Chasing Ghosts addresses an unanswered question left by the completion of Dancing on His Grave and Walking Wounded.
What was in Ed Fiske's background that produced such a monster?
Genealogy research by his daughters, on which this book is based, found several generations of a family that exploited and flaunted the law and social norms. Plagued by illiteracy, all of Eds mothers siblings except her had prison or arrest records. Included in the family history are murder, robbery, prostitution, adultery and incest.
Ed’s relationship with his father was fraught with violence. With his mother, it appears to be a classic case of the Oedipus complex. When she thwarted his possessive will and chose his father over him, she became the first female target of his unbridled, explosive rage, and she didnt survive.
Chasing Ghosts is laced with history and fascinating descriptions of life in the American Midwest during late 1880s and early 1900s. Horse trading--and horse stealing-- prison conditions in both the U.S and Canada, Victorian-era treatment for gunshot wounds, attitudes toward education, rail and river travel, devastating Midwest winters, homesteading and westward expansion, and many other little-discussed historical facts are skillfully woven into the fabric of the story.
