About Jan Langley

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About Jan Langley

Janice Langley, author and illustrator, was born in Harbor Beach located in Michigan's Thumb on the shores of Lake Huron. Her fascination with the paranormal can be traced back to her grandmother's fear of an aunt that used to visit twice a year. The aunt, who was known to be difficult and bad-tempered, came to foretell the future of friends and neighbors by reading tea leaves.

Grandmother had seven daughters and each of them carried tales of those visits. When the day of fortune telling was over, the girls would gather in the small living room to hear the aunt tell stories of the ghosts she had encountered since her last visit and retell the stories she had heard during her visit. According to Jan's mother, the gift of second sight was suppose to pass on to one of the seven daughters but not one of them would ever admit to it and the subject became off-limits during any family gathering. Soon after her grandparents' deaths, stories of the aunt disappeared as did her visits.

It was in her early school years that Jan discovered she had some ESP as did her first cousin. At that time she thought everyone had it and didn't take much notice of it. Her encounters with the paranormal since that time have been many and one of the most intriguing is the first story in her newest book, "A Ghostly Road Tour of Michigan's Upper Peninsula." As Jan tells that first story of her encounter with Captain Joseph W. Townshend, she knew she had to investigate the stories that she had been told for many years by people across the Upper Peninsula about ghosts, strange orbs, assorted apparitions and haunted theaters.

That brought to mind her early memories of growing up in Harbor Beach and the many stories she had been told by school friends, various aunts and uncles and local farmers. Stories of the Great Fires and the spirits that it left behind.