Book description
" An all-new collection of amazing ghost stories from the author
of the bestselling Ghosts across Kentucky. Kentucky has a rich legacy
of ghostly visitations. Lynwood Montell has harvested dozens of tales
of haunted houses and family ghosts from all over the Bluegrass state.
Many of the stories were collected from elders by young people and are
recounted exactly as they were gathered. Haunted Houses and Family
Ghosts of Kentucky includes chilling tales such as that of the Tan Man
of Pike County, who trudges invisibly through a house accompanied by
the smell of roses, and the famed Gray Lady of Liberty Hall in
Frankfort, a houseguest who never left. Montell tells the story of a
stormy night, shortly before Henry Clay's death, when the ghost of the
statesman's old friend Daniel Boone calls upon him, and then recounts
the more modern story of the ghouls that haunt the rehearsal house of
the band The Kentucky Headhunters. Included are accounts of haunted
libraries, mansions, bedrooms, log cabins, bathrooms, college
campuses, apartments, furniture, hotels, and distilleries, as well as
reports of eerie visitations from ghostly grandmothers, husbands,
daughters, uncles, cousins, babies, slaves, Civil War soldiers, dogs,
sheep, and even wildcats. Almost all of Kentucky's 120 counties are
represented. Though the book emphasizes the stories themselves,
Montell offers an introduction discussing how local history, local
character, and local flavor are communicated across the generations in
these colorful stories. William Lynwood Montell, emeritus professor of
folk studies at Western Kentucky University, is the author of several
books, including Ghosts across Kentucky, Killings, Kentucky Ghosts,
Singing the Glory Down, Kentucky Folk Architecture, and Tales from
Kentucky Lawyers. He lives in Oakland, Kentucky.
"These eyewitness accounts of Bluegrass State residents who
just can't say goodbye also include downright spooky stuff as close as
Second Street in Covington." -- Cincinnati Enquirer
