LEE GOODEN, For The Saratogian
11/05/2002

''Ghosts of the Northeast''

(Aurora Publications,

Salem N.Y., 396 pages)

by David Pitkin.

''Haunted Northern

New York''

(North Country Books,

129 pages)

by Cheri Revai.

''Do you believe in ghosts?''

This question is asked around campfires and during casual conversations at the dinner table.

Many people believe in ghosts, and their stories have been recorded and documented by writers like David Pitkin, in his books ''Saratoga County Ghosts'' and ''Ghosts of the Northeast,'' and Cheri Revai, in her book ''Haunted Northern New York.''

Pitkin's ghosts

In the preface of ''Ghosts of the Northeast,'' Pitkin states:

''In researching 'Saratoga County Ghosts' in 1998, I discovered over 120 ghost stories in a single county. Up to that time I believed as so many others do, that haunted houses are rare, but now I know that it's a rare house that hasn't been visited by spirits at least once.''

People from all walks of life have had experiences with ghosts. One such example Pitkin cites is the Barbers of Granville.

Pitkin quotes Reese Barber: ''I glanced up to see a man's face at the window -- he had a long face and a mustache with twirled ends.'' Barber recognized the face from an old book of photos that were part of the memorabilia of their house. ''In the book we found him, an ancestor who'd once lived there!''

''Ghosts of the Northeast'' is 369 pages of real people whose stories are divided into 20 easily accessible chapters with titles like Haunted Houses, Military Ghosts, Ghosts on Stage, Public Service Ghosts, Health & Medicinal Spirits, Haunted Things and Animal Ghosts.

In addition to his ghost books, Pitkin has written a book about personal numerology called ''Spiritual Numerology: Caring for Number One.''

He is working on a novel with a ''current events theme, and a strong metaphysical side that is set in the Adirondacks,'' Pitkin said. It is about ''a man who is dissatisfied with his life and societal emphasis on worldly and material things, and searches within himself for true meaning.''

Revai's hauntings

Revai's book ''Haunted Northern New York'' is a less ambitious book in quantity but not in quality.

She states in her introduction: ''We have met ghosts sometimes up close and personal, sometimes so obscurely as to make us question our own judgment -- yet some people are still skeptical and aren't sure what they believe.''

In ''Haunted Northern New York,'' Revai lets the reader hear the ''old stories.'' She rewrites the majority of the accounts into her own narrative voice. This does not let readers feel as if they are ''sharing'' the experience, but rather, as if they are being retold a retold story by Revai.

''The middleman'' takes away the power and believability of the original story.

Except for this weakness, ''Haunted Northern New York'' is an entertaining, thought-provoking and sometimes spooky book.

For example, this excerpt from ''Grandma and her Dog,'' is the story of Fran, a Louisville woman:

''Fran was taking a break from spring cleaning to sit down and write the obituary -- deep in thought about her deceased mother, she jumped when the bottle of Windex on the desk in front of her sprayed the window all by itself right before her eyes. Needless to say, Fran was flabbergasted.''

Both Pitkin and Revai have written books that encourage us, as Pitkin has said, ''to go against the grain of our great institutions, religion and the education system that teach us to look beyond ourselves for answers. We should be seeking and finding our answers within ourselves.''

©The Saratogian 2006