Chicago Ghosts

Chicago Ghosts by Rachel Brooks

2007

Weight: 16 oz

Method of Disposal: Lending Library

Halloween 2020 seems like a good time to give away any ghost books I can find.  A pandemic may keep some people inside, looking for things to do that are frightening and fun.  The up or downside to these Chicago books is that they take place in another state and so, as you read them, it does not always feel like the ghosts are hanging out right behind you, watching you, while you read about them.

This book was much more what I am looking for in a collection of ghost stories that the children's book I gave away the other day.  The stories were eerie and had just enough details that would wrench your gut.  I think I realized that, for me, a good ghost story needs to be tied enough to something real and tragic that is tangible.  I am not as into the mysterious ones where no one knows who or what is haunting a place.  I am scared when they are tied to a real history.  That being said, they make me sad.  I hate to think of people dying and families missing them.  If there are a lot of details and no real evidence of the person that lived, like an Urban Legend, that is the best for me because I can be creeped out, sad, attached, but not worried about the pain someone is being caused by the story if that makes sense.

It also seems like a lot of these stories came about from deaths in the 1930s.  I am interested to read a book now on what eras had the most ghost stories and why they had them.  Were they more common when the world was less violent and there was no internet for sharing?  Did horrible things stand out for years and years then and get cemented into frightening tales that were told over and over?  Now, we here so much horror that we just move on and forget.  Or, do we have more ghost stories now because any old person from any old town can go online and share a tale about their poltergeist or ghoul?

All in all, I am not actually someone who is typically into ghost stories.  Sometimes, I just buy these little local books when I am traveling because you can learn unique tidbits about the city, it is something a little different to look at while you are there, and it is always fun to learn a little about a local author.  They are generally easy to find, and I can usually convince someone I am traveling with to listen to one or two ghost stories, but I can never convince them to want to hear a short story, a historical essay, or a full fledged book on the city.  They will listen to a ghost story or a short magazine article, and I like to share what I read.

Creepy Chicago

 Creepy Chicago: A Ghosthunter's Tales of the City's Scariest Sites by Ursula Bielski
2003
Weight: 7 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

This book did not have much creative flair.  It was written in the form of one brief report after another.  A whirlwind tour of Chicago's paranormal.  I would have loved more, but I am not sure what more to expect from a young adult's collection of ghost stories.  Ursuala seems to dominate the market on writing about ghosts in Chicago, for better or worse.  I think I have another book by her that is directed at adults that I may look into.  

Mystic Places

Mystic Places by the Editors of Time-Life Book
Mysteries of the Unknown series
1987
Weight:
Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere in Oakhurst (GA). Unless you want it, of course!





I was mesmerized by the supernatural as a child. I think there were a couple reasons. The first being, that it was so often wrapped up with unexplained loss, pain, and a scary unknowing. A certain emptiness took over space. The other being that I might be able to answer the questions no one else could. People would have to acknowledge my value if I found proof of a life form from another planet. Unfortunately, I now realize that developing an obsession with magical monsters, over-intelligent aliens, and lost civilizations really just makes you more invisible, which then leads us back to the first reason I liked it.

The book begins with Atlantis. Who wouldn’t be intrigued with paradise on earth? People have never been able to resist that. The book twists truth, speculation, and fantasy. Enough to make a kid dream or spark the dream of an island resort in some man’s mind. A man with access to a lot of money and a passion for tourism. Throw in some dolphins—paradise on Earth.

Then, the one that really kept me up at night. The Bermuda Triangle. It made me feel like I could just vanish at any moment. And where would I end up if I did vanish? That’s scary for anyone, but it is really scary for a kid. It’s the closest I came, at the time, to contemplating death. Of course, I didn’t know it, but I recognize the panic and almost irrational fear I sometimes I experience now. I still don’t like it.

Great Pyramids, Megaliths, and “Glyphs for the Gods,” and the inner core of the Earth. Did you know a man named Olaf (like is The Series of Unfortunate Events) claimed that he had been to Inner-Earth on his deathbed in the 1900s? He had to wait because the first time he tried to tell it he was institutionalized for decades but, luckily, a friend of his put it into book form posthumously. He lived with giants before he was labeled crazy. If you do not know that, it is because you didn’t read this ragged, ridiculous, and endearing Time-Life book as a child.