Haunted Heartland

by Michael Norman

Overview

A fleeting figure dressed in a white party dress roams the streets of southwest Chicago. A long-dead Iowa college student treads the staircase in an old building. A ghostly, plaid-shirted workman plays peek-a-boo with a ticket seller in a Minnesota theater. A phantom wolf prowls Ohio's Jackson and Pike Counties.

For decades, journalist Michael Norman has been tracking down spine-tingling tales that seem to arise from authentic incidents in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In Haunted Heartland he offers more than eighty entertaining, eerie stories. Are they true in the world that we know, or only in a dark vale of twilight?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299315146
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	09/14/2017
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,075,640
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 5.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Michael Norman is an emeritus professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His many books include six other collections of American supernatural stories, including Haunted Wisconsin, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition                       
 
Illinois            
The Girl on Sheridan Road (Lake Forest)                 
Resurrection Mary (Chicago)             
Devil Baby (Chicago)            
The Telltale Hand (Chicago)              
Red Rose (Chicago)               
The Attic (Equality)               
Cave Dwellers (Burton)                     
To Do Good (Kingston)                    
The Devil’s Bake Oven (Grand Tower)                     
Old Man Lakey (McLeansboro)                    
The Reincarnation of Mary Roff (Watseka)              
Lincoln and the Supernatural (Springfield)               
 
Indiana                                   
Diana of the Dunes (Indiana Dunes State Park)                   
The Haunting of Hannah House (Indianapolis)                     
The Vigil (Terre Haute)                      
One of the Family (Evansville)                      
Tippecanoe and Tecumseh, Too (Warren County)                
Moody’s Light (Rensselaer)              
The Stump (Bloomington)                 
 
Iowa               
Gone Too Soon (Southeast Iowa)                 
The Guttenberg Poltergeist (Guttenberg)                  
Mildred Hedges (Indianola)              
The Man in the Doorway (Oskaloosa)                       
Ham House (Dubuque)                      
Naughty George (Des Moines)                      
Desperado (Winterset)                        141
 
Kansas            
Old Deg (Emporia)                
Ghost of the Purple Masque (Manhattan)                 
Ménage à Trois (Wichita)                   
Legend of White Woman Creek (Greeley County)               
Phantom Riders of the Pony Express (Hanover)                   
A Dog’s Tale (Dodge City)               
The Cursed Knife (Topeka)               
Elizabeth Polly (Fort Hays)               
 
Michigan                    
The Soul of Stephen Strand (Battle Creek)               
The Schooner Erie Board of Trade (Saginaw)                       
Man on the Beach (Deer Park)                      
Redemption (Detroit)            
The Lynching (Menominee)               
The Lake Odessa Mystery (Lake Odessa)                 
The Spurned Suitor (Gross Isle)                    
 
Minnesota                  
The Ghost Wore Plaid (St. Paul)                   
Now You See Them (Rochester and Becker County)                       
The Luminescent Attic (Eveleth)                   
The Specter Priest (Winona)              
Mrs. Moriarity Comes Calling (St. Paul)                   
The Invisible Homesteader (Monticello)                   
The Phantom Miner (Crosby)            
A House on Summit Avenue (St. Paul)                     
The Levitation of Archie Collins (Minneapolis)                    
 
Missouri                     
The Hornet Spook Light (Joplin)                   
Sentries in the Night (St. Louis)                    
The Midnight Rider (Sand Springs)              
The Ghost of Paris (Paris)                  
The Corporal’s Lady (Columbia)                   
Mark Twain, Psychic (St. Louis)                   
Forever Mine (Kirksville)                   
The Curious Visitors (Ste. Genevieve)                      
 
Nebraska                    
Miss Anna (Hastings)             336
Terror of Omaha Heights (Omaha)                
Beware the Soddy (Phelps County)              
The Bates House (Dakota City)                     
A Strange Interlude (Lincoln)           
 
Ohio               
Girl of the Lilacs (Bucyrus)               
H. P. and Son (Cleveland)                 
An Invitation (Willis)             
Franklin Castle (Cleveland)               
The Ethereal Innkeepers (Granville)              
The Pirate’s Mistress (Scioto River Valley)               
Old Raridan (Jackson and Pike Counties)                 
 
Wisconsin                   
Our Three Ghosts (Pierce County)                
Everlasting (Shorewood)                   
Spirit of Rosslynne Manse (Delafield)                      
Mrs. Pickman Goes Too Far (Milwaukee)                 
Mr. Sherman Pays a Visit (Plover)                 
The Nodolf Incident (Platteville)                  
Return of the Hanged Man (Mineral Point)              
A Mother’s Plea (Southwestern Wisconsin)              
The Psychic Detective (Milwaukee)              
 
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"An intriguing, engaging collection that is a real pleasure to read. This edition combines old favorites with new discoveries of strange tales. The author's extensive research into Midwestern ghost story traditions makes this well-loved book a valuable resource for folklorists." --Elizabeth Tucker, author of Haunted Halls

"Excellent [and] easy to read." --School Library Journal

"Haunted Heartland does not endorse ghosts or examine their reality. Instead, it reports belief. It collects our stories, our American folklore." --Jay Rath, author of The W-Files

"There is a cumulative chilling effect in the simple telling of these unexplained events. [The authors] have steadfastly researched and preserved dozens of amazing tales that might otherwise have been lost."
--Chicago Magazine

From the Publisher