Friday, May 29, 2015

Supernatural Friday: Deleted Fort Wead Civil War Park Chapter from Upcoming Paranormal Petersburg, Virginia, and the Tri-Cities Area








Sometimes sentences or paragraphs do not make it into a book of fiction or nonfiction. Sometimes it is a whole chapter. This is a chapter I researched investigated in person and wrote, but it ended up being taken out of my upcoming release, Paranormal Petersburg, Virginia, and the Tri-Cities Area from the manuscript by me when I edited it, along of another chapter during editorial edits. The other chapter was due to other reasons, but this one I felt just had me puzzling how I got phantoms of Union soldiers to talk to me when no died in battle at this fort, even though I thought of logical reasons. So with the book coming out August 28th, I am releasing this chapter for you to read for Supernatural Friday, along with the photos I was going to add to it.  And please, since these are my photos and my words, they sort of copyrighted to me, so just share the link to friends and family if you want them to read it. They can visit my blog anytime to enjoy it. Thank you.



                                                                    

                                                            Fort Wead Civil War Park




                                             The lawn

                                             Is pressed by unseen feet, and ghosts return

                                             Gently at twilight, gently go at dawn,

                                             The sad intangible who grieve and yearn.

                                                                                             ~T. S. Eliot







Bill drove me to Chesterfield County’s Fort Wead Civil War Park on Wednesday, June 4, 2014. It was in a nice suburban neighborhood. Most of the residents were at work or out somewhere, maybe even some just staying inside, but the area was quiet.
This park was one of few Civil War sites that the County has saved and made into a park for the public. Sadly, one site that can never be a park due to it being a shopping center is the Chester YMCA and even a cemetery, is where the Battle of Chester Station happened. This is not far from the intersection of Jefferson Davis and Route 10. I imagine the ghosts of those who died in this battle wandering through the YMCA, Chick-Fil-A across the street and nearby stores, confused by everything.





















Fort Wead was named after Col. Frederick Wead, of the 98th New York, (comma) killed in action at Cold Harbor. The Fort was constructed in June of 1864 at the rear of Union Lines to prevent Confederate forces from advancing in the event the main lines were captured. It was never used.  The fort had emplacements for six 32-pounder cannons within a small earthwork. A bombproof magazine was dug into the ground inside the earthworks and protected by a log and earth cover. All of the guns faced west, two in the corners and four along the parapet. Access to the fort came from an east side sally port, and it had a draw bridge over the surrounding moat.
I took my EMF meter, recorder, ghost box, and slung my camera around my neck as I walked up the wooden trail into the park.




















I took pictures first, then I proceeded with an EVP session. I began by asking questions like “What year is this?” and “Are there spirits with me?” I got nothing, but when I listened later at home, I heard some other voices. I said, “I want you to understand that you cannot follow me home. Is that clear?” A man’s voice replied, “Sure.”






















I turned on my ghost box, set it to AM, and from there to scanning.

I asked, “Are there any Civil War spirits with me?”

A man said, “Yes.”

What is your name?”

No one answered me. Then a male voice uttered, ‘Dead.”

“Did you just say dead?”

“Yes.”

I thought, Creepy.

“Are you Union Soldiers?”

“Yes.”

At that point, my box dropped out of scanning and went to a radio station. I switched the scanning back on.

I said, “Don’t use my ghost box for energy. Use me instead.

A man said, “Lady…”

I asked “What year did you die?”

“18…”

I said, “This is 2014.”

A male voice said, “Sure.” Like he knew that.

“What rank were you?”

“Private.”

“Did you have a girlfriend or a wife when you were alive?”

“Yes.”

“What was her name?”

I heard, “Cher—” Static made it hard to hear the rest.

 “North or South.”

Several male voices replied, “North.” I am not sure if they meant their loved ones or themselves.

I asked if they were standing near me. No one said one word. “Are you standing in front of me by the first sign?” Nothing. I pointed to my side and said, “Are you standing next to me or around me?”

A male voice said, “Ghost.”

That was interesting. I said, “How did you die? By cannon fire?”

Silence.

“Gun fire?”

“Yep.”

 “I hope you died quickly and not of gangrene.”

“No.”

“No, he did not die quickly, or no, he did not die of gangrene?

 “Did you leave family behind? What state are you from?”

One man said, “Massachusetts.” I assume it was still the same spirit as he said, ‘Philip.”

 “Do you miss your home?”

 “Right.”

 “What is your last name?”

 “Huh?”

 “My last name is Kinney, what’s yours?”

I heard a couple of names. “Franks, Porter…”

 “I heard Porter. What was your first name?”

