Willamina, or Billie as everyone called her, was a young black woman who could be somewhat messy. The only constant in her life besides her family was the Loving Arms Inn. It was operated by her great aunt and uncle, except during the month of July, when Billie and her family would leave the city and take over running the Inn while her aunt and uncle took a much needed vacation. An incident at the Inn when Billie was six, made her question if she could have seen a ghost. Chocking it up to a little girl’s wild imagination by everyone, she puts it in the back of her mind. Years later, after a very public break-up, Billie decides to leave the city for good and start fresh at the place she loves most. The Loving Arms Inn. There she has a second hilarious reencounter with the ghost she saw as a child. Her life is still messy, but she is determined to get back on tract, until she stumbles over a body. This lighthearted story will have you in suspense while laughing out loud.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1878.

Contained herein is Volume One of an anthology of the complete, major works of Valerie Lynn Stephens. Within its covers, the reader will find an eclectic collection ranging in literary genres from a novel of experimental literary fiction to poetry to essays of philosophical & theological import.

Underneath a façade of sunshine and beaches lies a darker side of Southern California. From the Vallecito Stage Stop deep in the desert where a phantom bride eternally seeks her lost love to the town of Lone Pine where the shades of US Cavalry and Paiute natives still battle for land rights, Southern California is haunted by its sordid past. Ghosts relive their days of fun at Universal Studios and Disneyland and remember their days sailing on the majestic RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach. Even her Missions host the spirits of the long-departed. Join author Brian Clune as he uncovers the spooky side of Southern California.

Established in 1831, Naperville is one of the oldest settlements in the Greater Chicago area. The city's rich and fascinating heritage has been carefully passed down from one proud generation to the next; however, nowhere has Naperville's ghostly oral tradition and haunted history been preserved until now. Most of Naperville's unique legends--compiled for the fi rst time ever in these pages--arose from accounts of actual historic events and from the lives of notable personages in the city's long history. As the tragic events and persons faded from living memory, all that might remain of them would be ghost stories whispered by fi relight and, later, by fl ashlight tucked under a teenager's chin at slumber parties. Some eerie legends in these pages have origins that are lost in time, and still other hair-raising ghost stories included in this work are chilling contemporary, firsthand accounts of paranormal encounters within Naperville's sprawling boundaries . . . perhaps from even just down the street.