Haunted Plantations of the South

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Review:

I receive this as an ARC free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Ghost Hunters (but not Ghost Adventures, those guys are ridiculous and never try to debunk anything and seem to always think the ghost are cussing at them. So stupid). But, anyway, I requested this one because I am interested in ghost stories and architecture as well - especially the various styles described in the book; plantation homes are beautiful.

Unfortunately, you don't get to see what any of the homes or areas look like, since there are no pictures. To be fair though, I was reading an ARC so it is possible that pictures were added to the finished product.

I wanted to like this one, but it got to be very repetitive - there are only so many ways you can describe hauntings that result from murders, suicides, diseases, war, and old age. I also found some of the back stories to be sometimes contradictory, or the stories that lead to the hauntings as such also. I mean, I understand that we don't know all the history of these places, but when you say on one page that no activity involving the ghost of Jefferson Davis has ever been reported at a particular plantation house, but then a few paragraphs later relate a story of a couple's wedding photo capturing a man in the window who looks like Jefferson Davis...things like this need to be caught in the editing process. There are also a few other quibbles I had that were similar in nature, so no need to recount them here.

This is an interesting one to skim, but due to so many similar stories, it is difficult to read straight through. I do appreciate that the author gave indications as to whether the properties are accessible to the public or not. One who is more familiar with these properties might also be interested, as he does go into as much detail as possible from what records still exist.