 “Bill.”

I stuck out my hand and shook it in the air. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Bill Porter. Are you a Union soldier?”

 “Yep.”

 “No Confederates here? No Rebels?”

 “Yep.”

I held out my hand. “Touch my hand.”

A male voice: “Hold.”

I said, “I am going to shut off the ghost box and leave. Goodbye and thank you.”

 I left the recorder on, hoping to catch an EVP or two. Later at home, I heard something that sounded like gunfire. I also heard movement in the gravel, which wasn’t me as I had remained still.




















Now since this fort had never been used, who were the Federal soldiers that communicated to me? Of course, I knew that the Civil War hospital at the Civil War Point of Rocks Park was not far, and there were nearby battles in nearby Chester. City Point where Grant and the Northern Army took over was also nearby. I imagine hapless phantoms wandering the area, maybe trying to get home, but maybe ending up to haunt Fort Wead and the nearby suburban neighborhood.

I left the park, an itch at the back of my neck as if many eyes honed in on me as I joined Bill in the car. The feeling left as we drove off, so I assumed they stayed there.

Fort Wead is located at 1107 Greyledge Blvd, Chester, Virginia 23831. It is a nice park. Not big, just right, for one to daydream a battle going on there. Just don’t be surprised if the daydream becomes reality, and you hear actual gunfire. It’s just the phantom soldiers still fighting. 

 https://thelateunpleasantness.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/raise-the-colors-and-follow-me-the-irish-brigade-at-antietam.jpg
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Friday, May 22, 2015

Supernatural Friday: Beware of Big Hairy Toes! (Retold Folktale)



 http://www.campfirecapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/campfire.jpg

As I am working on a horror wip at this time, I found this old folktale and rewrote for your Supernatural Friday of Memorial Day Weekend enjoyment.  As you go camping this summer, maybe even this weekend, it is spooky tales like this that are told around the campfire. Let's restart a tradition and get that fire going in the woods or at the beach, and tell spooky stories. 

Once upon a time an old woman went out in the woods. She planned to dig up roots to cook for dinner. Suddenly, she spotted something funny sticking out of the leaves. Digging around it, she discovered it was a great big hairy toe. Now it came to her that there was good meat on it and it might make a tasty dinner, so she stuck it in her basket and took it home.
Back at her cottage, the old woman boiled hairy toe soup in a kettle. That night she had the soup for dinner. The old woman went to bed that night with a full stomach and a big smile.
Around midnight, a cold wind arose and blew in the tops of the trees around the old woman's house. A large black cloud crept over the moon and from deep in the woods a hollow voice called out, "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!"
Inside the house, the old woman stirred uneasily in her bed and nervously pulled the covers up over her ears. She forced herself back to sleep.
Something stomped from the woods as the wind whistled and jerked at the treetops. In the clearing at the edge of the forest, the same hollow voice said: "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!"
Inside the house, the old woman shuddered and turned over in her sleep.
A, stomping sound stopped outside the cottage. The night creatures shivered in their burrows as a hollow voice howled: "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!"
The old woman snapped awake and with her heart pounding and her stomach clenching, she leaped out of bed, she ran to the door and barred it. Knowing her cottage was secure, she lay back down to sleep.
The front door burst open with a bang, snapping the bar in two and sending it flying into the corners of the room. The sound of giant feet stomping up the stair came to the old woman’s ears. Shaking, she peeped out from under the covers. A massive figure filed her doorway. "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!"
The old woman bolted upright and screamed: "I ATE your hairy toe!"
"Yes, you did," the giant figure said as it advanced into the room. It grabbed her.
No one living in the region ever saw the old woman again. The only clue to her disappearance came from a giant footprint pressed deep into the loose soil of the meadow beside the house. The footprint was missing the left big toe.


 http://cf.ltkcdn.net/paranormal/images/std/156364-377x300-Telling-stories-around-the-campfire.jpg

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Catch Me at the Science Fiction Yard Sale This Saturday, May 23rd (Rain Date: May 30th)

I will be selling and signing copies of my nonfiction ghost books and some of my fiction (like Spectre Nightmares and Visitations) and Paranormal World Seekers DVDs at Starfleet Atlantic's Science Fiction Yard Sale this upcoming Saturday, May 23rd, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Rain-date is May 30th (but so far it has been on the date it is set first for years, so pray no rain during the daytime). The address of the free and open the public event is 4844 Linshaw Lane, Virginia Beach, Va. 23445. For directions or other information: 757-499-2359. There will be plenty of other vendors too.  And I will also have some used books, clothing, and collectibles, (plus a used Epson printer) for yard sale prices.


