Pre-Owned Cry Of The Banshee: History and Hauntings of West Virginia and the Ohio Valley

Product Description Born of the popular Haunted Parkersburg Tours, these unique stories of the not only delve into the history and hauntings of West Virginia but also reveal how to recognize ghosts, how to know if your house is haunted and even the 13 most likely places to find phantoms. Includes tales of haunted houses, spirit infested cemeteries, Civil War ghosts, ghostly railroads, eerie tunnels, and much more. Some of her stories feature 20th century ghosts, such as the spirits haunting a Parkersburg radio station or the city's historic Blennerhassett Ho Many of these Sheppard has witnessed firsthand. She has experienced innumerable hauntings in and around Riverview Cemetery, Parkersburg's version of the twilight zone. And of course, always a motherlode of tragedy and violence, Moundsville Prison has supplied plenty of tales of its tortured inhabitants. Cry of the Banshee, a comprehensive guide to the hauntings and tales of the paranormal in West Virginia and along the Ohio River. A phantom from the shores of Scotland and Ireland is the banshee, a cursed omen of bad news and death that plagued early settlers. Read on to meet a more famous West Virginia portent of doom, the Mothman. And here for the first time is the truth behind the West Virginia encounters with the infamous Men in Black and the terrifying Ingrid Cold, never before in print! Sheppard is fascinating as she spins her yarns about tragic Civil War ghosts, grieving women in white, and haunted railroads and tunnels. Plan your next trip into this twilight zone: visit tragic Margaret Blennerhassett, haunting her island home or the rock-n-roll bartender who haunts The Empty Glass in Charleston. For any history or ghost buff, Cry of the Banshee is a d interesting read. Some readers will want to travel the state to experience some of these ghosts for themselves others may want to visit Parkersburg. Of course, there's always the chance that if you read the book late at night, alone, you may never want to come within 100 miles of Parkersburg or Sheppard. But you can always sleep with the lights on... Review By Julie Robinson Staff writer PARKERSBURG - The crowds gather every Friday and Saturday night in the lobby of the Blennerhassett Ho They come to hear ghost stories told by psychic Susan Sheppard, who dresses the part in black with a deep purple cloak, black hair streaming over her shoulders, as she walks them through Parkersburg's most-haunted places. Last year, her tour nabbed a top-10 national ranking by Haunted American Tours. Her tour is part historical, part spectral, but it is the ghosts who bring the crowds. "If we called it a historical tour, nobody would come," Sheppard said. "Throw in ghosts and people come." Sheppard is the author of several books. She appeared on an episode of ABC Family's "Scariest Places on Earth" to investigate hauntings in the area of Shawnee Amusement Park in Bluefield. Sheppard and her husband, WTAP-TV anchor Roger Sheppard, have a 17-year-old daughter, Scarlet. She was inspired to start a Ghost Tour in Parkersburg after attending one in New Orleans in 1996. "I went on a tour of the French Quarter and thought we could do that in Parkersburg," she said. "I wrote the script with the help of Richard Southall, who had written a book on ghost hunters." At the tour's beginning, she acknowledges that everyone on the tour is not a believer, but that she does see the spirits and hear their tales. She urges nonbelievers to be respectful and listen to the stories. "I don't care if they don't believe they don't bother me," she said. "I'm not trying to convert anyone." The Blennerhassett Hotel is an appropriate starting place for the tour. Built in 1889 by oil baron William Chancellor, the Queen Anne-style hotel was a showplace from the day it was built. Chancellor had a strong cigar habit, and the smell of cigars is the most commonly cited indication of his presence in the strictly enforced nonsmokin