Ghosts of the Bluegrass

James McCormick, Macy Wyatt

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780813192376
• eBook ISBN:
  9780813173566
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Folklore & Mythology
• Index: Social Sciences

In Ghosts of the Bluegrass, James McCormick and Macy Wyatt present stories of Kentucky ghosts past and present. Some of the tales are set in rural areas, but many take place in urban areas such as the haunted house on Broadway in downtown Lexington and in buildings on the University of Kentucky campus, where Adolph Rupp is said to have conversed with the deceased biology professor Dr. Funkhouser. This volume contains chapters on haunted places, poltergeists, communication with the dead, and ghosts who linger to resolve unfinished business from their past lives, as well as a chapter about ghosts who reveal themselves through lights, changes in temperature, or sound. The book even features a chilling account by a nineteenth-century family haunted in their Breckinridge County home. Whether witnesses believe that a spirit has come to protect those it left behind or to complete an unfinished task, ghostly appearances remain a mystery. As McCormick and Wyatt point out, there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to the supernatural. One thing is certain: these tales will bring pleasure and perhaps a goose bump or two to the reader interested in ghost stories and folklore in the Kentucky tradition.

Table of contents

• Front cover
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Unfinished Business
• 2 Disappearing Ghosts
• 3 Mysterioius Events and Haunted Places
• 4 Presences Sensed by Light, Cold, or Sound
• 5 Poltergeists
• 6 Communication with the Dead
• 7 Ghosts That Weren't Ghosts
• 8 Ghosts at Educational Institutions
• 9 Death Omens and Superstitions
• 10 A Collection of Ghost Stories
• 11 A Ghost Story from the Nineteenth Century
• Conclusion
• Bibliography