The Vermont Ghost Experience
Joseph A. Citro and Robert Waldo Brunelle, Jr.
Bat Books
October 2016
Reviewed by David Goudsward
Vermont would seem to be the very essence of pastoral tranquility. But beneath the surface is a roiling hotbed of weirdness.
Lake Champlain Monster. The Pigman of Northfield. The spiritualist Eddy Brothers. The Bennington Triangle. The list goes on.
And then there are the ghosts.
Simply put, Vermont is awash with spooks. They haunt the houses, the cemeteries, the covered bridges, the museums, even railroad tracks. And that’s where The Vermont Ghost Experience comes into play. Joe Citro has covered the Green Mountain haunts before, and will undoubtedly do so again, but this title feels different from the previous books — more casual and lighter in its treatment.
Citro and Brunelle have taken a collective deep breath, let the stories tell themselves, and then place the story in context. Particularly interesting is the ghost of Marie Blais at the Queen City Cotton Mill. By itself an outstanding account of a ghost, it is made all the more interesting by the inclusion of the aftermath of the story as additional papers picked up the story and modified it, each change making it more unrecognizable as the French Canadian mill girl becomes Irish Kathleen, and then Josephine.
The book is profusely illustrated by illustrator Brunelle, including one story told as a graphic novel. The Vermont Ghost Experience is not a comprehensive guide to Vermont’s haunted locations (if such a book is even possible). It is, however, ghost stories told by native Vermonters who are not just accomplished storytellers, but fully vested in the folklore of their home.
