What do you think?
Rate this book
Haunted America
Ghosts of Virginia's Tidewater
The putrid estuaries of the Great Dismal Swamp and the colonial mansions of Tidewater Virginia provide a chilling setting for tales of the mysterious and strange. From the ghost of Jefferson Davis's iron-willed widow who walks the dank corridors of Fort Monroe to the restless presence of Cornwallis's soldiers killed at the Battle of Yorktown, the region is rife with eerie tales of the tragic and unexplained. Paranormal expert and author L.B. Taylor Jr. revisits classic ghost stories from his collection and introduces readers to thirteen terrifying new tales. Join Taylor as he travels forgotten country lanes and dark waterways in search of the spirits of Virginia's haunted shores.
- GenresParanormalGhostsHistory
131 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 29, 2011
15 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
L.B. Taylor Jr.
54 books22 followersWilliamsburg resident L.B. Taylor, Jr., is credited with 50 non-fiction books, including 25 enormously popular collections of Virginia ghost stories.
He earned his journalism degree from Florida State University, served in the U.S. Army, and later covered spaceflight missions for NASA. As a freelance writer, he wrote more than 300 articles throughout his career and his retirement.
While his popular non-fiction books cover diverse subjects, from pirate treasure to electronic surveillance, his ghost story collections set him firmly in Virginia libraries, schools, and homes.
He earned his journalism degree from Florida State University, served in the U.S. Army, and later covered spaceflight missions for NASA. As a freelance writer, he wrote more than 300 articles throughout his career and his retirement.
While his popular non-fiction books cover diverse subjects, from pirate treasure to electronic surveillance, his ghost story collections set him firmly in Virginia libraries, schools, and homes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 13, 2025
A few things I liked about this book right from the start include--
1. Having bought this book while on vacation in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia
2. Finding myself loving the local lore within Williamsburg and the area surrounding
3. The details of ghost sightings and paranormal encounters
4. And realizing how different Virginia's paranormal lore is when compared to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, two states I love researching in paranormal studies!
Southern New Jersey has the lore of the Jersey Devil. Northwestern New Jersey has its own version of Bigfoot. Pennsylvania has a plethora of ghost sightings and paranormal happenings, especially in Gettysburg. In studying Virginian-general/Williamsburg-specific paranormal lore, many stories of the paranormal focus on reviving dead bodies and semi-sentient skeletons from ghost ships sinking along the coast from 250 to 300 years ago (if you're curious, I don't believe talking skeletons count as zombies; I think they're entirely different, but that's a whole debate for another day!)
I didn't have a favorite character within this paranormal nonfiction novel, but many of the ghost stories stuck with me long after I finished reading this book. Although some of the ghostly tales were so sad, many fascinated me and had me wanting to learn more about them, even though most details have been lost to time.
The first story that stuck with me in a sad way was of the African American slave who was murdered by his master. Why was that? The master was having an affair with the slave's wife and wanted the slave out of the way. It was unfair and sad and had me wondering just how common something like that was back then...
Another story that stuck out to me was of the divided bride and groom. I don't recall their names off the top of my head, but the bride was in love with the groom, a man twice her age. Her parents weren't happy or approving of the marriage, so the bride ran away with the groom and got married. In life, others were desperate to keep the two apart, and after both the bride and groom died, they were buried together, and an oak tree grew between their gravesites, parting their coffins. The tree was taken down, and the coffins were once again next to each other... until another oak tree grew in the same spot and divided the coffins once more. What are the chances of that? Is some force keeping them apart that science can't explain, or could this all be coincidental? Ha-ha, you know me; I don’t believe in coincidences!
I felt excitement and intrigue as I read this book, but the one part that made me sad was the story of a Southern girl during the Civil War having fallen in love with a soldier and asking for her father's blessing in a marriage. The father said no, that if his daughter defied him, he would permanently take her out and bury her with his fortune as a last ha-ha. The girl ran off with the soldier and got married, then returned to tell her family, and her father went through with his threat; he buried her body with his gold somewhere in the swamp around Colonial Williamsburg, and her body has never been found, but travelers see her ghost here and there every so often.
The only thing I disliked about this book was its length; I wanted so much more than just 125 pages of local lore on Colonial Williamsburg’s paranormal happenings.
This book was such a page-turner that, I believe, even those who don't believe in ghosts or paranormal stuff, in general, would enjoy reading this. Science can explain sightings of will-o'-the-wisps in the swamps surrounding Williamsburg, of course, but scientific fact can't explain everything, and that's what I loved about this book, the possibility beyond human understanding, whether or not it's true or wholly believed by daydreamers and those described as imaginative oddities... both, of which, I consider myself to be.
