Chasing Ghosts: A Tour of Our Fascination with Spirits and the Supernatural

(Paperback)

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"A fantastic book."-Ben Kissel, co-host of Last Podcast on the Left Take a spirited tour through the supernatural history of America, from its haunted sites to its famous ghosts to its ghost-obsessed pop culture. Ghosts are everywhere-whether you believe in them or not. Every town has its local legends, and countless books, movies, and TV shows are haunted by their presence. But our obsession with ghosts runs deeper than we know-and is embedded in the very fabric of American history. Writer and historian Marc Hartzman dons the mantle of tour guide, taking readers on a fascinating journey through supernatural history, including- .The Fox Sisters and the rise of Spiritualism .The supernatural obsessions of famous figures like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . Famous haunted sites like the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and the LaLaurie House in New Orleans .Famous ghosts like the Bell Witch of Tennessee and the Greenbrier Ghost of West Virginia .Paranormal investigators like Ed and Lorraine Warren Deeply researched and highly entertaining, with archival images and black and white illustrations, Chasing Ghosts will satisfy believers and skeptics alike.

Reviews

A fascinating read for anyone who loves unique history or unsolved mysteries.
Business Insider

A fantastic book.
Ben Kissel, co-host of Last Podcast on the Left

This fascinating and lavishly illustrated compendium pulls back the veil on some of the strangest moments in the paranormal.
Cult of Weird

The wonderfully researched book takes readers on a fascinating journey through pivotal moments in supernatural history.
HiggyPop

Using humor, fun illustrations and interesting anecdotes that will appeal to readers of all ages, Hartzman makes the serious point that ghost stories say as much about the world of the living as they do about the dead.
BookPage

An extraordinary, documented, inherently fascinating, and entertaining study.
Midwest Book Review

No one loves America's spooky nooks and crannies more than Marc Hartzman, and ChasingGhosts is a beautifully-surveyed roadmap to the shadowy detours and haunted highways of our fascination with the supernatural. If you care aboutghosts- and you should - this is the guide you've been waiting for.
Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of The Final Girl Support Group

Like a psychopomp on the river Styx, author Marc Hartzman transports us to the world of the spirits. Inside this delightful haunted history,dead celebrities write books, mediums levitate seventy feet above the ground, and a horse named Lady Wonder predicts the future. Chasing Ghosts demonstrates just how deeply the supernatural is embedded in culture and makes a compelling case for those who dont take ghosts literally to consider them seriously.
Shannon Taggart, author of Sance

If you're looking for a good book on the subject [of ghosts] that's comprehensive but not crushingly so....it's great...It allows you to draw your own conclusions. Believers and skeptics alike I think would really really enjoy this book. I'm certainly glad I spent time with it.
John Goforth, co-host of Hysteria 51

A perfect guide that takes you through much of the unknown and fascinating world of Ghosts. As someone who has produced many hours of paranormal programming for many years, I highly recommend reading this entertaining and informational guide.
Michael Yudin, executive producer of Ghost Adventures and president of MY Entertainment

Author Bio

Marc Hartzman is "one of America's leading connoisseurs of the bizarre" (ABCNews.com) and is the author of several books, including The Big Book of Mars (Quirk, 2020). Hartzman's work has appeared in Mental Floss, Bizarre, and HuffPost/AOL Weird News. He has discussed oddities on CNN, MSNBC, Ripley's Radio, and the Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum. More of his love for the unusual can be found on his site WeirdHistorian.com. Hartzman works in advertising and lives in New Rochelle with his wife, Liz, and their two daughters.