New Book about an Old Town
It has been a busy summer for the gang at Freaky Foot Tours. The tours have been running nonstop, the guests have come ready to freak the peak and the spirits, by most accounts, have been cooperating. More about the EVPs and paranormal images captured in a later post. First, the bigger news: there is a new book about this old town.
I (Susan) wrote it. Wicked Flagstaff, published by The History Press with a release date of September 16, is for anyone who enjoys weird, obscure and true tales about the mountain town some of us call home. It grew out of the same archive digging that built our tours, and it holds stories that never fit anywhere else.
What is inside Wicked Flagstaff?
Nine chapters, each with its own theme. One covers Flagstaff's earliest days, when the newly minted council was called to reconcile the south side's gamblers and hustlers with the church-going families beginning to populate the town. Another delves into the unsolved deaths of the madam Dutch May Peters Prescott and her "husband," Mr. Prescott. Dutch May was a wealthy woman found dead in a staged suicide that was never solved, with rumors pointing at a highly placed town figure; our overview of the Dutch May mystery sketches the case.
Chapter three takes a look at, and into, both of the town's historic cemeteries; taphophiles, be proud. There is also a chapter on Flagstaff's underground tunnel system, its history and what remains today. A word of honesty on that one: the historic steam tunnels were sealed shut long ago, and nobody tours them. If anyone promises you an underground tour, ask what you will actually see.
The last chapter details something very wicked and not well known at all: the tragic 1987 murder of Sarah Saganitso and the trial of George Abney that followed. It was the defense strategy that made the case one for the books. They argued a Navajo skinwalker was Sarah's real killer, and the trial divided the community.
What happened to the Southside stories?
They found a home. Researching the book pulled us deep into the Southside, its sightings, its history and the sealed tunnel remnants along south San Francisco Street, and there was too much material to leave on a shelf. We now offer Southside stories as private group bookings; reach out through our contact page to set one up for your group. I will blog more about all of it as soon as I catch my breath.
Walk this story
The book is for reading. The streets are for walking. The same research behind Wicked Flagstaff feeds the Flagstaff Haunted History Tour, the city's original ghost tour: $29 for adults, nightly at 7 PM with an 8 PM walk added Fridays and Saturdays, 75 minutes through historic downtown. Meanwhile, freak the peak in your own special way. BOO