Author L. B. Taylor Jr. cites many other sources in the last pages of this book to give context of where he came across these stories of the paranormal, beyond what he knows himself, but I think this book is a short cluster of fascinating ghost stories that can be enjoyed even if you're not someone who subscribes to the idea of ghosts or any paranormal happenings. I rated this book 5/5 stars and look forward to reading more from L. B. Taylor Jr., as he has a way of making every single brief story of ghostly encounters worth remembering long after you finish reading this book. If you have an hour or three of free time, pick this book up and read it in one sitting; it's simply that peculiar and attention-grabbing! I kid you not, you'll be entertained by at least one tale within this novel!
1. Having bought this book while on vacation in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia
2. Finding myself loving the local lore within Williamsburg and the area surrounding
3. The details of ghost sightings and paranormal encounters
4. And realizing how different Virginia's paranormal lore is when compared to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, two states I love researching in paranormal studies!
Southern New Jersey has the lore of the Jersey Devil. Northwestern New Jersey has its own version of Bigfoot. Pennsylvania has a plethora of ghost sightings and paranormal happenings, especially in Gettysburg. In studying Virginian-general/Williamsburg-specific paranormal lore, many stories of the paranormal focus on reviving dead bodies and semi-sentient skeletons from ghost ships sinking along the coast from 250 to 300 years ago (if you're curious, I don't believe talking skeletons count as zombies; I think they're entirely different, but that's a whole debate for another day!)
I didn't have a favorite character within this paranormal nonfiction novel, but many of the ghost stories stuck with me long after I finished reading this book. Although some of the ghostly tales were so sad, many fascinated me and had me wanting to learn more about them, even though most details have been lost to time.
The first story that stuck with me in a sad way was of the African American slave who was murdered by his master. Why was that? The master was having an affair with the slave's wife and wanted the slave out of the way. It was unfair and sad and had me wondering just how common something like that was back then...
Another story that stuck out to me was of the divided bride and groom. I don't recall their names off the top of my head, but the bride was in love with the groom, a man twice her age. Her parents weren't happy or approving of the marriage, so the bride ran away with the groom and got married. In life, others were desperate to keep the two apart, and after both the bride and groom died, they were buried together, and an oak tree grew between their gravesites, parting their coffins. The tree was taken down, and the coffins were once again next to each other... until another oak tree grew in the same spot and divided the coffins once more. What are the chances of that? Is some force keeping them apart that science can't explain, or could this all be coincidental? Ha-ha, you know me; I don’t believe in coincidences!
I felt excitement and intrigue as I read this book, but the one part that made me sad was the story of a Southern girl during the Civil War having fallen in love with a soldier and asking for her father's blessing in a marriage. The father said no, that if his daughter defied him, he would permanently take her out and bury her with his fortune as a last ha-ha. The girl ran off with the soldier and got married, then returned to tell her family, and her father went through with his threat; he buried her body with his gold somewhere in the swamp around Colonial Williamsburg, and her body has never been found, but travelers see her ghost here and there every so often.
The only thing I disliked about this book was its length; I wanted so much more than just 125 pages of local lore on Colonial Williamsburg’s paranormal happenings.
This book was such a page-turner that, I believe, even those who don't believe in ghosts or paranormal stuff, in general, would enjoy reading this. Science can explain sightings of will-o'-the-wisps in the swamps surrounding Williamsburg, of course, but scientific fact can't explain everything, and that's what I loved about this book, the possibility beyond human understanding, whether or not it's true or wholly believed by daydreamers and those described as imaginative oddities... both, of which, I consider myself to be.
Author L. B. Taylor Jr. cites many other sources in the last pages of this book to give context of where he came across these stories of the paranormal, beyond what he knows himself, but I think this book is a short cluster of fascinating ghost stories that can be enjoyed even if you're not someone who subscribes to the idea of ghosts or any paranormal happenings. I rated this book 5/5 stars and look forward to reading more from L. B. Taylor Jr., as he has a way of making every single brief story of ghostly encounters worth remembering long after you finish reading this book. If you have an hour or three of free time, pick this book up and read it in one sitting; it's simply that peculiar and attention-grabbing! I kid you not, you'll be entertained by at least one tale within this novel!
June 18, 2021
5+ stars
L.B. Taylor is the best storyteller ever. My favorite in this collection is The Multiple Haunts of Old House Woods.....but all of them are good.
L.B. Taylor is the best storyteller ever. My favorite in this collection is The Multiple Haunts of Old House Woods.....but all of them are good.
August 7, 2015
Great read! Great find!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews