GHOST DOGS OF THE SOUTH

This vivid, bewitching volume of "true" Southern ghost tales reveals not only dogs' enduring devotion to their folk, but the deep attachment of Southerners to these legends. Russell and Barnett—both folklorists—have culled 20 homespun canine poltergeist narratives, prefacing the volume with a personal anecdote of their Great Dane, Desdemona, whose devotion to the authors knew no earthly bounds and inspired this compilation. Spanning the years between the American Revolutionary War and the present, these stories of ghost dogs and dog ghosts (e.g., humans who manifest as dogs) often recount benign hauntings. Mike, an Airedale, still patrols a Harlan County, Ky., coal mine, alerting miners to potential accidents. The ghosts of a sea captain and his dog ride the waves of the Gulf of Mexico near Mobile Bay, warning sailors of hurricanes. A Boxer ghost named Preston who saved the life of a trick-or-treater from a speeding automobile in the 1950s still roams his old neighborhood every Halloween. A mutt named Moses refuses to be separated in the afterlife from his beloved master, a fallen soldier of the Civil War. Alternately eerie, funny, tragic and sentimental, these tales are told in clear, declamatory prose befitting their origin in the oral tradition. An informative foreword by Genelle Moraine, a University of Georgia comparative folklore professor emerita, clarifies aspects of Southern culture, while a delightful selection of vintage photographs from the authors' personal collection of people and their canine companions accompanies the text. These tales will undoubtedly delight dog lovers and will not fail to charm even the most dour skeptics of supernatural phenomena. (Oct.)