Asian American History

War of Empires/

The colonial frontier of Western Pennsylvania set the stage for the fight over control of North America and the promise of the American West. The war began in the Commonwealth and the defenses, roads and skirmishes fought in the Western part of the state defined the war and the early career of George Washington. Join author Robert M. Dunkerly as he reveals the harrowing history of the French and Indian War in Western Pennsylvania. 

When Washington set the world on fire...

George Washington has frequently been criticized for his first military campaign, which sparked the French and Indian War. This backwoods campaign between British and French colonials eventually grew into the Seven Years' War, a global conflict between these European empires. In 1754 Washington was an ambitious yet inexperienced young officer, eager to carry out his orders and mission on behalf of Virginia and the British king. While his campaign failed to meet its objectives, Washington experienced his first taste of military command, dealing with situations that ultimately proved beyond his control, and learned lessons that made him into the man who led the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War.

Historian Scott Patchan delves deep into Washington's correspondence to tell the story of his training as an officer. 

What really happened on the circus train in 1918? Read the story of this tragedy for the entertainment industry of the time.

In the cool, pre-dawn hours on a June night in 1918, a train engineer closed his cab window as he chugged toward Hammond, Indiana. He drifted to sleep, and his train bore down on the idle Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train. Soon after, the sleeping engineer's locomotive plowed into the circus train. In the subsequent wreckage and blaze, more than two hundred circus performers were injured and eighty-six were killed, most of whom were interred in a mass grave in the Showmen's Rest section of Chicago's Woodlawn Cemetery. Join local historian Richard Lytle as he recounts, in the fullest retelling to date, the details of this tragedy and its role in the overall evolution and demise of a unique entertainment industry.

Author Janis Thornton reveals the stories of a day in Indiana like no other.

Palm Sunday 1965 started as the nicest day of the year, the kind of weather that encouraged Hoosiers to get out in the sun, fire up the grill, hit the golf course, or roll down their car windows and take a leisurely drive. That evening, however, throughout northern and central Indiana, the sky turned an ominous black, and storms moved in, quickly manifesting as Indiana's worst tornado outbreak. Within three hours, twisters, some a half-mile wide, ripped through seventeen counties, devastating communities and leaving death and destruction in their wake. When the tornadoes were finished with Indiana, 137 people were dead, hundreds were injured, and thousands more were forever changed.

“It is true, Maryland did not . . . contribute its proportion, but it was, in my opinion, the fault of the Government, and not of the people.”

~Benjamin Franklin

During the French and Indian War the American colonies contributed to the imperial war effort like never before, Maryland included. Maryland’s involvement in the war saw colonial governor Horatio Sharpe and the elected delegates of the Lower House in near constant struggle over Maryland’s role. They battled over the deployment of Maryland’s militia, over raising troops, and over wartime funding. Meanwhile, frontier settlements burned and Maryland’s soldiers joined the effort to defend Great Britain’s claims to lands west of the Appalachians. Britain’s colonies in North America expanded substantially as a result.

Local historian Tim Ware details the political as well as the military conflicts Maryland faced in this unique war.

Explore the city of yesteryear

East Chicago, Indiana, was a melting pot. The Indiana Harbor neighborhood drew comparisons to Ellis Island as immigrants flocked from all over the world to work at its steel mills. Once home to more than a hundred nationalities, the “Workshop of America” made metal and many other products. Despite issues like pollution and political corruption, it earned the nickname “City of Champions,” winning state titles, sustaining a historic high school rivalry, and producing greats like Gregg Popovich and Junior Bridgeman.

Award-winning Region journalist and Lost Hammond author Joseph S. Pete explores bygone landmarks like Washington and Roosevelt High Schools, Inland Steel Christmas parties, the zoo, Taco Joe’s, the Mademoiselle Shoppe, movies palaces, the gym where Michael Jordan played his first Bulls game, and more.

Indiana Authors Awards (Nonfiction) 2024

More than two centuries removed from its founding, Indianapolis has seen its share of landmarks and landscapes pass into memory. Some have totally vanished, such as the National Road covered bridge over the White River, the Marion County Courthouse, the 1835 Indiana Statehouse and the previous headquarters for the long-standing Flanner House organization. Others still exist, but not in their original location or form, like Pogue’s Run, the Central Canal through downtown and the remnants of structures at Riverside Park. Indianapolis historian Edward Fujawa explores the history of lost sites, how they appear today and how some are still used or repurposed.

