Ghosts of Athens blends the historical with the haunted for more than thirty locations in the Classic City. First, the history of each location unfolds, then details are disclosed of creepy events that occurred there, including contemporary anecdotes, historical folklore, and tales told from one generation to the next. From humorous to heartwarming to hard-to-believe, these spooky tales are more than just Halloween fun. Join an excursion through the vibrant history of this colorful Southern town and meet the residents who can't seem to say goodbye. Join author and long-time Athens, Georgia resident Tracy Adkins on this tour of haunted locations in this Classic City. Stories include: Demosthenian Hall The Wedding Cake House Lustrat House Candler Hall The Stairway to Nowhere Waddel Hall The Morton Theatre The T.R.R.Cobb House The Foundry (Graduate Hotel) Fire Hall Number One The Ware-Lyndon House The Taylor-Grady House Memorial Park Old Athens Cemetery Oconee Hill Cemetery Arnocroft Bernstein Funeral Home Athens Ben Epps Airport Eagle Tavern And more...

Everyone knows about Herschel Walker, but what about George Woodruff, who, in a fogbound game against Sewanee, passed his helmet into their secondary and then handed the ball off to Hafford Hay, who ran untouched into the endzone? Athens is famed for its postgame victory parties, but who can recall the mountainous bonfire in 1910 that, when ignited, blew out every windowpane in three nearby campus buildings? Herty Field, the University of Georgia's first gridiron, is now a parking lot, but the glory lives on in this classic, fast-paced chronicle of Bulldogs football from its beginnings in 1891 to 1916.

Far more chilling than the supernatural tales of faraway places are the stories from right around the corner. In Ghosts & Legends of Athens, Ohio, Nick Lantz sheds light on what makes Athens stand out as one of the most haunted cities in the world. Gathering historical research and personal experiences of those witnessing paranormal phenomena, Nick explores everything from haunted dormitories on Ohio University's campus to an old insane asylum overlooking the city.

The city of Athens is a picturesque, quintessential southern town in north central Alabama, full of folklore and history. The town may also have more ghost stories per capita than any other town in the South. This book collects, for the first time, the best ghost stories that Athens has to offer. You'll read about: * the frenzied spirits that beat on the windows of town square buildings in their attempt to escape an 1893 inferno; * the phantom grandfather clock in the George S. Houston Library and House that chimes but cannot be found; * the lonely ghost of Founders Hall whose lantern light travels from window to window as she searches for her lost love; * the forlorn spirit of the Vasser-Lovvorn Home whose recurring screams from the attic pierce the night; * the ghost child of the Donnell House who was frightened to death by Union soldiers during the Civil War invasion of the town; * and many more.

"This collection of ghost stories and legends focuses on strange events that have occurred around Ohio University and Athens, Ohio. It is the combination of real history and folklore that have brought these stories to life. After reading this book, you might just think twice the next time you hear a strange noise in the night"--Page 4 of cover

Stories of ghostly spirits who return to this world to warn of danger, to prophesy, to take revenge, to request proper burial, or to comfort the living fascinated people in ancient times just as they do today. In this innovative, interdisciplinary study, the author combines a modern folkloric perspective with literary analysis of ghost stories from classical antiquity to shed new light on the stories' folk roots. The author begins by examining ancient Greek and Roman beliefs about death and the departed and the various kinds of ghost stories which arose from these beliefs. She then focuses on the longer stories of Plautus, Pliny, and Lucian, which concern haunted houses. Her analysis illuminates the oral and literary transmission and adaptation of folkloric motifs and the development of the ghost story as a literary form. In her concluding chapter, the author also traces the influence of ancient ghost stories on modern ghost story writers, a topic that will interest all readers and scholars of tales of hauntings.

Ghosts and Goosebumps is a rich collection of folktales and superstitions that capture the oral traditions of central and southeastern Alabama. In its pages one can glimpse the long-lost horse-and-buggy times, when people sat up all night with the dead and dying, hoed and handpicked cotton, drew water from wells, and met the devil rather regularly. The book is divided into three parts--tales, superstitions, and slave narratives. The spirits of treasure-keepers, poltergeists, murderers and the murdered, wicked men and good-men-and-true float through the book's first section. Sue Peacock, for example, recalls seeing the ghost of her brother, and E.C. Nevin describes a mysterious light in a swamp. In other tales, reports of supernatural experiences are proved to be rationally explicable--Lee Wilson's devil in the cemetery turns out to be a cow and chains rattling near New Tabernacle Church in Coffee County belong not to specters but to hogs. The superstitions are arranged according to subject and include such topics as love and marriage, weather and the seasons, wish making, bad luck, signs, and portents. Anonymous tellers confide that it is bad luck to carry ashes out after dark, to let a locust holler in your hand, to rock an empty rocking chair, to let your fishing pole cross someone else's, or to have a two-dollar bill (unless one corner has been removed). The slave narratives, selected from the Works Progress Administration Folklore Collection, are substantial and yield a fascinating view of nineteenth century African-American folk life, replete with sillies and lazy men, preachers and witches, brave little boys, and reluctant bridegrooms. Although the times and places have changed, the spirit of the folk is unaltered. Taken together, these folktales are marvelously diverse--by turns fearsome, fantastical, witty, ribald, charmingly innocent--showing people from all backgrounds, their endless vices and occasional virtues, their hopes, fears, and loves.