Muldoon, a True Chicago Ghost Story: Tales of a Forgotten Rectory by Rocco A. FacchiniMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is so much more than a first person account of possibly paranormal activity in the lovely old gothic style rectory at the now non-existent Saint Charles Borromeo Church. It's also a memoir of a former priest's first years answering what he believed to be his calling, serving under one of those awful demagogue priest that sound like a stereotype, but as this book shows, really do exist. There's also a lot of history about Chicago and how the Catholic immigrant demographic helped make the city what it is today, from swampland through the 1950s. The actual ghost sightings are few, but what comes between, telling Bishop Muldoon's life story, including the crazy zealot that kept him from what might have been his highest aspiration is one of those great "every body has a story" stories that read like fiction but are totally true. The writing style is so natural, I suspect that most of this book was transcribed from an oral narrative of a natural born public speaker. Each chapter ends with a epilogue, notes on things that couldn't be verified and/or the personal reaction of the author to the events in the narrative. In doing that, the author draws a clear line between fact and opinions, something a lot better known works of non-fiction fail to do.
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