Haunted Dixie. Great Ghost Stories From the American South

by Charles G. Waugh

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1435104579
• ISBN13: 9781435104570
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Fall River
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Taste of Southern Gothic

Haunted Dixie is an anthology of 14 ghosts stories from the American South. It was published in 1994 as part of the American Ghost Series published by Rutledge Press. And without further ado, here's what I thought of them: The book starts out with Lost Boys (1989), a short story by Orson Scott Card (better known as the author of Ender's Game). It is written in a semi-autobiographical style, and it's about a family who has recently moved to a new city and how their eldest child has a hard time adjusting. Until he meets some little ghost friends, that is. There are some interesting flourishes here, but it's a rather predictable story, and I don't think it really fits in with the Southern Gothic theme of the book. The next story, What Say the Frogs Now, Jenny? (1983) written by Hugh B. Cave is a much better starting point. I've read a few of Cave's stories in other anthologies, and they are always interesting. Apparently, he was a big time pulp fiction writer during the 30s and 40s, who came out of retirement in the 80s and continued writing until his death in 2004. Perhaps that's why his stories have a timeless/urban legend quality to them. This particular piece is about a truck stop waitress and the unfortunate events that occur after she buys her first car. While there is a ghost or two in First Dark (1959), written by Elizabeth Spencer, this story is more about skeletons in the closet than spooks in a graveyard. Basically, a prodigal son returns to his Southern hometown after a lengthy absence and starts an unlikely romance with the daughter of the woman who terrorized him as a youth. Spencer does a good job of illustrating a bygone southern culture with the many idioms and mannerisms she uses. This is the first story of the anthology that I would label as true Southern Gothic. The Tree's Wife (1950), by Mary Elizabeth Counselman, is a half-whimsical/half-macabre tale about the "hill folk" and their strange ways. I liked this story a lot, because it gives the reader an inside look at the way the hillbillies of yore lived, without disparaging them. Two teenaged lovers hastily conspire to get married despite their feuding families (mainly due to the girl's pregnancy). During the wedding ceremony, however, the boy is killed. In lieu of a husband, the disraught girl marries the tree under which her lover's blood was spilled. Afterward, the tree starts to act strangely. I would label the next piece, The Chrome Comanche (1990) by Alan Dean Foster, as more of a Weird Western than Southern Gothic. It takes place in the Old West, where a Texas farmer is on the verge of relocating his family because his land is haunted by ghostly indians. It features the character of Amos Malone, a sort of paranormal bounty hunter, who decides to help the homesteader get to the bottom of his problems. If you like this type of yarn then you should pick up Mad Amos, which is a collection by Foster of all the Amos Malone short stories he's written throughout the year