"The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks: Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland" by John Railey

While on our recent road trip through the Carolinas, I picked up a few books on local stories, strangeness and crimes.  One volume I picked up was John Railey's "The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks:  Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland".

The History Press again delivers with a nice, complete and easy to read volume on an unsolved case.

In 1967, young Brenda Joyce Holland starts work in the season play production of "the Lost Colony".  Being friendly, kind and attractive made her popular among the actors and locals.

Sadly, she went missing and her remains were later found in water, though the cause of death was found to be strangulation.  This was no accident.

The investigation involves several young men who knew or dated her, and a local dentist who was married to a young lady who looked a lot like Brenda.

mishandled evidence and a false confession derail the investigation, but author John Railey is confident he knows what happened.  In fact, he devotes several of the last pages to telling what he believed happened that night, pointing his finger firmly at one suspect.

This is one of the most interesting true crime books I have read...  and the author gets bonus points for his own research and for wrapping this one up as completely as possible.
 

Jerry A. Goodnight's books on Abraham Lincoln and rumors of his birth in North Carolina

On our recent road trip through the Carolinas we stopped at the Bostic Lincoln Center, where the museum discusses the rumor that Abraham Lincoln was actually born there, and not in Kentucky.  The main rumor also involves a different father than Thomas Lincoln.

Those are some pretty heavy rumors to consider.

The Bostic Lincoln Center sells a couple of books, authored and coauthored by Jerry A. Goodnight, that address and explain those legends.

"Tarheel Lincoln" is the first book and mostly addresses the local legend of Lincoln's origins.

"Searching for Lincoln:  Amid the Rumors, Legends and Lies" is a bit of a follow up book, digging deeper into variations on the North Carolina rumors and some other stories.  He covers, in detail, the 17 or so men who have been mentioned as possible fathers of Lincoln.

Goodnight is academic and mentions his sources and where the stories originated- while his books are still easy to read and follow.

The rumors and legends are uncomfortable but interesting.  One name pops up in almost every variation on the story.  These books are thoughtful and thought provoking, and they are worthy of inclusion in any serious Lincoln Library.

 

"Bringing Back A Hero" by Robert D. Jornlin Capt. LST 325

While visiting the LST 325 in Evansville Indiana recently (see my youtube channel) I picked up the great book, "Bringing Back A Hero" by Robert Jornlin.

Back around 1999-2000, a small group of veterans found an old LST ship, and decided to go to Greece (the US had lent it to them in the 60s), fix the ship up, and bring it back to the US for display.

The story IS as crazy as it sounds- the average age of the participants was 72, there is a bit of a mutiny to oust an unpopular leader early on, the men get little help from their own government for the project...  etc, etc.

I don't want to give away the ending but....  since the ship now sits in Evansville Indiana its no secret tthat the men were able to take the ship 6,000 plus miles to bring her back home!

Jornlin writes knowing that many of his readers will not be military or even nautical types...  He keeps the language basic and easy to understand.
 

"Extreme Expeditions 3: Bigfoot Versus Yeti" by Adam Davies

On our recent trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, we stopped by "Bigfoot in the Smokies" in Townsend.  The shop is a cool gift shop devoted to all things bigfoot.

The place is cool, and I found several things there that I had to have.  

One thing I noticed was a section of Adam Davies books, signed by the author.

Well, I realized that Adam Davies was actually there at the shop running the place!

Mr. Davies is a well-known researcher in the cryptid world.  He is all over the place.  In fact, we had just been watching a Josh Gates show featuring Adam!

He was very friendly, and he told us he is at the shop frequently, but not every day.  

So, I picked up the book "Extreme Expeditions 3:  Bigfoot Versus Yeti".  The volume is an interesting read, and each chapter kind of covers a specific investigation that Davies participated in (I picked volume 3 up because it includes his adventure with Josh Gates).

The book is perfect.  It is interesting and honest.  The author will let you know that, on many investigations, nothing happened.

BUT, that's not always the case, and he does have some interesting encounters.

 

Random Thoughts on Friday: Rereading a book from my youth

I briefly brought this up the other day.  Back during my elementary school years, I remember my teacher, Mr. Tanner giving everyone in the class a book.  I remember thinking that was such a kind gesture.  He didn't have to do that.  A book was perfect though.

