Читать книгу Jeffrey's Favorite 13 Ghost Stories - Kathryn Tucker Windham - Страница 7

It has been nearly forty years since Jeffrey came clumping into my life. Then, back in 1966, I did not know who or what was walking with heavy steps down the hall, opening and slamming doors, moving a variety of objects, rocking in a rocking chair, and frightening our old cat, Hornblower. Hornblower, now deceased, was the only living thing ever frightened by Jeffrey.

One of my children gave the intruder his name. The name was chosen for no particular reason, but we were pleased years later to learn that one of England’s most famous ghosts was named Jeffrey. The English Jeffrey haunted the rectory in Epworth where John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism, lived.

Our family has a real affection for Jeffrey. We’re comfortable, even grateful, having him around. We blame everything that goes wrong on Jeffrey, thus relieving ourselves of any responsibility for such mishaps as spilled food, forgotten appointments, lost car keys, smudged handwriting, and such.

Soon after Jeffrey attached himself to our family, I went over to Montgomery to talk to Margaret Gillis Figh, longtime folklore teacher at Huntingdon College, about his presence in our home.

Our conversation naturally conjured up other tales of Alabama ghosts. Before our visit ended, we, possibly with a bit of prodding by Jeffrey, were talking seriously about selecting thirteen of our state’s best ghost tales and writing a book about them. We proposed to call our book “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.”

We dared not offend Jeffrey by failing to include his name in the title!

My friends Helen and David Strode Akens, who owned The Strode Publishers in Huntsville, published our book in 1969. Much to our surprise, the book we thought we had written for adult readers became very popular with elementary school pupils. It still is.

Jeffrey provided a second surprise when, after the publication of 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, I became almost obsessed by a sense of urgency to collect and preserve true ghost stories from throughout the South. For a quarter of a century, not full time, of course, I traveled around the South seeking out the tellers of such stories and investigating half-forgotten mysteries.

Whenever I let other projects interfere with ghost-gathering, Jeffrey would become very active, as though he were reprimanding me for failing to attend to my mission.

As a result of Jeffrey’s nagging persuasion, I wrote five more collections of Southern ghost stories: 13 Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey, 13 Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey, 13 Georgia Ghosts and Jeffrey, Jeffrey Introduces 13 More Southern Ghosts and Jeffrey’s Latest 13: More Alabama Ghosts, all published by Strode. They sold well until a fire destroyed the publishing company.

The six collections had been out of print for more than two years when the University of Alabama Press began publishing and distributing them again. The arrangement worked well until financial restraints made it unprofitable for the University Press to continue publishing the series. With the exception of 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, the ghost books went out of print.

This turn of events upset Jeffrey. He became very assertive, seemingingly demanding that I arrange to keep some of his favorite stories in print. So I have. With the help of my family, readers of various ages and the editors at NewSouth, thirteen stories were selected from the five out-of-print books to be included in this new volume.

Jeffrey hopes readers approve of the selections. So do I.

K.T.W.