Tamy Kay Thompson attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and took correspondence courses through the Institute of Children's Literature. She has created pop-up books and written short stories and nonfiction articles, which have been published in Fun for Kidz magazine. She is a southeastern Virginia historian, moving to the area in 1991. Since then, she has been researching for Curiosities of Hampton Roads, her first nonfiction book for adults. She lives in Newport News, Virginia, with her husband and two children.

Facts and photos highlighting the haunting side of Virginia's Tidewater . . .

The history of Hampton Roads is as deep as the waters that surround it. From some of the first settlers in the New World to the formation of the nation, Virginia's Tidewater is rich in curious tales of legends and lore.

In the Southside, the famed pirate Blackbeard was beheaded by Captain Maynard of Hampton. Captain John Smith was a part of the first governing body in America formed in Jamestown. The nation's oldest mental institution still stands in Williamsburg. Staff and guests at Boxwood Inn in Newport News have reported hauntings from a former owner and other eerie occurrences. In this offbeat travel guide, author Tamy Kay Thompson covers these stories and more as she takes readers on a journey through the always entertaining past of Hampton Roads.