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| Haunted Kansas, Ghost Stories and Other Eerie
Tales, Lisa Hefner Heitz, 1997, notes on sources and folklore motifs, biblio, index,
215 pp $14.95 |
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"Ghosts, ghosts on the
range, Where the ghouls and the revenants play…" This delightful book will make
you burst into song! But, you ask, are the ghosts live or are they folklore? The author
takes a very interesting stance in her long, rather academic, introduction. She is, she
states, in "pursuit of legendary tales in Kansas, not necessarily the real ghosts of
Kansas." And, a bit later, when people ask if she believes in ghosts, she responds,
"I believe in ghost stories." She adds that the stories are not
"meant to be accepted as fact, or, alternatively, as complete fiction." And she
discusses how ghosts can be moral enforcers ("Don’t park in lonely lovers’
lanes with your boyfriend!") or as a bonding agent in institutions like colleges,
fraternities or sororities.
I think she doth protest too much because most of these stories
are from real people relating real experiences rather than old-time folktales. She also
gives an interesting analysis of variant legends and the real occurrences that
inspired those legends. Despite her academic waffling (this is published by a university
press and I wonder if she felt compelled to assume the protective coloration of a
folklorist so nobody would think she was a crackpot) this is a terrific collection of
Kansas ghost stories—something we’ve needed for a long time.
Custer’s ghost, seen leaning casually against a
chimney-piece at Ft. Riley. The legendary (?) Albino Woman. A ghostly foursome at the
Emporia Country Club. Theorosa—the quintessential Kansas crybaby bridge ghost. Kansas
spooky lights—are they ghosts or merely bovine methane? The vicious ghost of young
Sally who scratched an Atchison man until he bled. |
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