Thursday, October 31, 2024
Monday, October 28, 2024
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Little Known Fact
Cows are deadlier than sharks.
On average, sharks take about five human lives per year, while cows end as many as 22.
(Credit: Ranker)
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Monday, October 21, 2024
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Friday, October 18, 2024
Check Out THE WITCH'S DEBT, Coal Mountain Series, Book One by Edward Rollins
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Of
Women Wronged: Hillbilly Hauntings
The days grow shorter, the air turns crisp, and something
deep within us all knows that the world is changing. Halloween draws near and
with it a thinning of the Curtain this world from the next, allowing haints –
restless spirits – to slip closer by than they were on brighter days.
No part of the world is without tales of restless spirits;
stories of the sorrow, anger, or injustice endured by the living. In Japan they
tell of the onryō, wrathful spirits devoted to revenge against the living. In
Mexico, they talk of La Llorona, who wander the water’s edge, mourning the loss
of their children. Across Europe they speak of the White Lady, symbols of
betrayal and life cut short. When it comes to tales of lost love and betrayal,
my beloved West Virginia isn’t without a tale or two of its own.
We tell the tales of Zona Heaster Shue, Screaming Jenny,
the Weeping Woman of Sweet Springs, Kate Carpenter, and our own White Lady of
Flat Top Manor. Each a spirit bound by sorrow, betrayal, or unfinished
business. Let’s take a moment and remember each, but take care, it’s said that
people die twice, once when their heart beats its last, and again when someone
speaks their name for the final time.
In Greenbrier County they tell the tale of Zona Heaster
Shue who - in 1897 - was found dead under questionable circumstances. Her
husband, Erasmus, was quick to claim she had died peacefully. Zona’s mother
wasn’t having it. She claimed that Zona's ghost began to visit her in the dead
of night, accusing Erasmus of murdering her by snapping her neck. Confronted
with the charges, a local judge ordered Zona’s body exhumed, and the evidence
of Erasmus’ guilt was revealed. Erasmus was convicted of the crime, but Zona’s
spirit still didn’t rest. She is said to haunt Greenbrier County still, a
chilling reminder that justice isn’t bound by the grave.
In Jefferson County we find a different sort of tale.
There, when wind moans through the trees and the moon lights the ground just
so, it’s said that you can hear the pain filled screams of a woman long dead.
Screaming Jenny, a local woman who died in pain and terror. It was a cold night
in autumn when Jenny, poor and living in an abandoned railroad shack, tried to
warm herself by a fire. Somehow, her clothes were set ablaze and, in her panic,
she ran screaming and blind in search of relief. She ran right onto the
railroad tracks and into the path of an oncoming train. Locals maintain that
now and then the figure of Screaming Jenny - still engulfed in flames – can be
seen running through the night. Her ghostly shrieks a reminder of her final,
desperate moments.
From the tranquil beauty of Monroe County comes a tale of
another ghostly presence born of sorrow and despair. Known as the Weeping Woman
of Sweet Springs, it’s said that she was a bride abandoned at the altar or
perhaps a grieving mother who lost her child. Whatever the case, the young
woman fell beneath the weight of her broken heart, and cast herself into the
spring where she drowned. But she wouldn’t have a place on our list if that was
the end for her. It’s said that she still wanders, a ghostly figure draped in a
flowing white gown, her soft sobbing proof that some heartache is too deep to
fade, even in death.
From Mercer County and the grounds of an old plantation
known as Flat Top Manor comes the tale of the White Lady of Flat Top Manor, a
restless spirit whose tragic story is tangled in the past. Some say she was the
young bride of the manor’s original owner; others maintain that she was a
servant who died at her master’s hand. In either case, it is agreed by those
who believe, that her life was cut short by violence. Witnesses maintain that
the air goes frigid long before her shadowy figure - fleeting and ethereal – is
seen gliding through the manor's hallways or lingering at the edge of the
woods. The truth of it is left to you, but the accounts of witnesses and
investigators alike have gone a long way to make Flat Top Manor's reputation as
one of the most haunted locations in the State.
