An unsentimental vision of the west, new and old, comes to life in a gritty new collection of stories by the author of Snow, Ashes In Ghosts of Wyoming, Alyson Hagy explores the hardscrabble lives and terrain of America's least-populous state. Beyond the tourist destinations of Jackson Hole and Yellowstone lies a less familiar and wilder frontier defined by the tension wrought by abundance and scarcity. A young runaway with a big secret slips across the state border and steals a collie pup from the Meeker County fairgrounds. A chorus of trainmen details a day spent laying rail across the Wyoming Territory, while contemporary voices describe life in the oil and gas fields near Gillette. A traveling preacher is caught up in a deadly skirmish between cattle rustlers and ranchers on his way from Rawlins to the Indian reservation on the Popo Agie River. Locals and activists clash when a tourist makes an archaeological discovery near Hoodoo Mountain. With spirited, lyrical prose, Hagy expertly weaves together Wyoming's colorful pioneer and speculator history with the notoften- heard voices of petroleum workers, thrill-seeking rock climbers, and those left behind by the latest boom and bust.

Learn how the West was haunted, as historian, author, and ghost story collector Jill Pope takes you on a spectral tour of Wyoming’s capital city. In 1867, at the spot where the Union Pacific Railroad crossed Crow Creek, the city of Cheyenne was born. Since then, the Magic City of the Plains has had a long history of hauntings. Drop into the Shadows Pub and Grill, and you may find yourself sharing a drink with a spectral patron from another era. Spend a night at the Historic Plains Hotel, and you may run into one of the many ghostly guests who refuse to check out. Even the Wrangler store seems to be home to a phantom cowboy. From the ghosts of the historic depot and rail yard to the spirits that still linger in some of the city’s private homes, this frontier town is filled with spooky happenings and chilling sightings. Join writer and guide Jill Pope on a tour of the stories behind this city’s most chilling spots. Includes photos! “If there is anyone in town who knows about Cheyenne’s ghosts, it’s local historian and author Jill Pope. She can rattle off scores of stories tied to most of the buildings downtown, ranging from a murder in the Cheyenne Depot to a freak accident outside the Hynds Building.” —Wyoming Tribune Eagle

A collection of 34 tales that keep you wondering what's real and what's imagined.

Scares and frights and mysteries! Haunted houses! Eerie voices! The walking dead! Here are the ghosts of Wyoming, the strange but true tales of unnerving sights and sounds that have never been explained. Footsteps when no one is there. Things that move that shouldn’t move. Spectral bedside visitors and ghastly ghoulish sights. These stories span the state wherever ghosts ramble and roam. There are stories from Cheyenne, Sheridan, Cody, Laramie, Casper, Rawlings, Green River, and lots of places in between. The subjects are star-crossed lovers, murderers and the murdered, miners and cowboys and Native Americans, all carefully researched and authenticated by interviews with the people who have witnessed the unknown and unexplained. So find a comfortable chair and settle in for an entertaining read about the Cowboy State’s ghosts…and is that a ghostly wail you hear or just the Wyoming wind?

"The stories in this book were originally published in Ghosts on the Range (1989) by Debra D. Munn."--Title page verso.

Seventeen tales of untamed spirits in the newly expanded edition of the Spur Award finalist from the “custodian of the twilight zone” (Southern Living). In these seventeen ghostly tales—including five new stories—Roberts expertly guides readers through eerie encounters and harrowing hauntings across Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and the Dakotas. Along the way her accounts intersect with the lives (and afterlives) of legendary figures such as Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday. Roberts also justifies the fascination among ghost hunters, folklorists, and interested tourists with notoriously haunted locales such as Deadwood, Tombstone, and Abilene through her tales of paranormal legends linked to these gunslinger towns synonymous with violence and vice in Western lore. But not all of these encounters feature frightening specters or wandering souls. Roberts also details episodes of animal spirits, protective presences, and supernatural healings. Forever destined to be associated with adventure, romance, and risk taking, the Wild West of yore still haunts the American imagination. Roberts reminds us here that our imaginations aren’t the only places where restless ghosts still roam. “Tales of vaporous ghost lights, haunted mesas, phantom gunmen, and reanimated skeletons. It’s a book sure to please collectors of Western lore, fans of well-told, old-fashioned ghost tales and, it would seem to me, school librarians looking for just the right book to introduce middle school and high school readers to American folklore.” —Michael Norman, author of Haunted Heartland

Haunted Cheyenne author Jill Pope shares the lighter side of the paranormal spectrum with stories of departed loved ones, spirit guides and angels. Homeowners of a quaint West First Avenue home continually find bright-red lipstick prints throughout the house. The owner of a flagstone house on East Twenty-Third Street awoke to the apparition of a weathered, elderly man leaving a loving kiss on her forehead while whispering Good morning, granddaughter. A caller to a Cheyenne radio station recounted the tragic story of the death of her two sisters before she was born and their childhood tea party visitations. From the lingering smell of roses to phantasms in family photos, these local stories remind us that the deceased can give reassuring touches and guidance through struggles and share in our important moments and milestones.