Monthly Archives: December 2009
The Story of Emma Jones
“Emma Jones,” from my appearance at the Rockford Public Library on October 17, 2009:
Haunting the Prairie: A Tourist’s Guide – Limited Edition!
Own a signed and numbered limited edition copy of Haunting the Prairie before its official release! Only 20 copies available – $12.95 each
Sold Out!
“If you are reading this, you are part of a small but dedicated group of people who relish in the exploration of the unknown… I honestly hope that you visit the places listed in this book, and always remember, the point is to have fun, get scared, and learn something along the way…” – From the Introduction.
For over a decade, Michael Kleen, author of the Legends and Lore of Illinois and the forthcoming book Paranormal Illinois, has been researching and traveling to mystery spots all over the Prairie State. Now, he has created the most organized and comprehensive guide to haunted and legendary places ever written about Illinois. Haunting the Prairie is that guide.
Haunting the Prairie contains 130 mystery sites and 60 individual illustrations, plus the only bibliographic time line of paranormal and folklore research in Illinois over the past century. In Haunting the Prairie, Michael Kleen not only examines the sites, but also the hobbyists and professionals who have devoted their lives to exploring the strange and unusual in our great state. But that’s not all, this book also contains an extended and exclusive interview with paranormal investigator Larry Wilson about his documentary Strange Williamsburg Hill.
Divided among eight distinct regions and listed by county, each location features a description, directions, and sources drawn from a diverse variety of books and articles where the reader can find out more information.
Haunting the Prairie challenges you to get off the couch and start exploring our wonderful State of Illinois. You might be surprised at what you discover!
Title: Haunting the Prairie: A Tourist’s Guide to the Weird and Wild Places of Illinois
Author: Michael Kleen
Format: 9 x 6 x 0.5
ISBN: 978-0979040146
Publisher: Black Oak Press, Illinois
Number of Pages: 154
Publication Date: January 1, 2010
Optimists on the Titanic
A classic from the archives of Black Oak Media.
Optimists on the Titanic
By Michael Kleen
As we blindly sail farther into the twenty first century, we are just beginning to witness the unraveling of our economic foundations. Like the fabled HMS Titanic, the U.S. economy was thought to be invincible. And like the Titanic, our economy has drifted into dangerous waters and has mired itself on an iceberg. As long as nothing too large battered its hull—as long as American consumers continued to consume—it promised to sail amid luxurious comfort and extravagance. As the passengers laughed and played, none suspected that danger lurked just beneath the surface. Even as the mighty ship slowly sank, many were convinced that the end was not at hand, and its precious few lifeboats were launched half empty. Like the Titanic’s unfortunate passengers, we too may be left floating in icy waters.
It was, of course, our fault for taking the ride.
Along with our bloated, centralized and bureaucratic social regime, we inherited from the Progressive Era an economy in which the greased up hands of the local, state, and Federal governments have replaced Adam Smith’s invisible hand. Rather than alleviating the excesses of business, unwarranted government meddling has created a new kind of monopoly capitalism administered by a class of cheerful robots who work for a handful of executives who simply sit in boardrooms and collect checks without any loyalty to our country, their employees, or even their own companies.
These behemoths are not spread out over the entire nation, rather, their headquarters are concentrated in one or two major cities, doing violence to a nation hungry for jobs, not to mention freedom of speech and expression. When the majority of publishing companies, cable television stations, and record labels are centered in one city, such as New York, and owned by the same three parent companies, it would be naïve to believe that freedom of expression is not threatened…