For eight decades, an epic power struggle raged across a frontier that would become Maine.

Between 1675 and 1759, British, French, and Native Americans soldiers clashed in six distinct wars to claim the land that became the Pine Tree State. Though the showdown between France and Great Britain was international in scale, the decidedly local conflicts in Maine pitted European settlers against Native American tribes. Native and European communities from the Penobscot to the Piscataqua Rivers suffered brutal attacks. Countless men, women and children were killed, taken captive or sold into servitude. The native people of Maine were torn asunder by disease, social disintegration and political factionalism as they fought to maintain their autonomy in the face of unrelenting European pressure. This is the dark, tragic and largely forgotten struggle that laid the foundation of Maine.

Enduring mysteries from the Hoosier State

Crime and tragedy have all too often disturbed the peace and stained the memory of Indiana’s bucolic countryside. The small town of Dupont was thrust into the nation's spotlight in 1947 after a series of suspicious deaths were blamed on a well-known local housekeeper—suspected serial killer Lottie “Tot” Lockman. On a fall day in 1976, a Benton County farmer found an unusual package in his cornfield—a corpse. Dubbed “The Box Lady of Benton County,” her identity remains a mystery. On September 13, 1989, Joseph Bova was killed outside of his Merrillville home when a pipe bomb rigged to his truck’s ignition exploded. With no witnesses, suspects, or motive, his case remains unsolved.

Author Autumn Bones explores some of Indiana’s least-known unsolved cases.

Haunting mysteries from America’s Heartland/

Indiana rightly prides itself as a safe place to live. Nevertheless, the Hoosier State has experienced its share of unexplained deaths and unsolved disappearances. The state’s oldest missing child case, the disappearance of four-year-old Richmond Byers from Seelyville in 1904, may never be solved. The 1998 attempted bombing of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse remains one of the only unsolved instances of domestic terrorism in the United States. The identities of Bedford’s so-called Carnival Babies will likely forever be unknown. The 1929 murder of Elizabeth Miller may have been the result of the community’s belief that she was a witch, but the true culprit has never been brought to light./

Author of Unsolved Indiana/ Autumn Bones explores some of Indiana’s least known unsolved mysteries.

Circle City Catastrophes/

Disaster was a fact of everyday life in 1800s and early 1900s Indianapolis. During the 1860s, more than 1,700 people died in what is now the Herron-Morton Place neighborhood. In 1882, ten people drowned under the Union Railroad Depot. Ropes were considered an adequate fire escape in the 1890s, but when the National Surgical Institute caught fire, they proved unequal to the task. The owners of the Prest-O-Lite Company created the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but their company also had four major incidents that caused eleven deaths and destruction in the city. In 1917, Hollywood was responsible for the deaths of six people in an Indianapolis apartment building. Join Jack Finney as he explores these and other Indianapolis fires and disasters./ 

Join Jack Finney as he explores these and other Indianapolis fires and disasters./ 

In 1604, when Frenchmen landed on Saint Croix Island, they were far from the first people to walk along its shores.

For thousands of years, Etchemins—whose descendants were members of the Wabanaki Confederacy—had lived, loved and labored in Down East Maine. Bound together with neighboring people, all of whom relied heavily on canoes for transportation, trade and survival, each group still maintained its own unique cultures and customs. After the French arrived, they faced unspeakable hardships, from the Great Dying, when disease killed up to 90 percent of coastal populations, to centuries of discrimination. Yet they never abandoned Ketakamigwa, their homeland. In this book, anthropologist William Haviland relates the history of hardship and survival endured by the natives of the Down East coast and how they have maintained their way of life over the past four hundred years.

Meet the Hoosier Generals of America’s Conflict

When the Civil War erupted, the Union and the Confederacy faced the challenge of organizing huge armies of volunteers with little or no military experience. Crucial to this task was finding generals, and Indiana answered this call with approximately 120 of them. Though a competent division and corps commander, Ambrose E. Burnside’s leadership of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg proved disastrous. Jefferson Columbus was a relentless commander but murdering his superior in a Louisville hotel halted his probable rise to major general. As commander of the Louisville Legion, Lovell H. Rousseau was the only Civil War general commissioned by a city.

Compiling years of research, historian Carl E. Kramer provides biographical sketches of every identifiable Indiana general who attained full-rank, brevet, and state-service status in the tragic struggle.

