Publication Date:July 1988 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Promotion:Buy 4 eligible items in the 4-for-3 promotion offered by Amazon.com and get 1 of them free.Terms and Conditions Availability:Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
Good readJanuary 8, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked this book alot. Good to read about local haunts. If you live in maryland and your into the paranormal, then this is a must buy !
Surratt's Specter and Mudd's ManifestationOctober 15, 2005 3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Back in 1988 when this book was first published the current popular fascination with ghosts was just beginning and there weren't that many ghost books on the market. This was also a time when many people would never let their real name be used in this type of book for fear of ridicule and business owners would never want their business to be identified as haunted. It has been less than twenty years since this book's publication but my how things have changed. There are still a few people who have seen ghosts that wish to remain anonymous, but not many. As for business owners, they have learned that a good haunting will bring people into their business in throngs and now these same capitalist souls can't wait to get their business' name in a ghost book. There is even a mention in this book of a ghost tour in Maryland, which was an enterprise that even the author herself found unusual. Today there are ghost tours starting at almost every street corner in many major cities. Most notable however is the veritable explosion in the number of ghost books on the market. Being a great fan of this type of book I am of course thrilled to have so many ghostly choices but unfortunately there is a downside to this glut of ghost books. That downside being that many of the books coming out today aren't worth the ectoplasm that it might take to slime a gnat. I am happy to report however that this book has stood the test of time very well and is much superior to many of the books that have followed in it's ghostly footsteps.
This is a rather short book with less than eighty pages of text but there is a lot of spookiness packed into those few pages. The book is not as short as you might imagine however for the typeset is rather small and this tiny type, which rendered necessary the use of glasses, is one of the few problems that I had with this book. Also, a few of the stories were rather lacking in detail and verification and were thus little more than old legends. The majority of the stories were however well researched and included a solid history of the haunted location and the ghost or ghosts in question. Most importantly though, the solid majority of these stories contained the recent eyewitness accounts that are so important to the credibility of this type of book.
Considering the history and location of Maryland it is no wonder that there are spirits aplenty in this one time refuge for the persecuted Catholics of England. Both the Revolution and the Civil War were fought in this state and Maryland was one of the few states that was faced with British invasion during the War of 1812. It is not surprising then to find in the pages of this book the apparitions of Confederate and English invaders along with a ghostly Priest and a disembodied hand. Civil War buffs will also want to note the chapters devoted to the wraiths of Dr. Samuel Mudd and Mary Surratt who both may or may not have been involved in the Lincoln assassination.
All things considered, especially the date of publication, this is a very solid entry in the ghost literature of America. There are some features missing that one would hope to find in newer books, such as directions to the location being discussed but that sort of thing was unheard of in 1988. I would think that Mrs. Gallagher could make quite a good living churning out more of these books in today's climate. She has the talent, of that there is no doubt.
Entertaining yet InformativeSeptember 27, 2001 5 out of 8 found this review helpful
I love this book, I first read it about 13 years ago when my Aunt Belle told me that her house was going to be in it... But have enjoyed the whole thing thuroughly... Well worth the 8 bucks
