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Randy Russell
There’s no question that Russell is a firm believer in the existence of ghosts. “For me, being asked if I believe in ghosts is the same as being asked if I believe in mountains. Yes, of course I do. They’re right there.” He says that experiences of phantom pets are much more common than most people realize, and that some occurrences of poltergeists can be explained this way. “Visits from departed pets are easily the most common ghost experiences I hear when people share their real-life encounters with me.” People would frequently tell Russell about their ghost cat experiences after they read Ghost Dogs of the South. “That’s where the idea for Ghost Cats of the South came from,” he says. Ghost Cats of the South includes vintage photographs of people with their feline companions. All photos are from Russell’s personal collection of historical documents, diaries, letters, and photo albums. He obtained this collection over the last three decades, mainly through his network of friends and colleagues, their grandparents’ attics, estate sales, and auctions. Russell actually has auctioneers call him on a regular basis whenever they come across an item of interest. He is also a frequent user of eBay. He buys seemingly worthless trifles, researches the stories behind them, and is able to put a value on the items. Russell’s novel Hot Wire was nominated for the Edgar Award, and his short story “Snowy Footprints” from The Granny Curse won a 2000 Storytelling World Award. Russell hosts ghost-lore programs all across the South. He is a regular lecturer at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, where he instructs teachers on how to incorporate folklore into the classroom. He holds a master’s degree in English from Pittsburg State University in Kansas. He has lived in Asheville, North Carolina, with his wife, Janet Barnett, since 1999. Ghost Cats of the South is his ninth book. Visit his website at www.ghostfolk.com.
Books by Randy Russell Ghost Cats of the South (2008)
Links Visit Randy Russell’s website at http://www.ghostfolk.com/
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Randy Russell was born in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Oklahoma. Described as a “ghostlorist,” a folklorist who has a special interest in ghosts, he is the author of four ghost story collections, including Ghost Dogs of the South, The Granny Curse and Other Ghosts and Legends from East Tennessee, and Mountain Ghost Stories and Curious Tales of Western North Carolina.