Friday, October 26, 2007

Horror Close to Home

The haunting season is here. For some that means curling up with a good vampire novel, but others prefer real life horror. For those brave souls who are curious about phantoms closer to home, Haunted Wisconsin by Michael Norman and Beth Scott features more than 70 true tales of terror throughout Wisconsin. With an assortment of ghosts, apparitions and other supernatural occurrences, Wisconsin could easily be called the most haunted state in America.

“….On a crisp, fall night in 1962, Pat Orcutt, of Whiting, Wisconsin, curled up in bed with the novel she was reading. About 10:00 p.m. she happened to glance up from the pages. Her grandmother was standing beside the bed. Nothing odd about that, except that Grandma Mamie had been dead for years and was buried in Elmira, New York.”
From There Goes Mamie in Haunted Wisconsin.

For anyone interested in peering into the edge of mystery, Ghost Stories of Wisconsin by A.S. Mott is sure to provide a chilling and unforgettable treat. If Ghost Ship gave you nightmares, beware of The Griffon!

In 1679 using the fortune he had amassed trading furs, French adventurer, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, built a 60-foot-long sailing ship that weighed 45 tons and came equipped with five guns. The Griffon was the first of its kind to sail on the upper Great Lakes. The large ship launched from the Niagara River, sailed across lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan before arriving in Green Bay Harbor, where it docked at Washington Island. From there La Salle continued on a canoeing expedition, leaving six men on the Griffon with orders to leave Green Bay Harbor. Neither those men nor the Griffon were ever seen again. Five years later the ship, in a ghostly form, became a frequent sight on the waters of Green Bay.

Have you experienced a real life haunting or do you prefer fiction? What do you recommend this Halloween?