Michael Kleen

For over a decade, Michael Kleen, author of Legends and Lore of Illinois, has researched and traveled to mystery spots all over the Prairie State. Now, he has created the most organized and comprehensive guide to haunted and legendary places ever written about Illinois. Haunting Illinois is that guide. Haunting Illinois contains over 200 mystery sites. Michael not only examines the sites, but also the hobbyists and professionals who have devoted their lives to exploring the strange and unuusal in the great state of Illinois. Divided among eight distint regions and listed by county, each location features a description, directions, and sources drawn from a diverse variety of books and articles. Haunting Illinois challenges you to get off the couch and start exploring the wonderful State of Illinois. You might be surprised at what you discover!

A Tourist's Guide to the Weird and Wild Places of the Prairie State

Haunting Illinois

An organized and comprehensive guide to Illinois' haunted and legendary places, Haunting the prairie contains 130 mystery sites and 60 individual illustrations and maps, plus a bibliographic timeline of paranormal and folklore research in Illinois. The author examines the sites and the history, as well as the hobbyists and professionals who explore the strange and unusual in the state. Divided among eight distinct regions and listed by county, each location features a description, directions, and information drawn from a diverse variety of books and articles.

A Tourists Guide to the Weird and Wild Places of Illinois

Haunting the Prairie

Legends live just outside your door! The sixth and final edition of Tales of Coles County, Illinois combines the original Tales of Coles County, the Legends and Lore of Coles County, and a new third section on the Hidden History of Coles County with updated pictures, additional legends, and new stories. First published in 2004, Tales of Coles County, Illinois takes an entertaining look at local history through vivid historical fiction. When four students from Eastern Illinois University are stranded during a violent storm, they seek shelter with an elderly couple who give them more than they bargain for. After one night, the four will never look at Coles County the same way. With each story, they learn more about the place they've come to call home. The Second Battle of the Ambraw, the Charleston Riot of 1864, the Coles County Poor Farm, events surrounding the Airtight Bridge Murder, and the Blair Hall Fire of 2004, all are told. In the Legends and Lore of Coles County, Michael Kleen reveals over a dozen hidden stories from the from the area’s past and present, including ghost stories, folk tales, and other legends and lore. When did a poltergeist terrorize one rural family in Pleasant Grove Township? What is the real story behind the “Mad Gasser of Mattoon”? Why do they call one stretch of road "Dead Man's Curve"? The answers to these questions and more can be found in this definitive volume. In part three, Hidden History, Michael Kleen examines events some believe are better left unremembered. What is the history of Coles County’s ghost towns? What were some of its most infamous murders? What happened in the Tornado of 1917? Never-before published information about Mattoon's battle with Prohibition and even a local chapter of the KKK is inside.

Tales of Coles County, Illinois

The sixth and final edition of Tales of Coles County, Illinois combines the original Tales of Coles County, the Legends and Lore of Coles County, and a new third section on the Hidden History of Coles County with updated pictures, additional legends, and new stories. First published in 2004, Tales of Coles County, Illinois takes an entertaining look at local history through vivid historical fiction. When four students from Eastern Illinois University are stranded during a violent storm, they seek shelter with an elderly couple who give them more than they bargain for. After one night, the four will never look at Coles County the same way. With each story, they learn more about the place they've come to call home. The Second Battle of the Ambraw, the Charleston Riot of 1864, the Coles County Poor Farm, events surrounding the Airtight Bridge Murder, and the Blair Hall Fire of 2004, all are told. In the Legends and Lore of Coles County, Michael Kleen reveals over a dozen hidden stories from the from the area’s past and present, including ghost stories, folk tales, and other legends and lore. When did a poltergeist terrorize one rural family in Pleasant Grove Township? What is the real story behind the “Mad Gasser of Mattoon”? Why do they call one stretch of road "Dead Man's Curve"? The answers to these questions and more can be found in this definitive volume. In part three, Hidden History, Michael Kleen examines events some believe are better left unremembered. What is the history of Coles County’s ghost towns? What were some of its most infamous murders? What happened in the Tornado of 1917? Never-before published information about Mattoon's battle with Prohibition and even a local chapter of the KKK is inside.

The hidden history of witchcraft in the Land of Lincoln is revealed in this unique study by the author of Haunting Illinois. Although the Salem Witch Trials have drawn focus to New England as the center of witchcraft in American history, the practice was widespread across the Midwest. In Illinois, witchcraft—and witch persecution—have been part of local culture since French explorers arrived in the 17th century. In Witchcraft in Illinois, historian Michael Kleen presents the full story of the Prairie State's dalliance with the dark arts. On the Illinois frontier, pioneers pressed silver dimes into musket balls to ward off witches, while farmers dutifully erected fence posts according to phases of the moon. In 1904, the quiet town of Quincy was shocked to learn of Bessie Bement's suicide, after the young woman sought help from a witch doctor to break a hex. In turn-of-the-century Chicago, Lauron William de Laurence's occult publishing house churned out manuals for performing bizarre rituals intended to attract love and exact revenge.

A Cultural History

Witchcraft in Illinois

Amelia Cotter

Christian A. Larsen

Amy Braun

Rick McQuiston

Nicky Peacock

Jason Hughes

Ryan Tandy

Walter Conley

Rhesa Sealy

Richard Farren Barber

Anton Sim

James David Park

There is a time of night when the ghosts grow more active. This hour is the witching hour. Here is a collection of 13 ghostly tales. Be careful when you read, we wouldn't want to get ... "Lost in the Witching Hour" Table of Contents Approaching by Ryan Tandy Sonic Fear by Michael Kleen Amanda by Walter Conley In My Dreams are Halle's Embers by Rhesa Sealy Never Too Late by Rick McQuiston Battlefield of Souls by Richard Farren Barber Crybaby Bridge by Christian A. Larsen What Happened to Little Caitlin by Nicky Peacock When the Goatman Comes by Amelia Cotter Charlatan Charade by Amy Braun The Patience Factor by Rick McQuiston DO NOT DISTURB: The Glen Tavern Entities by Jason Hughes Cleopatra's Ghost by Anton Sim The Whorehouse Ghosts by James David Park

Lost in the Witching Hour

One Voice is a new collection of columns and editorials by Black Oak Media¿s own Michael Kleen. Topics include: Consumerism and its harm to our society, the importance of individual liberty, the importance of individual responsibility to family and community, victim-mentality and why it is harmful to the individual, how to solve drug abuse without throwing everyone in prison, How we can apply ancient wisdom to modern life, and much more! Many of these columns have been printed in an assortment of publications, including the Black Oak Report and Black Oak Media.org. One Voice brings them together in one simple format!

Michael Kleen

Books

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