Mr. Joe: Tales from a Haunted Life

Joe Barnett

Jane Congdon

Do you believe in ghosts? Joseph Barnett didn't until he became a school custodian in a midlife career change. Joe had no idea that his first assignment, working nights in a kindergarten school would force him to confront his darkest fears. "Ghosts are part of my story," says Joe. "I believe in them; I have no choice. After you've seen one ghost, you believe. I know what I saw and heard. Here's something else I know: there are many ways to be haunted, and not all of my ghosts were dead. That's the other part of my story. It took almost becoming a ghost myself for me to see my life differently. I believe in ghosts, and I believe in myself. But back when this all started, I was just a guy trying to make a living.

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Joseph Barnett grew up in Glen Ferris, a small town in the mountains of West Virginia. He attended West Virginia University and in 1970 settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he married, had a family, and then became a single parent. Joe put his children above everything else, but his quest for a normal home presented one struggle after another until he found something to believe in. His journey from fear to confidence took a lifetime. It will inspire you. Jane Barnett Congdon, Joseph's sister, shared his early background in Glen Ferris. She went on to graduate from Concord University, Athens, West Virginia, and make a career of words, first as an English teacher and later as a newspaper reporter and a textbook editor. Jane is the author of the memoir It Started with Dracula: The Count, My Mother, and Me (2011, Bettie Youngs Books).