Spooky Town Books Author Event: Sharon Pajka and Michael Kleen

Join us for a special Spooky Town Books event to talk about Haunted Colleges and Universities of Virginia and Haunted Highways of Virginia! Come celebrate Spooky Town Books with us, and learn about Virginia's haunted history with authors Sharon Pajka and Michael Kleen! About Haunted Colleges and Universities of Virginia: What truly haunts Virginia’s college campuses? Colleges are more than classrooms and quads. They are living relics where history lingers and, sometimes, refuses to stay quiet. A phantom hugger roams the President’s House at William and Mary, and the grave-robbing secrets of historic medical schools refuse to be forgotten. A strange mist engulfs Cemetery Road of the University of Virginia. Rumors swirl of the cursed Ogden Circle at Hampton University and of hidden passageways and witches at Virginia Commonwealth University. Blending folklore, history, and mystery, author Sharon Pajka reveals a supernatural side of academia, where legends linger, spirits wander, and the past and present walk hand in hand. About Haunted Highways of Virginia: Haunted Highways of Virginia is a chilling journey through the forgotten corners of the Old Dominion, where every mile of cracked asphalt and winding highway whispers stories of bloodshed, betrayal, and the unexplained. From colonial-era graveyards and Civil War battlefields to ghost towns, haunted roadsides, and legendary bridges, bone-deep local legends and first-person encounters await. You’ll meet outlaws and soldiers, nurses and mourners, spirits who never left, and roads that offer far more than scenery. With a storyteller’s eye and a historian’s passion, author Michael Kleen is your guide to the haunted heart of Virginia—where the past is never past, and the road ahead may vanish in the fog. Buckle up. The ghosts are waiting. About Sharon Pajka: Sharon Pajka, PhD, is a professor of English at Gallaudet University. She is the author of Women Writers Buried in Virginia (2021); The Souls Close to Edgar Allan Poe (2023), a 2024 Saturday “Visiter” Award Winner for “Adaptations of E.A. Poe’s Life or Works”; and Haunted Cemeteries of Virginia (2025). On the weekends, find her in the cemetery giving history tours or volunteering. About Michael Kleen: Michael Kleen is a writer, traveler, and raconteur with a passion for history, photography, and the unusual. He holds an MA in history from Eastern Illinois University and an MS in education from Western Illinois University, and he is best known for his research on Midwestern folklore. Michael’s books include Fading Corners and Abandoned Images, Witchcraft in Illinois, Paranormal Illinois, Tales of Coles County, and Haunting Illinois: A Tourist’s Guide to the Weird and Wild Places of the Prairie State. His nonfiction articles have appeared in publications like Ohio Valley History, Historic llinois, and the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. When he’s not behind the camera, he is enjoying life with his family in Virginia. His historical and travel photography has appeared in outlets like Harvard Magazine, North Carolina Literary Review, and Society for Commercial Archeology.