Silent and still, the Greenbrier River flows through
Summers County like an apparition itself. It’s a peaceful scene as beautiful as
any faery tale picture, but its waters gave birth to a tale of lost love and
lingering sorrow. Kate Carpenter was a young woman deeply in love with the
wrong man. Her family opposed her choice of suitor and refused her their
blessing. Unwilling to either set aside her love or go against her kin, Kate
threw herself into the river and drowned the dark, icy waters. But as is the
case in these tales, neither the depths of the river nor the touch of death
could quiet Kate’s restless spirit. She lingers near the place where she left
this world, a spectral form barely visible on misty mornings walking the
riverbanks. For Kate, death was better than the absence of the man she
loved.
This Halloween, when autumn leaves rustle in a cold wind,
remember the story of these women as you sip your pumpkin-spiced drink. Their
stories are the echoes of unimaginable loss and suffering, and they leave us to
wonder—what would we do if faced with such sorrow? Would we find peace, or
would our spirits, too, be bound to the places where our hearts were broken?
But let’s remember as well that these spirits weren’t content to shuffle off
the mortal coil the first time. Speaking their names again – breathing life
into their memory - might be enough to remind them what binds them to this
world.
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Coal Mountain Series
Book One
by Edward Rollins
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Date of Publication: October 1, 2019
ASIN: 1689808853
Number of pages: 392
Word Count: 97.376
Cover Artist: Katherine Rollins
Tagline: If you like witches, werewolves, and murder, this is the book for you.
Book Description:
When the ghost of Jake Calhoun's grandmother delivers a cryptic message to him, he's drawn back to the mountains of southern West Virginia, where he finds himself on a collision course with the consequences of his past, the strained family ties that drove him to run, and the woman he left behind.
Though he longs to return to the life he's made for himself in the city, a string of deaths forces him to decide who he will be, where he belongs, and how he will stop whoever is killing those closest to him.
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Excerpt
"You all right, Buck?" He set his coffee on the small table there as he took more of my weight than I intended.
"Yeah," I lied. "Bit of a headache." I couldn't look him in the eye. "I need to check on something. Be right in."
"Sure you're gonna be all right?" Dad picked up his coffee as I took my weight again.
“I’ll live.” I nodded and started toward the sitting room. I steeled myself against the pain I knew was coming and pushed my senses into the Curtain once again.
The little room off the chapel was packed with overstuffed couches and an ottoman which could double for a bed. I could see just clearly enough to avoid tripping, but it made finding the cat a challenge. I moved from piece to piece, looking behind and under each. There was no sign of it. It could have left through the chapel but I wasn't ready to accept that it had. It was bothersome enough it was inside the church. I didn't want to consider what it would mean if the thing could move across the consecrated ground of the chapel.
"Lose something?" Bonnie asked from the doorway.
Frustrated and defeated, I gave her a weak smile and let go of my view into the Curtain.
"Hello, Bonnie."
She stepped into the room, her coat and purse left behind somewhere. She wore a pained smile on her lips. "That the best you have for me?"
There were people in this town I didn't care to spare a kind word, Bonnie wasn't one of them. She'd done nothing but love me.
I stopped fighting the smile she had always put on my face and replied, "Well if it isn't Bonnie Blankenship, the prettiest girl at Pineville High. How are things, Ms. Blankenship?"
"Much better,” her smile touched her eyes and she stepped in close.
As a kid in elementary school, Edward Rollins hated to read. Hated it…
Then his grandfather, who knew Edward loved the Adam West "Batman" series, introduced him to Batman comic books, the rest is nerd history. From those early comics he went on to consume a steady diet of books from fantasy to science fiction. Eventually, he found a little game called Dungeons and Dragons and a lifetime of telling stories was born.
He’s been a sailor, a soldier, a pastor, an engineer and a college professor; sometimes all at once. Mostly, he hopes to know what he wants to be when he grows up. Assuming he agrees to grow up…
A writer since college, he has published a handful of short stories and gaming industry pieces over the years. "The Witch's Debt" is his first attempt at writing “something of his own”.
Edward has lectured in convention and collegiate circles on the topics of gaming simulations, fantasy world building and theology in fantasy settings. He is a fan of 1920s pulp and science fiction as well as the 1950s aesthetics of Raygun Gothic and Atom-Punk.
While he lives in central Ohio with his wife and two incredible young adults – all three of which make him proud -- his heart will always be in West Virginia.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
Monday, October 14, 2024
New! EYE SCREAM, In 13 Deliciously Terrifying Flavors by Linda Mooney writing as Gail Smith
New!
