The author of Civil War Ghosts of Southwest Missouri takes the paranormal pulse of this rustic city in the heart of the Ozarks. A rich mixture of inexplicable history and eerie happenstance runs through the portion of the Ozark Plateau that Carthage has carved out for itself. Woodland cabins greet visitors with phantom hosts or vanish into the night entirely. Rumors tell of lost Spanish treasure caravans haunting the hills with the same persistence as the Confederate guerrillas who were run aground there. But the town itself isn’t immune from the encroachment of the supernatural; the drama of tragic death continues to find a stage in an opera house, a hospital, and an elegant residence. Lisa Livingston-Martin tracks down the fiercest and most fascinating specters from Carthage’s past. Includes photos! “According to the book Haunted Carthage, Missouri by Lisa Livingston-Martin, there have been many sightings and various paranormal events in and around Carthage.” —The Joplin Globe

From Native American societies to the Civil War to the crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde, Joplin’s history leaves spirited legends in its wake . . . The barrier between Joplin’s boisterous past and its present is as flimsy as a swinging saloon door. Lisa Livingston-Martin kicks it wide open in this ghostly history. In her expert company, tour a hotel with a reputation made from equal parts opulence and tragedy. Visit that house of horrors, the Stefflebeck Bordello, where guests regularly got the axe and were disposed of in mine shafts. Navigate through angry lynch mobs and vengeful patrols of Civil War spirits. Catch a glimpse of Bonnie and Clyde. Keep your wits about you—it’s haunted Joplin. Includes photos! “There may be as many non-living residents of Joplin as there are live ones, according to Haunted Joplin.” —The Morning Sun

For southwest Missouri, the Civil War was an unparalleled period of violence, sorrow and anger. As the torches burned the physical landscape, the depredations inflicted were also scorched upon the psyche of the people who lived through fires. Survey Carthage's battlefield for stubborn holdouts or hold vigil at the Kendrick House for innocent bystanders who were swept up into the stratagems of bushwhackers and guerrillas. Meet the Bloody Spikes, Rotten Johnny Reb and scores more figures from the region's past who continue to trouble its present.

Contains over seventy tales of ghostly hauntings from each of the fifty United States and Canada.

Tracing Route 66 through Missouri represents one of America's favorite exercises in nostalgia, but a discerning glance among the roadside weeds reveals the kind of sordid history that doesn't appear on postcards. Along with vintage cars and picnic baskets, Route 66 was a conduit humming with contraband and crackling with the gunplay of folks like Bonnie and Clyde, Jesse James and the Young brothers. It was also the preferred byway of lynch mobs, murderous hitchhikers and mad scientists. Stop in at places like the Devil's Elbow and the Steffleback Bordello on this trip through the more treacherous twists of the Mother Road.

A look at various Civil War battlefields and the hauntings now reported from them.

A look at various Civil War battlefields and the hauntings now reported from them.