That was years (oh heck, multiple decades) ago.  I remembered reading the book, and a couple of small details, but I could never really remember the book.

I had tried to google the book before, with the detail or two I sort of remembered, but I could never get it.

I am not a fan of AI, BUT, AI WAS very helpful figuring this one out, and for that I am grateful.

Anyway, I tracked down a (signed!) copy of William Sleator's "Into the Dream" which I had not read in a very long time.  I did this some years ago with another book I read as a kid, "The Indian in the Cupboard" AND I found and read all of the sequels to that one too.

Characters and scenes I had forgotten came back into my mind.  It is still a good book that holds up!

Reading it again was a nice link back to my old (now gone) school and my childhood.

 

"Strange Kentucky Travels: The Haunted and Unexplained" by James Ambs

I guess it isn't too vain to let you know that I have written a book.  It has been out for a few months now, and I want to be humble....  but I am very proud of it.

I will tell you a little about why I wrote the book, and the book itself.

I have read a ton of weird and strange books.  The more obscure, the more regional and local- the better.  I get so excited when I travel, and I find some odd book about that place's legends.  The more DIY, the better.

I have a nice collection of such books.  If you have ever seen my bookshelves (and various bookstacks throughout my house) you know.
 

I organize them by state too.  All states are represented, even the few I haven't visited yet.  Sure, I have an impressive collection of Civil War books, and biographies of politicians....  but most of my books are about bigfoot, ghosts, haunted houses and just strange stories.

There are some regional authors I love (Vermont's Joseph Citro, Troy Taylor from Illinois, and Kentucky's own Keven McQueen are well represented in my collection).  There are also many self-published books.  Some are full of misspellings and have some errors- but thats OK- it gives them character.

I treasure some of those unedited self-publications...  some of them held together by staples.

Some are better than others.  I have been frustrated by some books that have mostly reprinted Wikipedia articles while utilizing Wikicommons and other public domain photos.

I was born in Owensboro.  I have lived most of my life in Kentucky.  I am constantly taking road trips throughout the state.....  I kind of felt like I was uniquely qualified to write a very authentic book on some of the strange stories in Kentucky.

So, I started writing about my favorite "weird" spots in Kentucky.  I started organizing my pictures (I have tens of thousands).  I started work on putting my book together.

It became a bit of an obsession.  There are literally hundreds of interesting and strange places, and stories.  The book I wanted to write would be thousands of pages.  Even edited down, I was looking at hundreds.

I have tried to be selective too.  A friend of a friend's story about a shadow person their grandma saw was not what I wanted to include.  I wanted to only include the well-known, and well documented stories.

Also, I wanted this to be a bit of a travel guide.  So, I give a brief retelling of the legend, then I try to give addresses of places associated with the legends.  I tell about my own experiences at each site (I have been to all of them- most of them many times).  If there is a cool shop or coffee shop there, well, I will mention it too!

AND, I have included photos, all taken by me (or someone in my party during a visit).  Again, I wanted this to be real, authentic, and very DIY.  No wiki sources here.  Pictures are in color too.

"Strange Kentucky Travels:  The Haunted and Unexplained" has info on the hauntings at Carter Caves, Waverly Hills, The Seelbach Hotel, Leah Smock, Pearl Bryan and Bobby Mackey's Music World, Caver Floyd Collins, and Portal 31.  I have a chapter on the last legal public hanging in the US, which happened in Owensboro....  a story I grew up with.  There is a chapter on the legends of the Red River Gorge.  I also included a chapter on Adams Tennessee's Bell Witch.  Yes, that legend is generally not associated with Kentucky, but it is only a few miles out of the state.  Most Kentuckians can visit Adams in a day or weekend trip easily.

I am working on more volumes.

Check it out and let me know what you think.  Thanks!

Duck River Books Columbia Tennessee 2025

I've mentioned it before, but I really love Duck River Books in Columbia Tennessee.

"Bear with Me" by Don Theye

On our recent visit to Arizona, we stopped by "Bearizona", a great drive thru type of zoo near Flagstaff.

