Customer Reviews

Trespassing Time: Ghost Stories from the Prairie

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Everyone has fond memories of ghost stories, perhaps told around a campfire, or at a Halloween party. Children love to shiver with fright, knowing full well they're safe and sound and the ghosts can't *really* get them. But they grow up and discard the ghost stories and spooky tales as childish things best forgotten.

Well, get ready to shiver again. TRESPASSING TIME: GHOST STORIES FROM THE PRAIRIE is a series of ghost stories set in the plains of the Midwest, and believe me, these stories are anything but childlike. Barbara Baldwin, Jerri Garretson, Linda Madl and Sheri McGathy, four very talented authors, will have you looking over your shoulder, jumping at noises, and wondering how an abandoned schoolhouse on the prairie or a rented cottage in a tiny town can be the cause of so much terror.

The collection opens with "Christmas at the Gates of Hell" by Linda Madl which, despite its title, is a gentle, nostalgic tale of holidays on the plains. Two college girls find themselves stranded in a desolate school during a snowstorm, and like Ebenezer Scrooge, are able to witness the joy of Christmas past.

The fear is amped up a notch in Jerri Garretson's story, "Griselda." A woman begins to fear she married in haste when her new husband carries her across the threshold in a charming cottage in the middle of nowhere...and won't let her leave. And who is the ghostly face she sees looking out of an upstairs window or peeking around a doorway?

Barbara Baldwin's tale, "Deja Vu," is a plaintive tale of two small children in a coma after a bus accident...children who had always been best friends. Hand in hand, they wander through their small town alone, wondering why no one sees or hears them. Then, they hear voices calling them back...but what will happen when only one returns?

"Forgotten, But Not Gone," by Sheri McGathy, is perhaps the most frightening tale in the collection. Chloe and her boyfriend Matt find an old charm bracelet when exploring an ancient cemetery next to their high school. Chloe feels an instant affinity for the bracelet, yet she can't shake the feeling that the pale, bedraggled, mud-streaked woman she sees in her dreams and waking hours wants something from her...something Chloe doesn't want to give.

If you're looking for scary, well-written ghost stories set in an unusual, fresh location, look no further. TRESPASSING TIME: GHOST STORIES FROM THE PRAIRIE will have you sleeping with the light on for weeks! Don't say I didn't warn you.

Reviewed by: Elizabeth Delisi for Word Museum, (...)

Reviewed by Sherryl King-Wilds for www.fantasynovelreview.com

"Christmas at the Gates of Hell" by Linda Madl: Two girls are stranded in the dark at a haunted, old schoolhouse.

"Dance with Me" by Jerri Garretson: A brutal entity surviving in a portrait wants one last dance.

* "Griselda" by Jerri Garretson: A ghost cat reveals the gruesome secrets of a quaint house in the country.

"Déjà Vu" by Barbara J. Baldwin: The spirits of two injured children hang between life and death; only one will survive.

* "Forgotten, But Not Gone" by Sheri L. McGathy: An odd charm bracelet found in a cemetery comes with an angry spirit and much more than the finder bargained for. Bone chiller!

"Maxie" by Sheri L. McGathy: Maxie the dog is back from the dead and she is not alone.

"The Graveyard Dance" by Sheri L. McGathy: A man's visit to his childhood town brings out more than playful memories.

"The Rose" by Barbara J. Baldwin: A father/husband passes on but remains a caregiver, his memory living on in the blooming of one beautiful rose.

"Trespassing Time" by Linda Madl: An elderly gentleman reveals the mystical truth behind the Seven Cities of Cibola, the cities of gold.

* "Whisper on the Wind" by Barbara J. Baldwin: A troubled young man gets a new foster family; he also meets the family ghost, a barnstorming pilot.

"Fireball Faye" by Jerri Garretson: Faye dies in a fire and heats up the town with her deadly reappearance.

"What's a Ghost to Do?" by Sheri L. McGathy: The society of ghosts is in an uproar of comic proportions; they are under attack from a strange and invasive enemy.

* "One Night at Whistling Woman Creek" by Linda Madl: People disappear as the spirit of the prairie exacts a horrific price for the use of its lands. Bone chiller!

"Dreams of the Dead" by Barbara J. Baldwin: The dead have gotten in and are ostensibly driving a woman to madness.

"Lost in the Fog" by Jerri Garretson: A wife and husband buy a cheap though lovely home; they soon find out why the price was so low but far too late.

"Halloween at the Gates of Hell" by Linda Madl: Evil arises to possess the living.

All these stories come very well constructed with ghosties, ghoulies, and haunting aftereffects. Trespassing Time would be perfect for reading on a dark night around the campfire or on a candle-lit night at home without electricity.

