Man At Work

Isn't creative writing wonderful?Whether you think of it as a profession, a hobby or an occasional pastime you can always claim to be working. Are you like me, either planning the next phase of your WIP or thinking up future new plots? Ernest Hemingway once said that writing is long periods of thinking and short periods of writing and that's good enough for me. I can do it lying in bed while waiting...

Book Release Party Give Aways: Smoking Monkeys, Cash, Jewelry, and Books! Enter and Win!

My book is now  available on Amazon.com!  Click on the icon next to this post to check it out.  In order to celebrate my big day,  I am doing a massive give away.  I will be doing different things all week.  My first give-away will be big.   I am giving away $75 cash.   Just...

Holy Smoking Monkies I Am Excited! I Have to Give Stuff Away to Celebrate!

When I started blogging last December,   I was just happy to think that someone out there would be reading my stories.  I wasn't overly ambitious about the blog.   I was just happy to have a few people reading my writing.  I never once imagined  someone would like it enough to ask me to write...

A Eulogy

I spent my morning at a funeral today. I've been to many funerals over the last few years.  I gave the eulogy at this one.   In honor of my grandmother, who was a fantastically difficult woman but who never failed to inspire me,  here is her eulogy. She is the little girl in the picture above. ...

The Sad Beauty of Lough Feeagh

I love stories that mix folklore and ghosts.   This story is from Ireland and it blends classic Irish folklore with a ghost story, making it delicious.  It is the story of  a beautiful young woman who lived near Mallarny Strand who was a wild flirt.  Not only was she a wild flirt and a heavy drinker,...

The Ghost and Her Horse

Over a hundred years ago, in the rolling hills of Kentucky, there lived a famed horsewoman who was the daughter of Randolph Corbett a famous breeder.  Her family was know for breeding the finest thoroughbred race horses in the world.  Her life began like a storybook tale of love and success.  Mary was beautiful...

Guest Blogger Camiel White Tells Her Story of Supernatural Intimacy

It’s not very often that put much stock into the validity of cinematic fiction. It’s sheer entertainment, which on a deeper level at least makes you think about your own spot in the universe. However, I never really took anything seriously unless it was geared as something of historic relevance. But there was a horror film...

Robert, The Cursed Doll

My recent post about the evil doll, Annabelle got me thinking about dolls.  It seems I am not the only one who is afraid of dolls and it also seems like there is a good reason.   The association between dolls or poppets and witchcraft and evil goes back as long as there have been dolls.  During the Salem...

Bits of Wreckage

My grandmother used to love ghost stories.  Her passion wasn't in vogue at the time, but she still loved them.  She loved haunted houses and all things old and drenched with history and mystery.  Ghost stories were perfect for her.   When I was going through some of her old things last week,  I...

There's Always Tomorrow

I gave Jarmara Falconer some advice the other day. Advice that I could do with following myself. It was about procrastination. Or rather about avoiding it. This is how my day goes:Switch on computer. Log in. Wait for it to warm up, rub the sleep out of its circuits, stretch its peripherals. (It's quite ancient). Go on t'internet. Check e-mails. Go on BBC site. Check weather report. Go on my blog....

When Haunted Isn't Haunted: Guest Blogger Nathan Explores the Importance of Skepticism in Ghost Hunting and Travel

Statistics just can’t be wrong - little over 1% of haunted places is really haunted. So I’m reading all these ghost stories and articles about haunted places and I wonder - is it really a legitimate haunting, or just yet another urban legend. As paranormal investigator, even if I’m young, I got my experience, and I’ve learned to be very sceptical about any haunting.People often hear story about haunted...

The Ouija Board: Good or Bad?

The Ouija Board was first created during the spiritualist movement of the late nineteenth century.  It was designed as a tool to help communication with spirits.  Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard were the first to patent the device.   In 1966, the device's patent was sold to Parker Brother's who still...

This is a Strange Blog and You are Strange too!

Courtney Mroch, who has the brilliant and beautiful blog Haunt Jaunts, stopped by the other day and left a comment on one of my posts letting me know she had an award for me.  She gave me the “Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits” award.  This means I am strange.  I've really always known that I'm strange, but I am...

The Demon Doll

I have fallen behind on my blogging this week and my last post was a pitiful summation of bizarre events  that occured while I was staying in my old family house.  My computer stopped working so I had to post from my iphone.  My pictures were blurred and everything went haywire.  My grandmother died yesterday...