The visit was a no brainer.  The place looked cool.  AND, we had visited "Bear Country USA" in South Dakota a few years ago.  We would find out that members of the Casey family started both attractions.

Anyway, while we were at Bearizona, I picked up a nice book on Doc Casey, the founder of Bear Country USA, and the father of the founders of Bearizona.
 

This isn't a huge book- its just a nice, short read about Doc's life, and some of the early days of his South Dakota attraction.  There are a lot of stories involving the family and their roles in the family business.  This is just a nice read after a visit to one of the Casey attractions.

"The Van Meter Visitor" by Lewis Voss and Nelson

"I found a copy of "The Van Meter Visitor- A True & Mysterious Encounter with the Unknown" by Chad Lewis, Noah Voss and Kevin Lee Nelson recently.

I really like this writing team.  It is obvious that, among the three of them, they cover the topic of their books thoroughly.  The book is about 225 pages, but I felt like it had a lot more info than that between the covers.  It is thorough and thoughtful.

They consider a topic very completely.  They examine all of the known info available on this strange Iowa encounter from 1903 and they offer various thoughts and theories.  This one to me is similar to Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster in West Virginia.  It has a certain credibility to it.

I would love to attend their annual Van Meter Visitor festival....  It sounds like this town has embraced their strange story from over a century ago.  Oddly, I WAS in Van Meter many years ago.....  Back in 2012 to visit the Bob Feller Museum!  I think a road trip back is needed!
 

"Historic Kentucky Landmarks" by Robert A. Powell

 I have picked up several books by Robert A. Powell, and they are all great little reference books on the state.  This volume has about 100 pages, and each page has a great sketch by the author of a significant structure in Kentucky, with a very informative, brief write up on the place.

Powell's books are just fun to read from cover to cover, or to look through casually.  The books are nice to have on your "Kentucky History" bookshelf just to look through now and then.

The art is great too!

"Goatman- Flesh or Folklore?" by J. Nathan Couch

J. Nathan Couch's "Goatman- Flesh or Folklore?" is a great little volume I picked up at the Goatman Festival in Louisville.  I got my copy directly from the author and had a nice brief chat with him about the mysterious critter.

His book is a great, complete telling of the various Goatman legends- and there are a lot.  Louisville's Pope Lick Monster isn't the only one.  Texas and Maryland have some very well-known similar stories.

Couch goes deep in his book, giving info on each location's legends and the origins.  He goes into various ancient stories involving similar pan like beings.

Of course, most regions have their own origins.  A bridge, a hospital, a mysterious facility all factor in.  A logical link to the legends is made to a nomadic fellow who traveled the country from 1930-the late 60s with his goats.

The book is packed and informative but gets to the point and has a nice flow.  If you want one book on your shelf about "Goatman" this is the one to get.
 

"Images of America: SEDONA"

After coming home from Arizona, I was still thinking about out brief visit to Sedona.  It is such a great, and historic little town.  It was a short visit, and it didn't satisfy my need.  Because of the weather and a couple of other factors, our visit was about half a day.  I need more Sedona in general.

So, I hunted down the "Images of America" volume on Sedona.  Janeen Trevillyan and Lisa Schnebly Heidinger (great-granddaughter of Sedona Schnebly), along with the staff of the Sedona Historical Society put this volume together.

It is a fairly standard "Images of America" entry- it's a quick read full of lots of pictures with descriptions of each one.  I especially enjoyed the chapters on the early days of the town, tourism, and movies made in Sedona.

Sedona is such a unique town, and I love everything about it- the art, the weirdness, the shops.  I have to admit though, I felt a little sad, as I read the book, and followed its transformation from a small town with farmers and ranchers, to the populated town, full of tourists that it is now.  I LOVE what it is now though.

I know it might be a while before I can get back to the area.  Reading this book satisfied a certain need for more info on the great location.

Kolb Brother Studio Business/Trading Card

After our wonderful trip to Arizona....  well, I have still been on a big Arizona and Grand Canyon kick.  I am still in an Arizona state of mind.

