At long last, the archives of the Little Egypt Ghost Society and the Gaslight Ghoul Club have been opened. Within these pages, uncover the secrets behind some of southern Illinois' most famous ghost stories and legends. Bruce and Lisa Cline expose the truth behind the Murphysboro Mud Monster, present evidence of paranormal activity at places such as the Rose Hotel, Oakland Cemetery, and Harrisburg's Cinema 4, and explain the history behind some of southern Illinois' most controversial and eccentric figures. From the Old Slavehouse, to the Rose Hotel, to the Woodlawn Sarcophagus and beyond, join the Little Egypt Ghost Society as they explore some of Illinois oldest and most interesting places!

History, Mystery, and Hauntings of Southern Illinois

Bruce L. Cline

Lisa A. Cline

Black Oak Media, Inc.

Young Cassidy O'Connor was an avid researcher of the supernatural. When she found herself involved in a case that was unlike any other, however, she was forced to open her eyes. With the introduction of young Matthew into her life, she began to realize this was not a normal haunting. This was something very different - this was evil. Cassidy dug through layers of historical events and learned how the past can always come back to haunt you. Combining history with folklore, she discovered that what tormented Matthew and his family was not a ghost or a simple whisper, but something out of Hell itself. This is a true, first-person account from the woman who aided that family over a three year period. Not even medical diagnoses, hospitals, or the legal system could explain what plagued Matthew, but Cassidy, without any experience of the demonic, had to prepare herself for the fight. This story is a warning to those who believe that the world of the demonic is something to toy with. It is a warning to those who feel that fame and fortune can come from entering that forbidden world.

Diaries of the Dark Side

Religion & Spirituality

Cassidy O'Connor

Occult & Paranormal

The Doctor and the Heretic and Other Stories

Andy Nowicki

Nora is a lonely fifteen year old who dreams of more adventure than life in suburban Maryland can offer. Fascinated by the supernatural, she begins exploring an allegedly haunted abandoned house on the property where her father works. She soon finds herself tangled in the mysteries of the house as she uncovers its many secrets and meets a shy ghost called "Walter."Including original documents with the author's notes, this book is based on real events and reveals how a girl, a house, and its ghost will become intertwined forever."Ms.Cotter's evocative writing deliciously transported me...A wonderfully engaging book which also sheds light on the complex impulses that make the paranormal so irresistible. Ghosts speak to us in so many ways. The author is a master listener." -Ursula Bielski, author of the Chicago Haunts series"Let This House take you back to a time when the barrier between the real and the imagined was mercurial, and all things seemed possible. Who knows, you just may discover something of yourself lurking in these pages."-Michael Kleen, author of Haunting Illinois: A Tourist's Guide to the Weird and Wild Places of the Prairie State

This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost

Biographies & Memoirs

Amelia Cotter

Memoirs

Do UFOs, Bigfoot, and ghosts stalk the prairie? In Chasing Shadows, you will get a firsthand look at some of the most haunted and mysterious places in the Midwest through the eyes of author and paranormal investigator Larry Wilson. Join Larry as he takes you on a journey into the unexplained at Illinois' Williamsburg Hill, Springfield's Legacy Theater, and the mysterious "Graveyard X;" at Missouri's Rockcliffe Mansion, Morse Mill Hotel, and Kemper Military Academy; and at Iowa's notorious Villisca Ax Murder House. Not only has Larry personally investigated these places, he has experienced their phantoms firsthand. In these pages, you will find out how the Villisca Ax Murder House personally changed Larry's approach to the supernatural, paranormal investigation, and life itself. Paranormal investigation is an exciting field, but it should also be approached with caution, as Larry found out the hard way. This book serves as a reminder that unraveling the mysteries of the supernatural may have consequences for the unprepared, because one never knows what may be lurking around the next corner.

Chasing Shadows: Investigating the Paranormal in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa

Larry Wilson

Parenting & Relationships

On an ordinary spring day in 1925, folks in the Midwest were going about business usual: attending school, preparing the fields, mining coal, and tending their stores. Little did they know that between 1 and 4:30 p.m. on March 18, their lives would be changed forever in an event that defined the weather in the central U.S. From the hills of the southeastern Ozarks to the plains of the Hoosier heartland and across the developing communities of southern Illinois, the Tri-State Tornado destroyed cities, devoured whole farms, and set the record for the most deaths, injuries, and monetary damage, a record which remains standing to this day. This is the story as told directly by nearly four dozen survivors and eyewitnesses, in the most comprehensive account of the Tri-State Tornado ever to be compiled. Many of the survivors were only children when that killer storm swept down from the sky and carved a path through the lives of thousands of individuals linked by this singular event.

Death Rides the Sky: The Story of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado

Angela Mason

Science & Math

He went looking for faith but couldn't find it in the church... It's raw, rough, real, and maybe even redemptive; and he could lose his day job for writing about it! I Just Wanna Ride is an Ivy League pastor's search for authentic faith on a motorcycle after he couldn't find it after years in academics, pulpits, or pews. From his immersion into biker culture since watching Easy Rider as a teenager, the author holds no punches in this provocative, edgy, and risky look at hogs and those who ride 'em as a metaphor and challenge to believers and bikers. Too authentic for "church ladies" and too concerned about "faith" for secularists, this book demands reading by all of 'em if any of 'em still care about Who and what matter most sooner or later and definitely in the end.

