Monstrous Morgues of the Past

Morgues, funeral homes, and mortuaries are all places where the dead are kept before they reach their final resting place—the grave. Here, corpses are prepared for funerals or autopsied to find out the cause of death. According to some people, morgues are also places where ghosts reside long after the bodies of the dead have been removed from the building. What is legend and what is fact? Kids will have to read Monstrous Morguesof the Past and then decide for themselves. Among the 11 morgues in this book, readers will discover former funeral homes where the dead refuse to leave; a morgue in 19th-century Paris where over one million visitors came each year to view the dead; and a former disaster site in Chicago that is still haunted by a sobbing ghost called “The Gray Lady.” The chilling nonfiction text describing the dark histories surrounding these morgues will keep thrill-seeking readers eagerly turning the pages for more.