American Ghost

A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest

By: Hannah Nordhaus

Narrated by: Xe Sands

The dark-eyed woman in the long, black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events: blankets ripped off while they slept, the room temperature plummeting, disembodied breathing, and dancing balls of light.

La Posada - "place of rest" - had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. The room with the canopy bed had belonged to Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home's original owner. She died in 1896, nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In American Ghost, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death, and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother, Julia, from her childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband.

As she traces the strands of Julia's life, Nordhaus uncovers a larger tale of how a true-life story becomes a ghost story and how difficult it can sometimes be to separate history and myth.

©2015 Hannah Nordhaus (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Perceptive, witty, and engaging, Nordhaus observes that 'it's not so much the ghost that keeps the dead alive...as it is the story.'" (Publishers Weekly)

"Narrator Xe Sands exquisitely captures the author's earnest interest in Julia and her family. Sands's clear voice and refreshing cadences add an authenticity that listeners will find engaging." (AudioFile)

The narrator was EXCELLENT for this book

Where does American Ghost rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the top 5.

Have you listened to any of Xe Sands’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I am going to find more of her narrations.

Interesting but....

Interesting story about author's family research, which was impressive, but rather too much speculation on subjects' motives and sentiments. Author claims to be a historian but violates the historian's rules of operation--she either makes some leaps in interpretation or omits supporting evidence. Not really a ghost story.

Santa Fe Resident

So fun to learn about local lore from a family member who researched her family and brought greater meaning to death.

Intelligent spirit filled Americana

Smart personal indepth informative and enjoyable. A history lesson from a loving angle. Human and beguiling to the end good listen.

Wonderful and Touching

As a board member of the Fairview Cemetery Preservation Association and a native of Santa Fe, this book was a must read. I spend a lot of time at the cemetery and one of my best contributions was to restore the water supply that had been broken and leaking. We have much more small repairs to make to the irrigation system but we have planted new trees, removed dead ones and have a landscaping maintenance company on contract. I visit the Stabb plot frequently. I also have great grandparents and other relatives laid to rest there. My great great grandfather came to Santa Fe in the 1880s and homesteaded a ranch near where St. John’s College now sits. He was also born in Germany. I imagine he crossed paths with the Stabbs during his years there. He passed in 1922. His home still stands and is was acquired by John Gaw Meem whose family still lives in it. Thank you so much for sharing your story, I truly enjoyed it.