Hello, good day, bonjour. It’s been many months since we chatted last. I took a much-needed hiatus from everything excepting real life — hence my absence — but as things go, I’m back like a bad case of herrrrr— herpy derpies? Bunny rabbits.

It’s been long enough that you ought to suffer a re-introduction from me. So I’ll keep this brief, sparing those who are familiar already: Hello! My name is Kira. I write low-key horror fiction and dark urban fantasy for young adults, I’m pre-query on my first novel, and I’m a senior-level graphic designer. I LIKE MONSTERS! My hobbies include blogging, hot yoga, and beating the everliving stuffing out of my manuscript while wearing sweatpants. I don’t “do” gore, but then again my level of tolerance for splatter is pretty high. I do “do” supernatural stuff, and I talk a lot about folklore, and history, and cryptids, and death. Death. Death. Death. And everything that surrounds it. Ghosts, ghouls, goblins, poltergeists, haunted paraphernalia, and cemeteries! YAY!

So guess what we’re going to chat about today, my dreary dearies?

I’ve been collecting, you see — in my time off, I’ve been rebuilding a repertoire of strange cases, interesting tidbits, and bizarre finds. Thus, it’s with great pleasure that today I release the first instalment of my curiosity collection to you: to tickle your fancy, inspire the mind, and freak you out.

As an added bonus, I’m offering both wine pairings and YA novels to go along with the subject matter. Because wine and books, right? Just add yoga pants.

Curious Things Found on the Internet – Part I

1) The Teen Girls Who Talked to the Dead

The Fox Sisters

Spirit Rappings. No, we’re not referring to Drake. Spirits don’t “rap”, per se — or at least, the sort of rapping they were doing in 1848 wasn’t the kind you’d hear today. Two teenage girls from Hydesville, New York, first heard a spirit trying to communicate with them through knocks on the various surfaces of their bedroom. They began knocking back, and the spirit would start answering in kind. They carried on full conversations, deducing that the communications came from an unsettled soul who remained buried beneath their house… that is, until they were discovered to be faking it.

Link: The Teen Girls Who Talked to the Dead

A Book Suggestion: In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters
A Wine Suggestion to go with it: Pfaff Pinot Gris 2013

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? (Check it on Goodreads)

2) Six Abandoned Asylums with Genuinely Chilling Backstories

Photo by Maria Salvaggio

What do Danvers State Mental Hospital, Metropolitan State Mental Hospital, Trenton State Hospital, Topeka State Hospital, Fernando State School, and Whittingham State Hospital have in common? How about a big pile of NOPE.

Link: Six Abandoned Asylums with Genuinely Chilling Backstories

Suggested Book Pairing: The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich
Suggested Wine Pairing: Carnivore Cabarnet Sauvignon for Kaitlyn / 7-Up for Carly

Part-psychological thriller, part-urban legend, this is an unsettling narrative made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes. Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin… (Check it out on Goodreads)

3) A Compendium of Abandoned Greenhouses

Alton Towers Greenhouse, photo by Messy Nessy Chic

Gorgeous, creepy, overrun with verdure — I love abandoned greenhouses as much as I love abandoned houses. Messy Nessy Chic did some solid exploring, and came up with a few genuinely creepy gems.

Link: A Compendium of Abandoned Greenhouses

Suggested Book Pairing: Little Girls by Ronald Malfi
Suggested Wine Pairing: Whatever’s leftover in the liquor cabinet after Tom’s done

When Laurie was a little girl, she was forbidden to enter the room at the top of the stairs. It was one of many rules imposed by her cold, distant father. Now, in a final act of desperation, her father has exorcised his demons. But when Laurie returns to claim the estate with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, it’s as if the past refuses to die. She feels it lurking in the broken moldings, sees it staring from an empty picture frame, hears it laughing in the moldy greenhouse deep in the woods… (Check it out on Goodreads)

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Have you found an interesting submission for Curious Things Found on the Internet? Post it in the comments or tweet me and I’ll include it in the next collection. 😉

– Kira