Product Description

In Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley, Georgiana Kotarski offers 30 of the best stories she found while researching a cover story for Chatanooga Life & Leisure. This is the first collection that focuses on ghosts in the region of the southern Tennessee River Valley, which includes the city of Chattanooga, southeastern Tennessee, northern Alabama, and northwestern Georgia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #718228 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 217 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780895873262
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Georgiana Chitko Kotarski farms and writes in Tennessee's Sequatchie Valley. She holds a BS from the University of the South, a BBA from Kennesaw State University, and an MPA from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has published more than 40 articles in local and national magazines and has written numerous grants.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A small black boy rambled through the pasture swinging a stick at faded yellow clumps of broomsedge. The pale glow of a new morning seeping over Walden's Ridge was not yet a challenge to the light frost covering the rough grass. The boy gingerly stepped around piles of cow manure, one still steaming, and called out to the herd, placidly grazing beyond a grove of cedars. About a hundred paces back, an old slave plodded along behind the boy like he did every morning, getting the cows up and bringing them in, after which he would milk each one, then turn them back out onto some of the most properous farmland in Tennessee, the bottom lands of the Sequatchie Valley.
The boy stopped walking, then dropped his stick, transfixed by a terrifying site on the hilltop. The infamous outlaw John A. Murrell had returned to life. Sitting up in his coffin over clotted, dark earth, Murrell appeared to have dug himself out. Now reanimated, he looked ready to join the living, for what purpose the boy could only imagine.
The boy stumbled back a step, then turned and raced past the man.

Customer Reviews

Pardon Me Boys, Is That The Chattanooga Spook-Spook?
As I started to read this book my hopes were high because the Chattanooga area has never been properly served with this type of book. With several major Civil War battles having been fought in the area there have to be ghosts lurking around and it is about time someone told their stories. Georgiana Kotarski has thankfully taken up the challenge and has put together the first ghost book that I know of to deal specifically with this area. The wait is finally over.

My high hopes were almost dashed from the very beginning however because the first story dealt far more with local legend than with ghosts. These kinds of stories are good for local flavor but do not add a thing to a good ghost book and should never be included in this type of collection. Fortunately however, after the first chapter the book really took off and was extremely enjoyable. The author did get a little carried away with the history of the haunted location a few times but otherwise the rest of the stories were excellent.

Most of the chapters were stories of recent encounters with the lost souls of the area and best of all there were numerous eyewitness accounts. There is no way to overstate just how important these recent firsthand accounts are to this type of book and this author has included an abundance of such material. In one case she interviewed a family of four that resided in a haunted house and therefore had the perspective of each family member, all of whom had experienced the haunt in one form or another.

As one would expect there are several stories of Civil War ghosts, including one Union soldier who is still mad because a little old lady pushed him down her stairs, but there are many other types of haunts that are also documented. The writing style is very fluid and regardless of the subject matter this is a very fun read. It is even more fun if one is a fan of ghost books and I certainly fall into that category. With the exception of the first chapter this is as good as ghost books get.

Great Ghost Stories!
This book does a very good job of capturing the history behind these ghost stories. Georgiana Kotarski not only tells the stories but also places them within their historical and cultural context by telling us about the settings, people, and eyewitnesses surrounding these ghost stories. She presents some of the most interesting ghost stories I have read in a long time. These stories are not only well researched but fun to read, especially for anyone who has ever lived or traveled through the haunts she describes. Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley is a great read!

The South Shall Rise From the Dead
Although it is regional in scope, Georgiana Kotarski's "Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley" is a worthwhile read for anyone who likes true ghost stories. Kotarski has collected thirty ghostly tales from the southern Tennessee River Valley, an area that comprises southeast Tennessee, northwest Georgia, and north Alabama, an area rich in history and rich in "haints."

In a vivid and entertaining style, Kotarski recounts the story of the headless ghost of bandit king John Murrell; the spirit of little Nina Craigmiles, whose tears stain red the white marble of her tomb; Green Eyes, the creature who roams Georgia's woods and wilds; and other assorted ghosts, many of whom haunt the Civil War battlefields of Chickamauga and Chattanooga.

This is Kotarski's first book, but I hope she will write more. "Ghosts of the Southern Tennessee Valley" makes a great addition to any ghosthunter's library.

John Kachuba
Author of Ghosthunting Ohio and Ghosthunting Illinois
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