Ghost Stories of Route 66: Haunted Motels, Phantom Hitchhikers, and the Dark History of the Mother Road (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798183641486)

The neon signs are burned out, but the motels are far from empty.

Route 66 is the ultimate symbol of the American dream. Known as the "Mother Road," it was the artery of hope for desperate Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl, the playground for mobsters escaping Chicago, and the sun-baked pathway to the golden promise of California. But when the interstate highway system bypassed these small towns, it left behind a 2,400-mile trail of decaying gas stations, abandoned diners, and crumbling Art Deco hotels. And in that isolation, the ghosts of the American road trip took up permanent residence.

In Ghost Stories of Route 66, you will step past the nostalgic tourist traps and journey into the darkest, most haunted corners of America's highway. Running geographically from the mobster-ruled corridors of Chicago to the crashing, haunted waves of the Santa Monica Pier, this captivating collection pulls back the veil on the epic history, the true-crime tragedies, and the terrifying roadside folklore that shaped the American West.

Roll down the windows and discover:

• Resurrection Mary of Illinois: The ultimate, highly documented phantom hitchhiker who vanishes through the iron gates of a Chicago cemetery.

• The Suicide Bridge of Pasadena: The tragic, Beaux-Arts arches where the Great Depression claimed over a hundred lives, and phantom figures are still seen standing on the ledges.

• The Skinwalkers of the Arizona Desert: The terrifying, ancient indigenous folklore of impossible, shape-shifting creatures that keep pace with lone truckers on the dark highway.

• The Dust Bowl Phantoms of Texas: The heavy, residual hauntings of desperate, dust-covered migrant workers still wandering the back alleys of Amarillo.

Perfect for fans of Americana, dark tourism, true crime, and paranormal folklore, this book takes you on a motel-by-motel, state-by-state road trip through a landscape where the golden age of travel never truly ended.

Turn off the radio. The highway is trying to tell you something.