INTRODUCTION<br > I approached the researching and writing of a ghost<br >book on the Poconos with a certain level of trepidation.<br > Under my literary belt (thin as it may be) were three<br >volumes of ghost stories in Berks County， Pennsylvania;<br >Cape May and Long Beach Island， New Jersey and the<br >Delaware coast.<br > The Poconos were populated with resort hotels， time-<br >shares and tourist traps， condos and concessions， and noth-<br >ing more.<br > I needed some intensive re-education about a land I<br >had at once over- and under-estimated.<br > I had over-estimated the crass commercialism of the<br >region. This is mostly a veneer which may be a gleaming<br >facade for those who choose to look no deeper. But beneath<br >it is the rich grain of a fine stock.<br > My under-estimation of the Poconos was that it was<br >probably devoid of any substantive legends and lore， and<br >the ghosts which were abundant in the Pennsylvania Dutch<br >Country and along the dunes and pine barrens of the Jersey<br >Shore could certainly not exist in the Poconos.<br > Wow， was I wrong! After all， these now-romantic im-<br > ages of the windswept shore and placid Dutch Country vil-<br > lages， fields and forests were only made possible after the<br > gaudy， glitzy and sometimes gauche realities of resort<br > towns， boardwalks， honky-tonk amusement parks， pizza<br > and tee-shirt shops and tourist traps in those locations were<br > stripped away.<br >