The Legislature Ghost

Book Review

Great Plains of Montana featured in Canadian author's book ‘The Legislature Ghost’

By Elizabeth Doney - Havre Daily News

A book featuring short stories, poems and photos titled, "The Legislature Ghost," is hot off the Eagle Butte Press.

Written by David J. Carter, the stories tell eerie tales of ghostly encounters and memories of life growing up on the Great Plains of Montana and Canada.

"There are stories in there that will make you cry and stories that will make you laugh," Carter said. "The stories and poems arose over the past 30 years — often they just happen — and I have to sit down and write right away or else they disappear. Poems especially demand' to be written, right now!"

There are 30 short stories, 17 poems with 165 photographs featured in the book that was created through the author's imagination and true life experiences.

Some of the photographs were taken in Laredo and some of the stories feature prisoner of war heroes from Chinook. Digital photography has allowed Carter to see scenes and old buildings 'anew', Carter said.

"In particular I have a series of photos of old (soon to be gone?) buildings and machinery — as taken along the Hi-Line to Malta, from Havre to Great Falls and Havre to Chinook," Carter said. "I have similar photos taken in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to 'preserve' these scenes of yesterday. When I look at an old building, I get a certain feeling — I figure that the memories just linger."

The book goes right into a story that mirrors the title, The Legislature Ghost giving the reader a sense of intrigue that promises more mystery to come and ends with shocking surprise.

Based on the author and former Speaker for the Canadian legislature, it is his true account of working alone and late at night in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton.

The story ends with the Carter's mind carrying the eeriness to another dimension — the future.

For more information on the book, "The Legislature Ghost," contact Carter at (403) 893-2470