With an eye for bizarre, macabre detail, Keven McQueen tracks down seventeen true crimes and unsolved mysteries in this collection of historic Hoosier homicides.

This grim collection of tales includes unimaginable incidents like the Indianapolis businessman whose car contained suspicious hams and the man who handed his new bride a drink of carbolic acid. It also reveals the tragedy of Gary's beautiful Arlene Draves, killed by her football player boyfriend, as well as a surprisingly comic courtroom revelation by Hammond's Hazel McNally that cleared her of all charges.

Author Keven McQueen is an instructor in the Department of English at Eastern Kentucky University. He is the author of twelve books on biography, history, folklore, ghost lore, natural disasters and historical true crime.

In the heart of the calumet region, hardworking Hammond helped build America.

Originally known as State Line Slaughterhouse, the city began as no more than a meatpacking plant for nearby Chicago.In time, the city grew, and at its industrial height, trains, chains, cigars, shirts, candy, nuts, player pianos, commercial wallpaper, concrete roof slabs, gutters, boilers, potato digging devices, screws and steel products poured from its many factories.Meanwhile, its many racetracks and casinos earned it the title of “Atlantic City on the Lake.” The city also nurtured Jean Shepherd of A Christmas Story fame and was even home to an early NFL team.Hammond-born journalist Joseph S.Pete explores bygone landmarks like Phil Smidt’s, Madura’s Danceland, the State Theatre, the Woodmar Mall and the W.B.Conkey factory, all of which now live only in legend.

Indiana's landscape is dotted with urban and rural cemeteries teeming with restless spirits. These are the stories of the Hoosiers who refuse to rest in peace.

Crown Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of many notable Indiana residents, as well as one rather infamous soul, but it may also serve as a playground for the spectral children of Community Hill. Tales of mournful spirits can be found at Stepp Cemetery and Highland Lawn, while other areas such as Forest Hill and the cemeteries of LaPorte have far darker stories to tell. Join tour guide and paranormal investigator Ashley Hood on a journey through Indiana's ghostly burial grounds--from the Hoosier National Forest to the banks of Lake Michigan.

Surveying the sensational newspaper accounts as events unfolded, author and historian Chris Flook recounts this grisly tale of political intrigue and conspiracy .

In the fall of 1902, Indianapolis police uncovered a prolific graverobbing ring operating across the city. At the time, cemeteries across central Indiana were relieved of their dead by ghouls, as they were called, seeking fresh corpses desperately needed by the city’s medical colleges. The ring was also accused of multiple murders. In Hamilton County, a former Confederate soldier named Wade West delivered stolen corpses by floating them down the White River. His counterpart in Indianapolis, Rufus Cantrell, an itinerant preacher and full-time graverobber known as the “King of the Ghouls,” ransacked Indy’s cemeteries for years before being caught./

Haunted Hoaxes of the Hoosier State

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, newspapers were a major source of ghost stories. Paranormal experiences, no matter how mundane, were newsworthy and entertaining—even when they turned out not to be ghosts after all. A coffin holding a “talking corpse” on a train turned out to be a box of bullfrogs. An overturned automobile carrying white paint resulted in a paint-covered “ghost” wandering the streets, and a spiritualist tackled a phantom haunting a cemetery only to find that it was a fraternity pledge all along.

Revealing that the truth can sometimes be as amusing as the legend, author Ashley M. Watson gathers newspaper clippings about Indiana ghost stories that were not ghosts at all.

Discover the untold story of the Windy City’s Ghost Shadows.

Even in a town notorious for gangsters like Al Capone, much of Chicago’s lawless lore has remained uncharted. Chicago’s Chinatown, in particular, was home to a vast criminal enterprise, strictly bound by old country rituals, rules and traditions. Few know of Moy Dong Chew, aka “Opium Dong,” one of Chinatown’s original godfathers, much less Frank Moy, his fedora-wearing predecessor. While incidents like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre dominated newspaper headlines, the Tong Wars were being waged in the shadows. Author Harrison Fillmore relates the long and sordid history of Chinatown’s underbelly from the early 1880s to the late 1980s when a Federal Indictment essentially ended organized crime’s grip on their good citizens

Jerry Davich explores the remnants of Gary's glory days, from Union Station to City Methodist Church.

