Customer Reviews

Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley

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As I started to read this book my hopes were high because the Chattanooga area has never been properly served with this type of book. With several major Civil War battles having been fought in the area there have to be ghosts lurking around and it is about time someone told their stories. Georgiana Kotarski has thankfully taken up the challenge and has put together the first ghost book that I know of to deal specifically with this area. The wait is finally over.

My high hopes were almost dashed from the very beginning however because the first story dealt far more with local legend than with ghosts. These kinds of stories are good for local flavor but do not add a thing to a good ghost book and should never be included in this type of collection. Fortunately however, after the first chapter the book really took off and was extremely enjoyable. The author did get a little carried away with the history of the haunted location a few times but otherwise the rest of the stories were excellent.

Most of the chapters were stories of recent encounters with the lost souls of the area and best of all there were numerous eyewitness accounts. There is no way to overstate just how important these recent firsthand accounts are to this type of book and this author has included an abundance of such material. In one case she interviewed a family of four that resided in a haunted house and therefore had the perspective of each family member, all of whom had experienced the haunt in one form or another.

As one would expect there are several stories of Civil War ghosts, including one Union soldier who is still mad because a little old lady pushed him down her stairs, but there are many other types of haunts that are also documented. The writing style is very fluid and regardless of the subject matter this is a very fun read. It is even more fun if one is a fan of ghost books and I certainly fall into that category. With the exception of the first chapter this is as good as ghost books get.

This book does a very good job of capturing the history behind these ghost stories. Georgiana Kotarski not only tells the stories but also places them within their historical and cultural context by telling us about the settings, people, and eyewitnesses surrounding these ghost stories. She presents some of the most interesting ghost stories I have read in a long time. These stories are not only well researched but fun to read, especially for anyone who has ever lived or traveled through the haunts she describes. Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley is a great read!

"Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley" is light reading, serious neither as history nor as spectral "science." This is not a bad thing.

"This collection leans heavily toward local history," writes Georgiana Kotarski, who leaves open whether she believes in ghosts and haints. As such, it leans heavily on old newspaper accounts, although she also interviewed people who believe or suspect they have encountered ghosts in their homes or, in many cases, around locales of the Civil War battles of Chattanooga and Chickamauga.

My family settled in the "southern Tennessee valley," as Kotarski calls it, in the 1880s and did not tell ghost stories. Although one of the ghosts here, Oscar Carlson, was murdered just a hop and a step from where my mother grew up, she tells me she never heard that he haunted her part of Signal Mountain. It makes a good story, though.

Most of the ghosts are benevolent or just wistful. Only one or two allegedly tried to harm or frighten the people who encountered them. These are not particularly scary ghosts.

All in all an amusing excursion into local history, or a part of it. Although some of the ghosts here were black, all of the relaters appear to be whites.

After working at a few bookstores in the Chattanooga area for the last several years, one phenomenon I have noticed has been the enthusiasm behind this book. After it was released, it created a huge buzz around the city and it frequently sells out in the book stores I have worked in.

One thing that is great about working at a bookstore is the (sometimes quite in-depth) conversations with customers about books. That is the true honesty you get about how good a book really is, and the conversations generated about this book have been some of the most memorable. It is always fun to hear stories from customers about their own personal experiences with the unexplained as a part of these conversations as well.

When I first began reading this book I could not put it down. One good test to see if a book about ghosts is really great is how often the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, and it happens frequently with this book, especially for those that live in the Southern Tennessee Valley area where these stories hit close to home. This is not because the ghosts are malicious, for the most part they are not, but because the context of the well-researched history, setting, and eyewitness accounts make you feel like you are witnessing these happenings yourself.

The main thing I love about the book is the style of the writing. A book about "real" ghosts could just present data for reference for the ghost buffs wanting to read about hauntings around the area, but Kotarski has written this book in beautiful prose that flows well through the pages and holds interest from cover to cover.

Also, the book does not seem to try to prove or disprove that these ghost rumors are true, but rather present the accounts and folklore and let the readers decide for themselves. This makes it a great read for anyone whether they just want to read it for ghost lore and spooky stories, or for those wanting a reference guide with accounts of paranormal activity and the evidence behind them, or both.

I highly recommend this book for anyone, just as I do frequently at the book store I work at, because not only is it an entertaining read, there is a lot of history to be learned about Chattanooga and the Southern Tennessee Valley area in a fun way. I hope a sequel will be soon forthcoming!

Although it is regional in scope, Georgiana Kotarski's "Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley" is a worthwhile read for anyone who likes true ghost stories. Kotarski has collected thirty ghostly tales from the southern Tennessee River Valley, an area that comprises southeast Tennessee, northwest Georgia, and north Alabama, an area rich in history and rich in "haints."

In a vivid and entertaining style, Kotarski recounts the story of the headless ghost of bandit king John Murrell; the spirit of little Nina Craigmiles, whose tears stain red the white marble of her tomb; Green Eyes, the creature who roams Georgia's woods and wilds; and other assorted ghosts, many of whom haunt the Civil War battlefields of Chickamauga and Chattanooga.

This is Kotarski's first book, but I hope she will write more. "Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley" makes a great addition to any ghosthunter's library.

John Kachuba
Author of Ghosthunting Ohio and Ghosthunting Illinois
[...]

well written ,lots of history not that scary ,but a good read

I must tell how I came across this book. It was before Halloween, and my colleagues and I wanted to do something different this year. We wanted to encounter ghosts, not just folklore. I googled and came across this book. Traveling anywhere, is not a problem for us. If the stories in this novel intrigued us enough, we were going on a ghost hunt for Halloween. As luck would have it though, the book did not reach me in enough time before Halloween, and we were unable to go at Halloween. I cannot say that I believe in ghosts, but my colleagues do.

This book contains 30 ghost stories encountered within the Tennessee Valley and surrounding areas. Each account is related to stories pertaining to the ghostly figures, how or why they reside in that place, and knowing this, makes the ghost stories seem more real. I shall not spoil any ghost stories for anyone. You will also get a history lesson on the state of Tennessee about the Civil War.

The preface of this book will let you inside the mind of the author and who she came about to write these ghastly ghost stories.

For anyone who lives near this area, they should seek out these ghost stories for themselves. I may have to travel one day myself, just to see if I can encounter a ghost. I have never heard of any area having this many ghosts.

Being from Generations of Southern Tennessee Valley Family Ancestry, thought it was truly amazing that a book was written about this area. Really neat!! Got as a gift for my husband, also from the same area. Read about the author from our small hometown paper. Had to support her. Thanks for another take on our small towns with the amazing ghost stories.