East Peoria, Ill. -
Sylvia Shults of Pekin said she has always been a sucker for ghost stories.
“Since I was a little kid, you could always suck me in with a good ghost story,” she said.
Now she can read one of her own.
Shults, a desk assistant at Fondulac District Library in East Peoria, began her writing career 24 years ago when she penned horror and romance novels. She recently combined her love of writing and interest in ghosts and penned her ninth book, “Ghosts of the Illinois River,” a collection of 16 tales of apparitions gathered from communities along the waterway.
She said she began her compilation of ghost stories after she was called by a publisher in Iowa “out of the blue,” who produces a series of ghost stories around waterways. Not knowing that she lived right next to the river in Pekin, he asked her to write “Ghosts of the Illinois River.”
“I still can’t figure out how he found out about me, but I’m glad he did,” Shults said.
She began collecting ghost stories at the north end of the river by Seneca and continued south to Hardin. Shults researched familiar stories, spoke with people in the communities and used some stories from her personal experience, she said.
Of the stories in her book, she said her favorite is “A Dog Named Tige.”
“The dog is the hero in the story,” Shults said. “The guy in the story owes the dog his life, literally. I just get choked up every time I read it.”
Shults said she was very skeptical that there are spirits among us before she started going on ghost hunts.
“I’m the worst skeptic,” she said. “I’m definitely convinced there are ghosts out there now. The more I work with them, the more I get convinced.”
She often goes on ghost hunts with her friends of Research In Paranormal.
“The more I go ghost hunting, the braver I get,” Shults said.
Shults said she has heard a lot of ghosts, but never actually seen one. She saw a shadow pass by an exit sign during her first ghost hunt at the allegedly haunted Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville, which was also known as the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane.
“I like to think that I’d startle, but I’d hold my ground,” she said when asked how she would react to a ghost sighting.
Shults published her first book, “Golden Horus,” in 2000. It is a time-travel romance set in ancient Egypt.
Other books written by Shults include “Timeless Embrace,” a romance with a ghostly visitor; “Voices in an Empty Room,” a collection of horror stories; and “Price of Admission,” a supernatural romance.
“I love telling stories, and I love the idea that I can make up a story out of thin air and write it down and people will enjoy reading it,” Shults said.
“Ghosts of the Illinois River” will soon be in stock at Borders at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie, and I Know You Like a Book, in Peoria Heights. Shults said the book can be ordered now through both book stores, and can also be checked out along with Shults’s other books at the Fondulac District Library and Alpha Park Library in Bartonville.
Learn more at the “Ghost of the Illinois River” fan page on Facebook, or www.sylviashults.com.