A poster child for our nation's urban experimentation a century ago, Gary was forged with hype and hope, dreams and sweat, political agendas and tons of steel. The hardscrabble city attracted all kinds, from shady scoundrels and famous architects to hardworking immigrants and brilliant entrepreneurs. Boasting 180,000 residents at its peak, the booming melting pot eventually faded away under the afflictions of urban decay, racial unrest and political upheaval.  Revisit the Sheraton Hotel's demise, Emerson High School's hard lessons, Vee-Jay Records' last release and a devastated downtown filled only with façades and fond memories.

Human action made one of the worst natural disasters in Indiana history even worse. Indiana and the Great Flood of 1913 reveals how this happened and how to avoid a similar fate in the future.

Indiana suffered enormous losses in the Great Flood of 1913, yet this disaster is largely forgotten. The combined tornado and flood barreled through Terre Haute, killing more than twenty. One hundred fourteen miles away in Peru, the circus lost most of its animals in the storm. At the southwestern corner of the state, a "sea of water,'? as local papers put it, washed over Evansville turning streets into canals. In the capital, levee failures left hundreds homeless and vulnerable to disease and famine. Pulling from archival photographs, newspapers, and local accounts, Dr. Nancy M. Germano shares stories from across the state to reveal how Indiana's history of settlement and development contributed to one of the state's worst disasters.

From its humble beginnings as a place to swim and row a boat, Ideal Beach eventually became Indiana Beach, a small amusement park where families could have good old-fashioned fun.

Founded by Earl Spackman in 1926, its popularity was bolstered by the addition of a dance hall that drew the top bands of the nation during the Depression and war years of the 1940s. When Earl passed away, his son Tom continued his legacy, setting Indiana Beach on a course that would make it one of the most popular vacation resorts and amusement parks in the entire Midwest, delighting nearly one million visitors every year.

Crawfordsville, Indiana, has a rich history of spiritualism and paranormal lore. /

In the late 1800s and early 1900s mediums were trained in the city, and spiritualism was preached from the street corners. Spirit photography was all the rage, and many flocked to town to have their photos taken with ghosts. The Crawfordsville Monster caused a nationwide stir after terrorizing the town for several days and being spotted by more than 100 people. Urban legends also abound in this small city, including legends like the cursed chair of Oak Hill cemetery, Spooky Hollow and the Old Hospital./

Authors Christopher and Christina Hunt share these tales and others devoted to the mysterious past and darkly thrilling secret life of the heart of Montgomery County.

Explore neglected corners of Hamilton County history

Hamilton County's past harbors sundry strange tales, many of them lost to time--until now. In 1867, a groom disappeared just before his wedding, presumably running away on cold feet. Four decades later his remains were discovered buried under a shed in a mystery that remains unsolved. In the 1870s, the Sheriff marshaled a seven-man posse, including two local African Americans, to deal with "desperados'? in an isolated corner of the county. Their heroic efforts swiftly liberated the local populous from the yoke of banditry. A giant wave of ravenous squirrels descended on Central Indiana in 1882 to feast on crops, to the shock and dismay of new settlers.

Join county historian David Heighway for a tour of all things odd and forgotten.

Heartland stories of heroism, tragedy, mystery, and more

Decatur County, Indiana, may be small town America, but its history is exceptionally fascinating. Local luminary Will Cumback was not only a noted statesman but also a good friend to President Abraham Lincoln. The Underground Railroad ran through the county. The first tree on the Decatur County Courthouse Tower was seen in 1870, and a tree has grown there ever since. David Letterman's first broadcasting job was at WTRE in Greensburg, and the last no-hitter in the history of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was thrown by Burney's Janet Rumsey.

Join history teacher and Greensburg native John Pratt on a journey through the colorful history of Decatur County.

The rural landscape of Henry County, Indiana, offers a bumper crop of captivating stories deeply rooted in history.

John “Snowball” Merida’s towering, crowd-thrilling home runs could have landed him in the Major Leagues were it not for his skin color. Native son Gen. Omar Bundy refused to retreat in World War I. His decision in all probability saved Paris from the Germans. A solitary chimney stack is an oddity in a green landscape, but it was in this spot more than a hundred years ago that a decision changed the course of New Castle history.

Compiling stories of brave veterans and basketball heroes, nationally known catchphrases and political could-have-beens, author and local historian Darrel Radford uncovers lost gems from Henry County’s past.

Strange and unusual things lurk behind the calm façade of Dearborn County .

