This “frightful compilation” of ghost stories flows from the rich history of the Missouri college town located on a bend in the Mississippi River (Southeast Missourian). For nearly two hundred-fifty years, the mighty Mississippi has granted Cape Girardeau a legacy of prosperity and dealt it some fearsome scars. Walk through buildings cut by the shrapnel of exploding steamboats, swamped in the debris of sudden floods, and haunted by the restless spirits of those who washed ashore. Beyond the riverfront, tragedy’s indelible mark can be found in places like the back row of the Rose Theater or the ashen mists of Spook Hollow. Joel P. Rhodes keeps company with the most forlorn figures and entrenched phantoms in this history of Cape Girardeau, where the river turns a thousand chilling tales. Includes photos!

For southwest Missouri, the Civil War was an unparalleled period of violence, sorrow and anger. As the torches burned the physical landscape, the depredations inflicted were also scorched upon the psyche of the people who lived through fires. Survey Carthage's battlefield for stubborn holdouts or hold vigil at the Kendrick House for innocent bystanders who were swept up into the stratagems of bushwhackers and guerrillas. Meet the Bloody Spikes, Rotten Johnny Reb and scores more figures from the region's past who continue to trouble its present.

For nearly 250 years, the mighty Mississippi has granted Cape Girardeau a legacy of prosperity and dealt it some fearsome scars. Walk through buildings cut by the shrapnel of exploding steamboats, swamped in the debris of sudden floods and haunted by the restless spirits of those who washed ashore. And beyond the riverfront, tragedy's indelible mark can be found in places like the back row of the Rose Theater or the ashen mists of Spook Hollow. Joel Rhodes keeps company with the most forlorn figures and entrenched phantoms in this history of Cape Girardeau, where the river turns a thousand chilling tales.

Lawyer and journalist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Louis Houck is often called the “Father of Southeast Missouri” because he brought the railroad to the region and opened this backwater area to industrialization and modernization. Although Houck’s name is little known today outside Missouri, Joel Rhodes shows how his story has relevance for both the state and the nation. Rhodes presents a more complete picture of Houck than has ever been available: reviewing his life from his German immigrant roots, considering his career from both social and political perspectives, and grounding the story in both state and national history. He especially tells how, from 1880 to the 1920s, this self-taught railroader constructed a network of five hundred miles of track through the wilderness of wetlands known as “Swampeast Missouri”—and how these “Houck Roads” provided a boost for population, agriculture, lumbering, and commerce that transformed Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area. Rhodes discusses how Houck fits into the era of economic individualism—a time when men with little formal training shaped modern industry—and also gives voice to Houck’s critics and shows that he was not always an easy man to work with. In telling the story of his railroading enterprise, Rhodes chronicles Houck’s battle with the Jay Gould railroad empire and offers key insight into the development of America’s railway system, from the cutthroat practices of ruthless entrepreneurs to the often-comic ineptness of start-up rail lines. More than simply a biography of a business entrepreneur, the book tells how Houck not only developed the region economically but also followed the lead of Andrew Carnegie by making art, culture, and formal education available to all social classes. Houck also served for thirty-six years as president of the Board of Regents of Southeast Missouri State Teacher’s College, and as a self-taught historian he wrote the first comprehensive accounts of Missouri’s territorial period. A Missouri Railroad Pioneer chronicles a multifaceted career that transformed a region. Solidly researched, this lively narrative also offers an entertaining read for anyone interested in Missouri history.

"Missouri is a place of great diversity and amazing beauty, stretching from the Mississippi River to the forests and rolling hills of the Ozarks, with caves, rives, and rugged woodland in between. Out of this land comes scores of ghostly tales, from documented haunting to folk stories that have been passed along from one generation to the next."--Page 4 of cover

For nearly 250 years, the mighty Mississippi has granted Cape Girardeau a legacy of prosperity and dealt it some fearsome scars. Walk through buildings cut by the shrapnel of exploding steamboats, swamped in the debris of sudden floods and haunted by the restless spirits of those who washed ashore. And beyond the riverfront, tragedy's indelible mark can be found in places like the back row of the Rose Theater or the ashen mists of Spook Hollow. Joel Rhodes keeps company with the most forlorn figures and entrenched phantoms in this history of Cape Girardeau, where the river turns a thousand chilling tales.

Contains over seventy tales of ghostly hauntings from each of the fifty United States and Canada.

A crossroads energy is the heart and soul of the Missouri Ozarks, where earthquakes, monster lore, and UFO sightings are as familiar as limestone bluffs along historic Route 66. Join Cynthia Carroll -- author, tour director, and sixt-generation native -- as your guide throguh the magic of the Missouri Ozarks.

According to Columbia ghost lore, the city's dead only dabble with departure. The specter of Broadway legend Maude Adams checks in on classes at Stephens College, while ragtime pioneer John William Boone returns to trail invisible fingers along his grand piano. Some linger from love, like the spirit of the Osage woman who waited for a final walk with the brave she was to marry. Others remain for a reckoning, like the guerrilla stalking Brannock Hall for the Union sniper who shot him down or the murdered child discovered in the plaster of a frontier tavern. From the columns of Mizzou's quad to the region's winding country roads, author Mary Collins Barile explores the restless graves of Columbia's eerie heritage.

(FAQ Pop Culture). Take a fast-paced survey of the ghosties, ghouls, and associated denizens of the country's haunted history with Haunted America FAQ . Tracing local ghost stories back to Native American legends and then forward through horror tales both ancient and modern, the book revisits some of the best known haunted locales, as well as some of the most obscure creepy places, in America. Delving deep into the cultural history of American hauntings, Haunted America FAQ includes chapters on ghostly books, movies, and television. Also included is an A-Z of reality-TV ghost hunts and a state-by-state gazetteer of haunted spots.