Docia Schultz Williams

Docia Schultz Williams seems like a nice lady. She definitely is very interested in the history of the famed Menger Hotel and San Antonio. But she is not a professional historian. It's nice and neat, with some neat stories here and there, but also a tad wide-eyed and amateurish. And, it seems she believes in psychics. She also sprinkles the text with her own very old fashioned poems. Cute and grandmotherish, but a tad embarrassing. Still, it is the neat story of a neat old hotel. She discusses the history of the establishment, the buildings, the owners, etc. She talks about famous guests and incidents in the hotel's history. And finally, there are a few chapters discussing the ghosts and spirits that people have seen at the old hotel. Lovely and cute; a fun read, but not a professional history.… (plus d'informations)

Now, I'm not going to say this is a great book or even that anyone interested in ghosts or Texas should read it, but if you are a combination of interested in ghost stories, interested in Texas history, good-natured about Texas ladies of a certain generation, and patient enough to handle a little repetition, this is a pretty fun read. As an archivist, the background research she did on small Texas towns and their historic properties is probably the most interesting part of the book, and Williams includes photographs that help illustrate the locations. While the stories themselves generally fall into a few pre-set categories (strange noises! cold spots! smell of perfume! seeing a woman wearing old fashioned clothes! things disappearing and reappearing!) some of them stand out from the crowd a bit and there is always enough variety to keep things a little interesting.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2015/09/best-tales-of-texas-ghosts-by-docia.html ]… (plus d'informations)