Several legends surround Hillforest Mansion, the home of one of Aurora’s founding families. Many have seen the ghost of a farmer and his mule at Carnegie Hall in Moores Hill. The glowing grave at Riverview Cemetery may connect to the 1941 Agrue family massacre. St. Mary’s Church rectory is said to be haunted by the former priest, and the spirits at Whisky’s in Lawrenceburg are not just in the drinks. Several schools in the area echo with the sounds of former students and staff, and numerous local residences house the spirits of former owners who never left.

Join Mary Ellen Quigley and Rebecca Wilhelm on a chilling tour from Lawrenceburg to Lawrenceville and beyond.

Since the end of the American Revolution, Native Americans, pioneer farmers, industrialists and factory workers settled across the county in hamlets, villages and towns of all sizes.

Nearly one hundred distinct settlements existed in what we now call Delaware County. Some of these communities survived the ebb and flow of history to prosper, while others disappeared, becoming lost in the collective memory. Today, many residents would only recognize the city of Muncie and the towns of Albany, Daleville, Eaton, Gaston, Selma and Yorktown. A few might know of villages such as Desoto, New Burlington, Smithfield and Wheeling. Most have probably never heard of Dogtown, Gate’s Corner, Granville and Soccum. Drawing on years of research, local historian Chris Flook uncovers the stories of these lost towns.

This book is a chilling collection of the ghostly legends and lore of historic Madison, Indiana.

Beautifully preserved mid-nineteenth-century buildings grace the streets of Madison, Indiana, providing a concrete connection to the past. But a more ethereal, ghostly link flits about these streets when night descends. Restive spirits linger here, like the extra that may join you mid-slumber at Whitehall Bed-and-Breakfast, a residual from the Civil War hospital that was once nearby. Feel the ghostly chill of a mob bootlegger who stops by the Broadway Tavern around last call and learn of the myriad ghosts that flutter here in search of something. Dive into the shadows of Madison on this chilling journey with Virginia Jorgensen.

Early Indianapolis was designed to only be one square mile, but as more settled in the Circle City, progress made its way across the Eastside.

Through their dedication to maintaining the character of neighborhoods like Woodruff Place, Fountain Square and Irvington, Eastsiders have banded together time and again to preserve the memories of landmarks like the Rivoli Theatre and Al Green's. Julie Young, a lifelong resident of the Eastside, celebrates one of the most culturally diverse areas of Indianapolis as she illuminates the strength and determination that would make any resident proud to call the Eastside home.

Author Larry Lawson guides readers on a journey from the present to the other side, where the paranormal and tropics collide. Indian River County is an idyllic vacation spot on Florida’s east coast, not far south of Cape Canaveral. Known as part of the state’s famed “Treasure Coast,” many are unaware of the deep and fascinating history this area played in the development of the Sunshine State. Also lost among its visitors and residents are the chilling stories of the hauntings that accompany this rich history. It is here that a man named Waldo still looks after his family and properties, six decades after his death. Or a retired preacher is seen digging up his hidden treasure, days after he died.

Part guide, part landmarks history, part military history, The Historic Memorial District of Downtown Indianapolis will enlighten and delight visitors and locals alike.

Old Indianapolis bears little resemblance to the new one, but Indy's unique trail of war memorials has a powerful way of linking the two. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is unmistakably emblematic of the Circle City. The Indiana War Memorial, an inexplicably well-kept secret, is the nation's largest memorial established for veterans of the Great War. And the American Legion's National Headquarters in Indianapolis remains a testament to the grit that put the city on the map .Author Rudy Schouten tracks the origins of Indy's monuments and memorials, not just to tell the story of limestone and granite rising out of the ground, but to help make note of the sacrifices that paved a city's trail of gratitude.

Discover school spirits and downtown haunts of Bloomington, Indiana

For many, the most terrifying sight in Bloomington is the bathroom in a freshman dorm, but even more disturbing things lurk in the dark corners of this college town. Two haunted portraits hang in the Indiana Memorial Union Building, and the ghosts of suicides roam the stairwell in Ballantine Hall. At the end of every night, bartenders at a downtown pub pour a shot of whiskey for a not-so-dearly-departed spirit. At a nearby old manor, two ghost children stir up trouble. Farther out of town, in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest lies Stepp Cemetery, a remote and desolate graveyard that is one of the most haunted locations in Indiana.

Join Bloomington native Klara Lee Sweet on a spine-tingling tour of the city's spectral history.

