Author scares up the South’s ghost cats

Could you get more ways to hook readers with a title than the new book “Ghost Cats of the South?”

Author Randy Russell, a North Carolina folklore scholar who collects ghost stories, has written 22 tales of undead kitties, based on local legends, including a piano-playing ghost cat in Atlanta. It’s a sequel to his book “Ghost Dogs.”

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Janet Barnett/Special

Randy Russell, author of ‘Ghost Cats of the South,’ holds a Cherokee mask that figures into one of his stories.

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With Halloween approaching, Russell will talk about ghost cats tonight at Blue Elephant Book Shop in Decatur.

Q: Where do you get these stories?

A:I spent 20 years doing research. Most of my sources come from newspaper clippings. For decades there was always a local columnist, and they’d cover everything, including “old Bill Owens saw a ghost.” That and formal research is where I find a lot of material. There are also teachers who have their students interview their families as a folklore project, and it’s a rich source of stories.

I’m not one of those people who goes around with a Geiger counter and temperature gauges. That phenomenon does not interest me. But the human experience that people have does. I find a truth there, a reality. It’s a real experience for them.

Q: Have you ever had any personal experience with a ghost?

A:I have. My wife and I had a Great Dane and we had a little house with stairs and Great Danes are clumsy and loud. We had to have her put down, and for days afterward we would come home together and we would hear her coming down the stairs, hear her chain and collar. Now I confess this may be a trick of the heart, but we both experienced it and we were convinced she had not entirely left.

Q: You’ve written about ghost dogs and ghost cats. Which occurs more often?

A:Ghost dogs. Men go to their graves remembering their first dog. When I was promoting “Ghost Dogs,” I had men wearing their World War II service caps come up to me and start talking about their dogs. And they would walk away crying. I have not yet had that experience with cats. Particularly in the South, there’s a real close tie between men and their dogs.

Q: Does the South have more ghost cats than the rest of the country?

A:My interest is limited to the South. As I develop stories, it’s always with a Southern ear. It’s not so much that there are more ghosts in the South as that there’s more storytelling. We’re more accustomed to sharing stories rather than sharing punchlines.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

Randy Russell discusses and signs “Ghost Cats of the South.” On Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. Blue Elephant Book Shop, 2091 N. Decatur Road, Decatur. 404-728-8955.