Windsor-Essex based author releases latest book in her series documenting the unexplained
Author and southwest Ontario native K.G. Miceli has built a notable body of work around the paranormal, particularly the stories and local legends that persist around haunted places. With the latest entry in her Tales of… haunted history series, Tales of the Screaming Tunnel, she returns to the idea that places carry memory, taking on the role of documentarian as she captures the ghost stories that become oral history passed between people and through time.
Tales of the Screaming Tunnel reflects that fascination directly. Miceli works from real locations and longstanding urban legends, drawing on the stories attached to neighborhoods, landmarks, and places that locals continue to talk about long after the original events have faded into rumor.
“It is one of those places that many travel to, and leave with an experience that they cannot explain,” Miceli says of Niagara Falls’ Screaming Tunnel legend.
Like her previous Tales of… books exploring paranormal experiences tied to Sandwich Town in Windsor and Texas Road in Amherstburg, her interest in the Screaming Tunnel grows from a fascination with places where stories continue to persist because people keep leaving with experiences they cannot fully explain.
“My fascination with the paranormal was sparked at a very young age,” she says. “I used to see things that just didn’t make any sense. I would hear stories from others, and tell ghost stories with my best friend at sleepovers. As I got older, I realized that there are places where these things are much more common to happen to the general public, and my want to understand and learn about them seemed to pull me in.”
That fascination eventually evolved into a larger goal: preserving the stories themselves before they disappear or become distorted with time.
“I want to be able to preserve a part of paranormal history in a way that not many others have done,” Miceli explains. “Years from now, these books will serve as information about haunted areas, explaining what strange things have occurred there. This ensures that the stories don’t become further twisted and forgotten with time.”
Miceli, fresh off her nomination for Author of the Year in Hollywood, California, and her work directing the Bell Fibe TV1 docuseries Tales of Texas Road (based on her book by the same name), will appear at Storytellers Bookstore in June to launch Tales of the Screaming Tunnel, offering readers a chance to meet the author and pick up a signed copy of the new book.
She says she chose to launch at Storytellers in Windsor because of her own personal connection with the place. “Storytellers is one of those places where you walk in and not only feel welcome, but feel like you belong,” she says. “It’s a homey atmosphere and always filled with the most amazing people that welcome you with open arms. It’s just not the kind of bookstore that you really find anywhere.”
A second launch event for Tales of the Screaming Tunnel will be held the following weekend at Sining Cafe in Niagara Falls as Miceli continues her work documenting the stories, legends, and lingering mysteries attached to places across Ontario.
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KG Miceli’s latest book, Tales of the Screaming Tunnel, launches June 20 at Storytellers Bookstore, 1473 Ottawa St. For more information visit kgmiceli.com.
