Experience the Heartland's Most Memorable and Thrilling Paranormal Cases You find yourself headed down a long hallway. Suddenly, you hear feet dragging across carpet. Arctic air blows past as you see a massive, shadowy figure standing next to you. You spin to confront your attacker, only to find no one is there. In the heartland, tales of grisly deaths and unsolved murders abound—and the spirits of the dead are often left behind. Join Logan Corelli and his teams as they explore some of the creepiest haunted locations in America, where spirits and entities terrify even the most experienced investigators. The Haunted Heart of America provides tantalizing evidence of realms of existence beyond our own. Featuring firsthand investigations of famous paranormal hotspots like Waverly Hills, Myrtles Plantation, and the St. James Hotel—as well as many lesser-known though equally fascinating locations—this riveting book shares spine-chilling stories, hair-raising experiences, and fascinating physical evidence.

“A fantastic job of storytelling to the point that it literally sends shivers down the reader’s spine . . . entertaining and informative” (YES! Weekly). Don’t be fooled by the scenic beauty of North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad—the ghosts of the past haunt these rolling hills and unique cities. From the smallpox-stricken ghost that haunts Salem Tavern in Winston-Salem to the slain Revolutionary War soldiers who linger in the park surrounding Guilford Courthouse in Greensboro, these phantoms all have a tale to tell. Some ghosts even support education. Take Jane, the lonely spinster who haunts Aycock Auditorium at the UNC-Greensboro campus, or Herschel, High Point University’s ghost of the former Memorial Theater. And though Spookywoods Haunted Attraction in Kersey Valley often frightens and astounds, some of the resident ghosts aren’t just special effects. Join Camel City Spirit Seekers Michael Renegar and Amy Spease as they reveal the eerie and chilling stories from the heart of the Piedmont. Includes photos! “If you want some spooky ghost stories to get you in the mood for Halloween, Triad ghost-hunters/authors Michael Renegar and Amy Spease may have just what you’re looking for.” —The News & Record

A fascinating look at the life of the author who created such modern classics as Carrie, IT, and The Shining. One of the most prolific and popular authors in the world today, Stephen King has become part of pop culture history. But who is the man behind those tales of horror, grief, and the supernatural? Where do these ideas come from? And what drives him to keep writing at a breakneck pace after a thirty year career? In this unauthorized biography, Lisa Rogak reveals the troubled background and lifelong fears that inspire one of the twentieth century's most influential authors. King's origins were inauspicious at best. His impoverished childhood in rural Maine and early marriage hardly spelled out the likelihood of a blossoming literary career. But his unflagging work ethic and a ceaseless flow of ideas put him on the path to success. It came in a flash, and the side effects of sudden stardom and seemingly unlimited wealth soon threatened to destroy his work and, worse, his life. But he survived and has since continued to write at a level of originality few authors could ever hope to match. Despite his dark and disturbing work, Stephen King has become revered by critics and his countless fans as an all-American voice more akin to Mark Twain than H. P. Lovecraft. Haunted Heart chronicles his story, revealing the character of a man who has created some of the most memorable---and frightening---stories found in literature today. Stephen King on Stephen King: "I'm afraid of everything." "As a kid, I worried about my sanity a lot." "I am always interested in this idea that a lot of fiction writers write for their fathers because their fathers are gone." "Writing is an addiction for me." "I married her for her body, though she said I married her for her typewriter." "When you get into this business, they don't tell you you'll get cat bones in the mail." "You have to be a little nuts to be a writer." "There's always the urge to see somebody dead that isn't you."

Beginning as a disciple of Billie Holiday, Susannah McCorkle carefully crafted her own unique singing style, performing in New York and venues around the world. However, she struggled with bipolar disorder. Unable to overcome crippling bouts of depression, McCorkle committed suicide in 2001. Author Linda Dahl offers a revealing portrait of one of America's greatest yet misunderstood singers. 8 page photo insert.

Winner of a 2021 South Central Modern Language Association Book Prize At the heart of America’s slave system was the legal definition of people as property. While property ownership is a cornerstone of the American dream, the status of enslaved people supplies a contrasting American nightmare. Sarah Gilbreath Ford considers how writers in works from nineteenth-century slave narratives to twenty-first-century poetry employ gothic tools, such as ghosts and haunted houses, to portray the horrors of this nightmare. Haunted Property: Slavery and the Gothic thus reimagines the southern gothic, which has too often been simply equated with the macabre or grotesque and then dismissed as regional. Although literary critics have argued that the American gothic is driven by the nation’s history of racial injustice, what is missing in this critical conversation is the key role of property. Ford argues that out of all of slavery’s perils, the definition of people as property is the central impetus for haunting because it allows the perpetration of all other terrors. Property becomes the engine for the white accumulation of wealth and power fueled by the destruction of black personhood. Specters often linger, however, to claim title, and Ford argues that haunting can be a bid for property ownership. Through examining works by Harriet Jacobs, Hannah Crafts, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Sherley Anne Williams, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, and Natasha Trethewey, Ford reveals how writers can use the gothic to combat legal possession with spectral possession.

A searing portrait of the racial dynamics that lie inescapably at the heart of our nation, told through the turbulent history of the city of St. Louis. From Lewis and Clark's 1804 expedition to the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, American history has been made in St. Louis. And as Walter Johnson shows in this searing book, the city exemplifies how imperialism, racism, and capitalism have persistently entwined to corrupt the nation's past. St. Louis was a staging post for Indian removal and imperial expansion, and its wealth grew on the backs of its poor black residents, from slavery through redlining and urban renewal. But it was once also America's most radical city, home to anti-capitalist immigrants, the Civil War's first general emancipation, and the nation's first general strike—a legacy of resistance that endures. A blistering history of a city's rise and decline, The Broken Heart of America will forever change how we think about the United States.

An intellectual feast for fans of offbeat history, Ghostland takes readers on a road trip through some of the country's most infamously haunted places--and deep into the dark side of our history.