A Ghost of a Chance by Cherie Claire (book series to read .txt) 📖

When Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, my heart shattered into a million pieces. I knew I had to do something to help my hometown, so I quit my newspaper job and became a volunteer coordinator for a Unitarian Universalist recovery program and started freelance writing on the side. There are blessings from Katrina, as Viola says in the beginning, for my travel writing took off, a job I had wanted my entire career although being a newspaper editor provided a steady income and benefits.

Both experiences inspired me to write this book, the first in a series.

Most of the places spotlighted in the book are real, gleaned from actual press trips I took to Eureka Springs, plus time spent at the city’s Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow, which offers subsidized housing and meals for struggling writers in need of peace, quiet and a place to write and be inspired.

However, many aspects of the novel were born from my the dark insides of my brain.

The historic Monteleone Hotel in the heart of the French Quarter is one of New Orleans’s true gems, with its gorgeous lobby, Carousel Bar and unique literary heritage. There are many spirits refusing to check out of the Monteleone, including former employees, jilted lovers and children. Viola hears children running up and down the halls and enjoys a visit from a red-headed man in the café. There are tales of children who have died at the Monteleone, and guests have related invisible kids playing in the hallway on the fourteenth floor. “Red,” a former hotel engineer who worked in the boiler room below the restaurant, has been known to show up as well, although offering guests coffee may be an exaggeration.

All spirits at the Hotel Monteleone are friendly, claim owners, more mischievous than scary.

There are so many ghosts haunting the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa that it’s known as “America’s Most Haunted Hotel.” Its origins in 1886 were as a retreat for the upper class, but during the colder months of the year The Crescent College & Conservatory for Young Women occupied the five-story building from 1908 to 1934.

The cloud of mist that people sometime see around ten-thirty at night is believed to be a Conservatory student who somehow fell to her death from the east side upper terrace. Ghost tour guides claim it may not have been an accident, but her name and details of her death are never given, much to my frustration. Imagination fills in the gaps where facts are lacking, so I invented Lauralia Annabelle Thorne and the reason how she died and when. All people related to this fictional ghost are imaginary, including James Cabellero Leatherwood, Gene Tanner and the murdered orphans.

Other ghosts that appear to linger within the Crescent Hotel are a nurse roaming the halls, pushing a gurney (you can hear the wheels turning) who is left over from the Baker Hospital days and Theodora in Room 419, who doesn’t appreciate rude visitors in her room. Michael remains my favorite, an Irish stonemason who apparently fell to his death while building the hotel. He prefers Room 218, but I gave him a job as masseuse in the spa.

When the journalists are spooked in the book while visiting the hotel’s “morgue,” I based that scene on one of my press trips. My group of journalists were in high spirits — pun intended — as we made our way throughout the hotel and learned of the many ghosts lingering about. We even enjoyed the creepy stories in the dark, dank morgue until something spooked us all at the same time. We asked to leave at that point and didn’t breathe easier until we hit the stairs.

Ghosts refuse to check out of the Basin Park Hotel as well. The cowboy Carmine refers to the book is one of them.

Sycamore Cave does not exist but War Eagle Cavern does, the largest cave in northwest Arkansas, and as far as I know, it’s not haunted by murdered school girls. War Eagle hugs Beaver Lake and includes signs of past visitors such as Civil War soldiers in addition to its fascinating rock outcrops. It’s perfectly safe for visitors.

DeSoto Caverns near Birmingham, Alabama, where Vi first hears the voices of the dead, does exist but as far as I know it’s not haunted.

Since the book is set in 2006, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville was in its construction phase. The museum sits on 120 wooded acres and contains American paintings and sculptures from the colonial period to the

modern era, culled by Alice Walton of the Walmart clan. The buildings and extensive grounds are as gorgeous as the artwork and because it received a grant from the Walton Family Foundation, entrance fees are waived to the main exhibit space.

Another person culled from my brain is Cassiopeia aka Merrill Seligman, the owner of Rainbow Waters. I based, in part, Seligman’s store on the actual Crystal Waters of Eureka Springs, a delightful shop that sells beautiful rocks and other treasures from nature, in addition to New Age items.

I spent two trips in Eureka Springs gathering research for this book, thanks to the Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow. Thanks also to the friendly cat down the street who always said hello on my way to and from the heart of town. You’ll see more of her in future books of the series.