In this spellbinding exploration of myth, family history, and the American West, the award-winning journalist and author of The Beekeeper’s Lament seeks to uncover the truth about her great-great-grandmother Julia—whose ghost is said to haunt an elegant hotel in Santa Fe.
The dark-eyed woman first appeared in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace in a long black gown. She was sad and translucent, … sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Vases of flowers appeared in new locations. Glasses flew from shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events: blankets ripped off while they slept, the room temperature plummeting, disembodied breathing, dancing balls of light.
La Posada—“place of rest”—had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. The room with the canopy bed had belonged to Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home’s original owner. She died in 1896, nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In American Ghost, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death, and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother Julia and her family, from Julia’s childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband, to the spas and séance rooms of the late nineteenth century, to World War II and beyond.
In her search to find and understand her troubled ancestor, Nordhaus travels across America and Europe, and unearths family diaries, photographs, and newspaper clippings; meets with historians, genealogists, psychics, and ghost hunters; and learns along the way some unexpected lessons about living.
American Ghost is a touching journey of roots and memory, a story of pioneer women and immigrants, villains and visionaries, frontier fortitude and mental illness, imagination and lore. As she follows the strands of Julia’s life, Nordhaus discovers a larger tale of how a true-life story becomes a ghost story—and how difficult it can be to separate history from myth.
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Interesting story of the early West
It wasn’t the read that I thought it would be but was really glad that I stayed with the book. It was really very interesting.
This book is a true story, about a family history that revolves around a haunted hotel. It was really interesting to learn about the ghost’s past and family life in the time when this country was new. Very well written and historical.
Not what I expected, but an enjoyable read.
Loved this book! While essentially a family history it paints a fascinating picture of life, business and boosterism in the wild western frontier. Here is life in Santa Fe, NM, before the art galleries, bodegas and Indian markets on the central square. And, yes, there is a real ghost whose story is at the heart of this multi-generational saga. …
Boring.
I enjoyed this memoir of the authors search for her families history, but also that of the main character Julia Staab who supposedly haunts La Posada, now a hotel in Santa Fe, NM but which used to be Julia Staab’s residence, built for her by her husband Abraham.
The Staab’s were one of the first Jewish / German families to migrate from Germany to …
If your love family history, Santa Fe NM or ghost stories this is a great read.
I felt the book started to drag about midway thru. Too often the same material was rewritten but author changed the nee character’s viewpoints. I kept wondering when something new would turn up. It never did. I found it disappointing and was glad it finally ended. ( i felt it kept the reader going around in circles)
this is a very insightful, indepth history of one family from Santa Fe. I enjoyed the social history.
Interesting geneo-historical research effort. Not a woo-hoo “out-there” spook book. I got really interested in her attempt to place her “ghost” great-great-grandmother in her time, place and socio-economic setting. Liked the descriptions of the various psychics, dowsers and spiritualists she consulted.
A combination of family relationships, history, genealogy, and mystery. Inspirational for those of us who seek to know our ancestors.
not interesting enough to finish
An interesting look at a haunted history from the viewpoint of family descendents.
Excellent on many levels
Historically fascinating
An enlightening book about the author’s relatives. Also, good history on Sante Fe, New Mexico – what it was like in the late 1800’s. It’s being made into a film. I highly recommend.