Abraham
Lincoln is one
of the most
haunted—and
haunting—presidents
in US
history.
Sightings of
Lincoln’s
ghost, as well
as the ghost
of his
assassin, have
been reported
for more than
150 years.
Visited by
eerie
premonitions,
morbid dreams,
and unusual
events that
seem too
bizarre to be
coincidence,
Lincoln has
become the
source of
dozens of
myths and
paranormal
mysteries.
Chicago
historian,
ghost-chaser,
and
smart-aleck
Adam Selzer
(who spoke to
the Cigar
Society about
Chicago's
early film
industry last
season) has
investigated
everything
from obscure
séance
transcripts
and forgotten
newspaper
articles to
the most
peculiar
paranormal
claims,
digging deep
into the
annals of
history,
truth, rumors,
and
lies.
His lastest
book, Ghosts
of Lincoln,
is just out
this
month.
Adam will join
the Cigar
Society to
tell us some
ghost
stories.
He'll also
have some
copies for
signing.
Adam
Selzer is also
the author of
many books,
including:
The
Ghosts of
Chicago;
The Murder
Castle of H.
H. Holmes;
The Smart
Aleck's Guide
to Grave
Robbing;
Your Neighborhood
Gives Me the
Creeps;
Weird
Chicago;
I Put a Spell
on You;
Devil
Babies;
The Resurrection
Mary Files;
True Tales of
the Chicago
Gallows
as well as
one that
should be dear
to all Cigar
Society
members: Drink
Like the
Dickens!
Discovering
the Works of
Dickens by
Recreating the
Drinks in
Them.
Adam writes
books in the
mornings, and
in the
evenings he's
a ghost-tour
guide,
currently
leading two or
three hundred
tours a year.
![[[book
cover: Ghosts of
Lincoln]](images/selzer-ghosts-of-lincoln.jpg)
Adam Selzer was born in Des
Moines and now lives in Chicago,
where he writes humorous books by
day and researches history, ghost
stories, and naughty playground
rhymes by night. Mr.
Selzer's first novel was How
To Get Suspended and Influence
People, a 2007 Random House
book that was included in the
Chicago Public Schools 2007 Summer
Reading List. It was also
nominated for a Cybils 2007 Young
Adult Fiction award, and, in 2009,
made national news after attempts
were made to have it removed from
an Idaho library. It was
included in the American Library
Association's Banned Books Week
packet in 2010. In 2013, his
novel Sparks: the Epic,
True-blue, (Almost) Holy Quest
of Debbie (a young-adult
novel about a sixteen-year-old
lesbian's quest) was named a
Stonewall Honor book and was
placed on the ALA's "Rainbow
List." His Smart Aleck's
Guide to American History
(Random House, 2009) was nominated
for a YALSA award for nonfiction
by the American Library
Association in 2011,