Ghost Stories of Michigan

Admittedly, I haven't been scared by a book in years, and wasn't expecting to be frightened by anything in Dan Asfar's Ghost Stories of Michigan. Purchasing it during a recent trip to the U.P., I was pleased by this thorough treatment of the supernatural in Michigan. An interesting, fun, and occasionally creepy collection of stories and accounts.The first chapter features four groups of paranormal investigators (i.e. "ghost hunters") and the different spooks they run into during their investigations of cemeteries, homes and other supposedly haunted sites. The Michigan Ghost Hunters Society produce the best stories of the first chapter; the organization's investigations of the Eloise Mental Asylum and a possessed home in Livonia are especially good.The second chapter, a collection of old Michigan folk tales, is the strongest. While some readers may be familiar with the stories of the Red Dwarf or the Hundred Heads, I was glad to see them here, vividly retold with vim and more than a little bit of twisted humor. I've noticed the reviewer below seems to have misread the obvious hilarity of the Red Dwarf's various descriptions. I've heard stories of Detroit's "stmpy monstrosity" before, but this was the first time the Red Dwarf made me laugh. While camping in the U.P., my wife and friends ended up reading the entire second chapter around the campfire.The rest of the book covers hauntings in different settings, one per chapter- public places, houses and the lakes, respectively. While these stories are well written and entertaining (the story of the Michigan Bell Building, Mr. Enoch, and the Calumet Theatre stand out), this is also where the author stumbles, citing authors Gerald S. Hunter and Frederick Stonehouse in a number of retellings in the fourth and fifth chapters. Whatever Mr. Asfar was thinking here (does he hope to push these tales into the realm of folklore by retelling them?), he would've done well to stick to the methods he used in the rest of the book. Otherwise, a great book on ghosts in Michigan.