Ghost Stories of the Old West

Ghost Stories of the Old West (as also Ghost Stories of the Civil War, and Haunted Highways) is in the style of recent TV series on haunting and the paranormal. They are short, often second or third hand, and often very vague. Many, especially those from the Civil War and early west, are more in the nature of folk tales, round-the-campfire-ghost stories, or urban legends. Several of the latter type are stories that I have read in other anthologies, the Inn at Mile 108 which narrates the tale of a larcenous and murderous inn-keeper, being a case in point. The only new thing introduced in this story was its setting in Canada, which information I had not heard prior to its recitation in this book.

In general Mr. Asfar has a good narrative style, although he does occasionally stoop to pure sentimentality, as he does in this book in The Ghost of Catherine Sutler and the Ghost of Elizabeth Polly. He creates a mood and a history for his tales, often teaching the reader a little about the founding of some of the towns of the old west. Some of the stories are set in places where the haunted sites are open to the public, most notably the Bird Cage Theater in Tombstone, Arizona. It makes one want to make a special stop!

Although I doubt that anyone reading them will feel any great apprehension, Mr. Asfar's tales do make for a fun afternoon.