|
|||||
|
Ghost stories remain exciting storytelling Ghost stories remain exciting storytellingHaunted Places in the American South Ghost stories are perhaps the most lasting and exciting form of storytelling passed down through the ages from oral cultures to literary ones and the American South is perhaps, of all the United States, the one region most known for its ghosts and their tales (though New England could offer a pretty good claim of the same). It seems only appropriate with Halloween not so very far away to review a collection of traditional ghost stories in the southern states. Alan Brown, an English professor, has done a masterful job of collecting a number of supposedly true ghost stories from a variety of locations in the South and placing these, grouped by state, in an attractive paperback collection. Brown, very much to his credit, never takes sides in the greater ghost debate of whether such spectres could be real or not but simply allows the stories to tell themselves, only interjecting his professional acumen insofar as wordsmithing to add clarity where needed to make a story exciting to read. As I have lived in Savannah, Georgia, and a close friend used to give walking ghost tours of the historic district, I read over the Savannah stories collected in Brown's book first to see if they were about the same as I'd heard them told in person. Brown, I must say, got the story of the Davenport House ghost down pat and his version is nearly the same as the legend you'll hear on a Savannah ghost tour or from any older native of the city. Interestingly, though perhaps not really suprisingly given Savannah's fame for its ghosts, all four stories in the Georgia chapter of the book are about Savannah itself. You would nearly think natives of Atlanta or Augusta would be a bit outdone about this, given their own ample supernatural lore. (Augusta's spooky Haunted Pillar certainly comes to mind anytime I stop and think about Georgia ghosts.) Florida, on the other hand, has the benefit of inclusion of a variety of sites across the state from Fort Zachary Taylor to the Kingsley Plantation. Like everywhere else in the book, the stories Brown has collected are well-known and often local favorites but told with a clear ear for detail and a concern for placing them in a broader context of the American South. While Brown makes no real effort to link the happenings of one story to another, he does do a fine job of presenting a feel for each state concerned: you can tell something about the differences in the history of Louisiana, in example, from that of Florida or Georgia in just its ghost stories here. Likewise, Kentucky's stories show a stronger leaning toward pioneer days and the out-of-doors versus the genteel and urbane conditions of Savannah and its ghosts cloistered away in impressive downtown homes. Brown's book should appeal to those interested in the American South just as much as it should those with a strong interest in the supernatural. While some of the ghost stories are more complex (and some more horrific) than others, they would for the most part serve as great campfire fare read aloud to kids and the book itself would be a great introduction to Southern history for middle school students and above with an extant interest in ghosts. Once you have read a few of these stories, (perhaps late at night in bed alone by a single light with a storm howling outside the
MIKE WALKER is a journalist and writer based out of Gainesville, Florida. He writes about ecology, social history, the Civil War, and natural history for this and other news media. He may be reached via email at: cloudrace@prontomail.com |
      |
||||