Defined by a tangled web of deception for more than a century, Northwest Indiana's political culture involved secret handshakes, tapped phone calls, backroom deals and murder.

Found submerged in his car with a rock on the gas pedal, city official Babe Lopez's execution-style murder rocked East Chicago. Shot and killed at a political fundraiser, power broker Jay Given's murder occurred while four hundred guests mingled in a neighboring room. Former Lake Station mayor Keith Soderquist stole thousands of dollars from his reelection campaign and the city's food pantry account to gamble at local casinos. Author Jerry Davich explores the hidden political scandals and highly publicized court cases of public servants once sworn to serve and protect.

Immigration in the Equality State

Long before Heart Mountain Internment Camp brought Japanese prisoners to Wyoming, an immigrant work force put down lasting roots. Beginning in 1892, Japanese came to toil on Union Pacific’s railroad and coal mines. But they weren’t warmly welcomed. Newspapers charged every Japanese section worker was secret Japanese Army. Allegedly, 600 Japs in Utah, [and] about 400 in Wyoming and probably 100 in Colorado, were ready to serve Japan during the Japanese Russo War. George Wakimoto said the number was closer to six. Such misinformation about Japanese laborers spawned violence against Asians. The citizens of Evanston tried to blow them up. Rawlins ran the Japanese out of town. And in Laramie, young boys threw stones and dragged a Japanese man through the street. Author Dan Lyon chronicles Japanese perseverance, before and after both world wars, in their adopted state.

White County has been acquainted with loss since its very beginning. First formed in 1834, the county saw its first citizens, the Potawatomi, removed to Kansas in September 1838. As time went by, communities like Wyoming never developed, and others like Headlee died out. Numerous high schools, including Buffalo, Idaville, Round Grove, Wolcott and six others, disappeared with consolidation in the 1960s. Longtime businesses like Bartlett Ford, Ben Franklin Dime Store, Miller's Department Store, and Kentucky Fried Chicken are long gone. Manufacturers like Bryan's Manufacturing, RCA, and McGill Manufacturing have died out, and organizations like the Knights of Pythias, Monticello Jaycees, and the Moose have faded away.

Authors W.C. Madden and Maria Salvo Benson lead a journey through vanished people and places of White County.

At the center of Indiana lies Boone County, a seemingly quiet place with a colorful past.

The stagecoach along the Michigan Road helped to start the county, then the railroad transformed it as new towns were created along the routes. Some of these towns are now gone, leaving behind a few buildings and a sign marking where they once existed. Local vagabond Thorntown Cyrus entertained area residents with his accordion, a couple touted his and hers tractors, and the Cragun twins met a tragic demise. Mysteries surround true stories such as a rogue monkey seen wandering a community and why a butcher attacked a prominent citizen.

Author Heather Phillips Lusk brings these stories and more to life to reveal what makes Boone County unique.

From the jail cell that once held John Dillinger to quaint shops with dark beginnings, the restless spirits of Crown Point purportedly result from a century-old hex.

Legend had it that a caravan of gypsies found themselves unfairly exiled from town. Forced to leave their beloved dead behind in unmarked graves, they invoked a venomous curse on the townspeople and vowed that no ancestor would be allowed eternal peace. Paranormal researcher Judith Tometczak exposes evidence of this deceptively quiet town's dark side.

North Central Indiana is rich in farmlands, wind turbines, and small towns. It is also thick with ghosts.

Ghastly apparitions roam the town of Battle Ground, where the infamous Battle of Tippecanoe occurred. A woman trying to put her life back together soon found herself disturbed by inexplicable events in a Fountain County apartment. Roads in Newton, Clinton, and Grant counties are but a few such roads where strange things suddenly appear—and often just as quickly disappear. The Rotary Jail Museum in Crawfordsville is said to have a pair of resident spirits. Purdue University and Indiana Beach harbor their own eerie tales.

Join authors and paranormal investigators W.C. Madden and Maria Salvo Benson on a spine-tingling journey of the haunts of North Central Indiana.

