I’m proud to say more than a year’s work will soon be shared with the world via my new book “Ghost Stories From the Elm City”.

Noah Whippie, premier Keene New Hampshire illustrator, has once again blown me away with his illustrations for the book.  Just the book cover has me smiling.  You can’t judge a book by its cover, but I’m betting a lot of people will pick up this book just from looking at the cover.

I am also honored that Elaine Gilman has done the editing on this book.  Her editing has made what are some great stories even better.

The introduction will be by the host of MonsterTalk, Blake Smith.  The reason I asked Blake, and am so happy he agreed, is that Blake will understand why I wrote a book of ghost stories.  Ghost stories, like Bigfoot stories and Alien abduction stories, are a part of our folklore.  These stories need to be recorded.

Folklore is part of our history, as long as we realize these stories are stories and not history.  Blake grew up enjoying ghost and other paranormal type stories.  My interest in skepticism started from reading ghost stories and watching cheesy TV shows about Bigfoot.

Well worth a read!

When I visited the local Cheshire County Historical Society, I found a very general ghost book for sale.  The illustrations were not of particularly high quality.  Also, there were only a few ghost stories tied to Keene.  Keene has the nick name of “Elm City”, thus the name of the book I decided to embark on.

I started by asking everyone I knew locally if they knew of any local ghosts.  I got a lot of stories about ghosts, but not many ghost stories.  By that I mean I had stories of “I thought I saw a shadow” and “I think a ghost child follows me around”.  These are suspicions, guesses and feelings, not ghost stories.

I also put up posters around town. There was an old photograph with a “Got Ghosts?” question and a special email I had set up for people to contact me.  I then discovered senior citizens are wonderful about remembering stories.  As time went by I collected more usable stories.

This book is a book of folklore, not a skeptic book.  I did not try to prove or disprove a story, unless I suspected the story I was being told was being told by someone pulling my leg.  The interesting thing was how many of the stories had a basis in some real historic fact.  I even met a witch cat, which was quite exciting.

While some of my skeptic friends may be upset I’ve put together a book of ghost stories, none of which I tried to disprove, I would like to consider this a book of folklore.  Stories told and shared, which true or not (and I suspect not) are now saved for future generations.

I want to thank Blake, Elaine, and Noah for being skeptics that support what I hope will prove to be a good old fashioned book of stories that scare.

I hope to have the book published and up on Amazon in about a month.  I would like to suggest people interested purchase a paper copy. Noah’s illustrations are best seen when held in the hand. The Cheshire County Historical Society will be given many copies to sell in their gift shop, and donations to help publish (and pay the illustrator and editor!) are very much welcome!