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Hunting the Haunted: Booger Tales - One
315 pages (print edition), 55,500 words, Appalachian ghost stories & haunted houses
By coincidence, Peggy meets a ghost hunter at a book signing. He wants her to take him on a tour of local haunted places. Some of her friends decide to go along.
Fascinated by the experience, she does some more ghost hunting and research on her own. In this book Peggy departs from her typical novel writing and tells of haunted places and ghost hunting. Plus she retells her family’s ghost stories as well as collecting and retelling other’s stories in Ashe, Watauga, Avery, and Mitchell counties in northwestern North Carolina.
From the “The Ghost Hunter” chapter:
In 2004 during a book signing at the Todd General Store in Todd, North Carolina a nice looking man, medium tall, strongly built, and around age forty showed up. He said he was a ghost hunter. (He also told his name, but it has long slipped my memory.)
Trying not to grin, I looked him over more closely. A good look always tells you more about a person than what they say. I had an idea he might be teasing about calling himself a ghost hunter, but he appeared to be serious in his self-description.
“A ghost hunter. Really?” I questioned him.
“Right,” he answered in all sincerity. “I’ve traveled all over the United States in search of ghosts.”
“Find any?” I quipped, still thinking he might be pulling my leg, but he took my question to be sincere.
“Thousands.”
Sure, I thought. Now he was joking with me. “How do you know they were ghosts?” I continued, and this time I smiled as I looked up at him. He was tall compared to me.
“I got their orbs on camera.” He smiled back.
“Orbs?”
His smile faded and he frowned at me. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what an orb is. I thought a writer would be well-versed on orbs and spirits.”
I wasn’t. We made eye contact, but we weren’t exactly communicating. I thought he was slightly odd and I’m sure he was thinking the same thing about me. Always ready to admit when I didn’t know about something, I shook my head to let him know I was not informed about orbs.
“An orb is a unit of energy that a camera can reflect on film. You see, ghosts give off an energy force that a camera can pick up,” he explained, more than willing to feed me information in an effort to educate me a little on orbs and ghosts.
“Really?” I continued.
“Really. Would you like to see some pictures of orbs that I’ve taken?”
I sure as shootin’ would. I was willing for him to back-up his claims about seeing ghosts.
He pulled out his camera bag, unzipped it, and handed me several pictures.
“This one is the ghost in Asheville at the Biltmore House. I had to get special permission to shoot these shots when no one else was around.”
I took the picture in my hand and looked closely. Much to my surprise, there was a misty shape of a woman at the top of stairs, and she kind of had a face. “That’s the ghost?” I asked, still a bit skeptical, to say the least.
“That’s her,” he said proudly. “I was lucky that time. I got her picture when a lot of others haven’t. She’s rather illusive and very shy, doesn’t like showing herself when a camera’s around.” …
… In return, I told him about some of the haunted houses and ghosts stories I grew up with. My stories were like holding sweet candy in a baby’s face.
By coincidence, Peggy meets a ghost hunter at a book signing. He wants her to take him on a tour of local haunted places. Some of her friends decide to go along.
Fascinated by the experience, she does some more ghost hunting and research on her own. In this book Peggy departs from her typical novel writing and tells of haunted places and ghost hunting. Plus she retells her family’s ghost stories as well as collecting and retelling other’s stories in Ashe, Watauga, Avery, and Mitchell counties in northwestern North Carolina.
From the “The Ghost Hunter” chapter:
In 2004 during a book signing at the Todd General Store in Todd, North Carolina a nice looking man, medium tall, strongly built, and around age forty showed up. He said he was a ghost hunter. (He also told his name, but it has long slipped my memory.)
Trying not to grin, I looked him over more closely. A good look always tells you more about a person than what they say. I had an idea he might be teasing about calling himself a ghost hunter, but he appeared to be serious in his self-description.
“A ghost hunter. Really?” I questioned him.
“Right,” he answered in all sincerity. “I’ve traveled all over the United States in search of ghosts.”
“Find any?” I quipped, still thinking he might be pulling my leg, but he took my question to be sincere.
“Thousands.”
Sure, I thought. Now he was joking with me. “How do you know they were ghosts?” I continued, and this time I smiled as I looked up at him. He was tall compared to me.
“I got their orbs on camera.” He smiled back.
“Orbs?”
His smile faded and he frowned at me. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what an orb is. I thought a writer would be well-versed on orbs and spirits.”
I wasn’t. We made eye contact, but we weren’t exactly communicating. I thought he was slightly odd and I’m sure he was thinking the same thing about me. Always ready to admit when I didn’t know about something, I shook my head to let him know I was not informed about orbs.
“An orb is a unit of energy that a camera can reflect on film. You see, ghosts give off an energy force that a camera can pick up,” he explained, more than willing to feed me information in an effort to educate me a little on orbs and ghosts.
“Really?” I continued.
“Really. Would you like to see some pictures of orbs that I’ve taken?”
I sure as shootin’ would. I was willing for him to back-up his claims about seeing ghosts.
He pulled out his camera bag, unzipped it, and handed me several pictures.
“This one is the ghost in Asheville at the Biltmore House. I had to get special permission to shoot these shots when no one else was around.”
I took the picture in my hand and looked closely. Much to my surprise, there was a misty shape of a woman at the top of stairs, and she kind of had a face. “That’s the ghost?” I asked, still a bit skeptical, to say the least.
“That’s her,” he said proudly. “I was lucky that time. I got her picture when a lot of others haven’t. She’s rather illusive and very shy, doesn’t like showing herself when a camera’s around.” …
… In return, I told him about some of the haunted houses and ghosts stories I grew up with. My stories were like holding sweet candy in a baby’s face.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 24, 2016
22 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
Peggy Poe Stern
53 books41 followersPeggy grew up on small farm in the Appalachians near Jefferson, NC; married young; finished school; made handcrafted folk toys; established her own farm on Grandfather Mountain near Boone; raised six children in a single-wide while growing burley tobacco, Christmas trees, and small fruits; built a house; raised small animals – all – while helping her husband do land surveying. Still farming, she enjoys her grand and great-grandchildren while creating novels sprinkled with the flavor of her mountain heritage. Since 2003 she has been writing about three books a year.
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August 19, 2021
Best ever reads!
I found Peggy Poe Stern books all on Amazon.
I h
I haveave binged on all of her books one right after the other an
I found Peggy Poe Stern books all on Amazon.
I h
I haveave binged on all of her books one right after the other an
Displaying 1 of 1 review