The asterisks above show my favorites by each author; these stories all touched a note of compassion within me. The words bone chiller follow the stories "Forgotten, But Not Gone" by Sheri L. McGathy and "One Night at Whistling Woman Creek" by Linda Madl. These two stories scared the living hell out of me, instilling a fear I will not soon forget. Perhaps I should not advise reading either of these tales in darkness of any kind! But I do!

Trespassing Time also brings up the question "Do ghosts really exist?" The answer to that question is best left to each individual's experience or innate beliefs. As for me, I think they are out there. I just hope to never find any of the ghosts produced by the imaginations of the ladies who created this book.

Happy haunting, ladies!

If you're looking for something different, check out Trespassing Time. This collection of sixteen ghost stories has a little bit of everything. Set in the American plains, these stories include historicals that evoke the yearning for open spaces to settle, start a new life and call one's own. In contemporary stories, people both young and old question beliefs they've always held and their own perceptions of self. The stories range from the funny "What's a Ghost to Do" that explores the lighter side of today's technology's ramifications on the spirit world, to the chilling "One Night at Whistling Woman Creek" and "Lost in the Fog" that will make you check your locks, to the bittersweet "Déjà vu" and "Maxie" and the heartwarming "Whisper on the Wind." These stories aren't just for Halloween. The book opens with a holiday story in which two college coeds learn something about one's hometown and about themselves. "Dance with Me" and "Griselda" are eerie mysteries that will take you on a suspenseful ride along with their heroines until the end.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, Trespassing Time is an entertaining read that will take you away for hours, or for short whiles here and there - and will make you ponder your own beliefs.

***** Here are sixteen ghost stories by four tantalizing authors. Barbara J. Baldwin, Jerri Garretson, Linda Madl, and Sheri L. McGathy team up to give readers thrills and chills all night long. There is even an introduction by Troy Taylor who is the founder of the American Ghost Society.

As you begin reading each tale you cannot help but wonder how it will end. Take nothing for granted! Some ghosts are nice and mean the living no harm at all. Others are pure evil and seek only the demise of the living.

The title clearly states that these haunting stories are from the prairie. However, there is no certain time line. Some are present date, others are from the past, and one is even set a couple of years in the future. No matter the time, all are set in prairies. I hope in the future to see ghost stories from the mountains, the beach, the woods, and other such places. BRAVA! Give me more! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Trespassing Time is a collection of ghost stories written by: Barbara J. Baldwin, Jerri Garretson, Linda Madl and Sheri L. McGathy. All of the stories are set in the Kansas prairie and they bring a refreshing and enchanting feel to a genre that I had come to consider a bit jaded. The book is a delightful read that kept me entertained from start to finish.

"Christmas at the Gates of Hell" begins the collection by taking the readers to a real location in Kansas that has been source of many tales of ghostly activity over the years. Linda Madl brings the collection full circle by ending with her "Halloween at the Gates of Hell" set in the same Lutsville cemetary.

McGathy sparkles with "Forgotten, but Not Gone" and her "Maxie" touched my heart as two of my dogs have recently died. "What's a Ghost to Do?" made me smile with it's delightful twists.

"Dance with Me" by Jerri Garreston is a chilling story of evil. As with her book, "The Secret of Whispering Springs" Garreston proves once again that she is a skilled storyteller. "Griselda", "Lost in the Fog" and "Fireball Faye" offer an array of endings from dark to hopeful.

Barbara Baldwin also shows a talent for variation with her "Dreams of the Dead" delving deeper and darker than her "Whisper on the Wind". "The Rose" and "Deja Vu" are tales of unending love.

The stories range from chilling to humorous, with the ghosts as evil, good and sometimes amusing. With the variety this book provides, it is sure to entertain all readers.

Trespassing Time is a five * * * * * star read.

Inside one spooky cover and rather spirited font, `Trespassing Time: Ghost Stories from the Prairie' is an assortment of exceptional stories far different from typical Halloween spook and rattling chiller. These tales are rather well written and polished. They hold a quality that soars beyond bare poltergeist; derelict halls; beguiling whispers in the cemetery; arrows of lightning in steep darkness; wind that howls dolefully then silently chuckles or floating ethereal beings in dust coated villas. Inside sharp writing are tales one could almost regard with fondness and others that swell bold enough to make one reconsider with growing intrigue the scratching on a misted window that revealed a stray kitten, matted and half-starved. Personal favorites include Geraldine A. Garretson's Dance With Me; Déjà vu by Barbara J. Baldwin; Maxie by Sheri L. McGathy and Linda Madl's One Night at Whistling Woman Creek. I am keen to read more anthologies from this prairie quartet. Notable mention extends to Forgotten But Not Gone and Fireball Faye.