Friday, May 15, 2015

Supernatural Friday: What's Scary on Your Reading List This Summer?







Mrmorial Day Weekend is a week away. People will be thinking of swimming as the pools open and others head for three days at the beach. Daytime will last until 8:30 p.m. And yet, people read scary reads even though Halloween is still about five months away. Horror books are as good a read for the beach or to read indoors in the AC as that latest bestseller by James Patterson.

What is horror? Horror fiction, horror literature and also horror fantasy is a genre of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, scare or startle viewers/readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society. The genre has ancient origins which were reformulated in the 18th century as Gothic horror, with publication of the Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole.


So, see you can even take on the old classics. Like Dracula by Bram Stoker, H P. Lovecraft’s tales, those scary tales by Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson ghost story, The Haunting of Hill House, and many others. Today, horror has changed into many different ways. From urban fantasy. psychological, to gory fiction to weird, science fiction horror, paranormal romance, and Johnny-come-lately term, cozy horror (can being scared ever be called cozy?) not unlike cozy mysteries. 
 
So many ways to read yourself shuddering palpitations of the heart.

What are you reading, or what other scary books are you planning to read this summer? Leave a comment, so others can find these great reads in their local library, or at their bookstore or online estore.
Happy Haunting. . .I mean Reading!


 

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Author Interview for Women in Horror Plus I Have a Giveaway

Monday, May 11, 2015

Upcoming Interview May 13, 2015

I want to apologized about no Supernatural Friday this past Friday, but been in layout for my fifth nonfiction ghost book, Paranormal Petersburg, Virginia, and the Tri-Cities Area, that has been available for preorders since January and releases August 28th. Supernatural Friday returns this Friday.



I will be interviewed for "Women in Horror" this Wednesday, May 13th, at Author M.F. Wahl's blog. You can read past women horror authors and listen to their videos at the link, until mine is available to read and listen to. I will also have a giveaway of a signed copy of my collection of horror and dark fantasy tales, Spectre Nightmares and Visitations when the interview goes live that you can win.



Friday, May 01, 2015

Supernatural Friday: May Day/Beltane-Let's Dance Around the May Pole



 

May 1st is the first day of May. But it is more than that. I remeber in sixth grade, we dressed up and danced around a may pole at the elementary school I attended in San Diego. It was all about dancing around a pole with ribbons. It goes back to Beltane and pagan rites.

With the Roman invasions of Western Europe and Britain, much of the symbolism and rites of the Floralia and Beltane became entwined -- eventually becoming the holiday we now call May Day or Walpurgis.  The custom of going 'a-maying', collecting flowers, greenery and the maypole early on the morning of May 1, survives virtually intact to this day. Same are the balefires in Britain, Germany, and other countries of Europe.  The sexual aspect of the holiday, however, has become almost extinct in many countries.  The festivities were viewed as sinful by some Christian leaders, and in 1644, the celebration was banned by the Puritan-controlled Parliament in Britain.

Druids and their successors raised the Beltane fires on hilltops throughout the British Isles on May Eve. These fires were lit in order to bring the sun’s light down to earth. In Scotland, every fire in the household was extinguished, and the great fires lit from the need-fire kindled three times by three men, using wood from nine sacred trees. When the wood burst into flames, it proclaimed the triumph of the light over the dark half of the year.

Then people thrust brands into the newly roaring flames and whirled them about their heads in imitation of the circling of the sun. As the sun rose at dawn, those who had stayed up to watch it might see it whirl three times upon the horizon before rising in all its summer glory.

Beltane was also considered one of the three "spirit-nights" of the year when the faeries could be seen. Stories talk that at dusk, one must twist a rowan sprig into a ring and look through it, so that you might see one of them, or more.
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Veils between  the mortal world and other worlds are claimed to be thin on this day (like All Hallow’s Eve), and it is said that the Queen of the Faeries rides out on her white horse. Roving about on Beltane eve, the Fairy Queen tries to entice people away to the land of the Faeries. Legend has it that if you sit beneath a tree on Beltane night, you might see the Faery Queen or hear the sound of her horse's bells as she rides on her night ride. The legend also says if you hide your face, she will pass by, but if taking one glance at her may have her choose her to go with her. A Scottish ballad called Thomas the Rhymer, tells of this, in which Thomas chooses to go with the Queen and never seen afterwards.



According to old folklore, May is not a favorable time for marriages in the legal and permanent sense. References in the old books of this belief, say woe is to had by those who do marry during this month. One reason might be is May is the pagan handfasting month.

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