Hang On A Minute, Lads – I've Got A Great Idea

I had an idea for a story today. I thought what if...? But I don't want to talk about the idea. I want to talk about where it came from.Can all stories be got from a 'what if?' question? Is that where creativity comes from? I don't know. Did Picasso think 'what if everything looked like a set of cubes?' or did Dali wonder 'what if I melted some watches and spread them on a landscape?' Should modern...

EVP Pajama Party

It has been a long week here in the house that inspired my interest in ghosts. The Northern Lights were visible over the lake when I came and as I leave the matriarch of this Victorian mansion I am staying in lays dying a thousand miles away. We are leaving on Friday the 13th.Over the last week the house has become more active. My sister and I have sat up over many late nights doing EVP sessions in...

This was a tough one. Could be legit. Not likely. But it required some inquiry. We started with this:On Aug 9, 2010, at 3:50 AM, Jenifer Lee wrote:I will like you to help me for a legal matter, please let me kow if you are ok with working with me, i will like to send you informations but let me hear from you first later i send informations. Thank you for your time and hope to hear from you. Regards,...

Book Review: There's Something Under the Bed!

While I’ve been hidden away in the quiet of Northern Michigan in the sheltering arms of my beautiful family home, I’ve had plenty of free time to catch up on my reading. One of the first books I read while I was here was There’s Something under the Bed by Ursula Bielski. This book was a very pleasant surprise. I find many paranormal...

Translink communication Asia Attorney

Harmless enough, right? A very pithy little email:Name...: Mr cheng mingEmail..: mrchengming@live.comSubject: A LEGAL QUESTIONi need a business litigation lawyer to handle collections matters.I send a quick note back: What's up Cheng? Mr. Ming starts to smell phishy from there. As always, the new phishermen includes websites and lots of links. Good job reeling me in (even if it was only a little ways)...

Restless Nights in the Victorian Mansion

I am home now.  I am sitting in a quiet room in the Newton-Allaire house.  The house is a beautiful as ever.  It has been sitting empty for fours years now and the ghosts here are quiet.   The last time I was here my grandmother still lived here and the ghosts were loud and and robust, but years of...

Helio Nylonplast Inc Lawyer

I actually already serve the real "grass" community as a criminal defense lawyer. However, I am not going to be a fake grass lawyer. Let the phishermen onslaught continue. From: Kelvin.Lee@helionylon.plast-inc.net Subject: Request for Legal Service. Date: August 5, 2010 12:10:38 PM PDT To: me HELIO NYLONPLAST INC.14F-3, No.259, Sec.1,Fu-Shing S. Rd.,106 Taipei, Taiwanwww.helionylonplast.comAttn....

The House that Haunts My Dreams: The Newton-Allaire House

If you have followed my blog regularly,  you know my family owns a large Victorian house in Northern Michigan.   This house was my favorite place in the world as a child.  It was the cradle of all my dreams and the inspiration for my first stories.  It whispered to me in my sleep and made me believe...

A Southern Farmhouse Haunting

Last Christmas, when I started blogging about ghost stories,   I had been inspired by the extraordinary wealth of folklore and ghost stories that the nurses where I work and where my husband work seem to possess.   In rural Alabama,  these stories are as thick as the humidity.   ...

Thanks, Dad

Olivia Ryan has recently had a post about the relationship between mothers and daughters and it got me thinking about fathers and sons.Not the same is it? My dad only ever gave me one piece of advice. He was never very eloquent or demonstrative and preferred just to get on with life without analysing things too much. I'm fairly sure he was proud of me but he never actually said so. Dads didn't in...

Shortage of Steel Lawyers

There must be a shortage of lawyers for steel companies.From: Evans Green Subject: Representatives services Needed Date: August 1, 2010 5:28:44 AM PDTGood day,I am Ms Tatsuo Ikeda, I do require your legal representation on someissues, However, being that this forum is not a secure means in whichone could transmit secure messages, thus I would surgest that youplease get in contact with me on my...

Following Real Ghost Hunters

This Friday night I was lucky enough to follow a team of real ghost hunters.  I have played at ghost hunting.  I've done a few EVP sessions and walked around with my little gadgets, but after I spent a night with Southern Ghosts (http://www.southernghosts.com/) I realized that I was just playing.  The team I...