celiabreslin

Hi Everyone,
We’re halfway through Halloween month already, can you believe it? I hope you’ve had a chance to check out my book tour to enter the giveaway and read excerpts from my Black Hills Wolves stories. I’ll also share an excerpt from my upcoming Halloween story, Lady of the Oak, here on the blog this month. For today, Roxanne Rhoads is here with her latest haunted history book. A perfect read for Halloween!

Happy Reading!
xoxo,
Celia

Haunted Hotels of Michigan
Haunted America Series

by Roxanne Rhoads

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Genre: Haunted History, Travel
Release Date: August 12, 2024
ISBN-13: 9781467157858
Pages: 128

Are you brave enough to visit Michigan’s most haunted hotels?

Delve into the unknown, embrace the eerie, and discover the haunted history that awaits.

From captivating tales of lingering lumber barons to lovelorn ladies and chilling stories of murder, Michigan’s hotels hold secrets that will send shivers down the spine.

Ghostly apparitions and mysterious whispers have terrified guests for years at Petoskey’s Terrace Inn and The House of Ludington in Escanaba, while eerie occurrences and disembodied voices wake guests in the night at Kalamazoo’s Henderson Castle Inn. Once named America’s Most Haunted City, Mackinac Island has enough ghosts to keep visitors sleepless for a lifetime.

Embark on a spine-chilling journey through the Mitten State with Haunted Flint author Roxanne Rhoads as she unveils the spooky history of Michigan’s most haunted hotels and inns.

Your haunted travels begin here… if you dare to check in.

Amazon | BaM | BookShop

EXCERPT

Preface- Exploring Energy and Hauntings in Liminal Spaces
Death is universal, yet not all places seem to echo with its lingering presence. Why do some locations become filled with the whispers of restless souls, while others seem to remain untouched by the spectral world? Perhaps the answer lies not just in the dead, but in the living – in the energy we leave behind, the echoes of history embedded in the walls, and the way our own senses filter the unseen world – so one explanation might lie within a complex combination of energy, environment, and human perception.

Imagine a spectrum of energy, encompassing all living things. When life flickers out, this energy doesn’t vanish; it transforms. For most, it flows onwards, moving on to the next realm. But for some, it gets caught, tangled in threads of unfinished business, trauma, or even fear of the unknown. These trapped energies, echoes of lives abruptly cut short, might imprint themselves on certain locations, leaving behind ghostly fingerprints. Think of a traumatic event, potent with emotion, replaying on a loop in your mind. Now imagine that energy imprinted on a physical space, a hotel room perhaps, where the tragedy unfolded.

We are beings of energy and after death that essence doesn’t simply vanish. Some believe certain spirits leave a mark, an imprint of their emotional turmoil etched into the fabric of a location. Like a record stuck on repeat, their anguish plays out in chilling echoes, haunting the halls of memory. This residual energy could manifest in ways perceptible to those sensitive enough – flickering lights, whispers in the night, unexplained chills.

Each spirit may vibrate on a different frequency, a conscious hum that allows interaction with the living. This explains why certain individuals, often those with heightened sensitivity, can perceive what others cannot. It’s like tuning a radio, able to pick up frequencies beyond the usual range. Some are tuned to the static hum of the every day, while others, with their sensitivity amplified by neurodiversity or environmental factors, can pick up faint, otherworldly signals.

People who are neurodiverse, like those on the autism spectrum or those with ADHD, often display a remarkable ability to perceive the paranormal. Studies suggest their enhanced awareness of their surroundings bleeds into the realm of the unseen, making them more susceptible to ghostly encounters.

Liminal spaces become canvases where our fears and anxieties mingle with the whispers of the past. It’s a potent cocktail that can ignite the imagination and leave even the most skeptical feeling a chill down their spine. This explains why transitional zones like hotels, are frequent haunts. Hotels exist on the threshold between the familiar and the unknown. They are temporary havens, holding echoes of countless lives. They blur boundaries, thinning the veil between worlds, and inviting the unseen to linger. This in-betweenness, echoing the Jungian concept of the collective unconscious, can trigger primal anxieties, making us feel unsettled.

Perhaps, then, hauntings are not solely about vengeful spirits or restless souls. Maybe they are a confluence of factors – trapped energy, sensitive individuals, and liminal spaces that amplify our perception of the unseen. This doesn’t diminish the chills that crawl down our spines, but it adds a layer of intrigue, suggesting that hauntings are not just supernatural anomalies, but windows into the complex interplay between mind, environment, and the lingering energy of life.

This fascination with the unseen has drawn me to the world of haunted hotels. Their odd energy, a blend of history, human emotion, and liminal space, invites us to explore the echoes of history and restless spirits trapped within their walls.

About the Author

Roxanne Rhoads is an author, book publicist, mixed media artist, and lover of all things spooky. Her books include Haunted Flint and Ghosts and Legends of Genesee & Lapeer Counties.

She is the owner of Bewitching Book Tours, a virtual book tour and social media marketing company and she operates a Halloween blog- A Bewitching Guide to Halloween. She sells vintage treasures, handcrafted jewelry, art, and home decor through her Etsy store The Bewitching Cauldron, and in her antique booth, Bewitching Vintage Treasures.

When not reading or writing, Roxanne loves to craft, plan Halloween adventures, and search for unique vintage finds.

Connect with Roxanne

Website | Patreon | Author TikTok | Bewitching Guide to Halloween | Facebook | Instagram | Haunted Travel Guide TikTok