Mary Jane's Ghost

The Legacy of a Murder in Small Town America

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Crimes & Criminals, Murder, True Crime
Cover of the book Mary Jane's Ghost by Ted Gregory, University of Iowa Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ted Gregory ISBN: 9781609385248
Publisher: University of Iowa Press Publication: October 1, 2017
Imprint: University Of Iowa Press Language: English
Author: Ted Gregory
ISBN: 9781609385248
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Publication: October 1, 2017
Imprint: University Of Iowa Press
Language: English

Summer 1948. In the scenic, remote river town of Oregon, Illinois, a young couple visiting the local lovers’ lane is murdered. The shocking crime garners headlines from Portland, Maine, to Long Beach, California. But after a sweeping manhunt, no one is arrested and the violent deaths of Mary Jane Reed and Stanley Skridla fade into time’s indifference.

Fast forward fifty years. Eccentric entrepreneur Michael Arians moves to Oregon, opens a roadhouse, gets elected mayor, and becomes obsessed with the crime. He comes up with a scandalous conspiracy theory and starts to believe that Mary Jane’s ghost is haunting his establishment. He also reaches out to the Chicago Tribune for help.

Arians’s letter falls on the desk of general assignment reporter Ted Gregory. For the next thirteen years, while he ricochets from story to story and his newspaper is deconstructed around him, Gregory remains beguiled by the case of the teenaged telephone operator Mary Jane and twenty-eight-year-old Navy vet Stanley—and equally fascinated by Arians’s seemingly hopeless pursuit of whoever murdered them. Mary Jane’s Ghost is the story of these two odysseys. 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Summer 1948. In the scenic, remote river town of Oregon, Illinois, a young couple visiting the local lovers’ lane is murdered. The shocking crime garners headlines from Portland, Maine, to Long Beach, California. But after a sweeping manhunt, no one is arrested and the violent deaths of Mary Jane Reed and Stanley Skridla fade into time’s indifference.

Fast forward fifty years. Eccentric entrepreneur Michael Arians moves to Oregon, opens a roadhouse, gets elected mayor, and becomes obsessed with the crime. He comes up with a scandalous conspiracy theory and starts to believe that Mary Jane’s ghost is haunting his establishment. He also reaches out to the Chicago Tribune for help.

Arians’s letter falls on the desk of general assignment reporter Ted Gregory. For the next thirteen years, while he ricochets from story to story and his newspaper is deconstructed around him, Gregory remains beguiled by the case of the teenaged telephone operator Mary Jane and twenty-eight-year-old Navy vet Stanley—and equally fascinated by Arians’s seemingly hopeless pursuit of whoever murdered them. Mary Jane’s Ghost is the story of these two odysseys. 

More books from University of Iowa Press

Cover of the book Night in Erg Chebbi and Other Stories by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book From Androboros to the First Amendment by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book bodys by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book The Quack's Daughter by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book The Prairie in Seed by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Thoreau in His Own Time by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Violet America by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Sweet Will by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book James Weldon Johnson's Modern Soundscapes by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book A Nation Empowered, Volume 1 by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Hog Wild by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Gaming Masculinity by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Vivid and Continuous by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Sky Dance of the Woodcock by Ted Gregory
Cover of the book Millennial Fandom by Ted Gregory
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy