Ghostly Tales and Legends along the Grand Strand of South Carolina

Rating:
Summary: Not much boo for buck here.
Review: Blanche W. Floyd obviously loves the Grand Strand and she is most certainly well versed in its folklore. She also has a pleasing writing style and if you are looking for a book of the legends that have built up in that area of South Carolina this will definitely be a book you will want to read.

On the other hand, the title makes this book appear to be a collection of ghost stories and if that is what you are looking for, stay away. There are only three stories that really deal with purported hauntings out of a total of twenty-nine. Of those three, two of them are about Alice of the Hermitage and the Gray Man, well-worn stories that are in almost every book dealing with southern ghosts. Most of her stories brush off the whole possible ghostly aspect of the legend with a sentence like, "It is easy to imagine, when the fog rolls in and the tall grasses wave in the breeze how one could see..." Even most of the legends are less than notable. For example, we get the legend of Drunken Jack, which is an interesting story, the first fifty or so times that you hear it. But anyone who has ever visited this area has heard this story at least a hundred times and has no need to spend their hard-earned money to hear it yet again. Worse yet, the old joke about the drunk in the graveyard gets included in this book as a Grand Strand legend.

I think the real problem with this book is that the author doesn't believe in or even have an open mind about ghosts. There was no going out and interviewing people who would tell her about the time that they saw a strange light here, there, or yonder. This book is just a simple retelling of old legends that Mrs. Floyd has probably heard all of her life.

In all fairness, if you have never been to South Carolina or the Grand Strand, this book might just be of help in giving you a feel for the place. If you want good, creepy, and scary ghost stories however, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Not much boo for buck here.
Review: Blanche W. Floyd obviously loves the Grand Strand and she is most certainly well versed in its folklore. She also has a pleasing writing style and if you are looking for a book of the legends that have built up in that area of South Carolina this will definitely be a book you will want to read.

On the other hand, the title makes this book appear to be a collection of ghost stories and if that is what you are looking for, stay away. There are only three stories that really deal with purported hauntings out of a total of twenty-nine. Of those three, two of them are about Alice of the Hermitage and the Gray Man, well-worn stories that are in almost every book dealing with southern ghosts. Most of her stories brush off the whole possible ghostly aspect of the legend with a sentence like, "It is easy to imagine, when the fog rolls in and the tall grasses wave in the breeze how one could see..." Even most of the legends are less than notable. For example, we get the legend of Drunken Jack, which is an interesting story, the first fifty or so times that you hear it. But anyone who has ever visited this area has heard this story at least a hundred times and has no need to spend their hard-earned money to hear it yet again. Worse yet, the old joke about the drunk in the graveyard gets included in this book as a Grand Strand legend.

I think the real problem with this book is that the author doesn't believe in or even have an open mind about ghosts. There was no going out and interviewing people who would tell her about the time that they saw a strange light here, there, or yonder. This book is just a simple retelling of old legends that Mrs. Floyd has probably heard all of her life.

In all fairness, if you have never been to South Carolina or the Grand Strand, this book might just be of help in giving you a feel for the place. If you want good, creepy, and scary ghost stories however, look elsewhere.