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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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