Ghosts of Austin, Texas: Who They Are and Where to Find Them [Paperback]

Fiona Broome (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2007

Austin, Texas, is filled to the brim with eerie tales of phantoms and creepy happenings. Read about Ben Thompson, Austin's ghostly gambler and sherif; meet Blanche Dumont, a famous "boarding house madam" ghost; explore the early days of the notorious Jack the Ripper and his killing spree in Austin; and find out how to observe the very strange and scary emergence of 20 million bats! Even better, this book tells you their exact locations, so that you can encounter Austin's ghosts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 255 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing (June 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764326805
• ISBN-13: 978-0764326806
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fiona Broome is an author, researcher and consultant. Since the 1970s, she has written ghost-related articles and stories for magazines such as "Fate" and books such as "Weird Hauntings," "Armchair Reader: Weird, Scary & Unusual."

Ms. Broome is also the author of books such as "The Ghosts of Austin, Texas" (Schiffer, 2007) and "Ghost Hunting in Haunted Cemeteries: A How-To Guide" (New Forest, 2009).

An unabashed geek, Fiona analyzes and predicts anomalies, as well as reports of paranormal activity.

For more than 25 years, Fiona has researched and written about ghosts and haunted places in the U.S, Canada, the U.K. and Ireland. Over 500 of her articles appear at HollowHill.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put it down!, March 12, 2008

By 

S. Barberena (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Ghosts of Austin, Texas: Who They Are and Where to Find Them (Paperback)

It's a very good book. There are a few things missing, such as a modern map of Austin with the Haunted locations pointed out. Also missing are several other Haunted locations, but I guess we have so many haunted places here in Austin, Fiona's book would have turned into an encyclopedia if she had listed them all.
Another thing missing are other theories as to why Austin is so haunted. Fiona only presents one theory. But there are others. For example, another theory is that the hauntings are attributed to all the limestone found all over the city and surrounding area. It is believed that limestone acts as a recording device which stores events, which explains many of the residual hauntings in Austin.
On a positive side, I can say that Fiona has really done her research. I was born and raised in Austin, and still live here, and many of the historical information she presented were new to me, and helped tie together much of the bits and pieces of information I already knew about my home town.

Fiona, thank you for writing this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars If you live in Central Texas, this book is for you., January 26, 2010

By 

Arthur Mills "Arthur M. Mills, Jr." (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ghosts of Austin, Texas: Who They Are and Where to Find Them (Paperback)

I stumbled across Fiona Broome's book, The Ghosts of Austin: Who They are and Where to Find Them on Amazon.com. I originally thought I knew all about Austin's haunted past. After reading Fiona Broome's book I realized I don't know much about the city I grew up in.

I really enjoy reading the book. For one, the writing is tight and the pace is perfect. Mrs. Broome's writing style is also easy to follow. In addition, most of the photos in the book were taken by Mrs. Broome herself. She's not just a talented researcher, writer, teacher, ______ (fill in the blank), she is a great photographer too. I don't know how much Mrs. Broome had to do with the layout, paper type, and font size of the book but the combination of those three makes the book very attractive. The dark black text on top of the bright white paper just looks good. I can't forget to mention the font size. The font size is larger in this book than most other books. The large font size makes it easy on my eyes.

As far as content: A+! I love reading about the haunted places in downtown Austin and along Shoal Creek. I heard some of the stories as I grew up in South Austin. I don't necessarily believe in some of the ghost stories mentioned in the book but millions of people across the country do and this book was written for them. Maybe the reason I don't believe it all is because I don't understand it all. That's what drew me to this book in the first place. I wanted information about haunted places and to see if I could be convinced that they exists-I am still working on that. Mrs. Broome's website ([...]) does a great job with teaching about her trade. In fact, I emailed her a couple of times and she responded within 24 hours both times.

I really admire Mrs. Broome's attention to detail as she conducted her research for the book and I really admire her passion for her work. I highly recommend this book for everyone searching for information about ghosts of Austin, Texas (and beyond).

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Gift., January 25, 2009

By 

Krystal Starr "kstarr11" (Norman, OK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghosts of Austin, Texas: Who They Are and Where to Find Them (Paperback)

I bought this for my sister in law who moved recently to Austin with my brother. They like these kinds of ghost stories. Great gift to help learn about their new home.