If you really want a quirky read that tells you a whole lot about the person who wrote it, find a book of local ghost lore. They’re not hard to find in gift shops and independent bookstores and they’re usually quick and easy reads. Most of them are published by tiny presses or occasionally the authors themselves so they’re not heavily edited; reading one really feels like getting to know the author, for better and worse. I haven’t done much traveling lately but when I do I try to pick up a ghost book or two. I’ve read a handful this year, some from places I’ve been and some featuring places I’d like to go someday, and for Spooky Month I thought I’d share a few with y’all. I’ll show you two this week and next Tuesday I’ll show you two more.
There’s always a balance to be struck between sharing local history and telling cool ghost stories, and today’s two books are on the extreme ends of the scale. Both are lovingly focused on their respective regions, though, and both are peppered with interesting black-and-white illustrations.
Haunted Santa Fe is almost entirely focused on history, mostly the history of the Spanish conquistadors of New Mexico and their descendants, which is Aragon’s proud specialty. Most of the stories are pretty much “here’s this famous person from New Mexico history, and yeah, maybe they’re a ghost now or something.” I prefer more ghosts in my ghost stories but the stories are colorful and occasionally touch on less famous people and events, which is nice. I have to admit, though, Aragon’s writing style doesn’t work well for me at all. He seems to be striving for a primitivist vibe, with a simple and almost childlike approach but I find it disjointed and hard to follow. In striving to be accessible he almost sounds like a child saying “this happened and this happened and wait, oh yeah, she was like this and that, and then this other thing happened and they were all . . .” It’s a style you’re either hate (me) or love (maybe you?) but if you love it you’re in luck because Aragon has written several books besides this one. If, like me, you hate it you can try one of the zillion other titles in the Haunted America series, all written by a variety of authors.
Ghosts Along the Bayou, as a contrast, is almost entirely focused on the ghost stories. Christine Word collected them from family and friends in the area, including the owners of a suspicious number of historical homes turned into hotels and bed & breakfasts. I was charmed by tale after tale of people hearing weird noises, seeing lights where there shouldn’t be any, feeling cold spots and seeing things they couldn’t explain. Finally, a ghost book totally focused on the weird things people experience. The near total lack of history comes off as slightly racist when people talk about the ghosts of enslaved people or make bitter remarks about the Union army without any real context, but most of the stories are really personal and small scale. Many ghost books are just excuses to talk about local legends, so I like that this one is so totally focused on the paranormal. The author even claims she has an arm that goes numb and cold now, thanks to a ghostly encounter. That’s hardcore.
And that’s it for this Tuesday’s ghost stories. Next week I’ll have two more books to share. Until then, I’d love to hear your city’s best ghost stories.
