River of Ghosts: Haunted Legends Along the Mississippi

From the bluffs of Minnesota to the Gulf's last blue horizon, the Mississippi carries more than water. It carries memory. In this immersive journey, bestselling historian Robert Turek walks levees at midnight, slips into silent theaters, stands beneath ruined columns, and listens to what lingers when the crowds are gone.

Blending investigative rigor with spellbinding storytelling, River of Ghosts traces the river's spectral map: boat graveyards in Plaquemines Parish, Victorian parlors in Natchez, soldier-choked ramparts at Fort Jackson, echoing mills in Lutcher and Gramercy, shadowed cemeteries in Hannibal, and forgotten worker cottages along Louisiana's River Road. Each chapter braids eyewitness testimony, archival finds, and on-site field notes into narratives that feel as immediate as a cold breath at your ear.

This is not a catalog of jump scares. It is a work of living history that honors the people inside the legends. Turek follows names through courthouse ledgers, diaries, and newspaper morgues, then sets those facts against the river's night chorus of footsteps, lantern lights, phantom music, and voices that refuse to fade. The result is a haunting portrait of a waterway that keeps its dead close and its stories closer.

Perfect for fans of true hauntings, narrative history, and atmospheric travel writing, River of Ghosts invites you to stand on sacred ground, listen hard, and carry the memory forward. The river is speaking. This book helps you hear it.