Dixie Spirits: True Tales of the Strange and Supernatural in the South

Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (10/08) "Dixie Spirits: True Tales of the Strange and Supernatural in the South" is a collection of ghost stories from the American South. "What is it about the South that makes it so congenial to the supernatural? Is it those long, languid, moonlit nights, redolent with the scent of honeysuckle and magnolia, that mesmerize the senses? Is it Dixie's turbulent and tragic past that has roused so many restless spirits? Or is it something less tangible, less definable, that stirs the Southern soul and draws the darkness near?" (p.11) Whatever the case may be, the South is filled with stories of haunting and ghostly activity and this book explores many of the well known, as well as some of the more obscure incidences. The book is divided up by state and focuses on 3-5 stories for each area. Included in this book are tales from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. I was particularly drawn to the group of stories from Louisiana as I had visited many "haunted" locations throughout the New Orleans and Baton Rouge area. I was pleased to see accounts from places that I had been, such as the Myrtles Plantation. It is always interesting to read about areas that you have experienced firsthand. I found the tales to be very interesting and informative. Many of the stories in the book were of places that I had not heard of before but would love to visit if I had the chance. Particularly helpful is the address information of the featured locations as well as listings of some of the other haunted places located in each state. I also like that websites of some of the locations are provided as this allows the reader to get more information. The only thing that I wished was different about the book was that I would have liked to see some photos of the areas and there weren't any. However, if you go to some of the websites provided you are able to view them there. "Dixie Spirits: True Tales of the Strange and Supernatural in the South" is a wonderful book for anyone interested in "haunted hotels and mansions, diabolical curses, mysterious monsters, and assorted fearsome phenomena" (from the back cover). It would make an excellent reference book for those interested in traveling to these areas.

Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (9/08) Like the "Crooked Road in Virginia" guides you through Virginia's Heritage Music Trail, "Dixie Spirits: The Tales of the Strange and Supernatural in the South (Second Edition)" guides you to mysterious haunted houses, hotels and other haunts throughout the south. This entertaining guide leads you through state after state in the south with the most interesting and eerie ghost tales you have ever heard. Each tale gives you a detailed history of when and why the entity first appears, real life encounters as well as the physical location of today along with address, web address and general directions to the site. My family has visited the Brown Mountain Lights here in North Carolina several times. Although I have read about their origin from other publications and have heard about them all my life, I have never learned as much detail as I did in reading "Dixie Spirits." We have also been to both the Pirate's House Inn and the Juliette Gordon Lowe birthplace in Savannah. Although we didn't see any "going ons" at either, our daughters mentioned that they felt eerie in the Lowe home. My husband and I thought this was a bid odd because we didn't mention the haunted part - we were there visiting the birthplace of the founder of Girl Scouts of America. Perhaps they felt someone there? Additional locations you may want to visit and information on any Ghost Tours available are given at the conclusion of each state's stories. My family has been on several Ghost Tours, including Asheville Ghost Walk here at home, as well as Ghosts and Legends Tour of Savannah which are mentioned here and have learned interesting historical facts and had our skin crawling after each experience. A city, a building, a room that you see during the day can look extremely different on a cloudy evening when given details you absorb in a Ghost Tour. While planning your trip to visit haunted locations in the south, "Dixie Spirits" can be your all encompassing guide. In closing, the Appendix will give you haunted sites to stay while on your journey. That is if you do not mind sleeping next to a ghost. Of the thirty-four beautifully detailed accounts "Dixie Spirits" by Christopher K Coleman leads you through; each one is unique in both character and detail. The strangeness and detail of the stories draw the reader in and leave you wanting more - with the lights on and the door locked.

Dixie Spirits is a collection of ghost stories from the American south. Some of the stories in this book are hauntings that are very familiar to anyone who likes to read this type of books. The gray man, the Brown Mountain lights, and the Myrtles plantation are found within the pages of this book and just about any book about southern ghosts that one chooses to read. However, there are also some hauntings to be found in this book that I was not familiar with. For example the Sloss Furnaces, the Athens haunted pillar, and the Hornet ghost light. Also, the ghosts of some of the Lee homes in Virginia were completely new to me. I suppose that anyone writing a book of this sort would have to assume that his or her readers hadn't read about the Myrtles and would feel as if they had to include such a famous haunt. I guess that those of us who frequent these books will just have to learn to live with that fact.The only other problems I found in this book were an over abundance of Indian legends and a last second rush of UFO stories. Coleman tries to explain his use of the UFO tales but I bought a ghost book, not a UFO book and had no real desire to find UFO stories haunting this book's pages. There are also numerous typos, which are somewhat irritating. On the other hand, the writing style of the author is very pleasing and the stories in this book seem to just fly by. I assume that he has done a fair amount of research but there is no bibliography so I can't be sure. Overall, this is a well-written and interesting book. A little off target in places but still rather good and well worth the price. Read it on a cool October evening but don't get too lost in its pages or the mothman might get you.

Dixie Spirits is a very good collection of well known and not so well known regional ghost stories. Christopher Coleman is a talented writer who tells the tales with a fresh new spin. I particularly appreciated the sympathetic treatment of African Americans and Indians in his version of the classic ghost stories. The best thing about these "true tales" is that you can visit every single place in the book. My only complaint is the way the book abruptly ends. There should have been an author's note or an index.

This was a great book about hauntings in the Southern States. This ranks up there with Katherine Tucker Windham (pardon the spelling) books. I really enjoyed it a lot. Some of the stories in this book are also in others that I have read and they match VERY closely. Get it, read it and you will love it!