I wanted to read up a bit on the Kolb Brothers.  I found out that Emery Kolb lived a very long life, going from 1881 through 1976.  His brother, Ellsworth (1876-1960), wrote a book about the brothers' boat trip through the Grand Canyon in 1911.

Well, the brothers had their studio for decades.  It is still there, by the way.  

Anyway, it seems Emery must have been accessible and met a lot of people.  Emery apparently signed a lot of copies of his brothers book "Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico." Signed copies are relatively easy to find.

So I bought one!  It is a fun read, and I am glad to have a signed copy.  So, while i was reading it, this promotional trading card for the Kob's business fell out!  It was a very cool bonus!
 

"Over the Edge: Death In Grand Canyon" by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers

I am sure I have mentioned "Over the Edge:  Death in Grand Canyon" by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers before.  This is a fascinating book- it literally covers all of the known deaths in the legendary site.

I read the 2nd edition of this volume over a decade and a half ago, in between our previous visits to Arizona.  Well, I found the NEW, 2024 third edition while we were in Flagstaff, and I grabbed it!  I read Over the Edge again....  but this 3rd edition is a couple hundred pages bigger now.

Chapters cover murder, suicide, natural disasters, airplane accidents, etc, etc.  Each section has the authors telling various stories that are appropriate for the section.  They include, in this part, stories where people die but there are also survival stories.  A chart at the end of each chapter gives a chronological account of each event.

If you appreciate true crime, and just strange stories, this is a great volume for your bookshelf.  Some stories that stand out are the authors telling about how people attempting to launch into the Canyon in a car went up after the release of the movie "Thelma and Louise".  They also make some observations about accidents at Grand Canyon- testosterone is a definite factor when it comes to falls.

The book gives a good account of a crazy manhunt at the National Park.  The bad guy evaded police for some time while he was right under the nose of authorities.  He spent a night in the El Tovar Hotel AND he was even questioned by authorities who let him go, since he looked different from the picture they had.

The book goes on and on with unbelievable stories.  Some entitled campers make an emergency call (actually several) for obviously non-emergency issues (their water tasted funny).  Also very darkly, a couple of sad stories involve earlier editions of the book being found in the belongings of those who died.

This is one of the most fascinating books around- it gets my highest possible recommendation!

 

"Flagstaff's Walkup Family Murders- A Shocking Tragedy" by Susan Johnson

Before our trip to Arizona, I picked up Susan Johnson's book on haunted Flagstaff.  She has a section about the Walkup murders in that book.  I was curious and found her full volume book on the strange event.

I know this is weird, but before taking a trip somewhere new, I try to read at least a couple of books on the area- usually some sort of haunted history book, and a true crime book.  Susan Johnson had me covered for Flagstaff.

This very sad story from the mid 1930s is a real enigma.  A mother murders her four children before driving to a local golf course to take her own life.  The family father/husband does go on to live a full life, but, for the most part, the crime is forgotten.
 

Devouring newspapers from that time, the information Johnson finds is...  well, nil.  The social sections barely mention the mother and the children are reduced to no mention.

The author speculates about the reasons and she has some interesting theories, but that is strictly speculation.

This is a fascinating read about a strange event that happened in the still very young town of Flagstaff.

Zane Grey- "The Call of the Canyon"

With our recent Arizona tip, I wanted to take a book with me to read relating to the area.  I always try to do this.  I feel like it makes the adventure even more special.

I googled around and found that Zane Grey's "The Call of the Canyon" was exactly what I was looking for.  Plus, if you look around, you can find old Zane Grey books for just a couple of bucks each at any used bookstore.

This one was written just over a hundred years ago, and set in the same time period.  It is a story about an upper-class young lady in New York, going to find her boyfriend who has moved out to the Arizona territory after the War.  Dealing with injuries and what would now be called PTSD, he sets up shop living a very rustic lifestyle.  His girlfriend tries to appreciate this, but she cannot.  She breaks things off and goes back to the big city.

She does go to visit an injured friend of her Arizona boy, who is recovering in a local hospital.  He admires her for sticking with her guy after his change from military service.  She feels ashamed to tell him that she broke up with him.  

The story goes on, and things do sort themselves out.  During the story, a lot of Northern Arizona landscape is described.  Also, Grey wrote the book while hanging out at a historic hotel in Flagstaff, where we were.








