"From that day to this, the headless ghost of Blackbeard has haunted Teach’s Hole. Whenever the wind blows inland, you can still hear Blackbeard’s ghost tramping up and down. It carries a lantern through the moonless night, roaring, ‘Where’s my head?!’ Whenever folks see a strange light coming from the shore on the Pamlico Sound side of Ocracoke Island, they call it Teach’s light''

This lovely book contains folk tales from the fascinating, saulty and mysterious area of the South of the United States.It is divided into two parts. The first focuses on stories of ghosts, haunting houses and fields and the second is dedicated to witches, vampires, werewolves and other menacing creatures of the dark.

Some of my favourite stories are:
"The Cut-Off" from Louisiana : Atmospheric Mississippi foggy nights
"The Army of the Dead" from Charleston, South Carolina: A tale about the tragic warriors of the Civil War.
''The Death Watch" from West Virginia: A tale about a haunted coal mine.
"Blackbeard’s Ghost" from Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina: Come on, it's Edward Teach!
‘’The Handshake" from Goldsboro, North Carolina: A tragic story of a young bride and a horrible man.
"Jack-o’-Lantern" from Alabama. A lovely version of poor Jack's ordeal.
"The Lady" from Richmond, Virginia: An eerie, dark tale of madness.
"The Bell Witch" from Adams, Tennessee: Who doesn't know this folktale?

The collection becomes even more beautiful and atmospheric by the black and white illustrations, drawn in a very attractive style, absolutely fitting to each story. The writing is simple but very effective and captures the distinctive Southern speech and the haunting feeling of the region. I enjoyed every page of this book and I look forward to try my luck with as many volumes of the series as I can find.

"And sometimes,” he continued, looking at me, “you can see Blackbeard’s headless ghost floating on the surface of the water, or swimming around and around and around Teach’s Hole, glowing just underneath the water, searching for his head. For Blackbeard is as proud in death as he was in life, and he doesn’t want to meet the devil or his crewmates in hell without a head on his shoulders.”
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In Schlosser’s novel, he retells thirty creepy tales of hauntings, ghosts, eerie happenings, and other unexplained occurrences throughout the Southwest. A great read for those who love scary stories! ( )