What an unexpectedly entertaining and informative cultural history. Starts off by telling the spooky legends of a place, and then shares the historical facts, which often contrast strongly. Interesting historical details about how some of these legends were intentionally crafted to sell attraction tickets. Or how in many cases, locals had an issue with independent women and crafted stories about them. Or how the House of Seven Gables had a different number of gables, but this was a more evocative title. Ha. Really fascinating interviews with ghost hunters and historians. The author is impressively even-handed and not ever interested in disproving (or proving) ghosts. Instead, he is sharing the documented historical facts, and often sharing the documented history and creation of misinformation over the years. Discusses lots of interesting cultural reasons why some of these legends and stories might have been crafted, and gets into some of the anthropological reasons why we create these legends and what important roles they play in society. I really loved reading the documentation of how different legends changed dramatically over the years, and what historical and cultural changes might have led to the changes and adoption of new different ghost legends. Also discussing how different gender and racial politics throughout the centuries have shaped the cultural landscape and created/changed ghost legends. Discusses the importance of these stories in society. Just a fascinating book. I’d been worried it might be too spooky, but it really wasn’t. Fun and interesting stuff.