 

"Haunted Flagstaff" by Susan Johnson

As we planned our trip to Arizona (specifically Flagstaff) I wanted to read a good ghost book on the area.  I found that in Susan Johnson's "Haunted Flagstaff".

I found some fun general facts about Arizona early in the book.  There was a cool bit of info about the state's connection to Valentine's Day.  Also, though a far distance away geographically from the Confederate State of America during the Civil War, there was a definite link.

Johnson quickly gets to some interesting stories about Flagstaff.  A strange murder/suicide involving a school janitor gets the action going quickly.  In fact, its not the only murder/suicide covered in the volume.

Legendary author of cowboy books, Zane Grey is forever linked to TWO hotels here, even writing one of his famous books while staying at one site.

The author does admit that some stories are not verifiable (I appreciated her honesty) but the legends make the stories pop for sure.
 

"Images of America: Northern Arizona Space Training" by Kevin Schindler and William Sheehan with Forward by Carolyn Shoemaker

I have been so hung up on Arizona after getting back from our visit.  The state has so much going for it.  I love it.

I have picked up some books to read after coming back from that trip.  The "Images of America" volume "Northern Arizona Space Training" was a great one to flip through after our return home.

I loved that the Apollo astronauts trained at places we have visited- the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater and Sunset Crater.

I still get goosebumps thinking about all that happened with Apollo.  What they accomplished, even half a century later has not been matched.

This book, like most of the Images of America entries, is just a nice collection of photos and it is a quick and easy read.  Of course you are going to want to go through it slowly, and enjoy the adventure.

 

"Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past" by Joe Nickell

 I picked up "Unsolved History:  Investigating Mysteries of the Past" by fellow Kentuckian Joe Nickell recently.  Flipping through it, I saw that he looks at several mysteries and researched them thoroughly.

Almost all of the cases he looks at are ones I have an interest in too, and many have a Kentucky connection.  A couple hve a Red River Gorge tie in specifically (the "D. Boone Hut" and the "Swift Silver Mine legend").  He also hits on the Shroud of Turin, and the identity of Nazi death camp guard, Ivan the Terrible, among others.

Nickell is a very logical skeptic, and looks at these, and other strange mysteries.  Don't expect to read about ghosts or UFOs here.

His research and reasoning are on spot, and I enjoyed reading about what he found out.  He ties in other stories too.  This is just a fun book to read.

"No Direct Evidence: The Story of the Missing Sodder Children" by Bob Lane Bragg

I have brought up the recent "West Virginia Bigfoot Festival" in Sutton a couple of times recently.  The place was a goldmine for people like me who enjoy reading books on the weird and unexplained.

I came across Bob Lane Bragg while I was there.  Bob had a booth selling all sorts of books like this (he was representing the West Virginia Book Company).  AND, Bob himself had written a book, "No Direct Evidence:  The Story of the Missing Sodder Children".

This is probably West Virginia's most famous unsolved mystery/possible crime.  Briefly, Christmas, 1945, the Sodder family experienced a house fire.  The two parents and nine children were home that night.  After the house was evacuated, only four of the children seemed to have escaped the fire.

Oddly, no remains of the other five kids could be found.

Bragg covers the details of the family and the fire.  Some odd events are noted around the time of the fire- including a phone call that night, a ladder that could have been helpful had been moved away from the house, phone lines were cut, among other issues.  The family starts to believe the house fire was arson, and the other children were taken.

At first, this almost comes off as a situation where the family cannot accept the obvious, but.....

Bob Lane Bragg, through various sources and research, shows that there could have been much more to this case, and the strange events occurring around the time of the tragedy.  The family's Italian background, the father's business dealings, and many other factors could lead in another direction.  I'm not going to say Bragg solves the case- he clearly doesn't.  He DOES show that some small almost forgettable events could have had a lot of meaning.  My mind was blown at the end.

This might be one of the more perfect true crime books out there.  Bragg discusses the case thoroughly.  He talks about why some of the family members to this day may be reluctant to discuss it.  He offers a very logical potential conclusion to the case.  This book gets my highest possible recommendation.