EYE SCREAM
In 13 Deliciously Terrifying Flavors
by Linda Mooney writing as Gail Smith
Word Count: 24.7K
$2.99 e / $6.99 p
Stories include:
Chocolate - Chocolate can kill a dog. That gave Weston an idea.
Butter Pecan - It's been a long time since Iris indulged in her favorite
flavor.
Pistachio - Mr. Finchner swore he had to eat pistachio ice cream every day...or
else.
Cookies 'n Cream - Claudia accepts a last-minute babysitting job.
Vanilla - Fr. Barnabas is called to an orphanage to discover which child has
been possessed.
Rocky Road - Lyle risked visiting that one house on Halloween.
Strawberry - Three close friends go looking for a night of fun.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Birthday Cake - Tad has a unique way of celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday.
Butterscotch - They were a perfect match in every way.
Neapolitan - Her future depended on which flavor she chose.
Mint Chocolate Chip - All because of a million- dollar life insurance policy.
Coffee - She couldn't remember why she'd forgotten how much she loved that
flavor, until it was almost too late.
Saturday, October 12, 2024
EL MUERTO - The Texas Headless Horseman
Did you know Texas has its own legend of the headless horseman? In the early 1800s, South Texas and Mexico weren't really sure about where the border should lie. It was either the Nueces River or the Rio Grande River, but because no agreement could be reached, the area in-between became a no man's land. Local cattle rustlers took advantage of this. One specific outlaw named Vidal was particularly nasty, and the local rangers decided to make an example of him in the worst way imaginable.
When he was caught, they slew him, cut off his head, then lashed his body to a mustang in an upright position as if he was riding. Then, they let the horse loose to wander as a symbol of the form of justice that would befall any outlaw who dared step out of line. Quite similar to the legend of Sleepy Hollow or the Headless Horseman, many cowboys over the years have seen a headless bandit called "El Muerto" riding through the Rio Grande area, even into the 21st century.
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Check Out SLEEPY HOLLOW’S HEADLESS HORSEMAN by Sam Baltrusis
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SLEEPY
HOLLOW’S HEADLESS HORSEMAN
By Sam Baltrusis
For more than two centuries after
Washington Irving unleashed “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the Headless
Horseman is still very much alive in pop culture.
Elizabeth Bradley, a historian and author of Knickerbocker: The Myth Behind New York, rattled off a few of the
various adaptations of the great American ghost story on the October 26, 2022
edition of WNYC News.
“It has such legs and you can see that in all of the different
interpretations,“ Bradley said during the radio interview. “There truly is a
version of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ for every generation.” It’s an impressive list that
includes Disney’s animated classic from 1949 and Tim Burton’s supernatural
horror flick starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.
Of course, no one can eclipse the original which was initially published
with a collection of essays and stories for The
Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent in 1820.
“Irving's version of the Headless Horseman is set in the Hudson Valley
region, and it pits an outsider, a Yankee, named Ichabod Crane against a very
insular Dutch community,” Bradley said. “Throughout the course of the story,
Ichabod pursues a local Dutch heiress in an effort to integrate himself into
this community and is ultimately run out of town by the apparition of the
Headless Horseman.”
Bradley told WNYC that she believes the famed short-story writer created
the headless Hessian in an attempt to populate a young nation with its own
ghosts and mythologies. “You have to remember that Irving was born the year
after the American Revolution ended,” she said. “The war was in the rear-view
mirror of the people of Sleepy Hollow and a very new United States. It was an
opportunity to create a whole regional culture. He really seized the moment and
had a lot of fun with it."
How did “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” become associated with All
Hallows’ Eve? Bradley explained that the holiday wasn’t even on Irving’s radar
when he fleshed out America’s first monster. “He doesn't mention Halloween once
in the story,” she said. “[The Headless Horseman] is often associated with
having a pumpkin for a head,” she said, adding that the character’s
jack-o’-lantern prop was added in Disney’s The
Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and, over the years, the haunting
imagery then seared itself into pop culture. “Most people only knew the Disney
version and that’s where the Halloween association really started to come into
play,” Bradley added.
