Category

Hauntings

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My Big Fat Haunted House

I'm writing this not only to remind myself that it's true, but also for posterity's sake...in the case it doesn't stop. It started shortly after we moved in. I don't want to say what "it" is, mostly because I honestly don't know. It began with a subtle scrape. Like the sound of a shovel being drug across concrete. It started at night - always after twelve, always before 3. Scrape. Scraaaape. Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaape.  At first I was the only one that heard it. I'd nudge Matt awake but by the time he had his wits about him, the noise stopped. I had visions of an alb[...]

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Folklore Week: Emily’s Bridge, Vermont

It’s sometime after ten and we’re standing in front of Old Yard holding an eighteenth-century lantern replica with a tin roof, holds slotted into it to let the heat escape. We’re dangling it over the wall that separates the parking lot from the cemetery. The candlelight reflects off a small slabbed tombstone — isolated from the rest of the graves without any real indication why. It could be a dissenter’s plot. I run over the number of reasons why someone might be buried as a dissenter in 19th century Stowe: usual reasons include not adhering to the popul[...]

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Horror House: The Whaley House

There are four things in the world that I love: dogs, iced coffee, scary stories, and haunted houses. Since March is our haunted houses month, I thought it would be fun to highlight a real haunted house in my neck of the woods of Southern California. Meet The Whaley House The Whaley House was built in 1857 by a man named Thomas Whaley. It is located at 2476 San Diego Avenue, in old town San Diego. Its architecture is mid-nineteenth century Greek Revival and has been a museum since the 60’s. This two-story house and store was the first two-story brick edifi[...]

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Horror from around the Globe: Aokigahara

Hello Kittens,   I hope your holidays were delightful. My better (but far less scary) half got me a nest for Christmas, so I spent a ridiculous amount of time in my papasan chair, colouring in my Sherlock book and reading, swaddled in fluffy blankets and wearing a frog onesie. It was majestic. Now that the holidays are over, it seems we're getting a delightful pile of fresh new horror. flicks We kicked it off with KRAMPUS, and have THE BOY coming out soon, which looks awesome. But the one I'm most looking forward to is THE FOREST. THE FOREST is about Aok[...]

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The Tale of the Reoccurring Goblin

Hello, kittens.   We all have that one story we like to tell at parties. You know the one I'm talking about. It usually starts with "It happened to a  friend of a friend of mine..." They're usually just trendy retellings of our favourite urban legends. They're supposed to capture your attention in between drink refills, not scare you. I never thought any of them were true...until I heard the story of the goblins. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story "The Tale of the Reoccurring Goblin".     I remember it l[...]

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My Obsession with Ghosts

Viewer discretion is advised... Every episode begins this way. And I watch - my guilty pleasure. Real people tell their paranormal stories, ghostly encounters, possessions, and fights with demons all with the help of Hollywood effects to bring the tales to life. It began in 2005 with the TV show 'A Haunting', which played on the Discovery Channel until 2007. This show gave us the episode 'A Haunting in Connecticut', which was later made into a movie. I watched every episode, more than once. I was sad when it vanished. However, it was revived on Destination[...]

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Famous Hauntings: The Bell Witch

When we discuss folklore, the stuff of legends particular to certain areas, we're not always discussing the story itself -- we talk about the hype that surrounds it; makes it bigger than it probably is. The fact is, a lot of the pop culture we get our hands on today lies roots in stories that were told a couple of centuries ago. I can't say that this suggests that there's no original horror stories anymore, far from it; it's interesting, however, that the origin points for the things we find scary now might actually have kernels of truth to them because they're so[...]