By Fran Migliaccio Photography by Marea Mott, Art and Photography by Gillian Stevens
Published by Francis Huggard Miglaccio
192 pages paperback $14.95
This reviewer was part of the crew that published the Block Island Race Week News in June, and my daily walk from rented condo to Block Island Boat Basin took me past the Island Cemetery. Nearly every morning that week was foggy, inspiring contemplation of the island’s history and the stories connected with each headstone and monument. One day during Race Week, our Publisher handed me a copy of MORE Ghosts of Block Island. Perusing the “About the Author” page, I read that Fran Migliaccio and her husband Rally manage Block Island Boat Basin, confirming my long-held belief that nothing in this life happens by chance.
Migliaccio, whose work has appeared in Yankee, The Christian Science Monitor and the Block Island Times, published her first book, Ghosts of Block Island, in 2005. Many islanders subsequently approached the author, saying, ‘I’ve got another ghost story for you!’ She published MORE Ghosts this year, combining first-hand accounts of ghost sightings and paranormal occurrences with island history, providing a glimpse at the lives and deaths of people whose families have lived on Block for several generations.
The restless spirits that haunt many of the buildings on Block Island apparently don’t often express malevolence, seemingly content to offer occasional, playful proof that these places are indeed theirs and the living are merely passing through. Consider Jennie Day, whose spirit is said to inhabit the now-closed Surf Hotel. Peg O’Loughlin, who worked at the Surf in the 1990s, recalls, “One day before the season started…I was vacuuming the second floor hallway. I was up there all by myself. I noticed a line of pebbly-like shells on the floor and I vacuumed them up. I moved on, and I looked back where I’d vacuumed. The shells had reappeared! So I vacuumed them up again…And they reappeared again – in front of me! Well, I was getting a little tired of that game, so I just said, Hey – I’m cleaning your hotel! Cut out the comedy!’ And it stopped. I vacuumed the shells for a third time, and after that, they didn’t come back.”
This book’s stark black & white photographs (most made in the winter) and illustrations have a similarly ethereal quality, depicting a side of Block Island that most visitors will never see. You’ll find MORE Ghosts of Block Island fascinating, whether you choose to read it on your boat, at the beach, or in a locked bedroom with all the lights on. For a list of booksellers who stock this fine book, or to order online (you can also print a mail order form), visit blockislandghosts.com.
