Ghost Stories of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County

The main reason I give this book a four instead of the three I would've otherwise granted is because I bought it for a dollar. Even if it had been awful, I'm not going to complain too much about my lost dollar. All in all the stories are alright. Some are pretty good, actually. Another reviewer here commented that the stories are too brief. Most barely making their way to a fourth page. And while I'll have to agree to that, I am also glad that the writer did not go overboard and scribble a bunch of superflous stuff about "atmasphere" and other such snares that tie-up many a book about ghosts. Obviously, if you live (or have lived) in Pittsburgh, this book will be more appealing for you. If you don't, then the locations will mean little to you, but some of the stories will creep you a bit. It's a good book to lay on the couch with on a snowy/rainy day. Which, I'd like to point out, is when book's are at their best.

There is a ghost at the University of Pittsburgh that the author didn't mention. It is a male ghost that inhabits the Cathedral of Learning. I sensed its presence 2 times there on separate occasions. I later read about the ghost (I think they called him Charlie) in the "Pitt News", the local rag. The ghost was a nice one, thankfully. I had this happen two times, the first time I thought it was a fluke. I walked into my English class early one morning-I always scheduled my classes as early as possible because I commuted to the city-to avoid traffic and parking problems. I went into the classroom and the lights turned on. I thought they had installed one of those 'automatic lights' in the room at first. I saw that the light switch that was across the room was flipped up. I went over and turned it off and went to catch a few z's. The next time this happened I was in one of the Nationality rooms. I had a spanish 3 class early in the morning. Same thing happened, I was the first one in the room, and as I open the door, the lights go on! I said "thanks!" and went to turn off the lights. I didn't get a bad feeling, the ghost must be a nice one. Later after this happened I read in the Pitt News about the ghost. I think he was a janitor who used to work in the building. The rest of the book is a good read, the one story about the guy painting the ceiling of the church especially piqued my interest. The guy related that before the apparition would appear, he would get this totally awful feeling, he said it was 'beyond fear', something that had happened to me when I was at home (yes, I lived in a haunted house). There are many interesting ghost stories in this book, she covers much of the region. I also loved the strange story of the house that used to be on the North Side. I just wished that there was more information about what had happened there.

I had this book when it came out in '94 when I was 15 and it really freaked me out! Another review doubted the validity of the tales...but I actually attended clases at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and know quite a few people that experienced these real life stories first hand! That place is definatly haunted! Another tale about a flower shoppe I know to be real... a friend of mine knows the owners and she too has felt strange things! I felt the book really told the each story vividly and kept the creepiness like a warm body with personal experience quotes from interviewees and, at least for a Pittsburgher, the locations were too close to home!