I have long enjoyed reading "true" ghost stories from the places I visit, as well as my former home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Lancaster region, to my eternal regret, had a dearth of good hauntings to share, as evidenced by Dorothy Burtz Fiedel's Haunted Lancaster County Pennsylvania, so maybe that's why I didn't immediately seek out its counterpart when I crossed the Susquehanna River and took up residence in neighboring York County.

But when I spied a copy of Spooky York, Pennsylvania by Scott D. Butcher and Dinah Roseberry in a local bookstore, I of course had to pick it up. I didn't expect much ... but I was pleasantly surprised. There's more going on here, spectrally speaking, than I realized!

Of course, it's hard to live in this area without hearing about the elusive Seven Gates of Hell, which supposedly can be found within a few miles of my home, and Rehmeyer's Hollow, where the notorious Hex Murder took place in 1928. The latter story involves a couple of pow-wow men, practitioners of a form of Pennsylvania Dutch folk magic, and the murder of one of them by the other over a perceived curse. Both stories, one of which is grounded in recorded facts, certainly provide a foundation for spooky ghost stories in the region.

But there's plenty more! York apparently boasts theater ghosts, restaurant ghosts, highway ghosts, residential ghosts ... and even a murdered Prohibition-era flapper ghost! The county has a rich history dating back to pre-Revolutionary times, and it seems there are a few spirits still active from those early days. And, given the area's proximity to Gettysburg and the various skirmishes and forays that took place there during the Civil War, it's unsurprising that the book includes a healthy share of restless soldiers.

Authors Scott D. Butcher and Dinah Roseberry each bring their own perspective to the book, with each contributing separate chapters clearly marked so readers know whose voice they are hearing. Butcher, a York County historian of some note who also gives local ghost tours, definitely brings more of a historical and scholarly focus to his stories, while Roseberry tells stories based more on feelings, impressions and the reactions of the pendulum she swings at some of the locations described.

That last bit is important. Not the pendulum part, which frankly I could have done without. Take note of the phrase "locations described." That's one of the things I really liked about this book. The authors aren't writing in abstract about places they've heard about -- they're writing about places they've seen with their own eyes, things they've experienced in person, experiences told to them directly by the people involved. I have read plenty of books like this where it was obvious the author had no first-hand knowledge of the places discussed, but Butcher and Roseberry have both lived in York County and bring that local touch to their writing. In the first chapter, Butcher even shares the stories he tells on downtown York ghost tours, with stops at locations including the Yorktowne Hotel, the Lafayette Club, the Bonham and Goodridge houses, the Golden Plough Tavern, Washington Hall, "Mad Anthony's" Headquarters and the old York jail site.

From there, the writers branch out, stopping at locations such as the Crispus Attucks Early Learning Center, York Little Theatre, Elmwood Mansion, the Roosevelt Tavern, the Accomac Inn and Camp Security -- the last of which is the site of a Revolutionary War-era prisoner of war camp less than a mile from my house. Butcher debunks the legend of the ghost of a Hessian soldier -- no Hessians were imprisoned there -- but there's no denying a large number of British soldiers are buried somewhere close by, in unmarked graves ... perhaps even under this very neighborhood! (My wife and I both have had experiences in our home that make us wonder....)

In any case, the authors have very different styles of writing. Personally, I prefer Butcher's approach, but that's purely subjective. Roseberry's is a bit more twee, and she provides unnecessary padding at the end of the book with a rambling essay about the possibility of communing with the dead in cemeteries and a firm belief in her own budding psychic abilities.

Nonetheless, I very much enjoyed Spooky York, Pennsylvania. Anyone who lives, works or passes through this area should check it out!