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Chad Lewis

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Chad Lewis, author of "“The Minnesota Road Guide to Gangster Hot Spots,” will speak at the Waseca County Historical Society on April 28 for the second in their annual Spring Lecture series.

Gangsters in Minnesota

By Ruth Ann Hager

04/21/10 - Waseca County News


 WASECA — Chad Lewis, author of “The Minnesota Road Guide to Gangster Hot Spots,” will speak during a luncheon of “Don’t-Call-Me-Chicken” salad and Cherry “Capone” Dessert at the Waseca County Historical Society museum at noon April 28.

Tickets for the second in the society’s spring luncheon-lecture series are $11 for members and $16 for non-members and paid reservations are due by April 26.

Lewis said his visual presentation transports his audience back to the days when gangsters roamed freely in Minnesota. He is also looking for residents to come and share their gangster stories.

“I was actually working on a different book on Minnesota ghosts when several of the places I went talked about their gangster history. Being from Wisconsin, I was unaware of the hotbed Minnesota was for gangsters; fascinated, I researched these stories and much to my surprise, even though the history was nearly forgotten, the places where these events took place were still standing. I started traveling to these spots and was amazed at the wonderful history they contained,” said Lewis.

 “I had always been a fan of the 1920s and 30's but after writing the book I really came away with a better understanding of what the wild era of Minnesota history must have been like,” he said.

 According to the author, “the presentation will be a visual road trip to the places where the men (and women) kidnapped our citizens, danced the night away, robbed our banks, and mowed down anyone who got in their way. It will feature some of the most infamous criminals in US history that turned Minnesota into the Land of 10,000 Crimes.”

 “This non-stop adventure guide to our state takes you to the real life locations you’ve seen in the movies such as the smash hit movie, ‘Public Enemies,’ starring Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis. ‘The Minnesota Road Guide to Gangster Hot Spots’ is complete with directions to famous shoot-out scenes, packed with pictures of mob hide-out locations and colorful overviews of what you can expect to find when you embark on your own guided adventure,” said WCHS Co-Directors Sheila Morris and Joan Mooney.

Mooney said Lewis contacted her last summer and she was familiar with his work.

“Chad has written about haunted locations in Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois and Florida. He also wrote “The Wisconsin Guide to Gangster Hot Spots.”

Lewis is an author, researcher, and lecturer on topics of the strange and unusual. He holds a Master's of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and has trekked across the world in search of unique and bizarre stories and history.  

He has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s “A Haunting,” ABC’s “World’s Scariest Places,” and hundreds of radio interviews, TV appearances, and newspaper articles. Lewis is the author of the Hidden Headlines series and also the co-author of the Road Guide to Haunted Locations book series.

A book signing by the author follows the noon to 1 p.m. luncheon.

The third and final luncheon-lecture of the spring series is “Early Black Baseball in Minnesota” with author Todd Peterson, May 26 at the museum. Tickets for that event must be reserved and paid for by May 24.

For more information, call the WCHS at (507) 835-7700.

Ruth Ann Hager covers city and county politics for the Waseca County News. Reach her at 837-5446.


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