I Just Wanna Ride (Ftw)

Robert R. Kopp

Travel

This is the first in a series of journals written by Robert Hall Tinker (1836-1924). Volume 1, 1851-1869, covers the adolescence of the young Mr. Tinker and the details of his life growing up in western New York until his marriage to Mary Dorr Manny in 1870. Mr. Tinker describes life in antebellum New York, before moving to the &lsquo;Wild West&rsquo; of Illinois to make a new home in Rockford. The journals end when Mr. Tinker takes his vows of marriage.\nMr. Robert Hall Tinker (1836-1924) was born in the Sandwich Islands (modern Hawai&rsquo;i) on the last day of 1836. His parents, Reuben and Mary Tinker, were missionaries in Hawaii throughout the 1830s and returned to the United States in 1840. Robert spent most of his childhood in Westfield, New York. In 1856 he moved to Rockford, Illinois to work at the Manny Reaper Company where he became a successful businessman and the future mayor of Rockford. Inspired by the architecture of Switzerland during a trip to Europe, Mr. Tinker designed a Swiss-style chalet on a bluff overlooking Kent Creek in Rockford. While working at the Manny Reaper Company, Mr. Tinker eventually fell in love with and married the widow Manny (Mary Dorr-Manny) in 1870. The Tinker family was prominent in the community and they lived a happy life until the death of Mary in 1901. Mr. Tinker eventually married his wife&rsquo;s niece Jessie Dorr and they lived in &ldquo;Tinker&rsquo;s Cottage&rdquo; with their adopted son Theodore until Robert&rsquo;s death in 1924. Mr. Tinker&rsquo;s Cottage still stands today as a museum and as a monument to the history of Rockford.

The Journals of Robert Hall Tinker, 1851-1869

Robert Hall Tinker

Join author and storyteller Amelia Cotter as she presents a chilling collection of personal paranormal encounters gathered from across Maryland-in some of its most legendary haunted locations, private homes, hidden, and sometimes unexpected places.From classic haunted houses to UFO sightings and mysterious creatures, these true stories, powerfully told in the words of those who experienced them, are sure to entertain and engage paranormal enthusiasts in Maryland and beyond.Awaiting you in Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State...-An amazing apparition photo caught in the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House in Waldorf, featured on My Ghost Story-The restless spirits of Hood College's German House in Frederick-Incredible investigation findings from Jericho Covered Bridge near Kingsville-Visitors from another planet on Lottsford Vista Road in Mitchellville-The shadow figures and strange folks that once lurked at Ellicott City's Hell House...and much more!"Get ready for a haunted road trip through Maryland! The walls of those old buildings as well as the battlefields and other great landmarks can talk...and Amelia Cotter is listening. Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State offers the history, the paranormal details, and the first-hand accounts that make us care deeply about these ghostly treasures. A great read throughout!"-Jeff Belanger, author of The World's Most Haunted Places, Founder of Ghostvillage.com, and host of 30 Odd Minutes

Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State

"But may be some sister or lover may pursue these pages some day with pleasure. It is with the belief that this book will have a circulation that I dot so elegantly these narrow lines." - Robert Hall Tinker This is the second in a series of journals written by Robert Hall Tinker (1836 - 1924). Volume 2, 1870-1901, covers his marriage to Mary Dorr Manny and their honeymoon in the Hawaiian Islands, his return trip to Europe, and his business enterprise in Colorado. In this volume Mr. Tinker describes life as adventurous but not always cheerful. The journals describe how Robert feels after learning about his mother's passing and the daily agonizing pain inflicted on his sister-in-law Hannah before her illness culminates in her own death. The journals end as Mr. Tinker loses his left foot in a train accident and the tragic death of his wife, Mary, on September 4, 1901. Mr. Robert Hall Tinker (1836-1924) was born in the Sandwich Islands (modern Hawai'i) on the last day of 1836. His parents, Reuben and Mary Tinker, were missionaries in Hawaii throughout the 1830s and returned to the United States in 1840. Robert spent most of his childhood in Westfield, New York. In 1856 he moved to Rockford, Illinois to work at the Manny Reaper Company where he became a successful businessman and the future mayor of Rockford. Inspired by the architecture of Switzerland during a trip to Europe, Mr. Tinker designed a Swiss-style chalet on a bluff overlooking Kent Creek in Rockford. While working at the Manny Reaper Company, Mr. Tinker eventually fell in love with and married the widow Manny (Mary Dorr-Manny) in 1870. The Tinker family was prominent in the community and they lived a happy life until the death of Mary in 1901. Mr. Tinker eventually married his wife's niece Jessie Dorr and they lived in "Tinker's Cottage" with their adopted son Theodore until Robert's death in 1924. Mr. Tinker's Cottage still stands today as a museum and as a monument to the history of Rockford.

The Journals of Robert Hall Tinker, 1870-1901

Tinker, Robert Hall

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