America’s Most Gothic: Haunted History Stranger Than Fiction
Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes. Citadel, $29 (416p) ISBN 978-0-8065-4374-1
New York ghost tour guides Hieber and Janes (coauthors of Haunted History of Invisible Women) separate fact from fiction in this spine-tingling investigation of ghostly mayhem and gory deeds. Intent on exploring the real-life stories behind the “gothic tropes” that define North American folklore, they begin by examining cases of abandoned and abused women, starting with Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval, a French noblewoman traveling to Canada in 1542. The hapless Marquerite, as punishment for a dalliance with a fellow passenger, was discarded on an isolated island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which her ghost has been roaming ever since. Other stories of luckless ladies involve brides who expired unexpectedly on their wedding days, and whose spectral figures now drift endlessly through hotels across the continent (and are frequently hyped by the hotels’ owners, leading the authors to conclude that many such stories belong in the realm of “fakelore” rather than folklore). The authors also visit haunted mental health facilities—“a staple of American ghost lore”—as well as investigate vampire stories (which were linked to tuberculosis), stories of “cursed” families like the legendarily dysfunctional Lemp brewing family of St. Louis (plagued by suicide, murder, and phenomenally bad judgment), and one truly appalling real-life case of 1930s necrophilia. It’s a satisfying combination of well-sourced fact-checking, thoughtful literary analysis, and creepy chills. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 07/14/2025
Genre: Nonfiction