cmaw63's Full Review: Jo-Anne Christensen - Ghost Stories of Illinois
Boo! Yawn. BOO!! YAAAAWN!!
It seems that Illinois is not the place to be if you want to be thrilled by ghost stories. While there are some interesting ghosts, the way they are presented in Jo-Anne Christensen's, Ghost Stories of Illinois you won't be awake to see them. Yes, ghost stories that will put you to sleep.
Ghost Stories of Illinois Historically Haunted starts the book out with fact based stories. Those that live in Illinois, and some that don't, know we were home to the likes of Abraham Lincoln and Al Capone. It's only natural that there were stories involving them in this book. Too bad they were much more interesting alive than in death. Lincoln, supposedly, had psychic abilities and foresaw his death in dreams..that was drilled into my brain while reading his story. There is more in this "Illinois" book about his haunting the White House than anywhere. I'm not great at geography, but I'm sure they haven't moved the White House from Washington D.C.
The book continues with another 8 chapters. None standing out from any other. I cared for Ghost Riders, River Wraiths, Ghostly Revenge, and the others as much as I would care to have a headache. Which I could feel the beginning of one coming on by the time I put this book down.
Jo-Anne Christensen wrote most of the stories building up the background information and then a few short sentences about the ghost. When I read about ghosts I don't care about a rundown of their lives...I want to know what they are doing as ghosts. Even when the author got to the "good parts" of a ghost scaring someone it was told in such a lackluster way I couldn't work up one goose bump.
Assorted Mysteries closes the book. I learned of a man named Lakey who became the "Headless Horseman of Illinois". An example of the non-goose bump story: "Two men who were traveling on horseback approached Lakey's creek from the east, when suddenly a terrifying apparition overtook them. It was a headless horseman riding a coal black steed." After a few minutes the apparition "faded into the mist." Oh my... that's going to keep me up tonight...not.
Scary?
I get more scared looking in the mirror in the mornings before I've showered and brushed my hair.
Enjoy 75 accounts of ghostly visitations -- among them spirits from the Great Chicago Fire, the curse of the St. Valentine s Day Massacre, a spectral ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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