Meridian resident Dr. Alan Brown is a professor of English at the University of West Alabama in Livingston, but his career includes more than just teaching the classics.
Since the mid-1990s, Dr. Brown has been writing books on haunted places across the United States, interviewing people who believe they have had experiences with spirits of some kind.
His interest in these kinds of stories began after he wrote his first published book in 1992. The book was a collection of interviews that had been performed in Livingston in the 1930s, and some of what was related in those interviews were ghost stories.
Those stories inspired Dr. Brown to write his next book, "The Face in the Window and other Alabama Ghost Lore," which was published in 1996, and contained only accounts of ghost stories.
"I decided that was what I wanted to do was interview people who had real ghost stories," Dr. Brown said.
In 2002, he published Haunted Places of the American South, the first book in which he went beyond just interviews, researching the places that were alleged to be haunted.
"I like going to these places and in the past four or five years I've actually been taking ghost hunting equipment and seeing if I get anything in these haunted hotels. It's fun," he said, but added, "I try to be objective."
Dr. Brown said he has seen a trend since he began publishing his books on haunted places. "Interest has really grown (in haunted places). And I think the popularity of these shows like Paranormal State and Ghost Hunters have removed some of the stigma of believing in ghosts."
In researching his books, Dr. Brown has traveled to a number of haunted places, and said "the scariest thing that ever happened to me" occurred at the Waverly Hills Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Louisville.
There, he was walking behind two ghost hunters when an iron door opened and shut by itself. Afterwards, he discovered wet women's footprints, but no one who could have been the source of the footprints.
"The scariest place I've ever stayed around here," he said. "is Merrehope."
Merrehope, an antebellum home in Meridian, is rumored to be haunted with a variety of ghosts who have displayed a variety of temperaments.
Dr. Brown is currently researching a book about haunted places along the Mississippi River, including places in Natchez and Vicksburg. His most recent publication is "Haunted Birmingham", which he said is his first book to include photographs.
Dr. Brown will be signing copies of the book at 6 p.m. on Oct. 27 at the Calloway Schoolhouse on the UWA campus in Livingston.
At 7 p.m. on the same day, he will host a tour of haunted Livingston. People who would like to go on the tour can meet him at the Calloway Schoolhouse at 7 p.m. or call the university switchboard and ask for Dr. Brown or Megan Gordon for more information.
Dr. Brown is originally from Illinois, but has lived in Meridian since the 1980s. He is married to Meridian Public Schools ninth grade math teacher Marilyn Brown, and they have two daughters, Vanessa Brown, 26, who will be married this weekend, and Andrea Reynolds, who will turn 31 this Halloween.
Haunted Birmingham is available for $14.99 on amazon.com or in Birmingham at Barnes and Noble, Little Professor Bookstore, and Alabama Booksmith.
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