Local paranormal author Sylvia Shults is out with her newest award-winning book, Days of the Dead: A Year of True Ghost Stories.
The book offers a different ghost story for each day of the calendar year. That's no easy feat.
"It took me two years of research and 14 months of writing. But I did manage to find a ghost story for every single day of the year," Shults said.
Some of the tales are rather gruesome, like the story of the Donnellys, a Canadian family murdered in the culmination of a bitter feud.
But other snippets are more sentimental. Shults said one story tells of a blue light appearing every New Year's Eve over a little girl's grave in Iowa.
"I do a lot of reading. I devour true ghost stories," Shults said. "And if there's a date attached, I collected it for the book."
Shults said writing about the paranormal also helps her learn about history. She's written several books on the former Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville.
Days of the Dead: A Year of True Ghost Stories recently won a first place award in the occult and paranormal category at BookFest Spring 2022.
Click here to learn more about Shults and her books.
