jps246's Full Review: Susan Smitten - Ghost Stories of New York State
With 57 haunted homes, forts, houses, roadways and more, you’ll get your fill of New York State’s ghost stories in Susan Smitten’s Ghost Stories of New York State.
While hardly groundbreaking in its coverage of ghostly phenomena across the state, that’s not what Ghost Stories of New York State is all about. Susan Smitten has collected stories from across the state to give the reader an idea of the various haunted stories that are available. No one should pick up the book expecting an in-depth analysis of ghost hunting across the state, instead you’ll get a short history of a location, the ghostly tales associated with it and a bit of follow-up (if there is any).
Book Basics
The stories are broken down into five main chapters that cover the major categories of haunting. The chapters include:
Ghosts in Public
The stories in this section tend to overlap into others (such as haunted homes), but they all share the fact that many people have claimed to see the ghosts that are the basis of the stories. From the woman haunting the Reid Ice Cream Corporation building on Long Island to the unsettled spirits at the Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie.
Haunted Hospitality
Think about where you stay before you book your hotel! In this chapter, the author explores the stories of hauntings in hotels and inns. At the Ye Waverly Inn in New York City the gin mysteriously empties from the bottles at the bar and candles will blow out, only to be relit by an unforeseen presence. Perhaps simple distractions like that aren’t interesting enough, at the Delmar Hotel in Ellenville, guests have said that an apparition forms in their room during the dead of the night with a disembodied head.
Roadway Hauntings
Not only are the hotels haunted in New York, there are plenty of stories of haunted roadways. Along Route 17, near Binghamton, NY is a curve called Devil’s Elbow where’s it’s told that a young girl is seen hitchhiking but as soon as someone pulls over to pick her up, she disappears.
Haunted Houses
Ah, what you’d expect in a haunted places book! In this chapter you’ll find stories of the haunted houses throughout New York State. Several of the stories deal with hauntings from the New York City area, but there are also stories from the Hudson Valley area and a few from further upstate. From the friendly ghost on the house on Beach Road in Poughquag to the Kreischer Mansion on Staten Island where its said that doors open and close on their own and apparitions appear to visitors.
Haunted Schools and Forts
With such a rich military history, you’d expect New York State to have a few haunted forts. From Bannerman’s Island in the Hudson River to Fort Ticondaroga upstate, Ghost Stories of New York State covers the strange and supernatural at these locations. Beyond the forts, you’ll ghost stories from some of New York’s biggest schools. Considering just how big SUNY Albany is, I would have been amazed if there wasn’t a ghost story or two (all colleges, even my little VT one, seem to have their own stories).
What will you get out of the book?
Like I said before, this isn’t a dissertation on paranormal studies or anything. What you’ll find in Ghost Stories of New York State is a fairly simple and straightforward recollection of various ghost stories from across the state. Susan Smitten attempts to collect both the history of the story, what the haunting is, and any follow-up information she can find. For example, some of the buildings that these stories come from have been destroyed, so she follows up with people in the area to see if it still happens. Or on other stories, she has contacted the current owners to see if the hauntings still persist.
If you don’t go in looking for more than a collection of ghost stories, the book won’t disappoint you.
Final Thoughts
The 57 stories you’ll find in Ghost Stories of New York State offers up a good mix of haunting stories from across the state. It’s by no means exhaustive and the writing style leans towards the simplistic side, but for sheer statewide coverage, the author does an excellent job of collecting New York’s many ghost stories and melding them into a coherent collection of stories.
Plus who knows, you might just discovered that house down from you really is haunted!
One of the oldest and most populated states in the Union has plenty of haunted history to capture the imagination. Some of the stories in this collect...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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