Richard Southall - Haunted Route 66: Ghosts of Americas Legendary Highway

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About the Author

Richard Southall (West Virginia) has been interested

in the paranormal since a very young age, and was conducting his own paranormal investigations by the time he was a teenager. He is the co-creator of a haunted walking tour of Parkersburg, WV, one of the best-received tours in the United States. Today,

Southall conducts private ghost investigations, teaches workshops on ghost hunting, has contributed to numerous periodicals, and has been interviewed on regional and national radio about ghosts and hauntings. He is a member of the paranormal group MAJDA.

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2143 Wooddale Drive
Woodbury, MN 55125-2989

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RichaRd Southall

The GhosTs of AmericAs LeGendAry hiGhwAy
Llewellyn Worldwide Woodbury, Minnesota

Haunted Route 66: Ghosts of Americas Legendary Highway 2013 by Richard Southall, PhD. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Edition
First Printing, 2013

Book design by Bob Gaul
Editing by Ed Day
Cover art: Clouds iStockphoto.com/Milorad Zaric

Interstate sign iStockphoto.com/trekandshoot
Storm, bird, road in desert iStockphoto.com/Dmitry Rukhlenko/ Woman iStockphoto.com/Erik Khalitov

Cover design by Kevin Brown
Interior illustrations Art Explosion and Llewellyn art department Interior photos Library of Congress, Barbara Schepker, Nancy Longhurst

and Josh Millstein
Author photo Debra Southall
Llewellyn Publications is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Southall, Richard, 1972

Haunted Route 66: the ghosts of Americas legendary highway.1st ed. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7387-2636-6 (alk. paper)
1. GhostsUnited States. 2. Haunted placesUnited States. 3. United States Highway 66Miscellanea. I. Title.
BF1472.U6S675 2013
133.10973dc23
2012028545

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Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 www.llewellyn.com

Printed in the United States of America

T

he Mother Road. Main Street USA. Although it has been known by many names over the years, Route 66 has allowed us to embrace the spirit of adventure and freedom that really is the epitome of our American heritage. Route 66 has been the inspiration behind books, music, television series, and movies since for nearly a century. With such a vast history, Route 66 undoubtedly has its fair share of ghost stories. That is the purpose of this book to document and chronicle several of these accounts have been passed down over the years. However, before we can journey down this road together, it is important to get a brief background of how Route 66 came into being.

History of Route 66

There are already several books published that can offer a more detailed and concise history of Route 66, so rather than provide yet another exhaustive account of the origins, near demise, and resurrection of Route 66, I will simply review the basics here. If you want more indepth information on the history behind Route 66, I personally found that Drew Knowles Route 66 Adventure Handbook was very helpful and could be used in conjunction with this book in order to get a feel for what The Mother Road has to offer.

Route 66 consisted of nearly 2,500 miles of road stretching from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. It goes through eight states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In the early 1920s, cars were being produced en masse and people started to buy them at an astounding rate. To meet the need, the United States government created a federal numbered highway system that linked existing roads together into an interstate route for people to travel. By the way, the official birth date for Route 66 was November 11, 1926.

Route 66 was not actually one long roadway that started in Chicago and ended in Santa Monica, but rather a series of dozens of different roads that went through a multitude of towns between Illinois and California. These roads had existed long before Route 66 was commissioned. Rather than create a whole new road system, it was decided that the existing roads could be connected to form one continuous roadway from Illinois to California. Route 66 often led people into the downtown areas of these communities. This is why Route 66 is often called Main Street USAsometimes Route 66 actually was Main Street.

Residents of these towns began to notice the increase in traffic and visitors after Route 66 was commissioned. Literally hundreds of new businesses emerged to meet the increased demand of travelers. Restaurants, curio shops, roadside attractions, hotels, and other types of businesses began to sprout almost overnight. No two stops were the same. Many tried to be as unique as possible in order to stand out. It has been said that a person could travel Route 66 a hundred times and never have the same experience twice.