Author Event with Aaron Mahnke/Exhumed

Join Anderson’s Bookshop for an author event with Aaron Mahnke, to celebrate the release of Exhumed: Unearthing the History of the American Vampire, on Wednesday, August 19th at 7:00 pm in our Naperville store.

Event Format

We will begin checking you in approximately 30 minutes before the start time. After a presentation and Q&A with the author, the line will form in numbered order with the following guidelines:

• Posed photo with your camera taken by our staff

• There is a limit of 2 books from home to be signed (unless otherwise stated)
  

• There is a limit of 1 personalization (unless otherwise stated)

Pre-registration is required for this event because space is limited.

More about Exhumed:

An engrossing and macabre exploration of the folklore and early medical practices that led to the New England Vampire Panic in the 1890s, from critically acclaimed podcaster and bestselling author Aaron Mahnke.

What would drive a man to exhume the body of his daughter and remove her heart? That question has haunted Aaron Mahnke, creator and host of the award-winning podcast Lore. Fueled by a decade of research, Mahnke excavates the past to understand the hysteria that fueled the ghastly exhumation of Mercy Brown in 1892, who like her mother and sister before her, succumbed to “consumption” at the age of 19. 

With Exhumed, Mahnke presents a unique history of the intersection of folklore and science, and how pop culture and both genuine medical advancements and pseudoscience of the time shaped the perspectives of people in 19th century America. From the death of George Washington to Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein, Mahnke leads reads on a fascinating journey through history, touching on methods of mummification, the multifaceted role of executioners, medicine made from corpses, European folklore that traveled across the Atlantic, and so much more. He reveals that as shocking as Brown’s exhumation might seem, it also reflected surprisingly common attitudes and beliefs about the relationship between the dead and the living, the nature of science and magic, and the fate of a human soul. It all builds to a revelatory understanding of human behavior that continues to this very day. 

Possessing an irreverent view of science, history, and the human condition, Exhumed is perfect for fans of Mary Roach’s Stiff, as well as readers of forgotten American histories like Brad Meltzer’s New York Times bestselling The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington.

About the Author:

Aaron Mahnke is the writer, host, and producer of the award-winning podcast Lore, which has been downloaded over half a billion times. His love of the mysterious and frightening has also led to a number of other chart-topping documentary podcasts. He lives in the historic Boston area—the heart of Lovecraft Country and the epicenter of the Salem Witch Trials.

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