J.W. Ocker, author of The New York
Grimpendium and creator of the OTIS:
Odd Things I’ve Seen blog, is on board with the idea that the Headless
Horseman has somehow become the unofficial ambassador of spooky season. “The
Headless Horseman is the spirit of fall,” Ocker told me during a sit-down
interview at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel. “Every monster wants to be associated
with autumn, but there’s something about him running through a forest with the
leaves changing colors that makes him the patron monster of Halloween. The
bigger Halloween gets, the bigger he gets. Everytime you feed Halloween, you
feed him.”
Ocker agreed with Bradley that the animated version from the Disney
movie has ingrained itself into the American psyche. “Our generation grew up
with the Disney cartoon,” he said. “You can’t think of the Headless Horseman
without thinking of the purple-cloaked, cackling creature from the animated
version. The imagery has almost become a part of the monster’s brand.”
The United States of Cryptids
author said he always thought the Headless Horseman had a jack-o’-lantern in
one hand and a battle sword in another, but was shocked to learn that Irving
didn’t include the macabre accessories in the short story. He was also
convinced that the Headless Horseman eventually caught up with Ichabod Crane on
a covered bridge. Not true.
“People who visit Sleepy Hollow always want to see the covered bridge,
but it doesn’t exist,” Ocker said. “If I could change one thing to the original
story, I would make it a covered bridge. It just seems fitting.”
Despite being tweaked a bit in the modern adaptations of Irving’s story,
Ocker said the Headless Horseman is still his all-time favorite galloping
ghoul. “Irving gave us the first real American monster,” he told me. “I’m not a
very patriotic guy, but as an American there’s something that speaks to me
about the horseman. It’s our monster. Frankenstein is from Germany and Dracula
is from Transylvania. Thanks to Irving, we have our own.”.
The secret to the short story’s success? Ocker believes the ambiguity of
Irving’s fearless phantom somehow amplifies its mystique. “All we know is he
was a Hessian soldier who lost his head during the American Revolution,” he
told me. “There’s not much of a backstory to him. He’s this vague creature that
pops up in the graveyard and runs around on his horse. He’s not jumping out of
your closet. He has no face, He’s in essence an invisible man and there’s
something unnerving about him as a monster.”
In Brian Haughton’s Lore of the
Ghost, he mentioned that Irving was living in Birmingham, England when he
wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and surmised that the celebrated American
author “probably picked up on some of the elements he used in the story”
overseas. “The headless ghost motif was known in German folklore at least as
early as 1505 when it was recorded in a sermon written by Geiler von
Kaysersberg, who mentions headless spirits being part of the Wild Hunt,” he
noted.
While Haughton wrote that Irving was strongly influenced by the stories
told by Dutch immigrants during his childhood in New York, he suggested that
it’s also likely that the writer was inspired by the recurring headless ghost
motifs from northern European folklore. “The tradition of the headless ghost is
found worldwide in many diverse cultures, and exhibits broadly the same
characteristics connected with death and death warnings,” Haughton reported.
“Popular tradition attributes such hauntings to the wandering spirits of those
who died by beheading, either by execution or accident.”
Haughton is in agreement that Irving’s story continues to leave a
profound mark on popular culture. “Irving’s dark story of the headless Hessian
soldier who rides forth every night through the dark lanes of Sleepy Hollow,
and the dénouement of the tale involving a supernatural wild chase through the
woods, has had a significant effect on the nature of American hauntings,”
Haughton wrote in Lore of the Ghost. “The
influence of Irving’s tale on popular culture is evident.”
Alex
Matsuo, author of Women of the Paranormal,
told me that there may be an underlying reason why “The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow” continues to strike a chord with American readers. “We don't think
about it often, but there are countless legends that were created to dehumanize
a group,” Matsuo explained. “Instead of perceiving the Hessian as a real
person, granted a terrifying figure during the time of the Revolutionary War,
he turned it into this story that is meant to remind people that the Hessians
were not meant to be trusted, even after the war was over.”
Even though Matsuo sees a deeper meaning to what could be viewed as a cautionary tale, she said the Headless Horseman keeps luring her back to the Hudson Valley area, “Between the story of the Hessian soldier who lost his head around Halloween in 1776, and Ichabod Crane encountering him while trying to avoid him at all cost, there is a lesson to be learned there,” Matsuo said. “But I think the way that Disney commercialized ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,’ plus the Tim Burton film, there is a romanticization of the spell-bound region that has cemented it into Halloween traditions.
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Haunts of the Headless Horseman
Haunted America
Sam Baltrusis
Genre: Ghosts & Hauntings
Publisher: History Press
Date of Publication: September 23, 2024
ISBN: 978-146715802
Number of pages: 144
Word Count: 32,500
Tagline: Chilling Tales of the Hudson Valley
Book Description:
Nestled on the banks of the Hudson River, Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown are steeped in history and ghost lore. Famous for Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the storied Westchester region also has a dark history of witches, spies, and pirates.
Rumors of Headless Horseman sightings surge during spooky season while visitors flock to the Valley’s haunted hot spots like the Old Dutch Church and the famed writer’s Sunnyside home.
Join author and journalist Sam Baltrusis on a bone-chilling journey through the streets of Sleepy Hollow as he breathes new life into the legendary village’s long-departed souls.
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Excerpt:
Sleepy Hollow, New York is brimming with ghostly legends that have somehow taken on a life of their own.
Nestled on the banks of the Hudson River, the fabled region —which includes the adjoining Tarrytown— has become the go-to place during spooky season thanks to the popularity of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
Late-night lantern tours in search of a decapitated soldier's galloping ghost? Yes, please.
If one spends enough time walking through the labyrinthine paths of the village's historic cemeteries, however, there's something sinister oozing beneath Sleepy Hollow's rustic, story-book facade.
It's as if the entire hamlet is under some sort of enchantment. Or, as Irving penned in 1820, it oddly feels like the locals are somehow bewitched and "are subject to trances and visions."
The revered writer referred to the area as the "spell-bound region," and rightfully so. According to several first-hand accounts, creepy music and disembodied voices emerge out of thin air
Based on Irving's mythical take on his later-in-life hometown, it should be no surprise that the Headless Horseman isn't the Valley’s only fearsome phantom seeking postmortem revenge.
The entire region seems to be teeming with paranormal activity. Several publications sensationally claim that both Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown together make the "most haunted places in the world."
But, is it?
After digging beneath the surface, it's difficult to pinpoint what's actually paranormal activity versus a made-up ghost story that has been collectively conjured over a 200-year period.
Alex Matsuo, a Maryland-based author and paranormal investigator who has written about the area’s alleged paranormal activity in her Spooky Stuff blog, believes that the line between fact and fiction is somehow blurred in Sleepy Hollow.
“After Washington Irving's infamous tale plunged the area into fame, I would hypothesize that perhaps some of the paranormal activity could be attributed to thought-forms,” Matsuo told me. “There's also the case of self-fulfilling prophecies that people can accomplish without realizing it.”
Matsuo cited the replica of the bridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery as a potential hotspot for ghostly encounters that are freakishly fueled by the expectations of thrill-seeking visitors.
“Just by knowing the tale and the true story behind it, they would already get a case of the creeps,” she explained. “Then, with tensions rising, they hear a branch break or footsteps, and they get really spooked. They go home and tell their friends and family about the creepy experience, unknowing that there was an animal nearby causing the ruckus.”
Also, there are what paranormal researchers call thought-forms or an outward manifestation of the heightened emotions of those who visit Sleepy Hollow during spooky season. Matsuo believes that based on this concept, extreme fear can somehow take a physical form within the spirit world.
“When you have a massive amount of people invested in a story, even a fictional story based on real people, that energy has to go somewhere,” she said. “In the case of Sleepy Hollow, it may have manifested into paranormal occurrences. I would guess that most of that energy is more organized, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of that energy was displaced, which could explain some of the random paranormal events that have happened over the years.”
Sam Baltrusis, author of Ghosts of Salem: Haunts of the Witch City and featured in The Curse of Lizzie Borden shock doc, has penned eighteen paranormal-themed books including Haunted Boston Harbor and Ghosts of the American Revolution. He has been featured on several national TV shows including the Travel Channel's A Haunting, Most Terrifying Places, Haunted Towns, and Fright Club (1 & 2). He also made a cameo in the documentary The House in Between 2 and on several additional television programs including The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd, History’s Most Haunted, Paranormal Nightshift, and Forbidden History. Baltrusis is a sought-after lecturer who speaks at libraries and paranormal-related events across the country. Visit SamBaltrusis.com for more information.
Monday, October 7, 2024
Saturday, October 5, 2024
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