Customer Reviews

Queer Hauntings: True Tales of Gay & Lesbian Ghosts

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I've been a "fan" of Ken's for quite awhile, having discovered his blog by accident. I've thoroughly enjoyed his work there and was thrilled to learn he was penning a new book on GLBT ghosts!

Somehow in the field of paranormal research people tend to forget about sexuality. Whether it is because of the incipient religiosity of many investigators who are uncomfortable with the subject or simple ignorance of how much our sexuality affects our lives and even our deaths, it's refreshing to see the topic covered in Ken's book.

This book is a wonderful collection of ghost stories and folklore that connect to the GLBT community is various ways. However, unlike many strict folklorists, Ken goes out of his way to bring us stories that can be verified as historically accurate. This takes his work from the realm of regurgitating urban (or suburban) legends to being an interesting exploration of where history and folklore intertwine.

The book is a great read and Ken's personality and attention to detail shine through. I'm pleased to have this work in hand finally and pleased to recommend it heartily to all who are interested in the paranormal and in particular this oft neglected corner of the paranormal world.

Ken Summers brings to the world his sophomore effort in "Queer Hauntings: True Tales Of Gay & Lesbian Ghosts", and with this 195 pages, one finds tales beyond common myths and stereotypes - taking the reader into another realm where few have traveled.

The tales of Gay & Lesbian hauntings as well as Gay/Lesbian Businesses' paranormal activity is explored in detailed stories of the likes of Lizzie Borden of Massachusetts, New Jersey's Original Gay Bar in Minehill, NJ, The spirit of Long beach, California and more! This collection of angered, lost or mischievous ghosts covers tales of all regions in the United States, as well as other countries including Canada, Slovakia, Africa, and the Phillippines.

Though paranormal investigation is nothing new, the search for gay & lesbian souls has been neglected and thrown into the mainstream label of ghost hunting until now. Ken Summers has given these spirits a voice and brought the tales of those whom haunt us around the globe.

Every story is a flashback through the eyes of the ghost, giving the reader insight to the aspects of their lives, both in our reality, and in the reality we call the "afterlife". As you read each fascinating tale, you find yourself experiencing the event and truly understand more about these humans who refuse to be forgotten.

I can guarantee that once you pick up this book and begin reading - from The Borden House to Slovakia's Bloodiest Countess.. You will find that there's much more to life after death than heaven and hell. And Ken Summers will deliver to you a new understanding and admiration for the unexplainable things in life known as Queer Hauntings.

Book that looks at ghostly places that have a gay person (or persons) haunting it. It goes all over the US and other countries and offers short quick little descriptions of the history of the place and the hauntings of it. It's VERY quick and easy to read...but a little unsatisfying. Frankly I didn't find any of the stories particularly spooky or scary. They were interesting but none even gave me a little shudder. Also (in a few cases) the author is GUESSING that some of the people who lived in the place MIGHT have been gay. I though he was pushing it a little when he suggested Lizzie Borden had a lesbian lover. Also one in California (A Grand Illusion Who Haunts the "Houdini Mansion") gives zero evidence that ANYBODY involved was gay! The author is just guessing. Still I'm glad we have a book like this. For gay readers like me it is fun to read about lesbian and gay ghosts and some of the stories are shocking (but not scary). If you're in for a quick easy read about gay ghosts this is it.

Utterly, absolutely fascinating reading; a must-have for paranormal enthusiasts and lovers of ghostly lore, regardless of sexual orientation.

Although they are collected from far-flung places including England, Ireland, Wales, and the African island of Zanzibar (which boasts a terrifying, vampire-like incubus who victimizes sleeping men), the majority of these tales are from the United States. Some of the ghosts in question are famous: Liberace, Valentino, James Whale, Harvey Milk, Lizzie Borden. (Who even knew that Lizzie Borden was a lesbian?) Others were ordinary people who only wanted to go about their lives before something tragic happened, like the victims of the 1973 Upstairs Lounge fire in the New Orleans French Quarter.

The lives of the people who populate this volume are as like to send chills (chills of sympathy and horror over the tragedies, the lives lost, the interrupted and misunderstood loves) down your spine as the hauntings themselves. Ken Summers is an engaging storyteller, though some of the tales are rather more abrupt than I would have liked.

What really draws gay men and women to Halloween? Surface commentary tends toward "dressing up and acting out" and comes mostly from ourselves -but Mardi Gras hasn't been co-opted to the same extent. Celebrating "otherness" and embracing the ironic liberation of wearing masks by a community that has worked all too hard to strip themselves of such psychologically weary accouterments bears study, but I think the reason is simple and raw: some of us are drawn back into the darkness. The closet is a box of shadows as well as our childhood playground. After all, we grew up in there alone, among a field of tombstones engraved with the names of unrequited crushes or worse. So maybe we've a predilection to return to haunted spaces not for titillation but from a sense of familiarity: this is our night-time language; we were fluent in fear well before we found any sense of "pride."

