An American Haunting: The Bell Witch

• ISBN13: 9780312363536
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"'By God, we've kicked the Vietnam syndrome,' crowed President George H. W. Bush when he repelled Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991. He was wrong. The Vietnam debacle continues to haunt America's political leaders, military men, and population. Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb's account of this phenomenon is studiously researched, vividly narrated, and, above all, highly readable. It will stand as a major contribution to the subject."Ââ€"Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam: A History, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

The United States had never lost a warÂâ€"that is, until 1975, when it was forced to flee Saigon in humiliation after losing to what Lyndon Johnson called a "raggedy-ass little four! th-rate country." The legacy of this first defeat has haunted every president since, especially on the decision of whether to put "boots on the ground" and commit troops to war.

In Haunting Legacy, the father-daughter journalist team of Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb presents a compelling, accessible, and hugely important history of presidential decisionmaking on one crucial issue: in light of the Vietnam debacle, under what circumstances should the United States go to war?

The sobering lesson of Vietnam is that the United States is not invincibleÂâ€"it can lose a warÂâ€"and thus it must be more discriminating about the use of American power. Every president has faced the ghosts of Vietnam in his own way, though each has been wary of being sucked into another unpopular war. Ford (during the Mayaguez crisis) and both Bushes (Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan) deployed massive force, as if to say, "Vietnam, be damned." On the other hand, Carter, Clinton, ! and Reagan (to the surprise of many) acted with extreme cautio! n, mindf ul of the Vietnam experience. Obama has also wrestled with the Vietnam legacy, using doses of American firepower in Libya while still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The authors spent five years interviewing hundreds of officials from every postwar administration and conducting extensive research in presidential libraries and archives, and they've produced insight and information never before published. Equal parts taut history, revealing biography, and cautionary tale, Haunting Legacy is must reading for anyone trying to understand the power of the past to influence war-and-peace decisions of the present, and of the future.

Known throughout Tennessee as "Old Kate," the Bell Witch took up residence with John Bell's family in 1818. It was a cruel and noisy spirit, given to rapping and gnawing sounds before it found its voices.

With these voices and its supernatural acts, the Bell Witch tormented the Bell family. This extraordinary book recounts the ! only documented case in U.S. history when a spirit actually caused a man's death.

The local schoolteacher, Richard Powell, witnessed the strange events and recorded them for his daughter. His astonishing manuscript fell into the hands of novelist Brent Monahan, who has prepared the book for publication. Members of the Bell family have previously provided information on this fascinating case, but this book recounts the tale with novelistic vigor and verve. It is truly chilling.

Ghost stories in various forms have been a part of popular literature for centuries, from Shakespeare to Dickens to Faulkner. Over the past twenty-five years, a resurgence of haunting plots has occurred in American literature. In Cultural Haunting, Kathleen Brogan makes the case that this recent preoccupation with ghosts stems not from a lingering interest in Gothic themes but instead from a whole new g! enre in American literature that she calls "the story of ! cultural haunting."

Examining Louis Erdrich's Tracks, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Cristina Garcia's Dreaming in Cuba, Brogan argues that modern ghost stories offer a way for minority authors to come to terms with their lost cultural identities. At the heart of this process, she contends, is the experience of mourning as that form of memory determined by an awareness of a break with the past. While conscious of the cultural differences among these haunted tales of slavery, colonization, and immigration, the author demonstrates that they all function similarly: to re-create ethnic identity by imaginatively recovering a collective history that in many cases has been fragmented or erased. Her readings show how the specific histories and local meanings support the pan-ethnic genre she has defined.

The book suggests that modern stories of haunting reflect the increased emphasis on ethnic and racial differentation in American society over the past thirty years. The ghosts found in contemporary American literature lead us to the heart of our nation's discourse about multiculturalism and ethnic identity.

A young couple down on their luck moves into an old Texas house--but something inside the house doesn't want them to stay in this original and horrifying novel about blackest evil.From headless phantoms and screaming specters to invisible poltergeists and disembodied voices, ghosts occupy our homes, infest cemeteries and graveyards, lurk in nearby caves and forests, and even wander city streets. However, despite the wealth of sightings, aspiring ghost hunters have few resources.
        
Now, for the first time, here is a fully functioning field guide for those courageous investigators! who wish to observe and interact with supernatural beings and! the spi rit world. Drawn from all available evidence, including recent research and sightings, modern urban legends, and Native American mythology and North American folklore, this book describes in detail over 100 haunted sites and their resident specters.
        
Brimming with useful advice and practical tips for the ghost hunter, The Field Guide to North American Hauntings provides vital information for those seeking to encounter ghosts. Whether exploring the lonely cells of Alcatraz or the desolate stretch of road known as Route 666, or searching for specters at the White House, ghost hunters will always be prepared with The Field Guide to North American Hauntings.W. Haden Blackman itemizes over 100 haunted sites and their resident specters, focusing on haunted houses, haunted vessels, haunted cemeteries, and haunted sites in nature--from the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego (where Kate Morgan, killed on Thanksgiving Day in 1892, now appears in a! black lace dress and makes strange choking noises) to Franklin's Haunted Orchard (where a foreign-born peddler was killed and buried under an apple tree in 1759, and where apple trees have continued to this day to produce blood-stained blossoms and blood-streaked apple pulp).

Blackman intends his guide, however, to be more than just another ghoulish anthology. If you want to find and interact safely with ghosts, you need to know where to go, what to look for, and how benign the ghosts are. For each site, along with a full narrative and supernatural history, Blackman includes its address and whereabouts, the number of ghostly residents, their identities, and the type of ghostly activities that have been observed. He tells what their demeanors are (their personalities; propensities for mischief, violence, or both; and attitudes toward the living), and the likelihood of encountering the spirit or ghostly phenomenon while visiting. A chapter on ghost huntin! g provides worthwhile tips for anyone wishing to avoid, cope ! with, or encounter a spectral presence, and the appendices--with sample questionnaires for ghost witnesses, sample questionnaires for ghosts, a glossary, and listings by state and province--round out the practical nature of Blackman's guide. But even if you haven't the slightest interest in searching out ghost haunts, the book is worth it for the sensational stories alone. --Stephanie Gold

Known throughout Tennessee as "Old Kate," the Bell Witch took up residence with John Bell's family in 1818. It was a cruel and noisy spirit, given to rapping and gnawing sounds before it found its voices.

With these voices and its supernatural acts, the Bell Witch tormented the Bell family. This extraordinary book recounts the only documented case in U.S. history when a spirit actually caused a man's death.

The local schoolteacher, Richard Powell, witnessed the strange events and recorded them for his daughter. His astonishing manuscript fell into the hands of nov! elist Brent Monahan, who has prepared the book for publication. Members of the Bell family have previously provided information on this fascinating case, but this book recounts the tale with novelistic vigor and verve. It is truly chilling.