Haunted Lakes

Stonehouse provides a fun book that delivers what it promises: legendary tales and ghost stories centered around the Great Lakes. Stonehouse doesn't attempt to prove or debunk any of these stories, and nor should he. He's just trying to put on the record some of the tales that make the rounds. This is a good collection and each story is told well. The Great Lakes are imposing and mysterious at times, which this book captures.

Once I started to read this book I had to keep on reading until my eyes are so tired. Thanks to Mr. Stonehouse, I am once again loving history of these great ship wrecks .. Mr. Stonehouse sure dug up a lot of interesting stories. Some of them I just find them to be funny and some of them got my heart racing for more. I am hoping Mr. Stonehouse dont stop writing stories of Haunted Lakes. I just know there are many more ghost stories of the Great Lakes that needed yet to be told . yes, I have also read Haunted Lakes II

Haunted Lakes is a book that you want to read because you are looking for a collection of good ghost stories and you want to be entertained. This book is not a scientific analysis of the supernatural. Unlike the book Lost At Sea, Stonehouse tells the stories in an entertaining way and then moves on. He doesn't take a lot of time trying to prove or disprove the authenticity of the story. Determination of authenticity is left to the reader.The book is set up so each chapter includes several stories from around the Great Lakes region. The chapters include collections of stories on lighthouses, ghost ships, sea creatures, hoodoo ships, and sailor's superstitions just to name a few. The stories are layed out in a sensable manner within these chapters. Each story is short and to the point so if you are not interested in a particular story, a new story is at most a couple pages away. I can't say enough about the author's story telling ability. Many authors try to give a very dramatic account of a story and in the process they bog the story down with too much fluff. This is not the case in Haunted Lakes. The author refrains from distracting flowery writing. He lets the stories provide their own drama. If you are looking for a light reading book that you can pick up and put down at will, read this book. If you are looking to prove or disprove supernatural events, don't read this book read Lost At Sea. Stonehouse provides an entertaining collection of ghost stories that is ment to be taken lightly. Grab this book, fire up your imagination and enjoy. If you like it, there is a part two also available.

Since the days when the fear-producing words "Here be Dragons" were inscribed on ancient maps, the lure of the invisible has drawn men to the water with their ships. The Great Lakes, seven of them if you include Lake Champlain, along the New York-Vermont border, (and Lake St. Clair, between Lakes Huron and Erie) are no strangers to the unseen.Frederick Stonehouse, a noted scholar and author of thirteen prior books about the Great Lakes and their maritime history, encountered tales of the paranormal throughout his years of research. Nonplussed by them, he tucked them away. In his preface, he confesses to 'not knowing exactly what to do with these stories'. Eventually, however, there were so many of them, he began to look at them with a different eye. He found that they assumed credibility because the people who told the tales believed so strongly in them. Beginning with the Gibralter Point Light on Lake Ontario in Toronto, one of the oldest lighthouses on the Lakes, right up to yesterday, when the author himself experienced -- something -- you'll be fascinated with this book, and its many illustrations, glossary, bibliography, index, and the thoroughly enjoyable appendix.Tales such as the captain who continued to be a part of the crew on his beloved ship, and who saved it from certain disaster, to the list of boats carrying the same name -- Ontario, or a variant thereof -- all of whom went down in a five day span in October, 1874. Superstitions abound -- a Friday departure spelled certain disaster, for instance, as did cats, blasphemy, whistling, or women on board. It must be stated, however, that many of the disasters cited here occurred during the 1800s and early 1900s, primarily in the days of wooden ships.However, steel hulls and electronics cannot guarantee safe journeys, either, as in the case of the Edmund Fitzgerald. During the launch, several events happened which, one hundred years earlier, would have labelled the ship a certain jinx. Modern science has pretty much put that idea to rest, and in recent years, divers and scientists have come up with possible scenarios to explain the sudden disappearance of the ore-hauler in the storm of November 10, 1975. What they can't explain however, are the oddities surrounding succeeding events, all involved to some degree with the Fitzgerald. For instance, the wardroom bell falling off the wall of the Canadian submarine tender, Cormorant, the ship sent to rescue the Fitzgerald's bell and bring it to the surface, where it is to be part of a memorial to the sunken ship and her crew, all of whom went down with her. The Cormorant's captain said, "It's never fallen before, and we've been through 30-foot seas with it!" Haunted lighthouses, superstitions, ghost ships, ship board and underwater ghosts, lakeside spirits, sea serpents and other creatures, and messages from beyond are the sections of the book. The oldest ghost ship is the Griffon, from

This book is an amazing array of compiled stories which tell the eerie history of the Great Lakes. More than just a list of ghost stories, it gives us an insight into those who spent their lives (and often risked them) on the ships that have plied the lakes over the years. The story of the Hudson in particular is not one to be read before bedtime; it leaves one wondering just who or what controls the forces of the lakes, and how and why a calm great lake can instantaneously turn into a raging torrent. Stonehouse should be congratulated on the background research and variety of stories that go into the text. All in all, a very satisfying read.