Slightly Off the Mark

The Haunted Book Conundrum, or: Amazon Weaves a Web of Puzzlement

I stumbled across the strangest thing on the internet--which could be the beginning of any number of stories.

While preparing to promote Haunted Noble County, Indiana for the Halloween season, I did a search for the book. Yes, I've said in the past we shouldn't even think about Halloween before October 1st, but that's not the way promotion works. As an example, I give you this display I noticed--in mid-August:

Yes, I thought about tearing it down or complaining to management, but it didn't help much when I punched the plastic Santa Clause last September. Speaking of Christmas:

Yeah. I stopped by mid-September and they were in the middle of putting up Christmas merchandising. Which brought me to the doctor's office, where they told me I didn't have a stroke, just a syncopal episode. (Ahem--I fainted.)

Anyway, at one point I searched for "podcasts in or about Noble County Indiana", because I'd just been invited on a podcast by a Noble County resident, and got curious. That's when I stumbled across this:

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/32e3a6d6-5f36-4f1f-a09e-60135a79bb26/episodes/927386a6-0a9e-49fd-bd4f-234ed00faf3f/atcvexgzfletcher-the-audio-ebook-library-explore-audiobook-haunted-noble-county-indiana-haunted-america-complete-guide-curated-content-best-seller

No, you don't have to click on it, because I'll tell you what it is: A page on Amazon Music that talks about the audio and e-book versions of Haunted Noble County, Indiana.

Except there are no audio or e-book versions of the book.

Not hardcover, either. The History Press doesn't issued those versions of its Haunted America books. (By the way, as of this writing ours is 18% off on Amazon.) Although issued by the same parent publisher, our book Images of America: Albion and Noble County is available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover. (And 59% off on Amazon.) Audio wouldn't work, considering the word "Images" is in the title.

It's a real Amazon Music page, and if you poke around a bit, you'll find a link to the "visual companion", which actually just leads to more Amazon Music products. There's a link to a "review" of Haunted Noble County, but that leads to a different audiobook website. There is indeed a review, which is obviously A.I. Actually, maybe not even that: It's more of a generic, glowing review with the title pasted in there, and few book details. But at least it's glowing, as is every other review there.

Of the three links on that page, one links to the print book, on Amazon. The other two go to Amazon's general audio and digital pages. (Okay, "that page" is called LastOutline dot com.) There doesn't appear to be any phishing or bad actor redirects going on there; just a bunch of bad great reviews. Other than this one page, it's all Amazon stuff. Has Amazon gotten so big that their A.I. programs are just shoving stuff out there to see what floats? Honestly, it looks like something they planned to launch, then forgot about.

Well, it's just ... strange. Forget all that, get it from here:

https://markrhunter.com/haunted-noble-county

And why isn't Haunted Noble County, Indiana available in e-book or hardcover, anyway? At least that one's not an Amazon question.

Here are some legitimate places where you can find our books:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: Ghosts like to read, too; make sure you don’t block their view of the pages.

The Mackinac Bridge in Pictures

One day--let's say it was the 50s, because these things happened back then--some people from the lower peninsula of Michigan rowed over to meet with some people from the upper peninsula. "Isn't it wild," one said, "that we're part of the same state, but can't just drive back and forth?"

"I've got it!" a Yooper said. "Let's make the U.P. its own state! We'll call it, let's see .... Upper Michigan!"

"Or," said some engineer looking for contracts, "we could build a bridge".

"Ha!" said another, who operated a ferry. "Over that long piece of water? It'll never happen."

Opened in 1957, it was at the time the world's longest suspension bridge between two anchorages, and still is the longest in the Western hemisphere. For you flat Earthers, that means this side of the ocean. The main span is 3,800 feet long, and it sure felt that way as we were driving over it. The rest of it is ... well, longer.

In the old days, 9 ferryboats carried 9,000 vehicles a day--plus other ferries that hauled train cars--across the Straits of Mackinac. Or is it Mackinaw? Or is it, as the natives said, Michilimackinac, which means "Straits of the Great Turtle With a Long Name"?

But, with 16 mile backups of drivers waiting to use the ferries, it seemed like there should be a better way. A well-heeled fellow by the name of Cornelius Vanderbuilt II proposed a bridge all the way back in 1888. Someone else suggested a floating tunnel, which sounds like a nightmare from every direction.

Yes, that giant ship hauling iron ore, or rubber duckies, or tanks of Mountain Dew, or whatever, is going under the bridge--and it's a BIG ship. I know, because we later got much closer to it.

President FDR tried to get funds for the bridge project during the Great Depression, but Congress thumbed its nose at him. Figuratively. When it finally happened, it took three and a half years, five lives, and a quarter of a billion in today's dollars before the first person to drive across: Michigan's Governor Mennen Williams, who paid $37.26 in today's dollars. People must have carried around a lot of pocket change back then.

There's a statue in a park on the north end of the bridge, a memorial to the ironworkers who built it and the five who died. Why is it looking away from the bridge? Um ... well, maybe for pictures like this.

40 years later, the 100 millionth vehicle crossed.

By the way, it cost us $4 to get across, during our tour of Michigan that I'll speak more about later. Yes, I took lots of pictures.

What's the point of being at the junction of two Great Lakes, if you can't play in the water?

For those of you who are curious--or fearful--exactly two vehicles have gone over the side, one due to excessive speed and one a suicide. Why someone would choose to drive fast 200 feet over the water is beyond me.

One plane has hit it, crashing into the suspension cables during a heavy fog.

The Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, along with a steam powered fog horn, helped guide ships through the busy Straits until the year after the bridge was finished. It's now, naturally, a maritime museum.

Oh, one more thing: On April 24, 1959, Captain John S. Lappo flew a Boeing B-47 Stratojet UNDER the bridge. Yeah, I looked it up: It's a six engine strategic nuclear bomber.