Phantom Army of the Civil War: And other Southern Ghost Stories [Paperback]

Frank Spaeth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 1997

Features 35 of the best Southern ghost stories ever to appear in FATE Magazine. You will meet angry ghosts, still looking for answers as to why they are no longer alive... phantoms roaming the countryside searching for their lost loves... grandmothers protecting their kin from beyond the grave... From Tennessee to Texas, and Louisiana to Virginia, these tales are filled with a flavor and tone that is truly and uniquely Southern.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the archives of FATE magazine, this colorful collection of true ghost stories rises out of the United States' rich tapestry of Southern history. While most of the stories focus on specters from the United States' bloodiest internal conflict, others paint pictures of spirits still wandering the earth two centuries after their deaths. The narrators will pull you into the heart of their tales, so leave the light on and be ready to shiver.

Book Description

This is a haunting collection of personal encounters with the spirit world as they appeared in FATE magazine. These are tales handed down over the years that have their basis in the horrors of the Civil War.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 1st edition (April 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567182976
• ISBN-13: 978-1567182972
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,322,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars promises but fails to deliver, July 29, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Phantom Army of the Civil War and Other Southern Ghost Stories (Hardcover)

If you want spine tingling ghost stories from the Civil War skip this book. The plodding writing style makes what should've been some of the spookiest tales you could read seem dull.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it !, March 22, 2000

By 

Amanda Thompson (Roanoke, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phantom Army of the Civil War: And other Southern Ghost Stories (Paperback)

It was one of the best ghost books I have read. The best short ghost story in the book was the first story. It was about how an army came into the goveners mansion around 1:00 am and had a ballroom dance. Reading some of these stories scared me a little bit but I enjoyed reading them. I have told many friends about this book and they are all asking to borrow it. It is a book that I think others would enjoy if they like reading about old ghost stories from the south.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heavy on the Ghosts, Light on the Civil War, October 18, 2005

By 

Dennis Phillips "The Book Friar" (Bulls Gap, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Phantom Army of the Civil War and Other Southern Ghost Stories (Hardcover)

All of the stories contained in this book come from the American South and the editor may have decided that this fact was a good excuse for the title he chose. Unfortunately, the title and the content do not match up in the least for there are practically no stories that deal with the Civil War in any shape or form. Obviously the title would indicate that this book contained either stories of ghostly encounters during the war or of hauntings caused by the war. If that is the kind of story that you are looking for then skip this book and look to Nancy Roberts or Christopher Coleman to satisfy your craving because you will get little more than an appetizer here.

On the other hand, this book is just full of fascinating reports of encounters with the sprit world. Frank Spaeth has acted as the editor for this project, which takes as it's source stories that have been printed over the years in "Fate" magazine. Many of the stories included were written by the very people who experienced the paranormal incidents and are therefore excellent first person accounts. People who have extensively interviewed eyewitnesses write most of the other stories and some have even gone to the trouble to research old newspapers to see if the haunting had made news in a bygone era. Of course a few old legends that have little or no basis in fact have made it into this book but thankfully these legends are few and far between.

Some of the stories related in the pages of this book are well-known haunts such as the ghostly windowpane in Carrollton, Alabama but for the most part these are haunts that receive very little publicity. It is a rarity for me to find a book of this kind that includes only two or three stories that I have read about before and this publication has accomplished just that.

There are however a few negatives aspects of this book that should be considered before making a decision to put it on your reading list. For starters, some of the stories are a little lacking in depth. This flaw I suppose is because few of the writers whose stories have been included are professional writers or ghost chasers. While reading several of the stories I just couldn't help but wonder what the above mentioned Roberts or Coleman could have done with the story in question. Still, the freshness of style and wide-eyed wonder evident in these amateur author's stories were probably worth the loss of depth. Another problem, at least for some readers, will be the ever-changing writing styles as a different author writes each story. Some of the stories are very well written while others tend to drag a bit but since most of the stories are short the ones that drag along don't last too long.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable book that is just filled with accounts of encounters with Southern ghosts. Even though there is only one story having to do with the Civil War and even though I really think that the title should be changed in any future editions, I found this to be a highly interesting and very readable book.