“…evocative vignettes and inspiring stories from many of California’s South Asian American citizens…” Paul Michael Taylor, Director, Asian Cultural History Program, Smithsonian Institution.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, adventurous travelers left the Punjab in India to seek their fortune in California and beyond. Laboring in farms, fields and orchards for low wages while enduring racial discrimination, they strove to put down roots in their new home. Bhagat Singh Thind, an immigrant who served in the United States Army, had his citizenship granted and revoked twice before a 1936 law expanded naturalization to all World War I veterans, regardless of race. Dalip Singh Saund obtained a master’s degree and doctorate in mathematics from UC Berkeley only to return to farming when no one would hire him. In 1956, Saund went on to become the first Asian elected to the U.S. Congress. Ethnic South Asians are now found in every trade and profession in the United States, including the Office of the Vice President. Descendants of the first Punjabi immigrants from Yuba City to the Imperial Valley still farm, adding to the rich tapestry of the Central Valley.

Author Lea Terhune recounts the risks, setbacks and persistence of the people who achieved their American dreams.

How the U.S. law targeting Chinese laborers impacted families for generations.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, after the railroads were completed and the gold mines exhausted, an economic downturn stirred up anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States. Capitalizing on this prejudice, the government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to limit immigration and naturalization for people of Chinese descent. By 1892, Chinese were required to obtain certificates of residency or identity and carry them at all times. Those who did not could be deported or imprisoned. As the law became stricter, interrogations, affidavits, and Caucasian witnesses were required to prove Chinese people’s right to remain in America. The act wouldn’t be repealed until 1943.

From the National Archives at Seattle, certified genealogist emeritus Trish Hackett Nicola brings to life the case files of Chinese immigrants.

A fascinating historical tour of this Midwestern city’s crimes, scandals, and shady characters.

Dubbed the “Athens of the Prairie” for its array of stunning modern architecture, Columbus, Indiana, nevertheless endured its share of unsavory citizens, crime-ridden neighborhoods, and tales of woe in its past. Many residents avoided the infamous slums of Smoky Row and Death Valley, while others gave in to the allure of Lillian “Todie” Tull’s famed house of ill repute on North Jackson Street. Two different father-and-son hoodlum partnerships, the McKinneys and the Bells, terrorized the area in the 1800s. And a brutal fistfight between a newspaper editor and the mayor sparked a scandal in 1877.

In this book, enlivened by photos and illustrations, journalist Paul J. Hoffman guides you on a wild ride through the city’s salacious side.

The businesses are mostly gone, but these Indiana ads still beckon

Indiana’s vintage brick wall advertisements—also known as ghost signs—still cling to life in small towns like Redkey and Alexandria and big cities like Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. From tobacco ads to early automotive services, these fading layers of paint in Logansport, Gary, Terre Haute, South Bend, and beyond reveal a bygone era of local industry and bold graphic design. Through striking photographs and engaging commentary, author and photographer Joey B. Lax Salinas captures the artistry, history, and resilience of the slowly vanishing landmarks that continue to whisper Indiana’s commercial legacy from weathered walls across the state.

Unearth the origins of Napa Valley’s prosperity.

Chinese laborers were once the backbone of Napa Valley. Throughout the late 1800s, they toiled in the grape fields, mines, hop farms, leather tanneries and laundries, and carved out neighborhoods in towns throughout the Valley. These contributions did little to deter discrimination and Anti-Chinese Leagues sprang up to harass and intimidate immigrants like Chan Wah Jack, who ran the successful Sang Lung store in Napa’s Chinatown. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act hastened the decline of local Chinatowns and these once vibrant communities disappeared while the industries they helped to foster flourished.

Join author John McCormick as he uncovers the forgotten contributions of the Chinese people in California’s most famous wine region.

Haunted Hoaxes of the Hoosier State

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, newspapers were a major source of ghost stories. Paranormal experiences, no matter how mundane, were newsworthy and entertaining—even when they turned out not to be ghosts after all. A coffin holding a “talking corpse” on a train turned out to be a box of bullfrogs. An overturned automobile carrying white paint resulted in a paint-covered “ghost” wandering the streets, and a spiritualist tackled a phantom haunting a cemetery only to find that it was a fraternity pledge all along.

Revealing that the truth can sometimes be as amusing as the legend, author Ashley M. Watson gathers newspaper clippings about Indiana ghost stories that were not ghosts at all.

World War II Indiana Landmarks features places throughout the state that played significant roles during World War II. Many of these locations memorialize those who fought as well as those who contributed to the war effort. These places of remembrance include historical sites, monuments, markers, museums, surviving buildings, a surviving Navy ship, a surviving plane, and more. Author Ronald P. May explores the rich historical backgrounds surrounding each location and tells the personal stories of veterans and civilians related to many of these locations.

