American Ghost

About this book

"A haunting story about the long reach of the past."--Maureen Corrigan, NPR'S Fresh Air"In this intriguing book, [Nordhaus] shares her journey to discover who her immigrant ancestor really was--and what strange alchemy made the idea of her linger long after she was gone." --PeopleLa Posada--"place of rest"--was once a grand Santa Fe mansion. It belonged to Abraham and Julia Staab, who emigrated from Germany in the mid-nineteenth century. After they died, the house became a hotel. And in the 1970s, the hotel acquired a resident ghost--a sad, dark-eyed woman in a long gown. Strange things began to happen there: vases moved, glasses flew, blankets were ripped from beds. Julia Staab died in 1896--but her ghost, they say, lives on.In American Ghost, Julia's great-great-granddaughter, Hannah Nordhaus, traces her ancestor's transfiguration from nineteenth-century Jewish bride to modern phantom. Family diaries, photographs, and newspaper clippings take her on a riveting journey through three hundred years of German history and the American immigrant experience. With the help of historians, genealogists, family members, and ghost hunters, she weaves a masterful, moving story of fin-de-siècle Europe and pioneer life, villains and visionaries, medicine and spiritualism, imagination and truth, exploring how lives become legends, and what those legends tell us about who we are.How does a nineteenth-century German bride become a twenty-first-century ghost? A Paranormal Investigation: The author joins ghost hunters, psychics, and mediums at the haunted La Posada hotel, digging into the strange events that have kept her ancestor's story alive. Deep Genealogical Research: Follow a trail of family diaries, newspaper clippings, and historical archives from the dusty Southwest back to nineteenth-century Germany to uncover the real Julia Staab. A Journalist's Memoir: As Julia's great-great-granddaughter, Hannah Nordhaus weaves her own personal journey of discovery into the historical tapestry of her family's hidden past. The American West: Explore the rough-and-tumble world of territorial Santa Fe, where Jewish merchants like Abraham Staab built fortunes and European brides confronted a strange and unforgiving new world.