College in 1939 with a B.A. degree in English. He served in the U. S. Army for four years during World War II.
His first book, published in 1966 by Random House with law professor Jeffrey O’Connell, was entitled, Safety Last: An Indictment of the Auto Industry. When Mr. Myers’s investigations began to disturb people in the automobile industry, he sought counsel from then-editor at Random House, Bennett Cerf. He was reassured by Mr. Cerf: “If you’re sure you’re getting at the truth, then carry on, my boy, and don’t worry!”
During an adult life devoted to writing, Mr. Myers served as assistant city editor of the Washington Post, contributing editor of Coronet magazine, executive editor of the Berkshire Sampler, and in various editorial and reportorial posts at the Rochester Times-Union, the Berkshire Eagle and the Bergen (NJ) Record.
His last published book was Communicating with Animals: the Spiritual Connection between People and Animals (1997), which explored the ability of humans to “speak” telepathically with animals, and vice versa. Mr. Myers said then, “As time went by, I had the urge to expand my work into wider and deeper aspects of the human spirit. I have written many books, newspaper articles and stories on unusual subjects. I’ve written articles on spiritual groups such as the Sufis, dowsers, etc. I felt that I was meant to write books that open up human awareness of the afterlife, the before-life, and in-between spiritual life.
“I suspect that the world is moving toward a greater awareness of
He was the author of 21 books and more than 150 articles and stories in magazines and other publications for both children and adults, including Saturday Review, Coronet, Ladies’ Home Journal, Sports Illustrated, Collier’s, Women’s Day, Cricket, Boys’ Life, and American Girl. Mr. Myers also wrote a number of articles and stories for remedial reading guides published by Random House, Houghton Mifflin, and Educational Development Laboratories.
“My favorite books are several I have written on the occult,” he was fond of saying, acknowledging his interest in the unknown. “They are serious investigations of hauntings, cases of possession and other such phenomena.” Those books were generally timed for publication around Halloween, and he enjoyed being interviewed by local and national personalities. His first of five books about ghostly goings-on, The Ghostly Register: Haunted Dwellings, Active Spirits – A Journey to America’s Strangest Landmarks, was published in 1986. It described incidents throughout the United States and Canada. Some chapters involved Massachusetts cases, such as the reported ghost of author Edith Wharton at her mansion in the Berkshire Hills, several incidents at the Colonial Inn in Concord, and reports of a ghost at the former John Stone’s Inn in Ashland who supposedly put five-dollar bills in the tip jar on the bar, and many others. Following its publication, Mr. Myers was invited to speak at the annual Boston Globe Book Fair. His topic was “Ghosts and the Extreme Likelihood of Their Existence.”
Once, after being interviewed on Larry King Live, Mr. Myers overheard the notoriously tough and skeptical host of the national television show say to someone backstage, “You know, I really believe this guy!” He wrote four other books on ghostly subjects, including Ghosts of the Rich and Famous (1988), which detailed supposed sightings of the ghosts of John Wayne and Natalie Wood among others; and The Ghostly Gazetteer: America’s Most Famous Haunted Landmarks (1990).
Mr. Myers was born October 24, 1917, in Buffalo, New York, the son of Edward A. and Isabelle (Baker) Myers. He graduated from the Buffalo public school system and from Hobart College in 1939 with a B.A. degree in English. He served in the U. S. Army for four years during World War II.
His first book, published in 1966 by Random House with law professor Jeffrey O’Connell, was entitled, Safety Last: An Indictment of the Auto Industry. When Mr. Myers’s investigations began to disturb people in the automobile industry, he sought counsel from then-editor at Random House, Bennett Cerf. He was reassured by Mr. Cerf: “If you’re sure you’re getting at the truth, then carry on, my boy, and don’t worry!”
During an adult life devoted to writing, Mr. Myers served as assistant city editor of the Washington Post, contributing editor of Coronet magazine, executive editor of the Berkshire Sampler, and in various editorial and reportorial posts at the Rochester Times-Union, the Berkshire Eagle and the Bergen (NJ) Record.
His last published book was Communicating with Animals: the Spiritual Connection between People and Animals (1997), which explored the ability of humans to “speak” telepathically with animals, and vice versa. Mr. Myers said then, “As time went by, I had the urge to expand my work into wider and deeper aspects of the human spirit. I have written many books, newspaper articles and stories on unusual subjects. I’ve written articles on spiritual groups such as the Sufis, dowsers, etc. I felt that I was meant to write books that open up human awareness of the afterlife, the before-life, and in-between spiritual life.
“I suspect that the world is moving toward a greater awareness of
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 16, 2025
What a fantastic collection of all kinds of ghostly encounters: the ghost who turned the stereo down, a ghostly bartender, ghosts on the Queen Mary, John Wayne's haunting his yacht, the Winchester House, a haunted toy store, enchanted dolls, ghosts in the old plantation, Poe's old house, the ghost of a Salem Witch, the haunted museum... I really liked the stroll and the fine black and white photos of persons involved. Has some dated charms. Really recommended.
October 26, 2025
Los testimonios y registros incluidos - poco difundidos fuera de los Estados Unidos - interesarán al lector verdaderamente inclinado al fenómeno, aún cuando su valor de consulta falle en los numerosos testigos que prefieren mantener el anonimato y con aquellos sitios cuyo emplazamiento indeterminado los acerca más al folclore que a la investigación. Lectura entretenida más que documental.
January 29, 2013
Not bad as true ghost stories go but not much of a travel guide. Most of the buildings were not open to the public so they couldn't be visited without calling ahead and hoping that the owner wasn't sick and tired of ghost hunters. Readers weren't even told where some of them were because the owners wanted privacy. Some of the buildings had already been sold by the time the book was written; the old owners gave the author information but the new owners didn't want visitors. Add that to the ghosts that were exorcised by the time the book was written and there was virtually no place in this guide to haunted America left to visit.
June 17, 2012
A true ghost story book for any reader. I read this book when I was in high school and it scared me to death! I think that was the author's goal, though. It was my first true ghost story book which led me on to many more since then.
July 14, 2008
love to read about hauntings and etc! picks up book alot and rereads what i sometimes read over and over again
theres always some short of super naturals out there
i beleave in all
theres always some short of super naturals out there
i beleave in all
Read
May 18, 2011Really good, except for the fact that my copy seemed to be missing a small chunk.
September 6, 2016
A fun and creepy armchair road-trip.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews