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Tennessee Ghosts: They Are Among Us (Ghosts) |
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Amazon Sales Rank: 2263821
Publication Date: 2006-08
Publisher: Sweetwater Press
ISBN: 1581735669
Type: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 143
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Average Rating: 
Review: 2008-10-02
Not All Tennessee Spirits Come With a Black Label
When reading a book about Tennessee ghosts I try to keep in mind the fact that I am naturally going to run across several stories that I have come into contact with on more than one occasion. Being a native of the Volunteer State and a ghost book enthusiast it is just natural that I would immediately purchase any book that I find on the subject of Tennessee ghosts and I have therefore read many of the more common stories time and time again. I do find though that each author does usually give the stories that are so familiar a spin of their own and that does always help me to enjoy the book. Lynne Hall has indeed added her personal touch to many of these stories but despite her best efforts some of these stories just do not belong in a ghost book although they would fit nicely into some of her other books.
The book starts out with an old Native-American legend that I have heard until I just want to pull my hair out every time I come across it. Hall does add a bit at the end that does help this story fit better into the book but as is the case all too often the possible ghosts in this story are included almost as an afterthought. She does a pretty good job with the history of the haunt or haunted locations except for a few questionable historical assertions but the ghosts seem to be lost in all of the historical verbiage. I have always argued that giving a basic history of any ghost story is just as important as describing the haunt itself because that history gives the reader a far clearer understanding of what is supposed to be going on. There is however a delicate balancing act that is required in order for the reader to understand the history and at the same time get a feel for the haunting. In some of these stories that balance is badly lacking and in more than one instance the haunt is give only a paragraph or two of copy.
Some stories however are much more balanced and there are a few gems to be found here. For example, I really liked the chapter about President and Mrs. Jackson along with the story of Hurricane Mills and Knoxville's Bijou Theater. These stories were well balanced and included several eyewitness accounts describing the supernatural events associated with the haunting. I would have preferred more recent eyewitness testimony that came from identifiable sources but sometimes anonymity is a necessary evil when relating stories of this sort.
Overall this author has a pleasant and very readable writing style and I generally enjoyed this book except for the stories where the ghost was completely buried by history. Had she chosen her stories better she might well have avoided this problem because some her choices gave her very little ghostly activity to work with. On the other hand there are some other stories where a little more research could have produced much longer chapters filled with a lot more ghostly activity. Rotherwood Mansion for example was handled in less than four pages leaving out completely the stories of demon hounds that have been reported on the estate. Even with the flaws though this is still a reasonably good book but not a great one. As Maxwell Smart used to say, "She missed it by that [ ] much.
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