Customer Reviews

Ghosts! Personal Accounts of Modern Mississippi Hauntings

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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A wonderful book -- low key and well written. The stories speak for themselves without author intrusion or fictionalized "oo-wee-spooky" add-ins. The Hubbards obviously enjoyed this project, and it shows. If you want ectoplasm dripping from the walls and bloody apparitions, you won't find them here; but you will meet real ghosts and the people who live with them discussing the subtle, cumulatively unsettling experience of being haunted.

I own 300 or so nonfiction ghost collections, and wrote my own ("Mobile Ghosts, Alabama's Haunted Port City.")I've sent an awful lot of ghost books on to the library, but this is one I enjoy rereading, and have it on the "keeper" shelf. --Elizabeth Parker

The key word in the title of this book is "Modern" for the haunts described in this book are all of an ongoing nature. This is not to say that some of these hauntings haven't been going on for quite some time because they have been, but these are not old legends that deal with purported events that no living person has witnessed. Each and every story in this book is backed up by eyewitness testimonials and all of these ghosts were still haunting their chosen haunt. In other words, this is what all ghost books should be like.

The author of this book is herself the owner of a haunted building and is one of those people who never believed in ghosts until she and her husband bought the building in question. Most of the people who appear in this book were just like her and didn't believe until events forced them to change their minds. Many of the witnesses in this book are the sweet little ladies who lead tours through old antebellum homes and are just not the type to make this kind of thing up. On the contrary, I would imagine that they made excuses for the disturbances for a long time before finally having to admit that they might have a ghost on their hands.

This author does an excellent job of giving the reader the history of the location and the haunt itself without going into such detail that she looses the reader's interest. Most of each story deals with recent activity and the eyewitness accounts of the activity. She makes a particularly insightful observation in noting that some phenomena such as phantom footsteps and lights that turn off and on by themselves are common to most haunts whereas the popular idea of rattling chains and weary moans are almost never present. Over many years of reading ghost books I've noticed the same thing.

The photographs taken by the author's husband add to the eerie feel of the book and the author has a very nice writing style. These stories aren't all that scary but they do give you a feel for the haunted location and it's spooks. This would be a terrific book for planning a nice October ghost tour of Mississippi and with this book in hand I may just do that someday.

I bought this book to send to Harry's daughter. I have just recently, for the first time, made contact with her. My husband and I built the house that Harry has occupied for the past 30 years. Harry is less mischievous than he used to be, but we still hear from him from time to time. My husband died recently and I am building a smaller house for myself. However, it is on the same property and I am hoping Harry will move into the new house with me. My daughter-in-law hopes so also as she and my son will be moving into the house I am presently living in. She is a little scared of Harry. However, I am very fond of him.

I know you want an rating of the entire book and not just about my story. For someone who does not really believe in ghosts, I would say that the entire book is very interesting, to say the least.

This is an outstanding book. I was hooked on the first page and couldn't stop reading until I was finished. The photography is every bit as exceptional as the writing. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever had even the slightest interest in ghosts. If you are from the south it is a must!