These are the abhorrent, the grim, the can't-look-away misdeeds and miscreants of this city's past, when bicycle messenger boys peddled through the night to link prostitutes with johns and when the bigoted masses tightened their grip on the city behind mayor and Klansman John Duvall. From the unseemly to the deviant to the disastrous, Hoosier Andrew E. Stoner brings you lives as out of control as the worst wreck at the Indy 500 with a history as regrettable as it is riveting.

Bucolic hamlets or festering cesspools? The fledgling towns of Jay County were touted by early newspapers as both.

As populations thrived, so did crime and disorder. Tempers flared. Romance bloomed and faded. Political and social lines were drawn and crossed. Sensational accounts of robbery, assault, and murder grabbed the headlines. Criminals were hunted by an overworked and undertrained police force. When, and if, they were caught, alleged offenders were tried not only by the judicial system but also by the press and public opinion.

Looking beyond the headlines at the impact of crime on a small community, local author Chris Kennedy Nixon examines criminals and their victims and provides a snapshot in time of social ideals about gender, politics, wealth, and poverty.

Scientists who lived, worked, or were educated in the Hoosier State have made fundamental contributions to astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics. Astronomer Vesto Slipher discovered that almost all the galaxies were moving away from our own Milky Way Galaxy. Biologist Alfred Kinsey was a pioneer in the field of human sexuality. Chemist Harold Urey discovered deuterium and worked on the Manhattan Project. And physicist Edward Purcell discovered nuclear magnetic resonance, the basis for MRI, one of the most significant medical advances in a century. Scientists with Indiana connections have also been awarded a dozen Nobel prizes.

Hoosier science teacher Duane S. Nickell offers a glimpse into the lives of seventeen scientific heroes from Indiana.

Indianapolis Beer Stories is a time capsule of tales from the city’s early taverns, to a pre-Prohibition golden era, to today’s modern craft beer scene.

Meet the ghosts of Indy’s brewing past. Discover the very beginning of beer in Indiana’s new capital and the pioneers who carved a path for a future industry. Uncover the legacy of a bygone brewing giant. Learn how one spontaneous decision to cross the treacherous Rocky Mountains led to a booming craft beer scene in Indiana.

Indiana native Amy Beers, a Certified Cicerone® and owner/operator of Drinking with Beers, leads a heady tour of yesterday and today in Circle City brewing.

The Battle for North America

In the mid-1750s, New York was caught in the crossfire as the British and French struggled for control of North America. During the French and Indian War, the Adirondack Mountain region saw numerous military encounters around Lakes George and Champlain while Sir William Johnson, Robert Rogers, John Stark, Phineas Lyman, and others carved their names in the annals of American history. Powerful fortifications rose and fell as the English and the French brawled; forts such as Fort William Henry, Fort Ticonderoga, and Fort Saint-Frederic/Fort Crown Point housed troops, endured sieges, and received their own battle scars over the course of the war. Author Marie Danielle Annette Williams uncovers the complex history of the Adirondacks during its most tumultuous time.  

Celebrate the ingenious, pioneering, and creative women who made the Circle City what it is today.

A diverse group of incredible women shaped Indianapolis as we know it today. But they’ve often been omitted from its history books—until now. These women include Civil War heroes, suffragist leaders, trailblazing educators like Eliza Blaker, famed entrepreneurs like Madam C.J. Walker and Christel DeHaan, and unsung heroes like Madge Oberholtzer. Women founded community cornerstones like the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Children’s Museum. One Indianapolis woman was the “mother of science fiction,” one wrote every episode of I Love Lucy, and another was a palm reader with a celebrity clientele. Other women in the Circle City have been pioneering athletes, trend-setting artists, and fierce community organizers, including the woman who saved the Indiana Pacers.

Author and lifelong Hoosier Ashley Petry celebrates these amazing women.

Noble County boasts small-town charm and attractions all year long.

And ghosts. The county’s only movie theater is patrolled by the well-known manager, who died in 1995. Two of the highest hills in the state are haunted, one after a hanging and another because of a murder immortalized by Indiana’s poet laureate. The sprawling Kneipp Sanitarium received a visit from the Virgin Mary herself and became a battleground of good versus evil. Former residents of the county poor farm still roam the building. Then there’s the “Thing in the Basement.”

Join authors and historians Mark and Emily Hunter as they tour the dark and spooky corners of Noble County.