SKELETON KEYS: WORKPLACE HAUNTINGS

Skeleton Keys: Workplace Hauntings, John Klann, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA, 2016, 144pp, $16.99.

Skeleton Keys is a collection of ten true accounts reported by people who have experienced some type of paranormal activity in the course of doing their everyday jobs.

        With so many television series on hauntings and ghost hunting to choose from, it’s easy to forget just how much scarier it can be to read about them. Most of us have read our share of ghost stories and felt deliciously creeped out by them, but knowing the stories are based on true events can really raise one’s hackles. John Klann has collected an interesting group of first-hand accounts that will pique the interest of most ghost lovers.

        Hauntings in restaurants, bars and hotels are fairly commonplace, so it’s no surprise to find stories of this type recounted in the collection. Also included, however, are stories coming from security guards, docents and realtors. For some reason, the thought never occurred to me that an open house might also be a haunted one. How often do realtors experience odd happenings when showing someone through a house? It appears that one story was a catalyst for the author to compile this collection as it involved his family’s search for a new home that included a visit to a seemingly haunted house.

        Each entry is done in a very low key, non-sensational fashion, which helps add credibility to the story being told. What also helps is that the first-hand accounts are coming from pretty respectable sources: a trained security guard who shares his experiences with doors that lock and unlock themselves, realtors who hear phantom footsteps and voices in completely empty houses, hotel employees who have to remake beds made only minutes earlier. The cross section of people, places and events is diverse, and Klann adds his own observations on each event. To round things out, he puts himself directly into the position of the people whose stories he has collected, not just by sharing his house-hunting experience, but by voluntarily spending a night in one of the haunted locations visited earlier in the book and sharing that with the reader as well.

        I found Skeleton Keys to be a very interesting read, mainly due to its focus on workplace hauntings. For the past 20 years, I’ve worked in a building where more than one person – myself included – has experienced some odd activities. Doors slam shut when no one else is in the building, lights that can be accessed only from one location turn on and off, unplugged radios play music, and glimpses of movement can be seen in empty hallways. Most of the time, things don’t feel too scary, but there are times when you’re working away on something and you suddenly get the feeling that you have to leave – now. You don’t finish what you’re doing; you simply pack up and go because the atmosphere says ‘we’ve let you stay long enough, it’s our turn’. A book like Skeleton Keys lets me know that others have been through the same things and helps to validate what I’ve experienced, but it’s also an entertaining read for anyone who simply loves a good ghost story.

- Jan Byrne