Haunted Plantations of the South

A heartbroken young woman waits for her lover to return from the Civil War...150 years after the guns fell silent. Laughter and music is heard emanating from the ballroom...of a ruined mansion. Whispers are heard coming long deserted slave cabins. These are the type of ghostly activity that are reported on plantations throughout the American South and form the basis of Richard Southall's book Haunted Plantations of the South.  Southall takes the reader through a tour of the haunted south focusing on the plantations that formed the backbone of the antebellum South. Naturally the majority of the stories focused on the damage wrought by the Civil War and the horrors of slavery. Southall divided the book by state and each plantation is given a few pages summarizing the history and ghostly activity to be found. I particularly liked the focus on the history of the site, because without knowing the history of the site the paranormal activity is not going to make much sense. Southall admits that he can not guarantee the veracity of all the stories and that's fine because this book highlights the rich folk tradition of the South. From well known sites such as Myrtles Plantation and Oak Alley to relatively unknown sites, Haunted Plantations of the South is an excellent introduction the spooky South.
4 out 5 stars

Haunted Plantation of the South by Richard Southall (Llewellyn Publications, 2015)
Available now on Amazon

On Sale in the US

The July issue of Psychic News is now on sale in the US.  The issue features author Leslie Price's interview of me where I discuss my book "I Would Still Be Drowned in Tears": Spiritualism in Abraham Lincoln's White House.  On sale now in Barnes & Noble in the magazine section.