Included in the book is a section about urban legends. These are stories with the same plot from decade to decade, but small details are changed to accommodate the time and place of the audience. Felton's book focuses on hauntings, such as The Haunted House in Athens, Lucian's Ghost stories and is composed of short stories with explanations of the ghost. She has used a variety of ancient stories and followed them up with modern stories to show how their similarities. David Johnson, a lecturer in foreign language, said Felton's book has been an important contribution to the explanation of ghost stories and why they have remained so popular.
Many SIUC students can read and enjoy it.
It's also advanced because most scholars would be familiar with these stories. Johnson said Felton has been successful at looking at past ghost stories and comparing them to the present stories to find out how they are alike, which is something no one else has ever done. Charles Hammond, associate professor in Chinese, who researches Chinese ghosts, said Felton's book is well-written and interesting. I use it to look at the similarities with Chinese civilization. Hammond said Felton discusses many intriguing ghost stories and it is interesting to see how people in the classical world have similar beliefs in ghosts as many people do now.