Ken Summers Queer Hauntings: True Tales of Gay and Lesbian Ghosts is written with all the aplomb of genuine research and reporting, with prose injected with just enough gothic poesy for it to hold its own on your typical spider web-strewn bookshelf stuffed with other such dark materials. If you haven't read a nonfiction collection of ghost stories before, be forewarned: this is true to the genre, meaning you are getting a). historical background and b). the occurrence of said haunting with a pinch of irony thrown in, or not. There's no typical story arc and tidy resolution. Much small town lore resides in such writing, and Summers is an adroit craftsman on both fronts: the reportage is delivered in calm and meaningful dollops while the spectral experiences are compellingly conveyed.

Early kudos to the author by starting with Lizzie Borden -I didn't know Lizzie was a lesbian; not giving proper mention to Lizzie's long suspected half-brother seemed a slight oversight, though the focus on her lonely life after the murder of her parents and her sister's total rejection of her once her homosexual affair became obvious illustrates the intense ostracism toward gays in the 19th Century. That the second chapter moved to storied Province Town and the early days of the AIDS epidemic warmed me to what was meant to be an autumnal read. Summers isn't just ghost hunting here, episodes and elements of early, nearly forgotten gay culture are revealed in Queer Hauntings as well as brutal acts of prejudice -readers with an interest in true crime will be particularly chilled.

The book is divided neatly into regions, ending with ghost stories from around the world with a (super)natural emphasis on the United Kingdom, home to so many crumbling manors and haunted halls that the author cannot be faulted for being a bit Anglo-centric when after all, London invented fog (and to think Oscar blamed the Impressionists, and before you ask, yes, he makes a spectral appearance in a capable but oddly quote-free chapter -why pass on repeating some Wilde witticisms?). Still, the author's own lively queer sensibility make these tales of the deceased pop -titling a chapter about a Philadelphia gay bar with a haunted basement linked to the Underground Railroad "Slave to the Rhythm" might make some readers groan and others grin. Either way it keeps the pages turning. I was thrilled that there were more stories from New Jersey than New York, proof that the author dug deep, and the chapters dealing with the South were particularly interesting. The horror of the fire at the Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans should be acknowledged and memorialized far and wide within the gay and lesbian community, while more individual but nonetheless tragic fates like the one that befell Bill Neville at the Royalty Theatre in Florida often fade from memory much too quickly.

There's some great old Hollywood history in the Western States chapters, though the vague innuendo of "Who Haunts the `Houdini Mansion?'" is the only piece in the book that feels like its reaching. Liberace's story made me want to revisit Las Vegas and dine in his restaurant, Tivoli Gardens, still open and quite haunted, apparently his glittery ghost is a rather needy queen -and Summers provides the address and available contact information for the locations covered in his book, making it a viable travel guide as well.

Queer Hauntings is a glowing success. It confirms that we must tell all of our stories, even the scary ones, for our history to survive. This book is the perfect tome for a cozy New England bed and breakfast read. And late at night, when the floorboards creak and you pull the covers up to your chin, there's no guarantee that whatever is coming bares you malice -really, it's what might still be knocking around in your own closet that's cause for corporeal concern.

This review first appeared in Out In Print

This is a terrific book! The author did an excellent job of research and I thought it had just the right combination of factual history, juicy gossip and scandal. I read it in one sitting and I would have been happy for it to be twice as long. Perhaps a sequel? The reader will find stories of the dead and famous, sad ghosts, playful spirits, and the phantoms of tragic episodes in gay history. There's a great bibliography too and readers will appreciate the addresses for places they can actually visit. I especially liked the stories about Preston, the ghost in the wedding dress, the plaintive ghost of Clifton Webb who said (through a medium) that he lingered because "I'm afraid I will be forgotten", and the Ladies of Llangollen. The tale of Villa Montezuma and the "psychic pianist" Jesse Shepard was fascinating! I thought I knew all the major players in Spiritualism, but he was new to me. The author is to be congratulated for outing a number of unique ghost stories.

This is a well-researched, interesting book with lots of information about historical figures and sites. I learned new things about gay history and thought it was well-organized by geography.

There are no illustrations. Black-and-white photographs of individuals and/or buildings would have definitely added to the book's appeal.

The biggest problem, however, is that it needed to be professionally edited. There are many poorly written passages, grammatical errors, typos, and typeface glitches. It does not appear that anyone looked at the final proof. If you're going to go to the trouble to publish a book you simply must take the trouble to make it look professional. You owe it to your readers.

It's nice to have a book about Gay ghosts for a change; after all, Gay people go to the Other Side too after they die. The book could have used a good proof reader/editor, and sometimes lapses into purple prose. Once, when discussing World War I, the author mentions the Nazis, who didn't come along until the 1930's. The book gets most interesting when it tells the backstory of famous people, like Oscar Wilde, or Hollywood stars, like Clifon Webb. All in all, a fun, but not scary read.

It is a welcome change to read about gay ghosts but the book itself follows the standard writing style of this genre- full of primarily anonymous assertions and testimony. I feel more details would have helped. But it was a fun read leading up to Halloween- I just wish it had broken more ground in its content along with the subject matter. I suspect it works better if you believe in ghosts.