Author Book Signing of Ghost Books at Barnes and Noble Saturday

It's October, and with Halloween at the end of the month. A good time to read ghost stories and urban legends. Not just for Halloween, but signed, they make great Christmas gifts as Christmas is not far behind October.

I'll be signing copies of all of my nonfiction ghost books at the Barnes and Noble at Chesterfield Town Center this Saturday, October 13, 2018, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. That's Haunted Richmond, Haunted Richmond II, Haunted Virginia: Legends, Myths, and True Tales, Virginia's Haunted Historic Triangle: Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown, and Other Haunted Locations, and Paranormal Petersburg, Virginia, and the Tri-Cities Area. 

So come by and get a book, and there'll be chocolate too in my shadow person candy dish!

Barnes and Noble,
11500 Midlothian Turnpike
Richmond, Virginia 23235
Bookstore Phone: 804-794-6640

Supernatural Friday: Going Camping Can Be Scary

It is still summer, but things connected with autumn and even Halloween are slowly appearing in stores, and the fist Spirit of Halloween stores have opened. So how to get your fix of Halloween, but while summer is still here technically? By going camping and telling spooky tales around the campfire.

Telling tales around the campfire has been going on since—well, since the cave man times when the shaman of the tribe told stories of monsters, spirits and gods to his or her people.  Many tales are also told around the fire burning in a hearth indoors, but that happened later when it was cold outside.

So, I will tell a couple of urban legends to get you started to tell around your own campfire.

Good Thing the Light Wasn’t Turned on……

TWO girls who shared a room at a dorm in college. Both were in the same science class. The teacher reminded them about the midterm the next day. But outside of class, one of the girls was asked to a big bash by the hottest guy in school. The other girl had no interest in going and, being a diligent student, she decided studying for the test was more important.

At the end of the day, the one going, tried to get other to go, but she was insistent that she would study and pass the test. The girls were rather close and party girl didn't like leaving her roommate alone to be bored while she was out having a blast.  But her friend told her to go on.

The party goer went to the party and had the time of her life. She headed back to the dorm around 2 a.m. and was careful not to wake her friend up, keeping the lights off as the other was already in bed.  

She woke up early and went to wake her roommate. The girl was lying on her back, apparently sound asleep. Party girl shook her friend over but the other never responded Concerned, party girl turned on the desk lamp. She saw the science books and notes still on the bed, with blood all over it. To her horror, she saw her friend had been slaughtered and fell to the floor. She looked up and saw written on the wall in Meg's blood: "AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU DIDN'T TURN ON THE LIGHT?"

The Man with the Hook…….

A TEENAGE boy took his date to a dark and deserted Lovers' Lane for a make-out session in his vehicle. The radio set to some romantic music to set the mood, he began to kiss her.

Suddenly, the music stopped and an announcer's voice came on, warning about a convicted murderer that just escaped from the state insane asylum and that anyone who noticed a strange man lurking about with a hook in place of his right hand should immediately report his whereabouts to the police.  This asylum happened to be located not far from Lovers' Lane.

The girl grew scared and asked to be taken home. The boy, though, locked all the doors and assured his date they would be safe. He attempted to kiss her again, but she pushed him away and insisted they leave. NOW! Not happy about his date cute short, the boy turned the key in the ignition, the engine roared to life, and he jerked the car into gear and spun its wheels as he drove away.

When they arrived at the girl's house, she stepped out of the car, and as she closed the door, began to scream. The boy bolted from the driver’s side and ran to her side to see what was wrong.  There, dangling from the door handle, was a bloody hook!

Supernatural Friday: The Truth or Maybe Falseness of Legends and Urban Legends

Everyone participates in the reading of legends, myths, or folklore at some point in their lives. Who hasn’t read Greek mythology in school, or the folklore of Paul Bunyan, or even tall tales of famous, real people like Calamity Jane or Johnny Appleseed? What about urban legends? Urban legends are myths told in modern society, in cities or online, unlike many of the old tales set in the countryside. Even now, these get passed around in emails or are posted on the Internet—stories about the serial killer with the knife hanging around Lover’s Lane, Bloody Mary, the terrible smell under the bed in a hotel room or even the computer virus story that may have been true three years ago, but is still sent out as a warning.

A legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions told about someone that existed in reality, once upon a time, but the true events have been twisted, making them more fascinating. Legend includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility,” defined by a highly flexible set of parameters. These may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened. There is the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arose, and in which the tale may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh, vital, and realistic. It is kinda like that game you played with your classmates in school, where you whisper to the next person a story, and by the time it comes full circle, that story has changed drastically from what it began as.

A myth is a sacred or traditional story that concerns the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to be in their present form. Myths serve to unfold a part of the world view of a people, or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. Parables and allegories are myths. Nothing is supposed to be real about it at all, even if someone mentioned in the story is a real person, like some famous Virginians in my book, Haunted Virginia: Legends Myths and True Tales. There are stories told about their habits or life that are not true.

Folklore is the traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally. It is popular, but unfounded beliefs. Or, as Merriam-Webster says: “traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art forms preserved among a people.”

The flavor of people and their culture, all interwove with day to day life when settlers came to the New World. They brought with them their folk tales and beliefs, and founded new ones in the new country. Some old stories mutated into different ones. There were older tales told by the Native Americans who were already living in Virginia before the white man came. Then, when slaves were brought to the New World, they brought with them tales from Africa and changed them, molding them to fit their new home.

Today, in modern times, we continue this with urban legends. Who hasn’t heard of the killer with the hook in lover’s lane? Or who hasn’t said, “Bloody Mary” while staring into the mirror, hoping to make a ghost appear? Or spread the story of the fried rat found in a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. There’s the hitchhiking woman dressed in an evening gown that is picked up and climbs into the back seat, giving directions to an address to the driver. Once they arrive at the house, though, the driver discovers that she has mysteriously disappeared. When he goes to the door, he is told that his hitchhiker is the daughter of the owner of the house, who had been killed just after she left a party several years before, never making it home. But stories like the hitchhiking ghost existed long before they ended up as urban legends. I know I’ve read stories when it was a buggy or wagon being driven, not a car. So how many urban legends started as folk tales by those who colonized America? How many are false, but again how many are based on truth? Like the smell under the bed in the motel--that was proven to be true, both happening in Northern Virginia motels.

Many of the legends and folk tales told by our ancestors have some kind of moral attached to them. These may be warnings. Watch your womenfolk and children, so that marauding Indians could not kidnap them. Don’t dare approach some old woman living in the woods for a much needed potion to rid one of an unwanted pregnancy, for she may conjure a spell and convince you to crawl into her oven to be cooked.

All of the above are the start of human storytelling, most likely around the campfire at night and told by the village shaman or official storyteller. What stories do you remember and still like to tell?

Supernatural Friday: Legends, Myths, Folklore and Urban Legends

Everyone participates in the reading of legends, myths, or folklore at some point in their lives. Who hasn’t read Greek mythology in school, or the folklore of Paul Bunyan, or tall tales of famous, real people like Calamity Jane or Johnny Appleseed? And what about urban legends? Urban legends are myths told in modern society, in cities or online, unlike many of the old tales set in the countryside. Even now, these get passed around in emails or are posted on the Internet—stories about the serial killer with the knife hanging around Lover’s Lane, Bloody Mary, the terrible smell under the bed in a hotel room or even the computer virus story that may have been true three years ago, but is still sent out as a warning.

 

A legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions told about someone that existed in reality, once upon a time, but the true events have been twisted, making them more fascinating. Legend includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility,” defined by a highly flexible set of parameters. These may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened. There is the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arose, and in which the tale may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh, vital, and realistic. It is kinda like that game you played with your classmates in school, where you whisper to the next person a story, and by the time it comes full circle, that story has changed drastically from what it began as.

A myth is a sacred or traditional story that concerns the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to be in their present form. Myths serves to unfold a part of the world view of a people, or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. Parables and allegories are myths. Nothing is supposed to be real about it at all, even if someone mentioned in the story is a real person. There are stories told about their habits or life that are not true.

 Folklore is the traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally. It is popular, but unfounded beliefs. Or, as Merriam-Webster says: “traditional customs, tales, sayings, dances, or art forms preserved among a people.”


The flavor of people and their culture, all interwove with day to day life when settlers came to the New World. They brought with them their folk tales and beliefs, and founded new ones in the new country. Some old stories mutated into different ones. There were older tales told by the Native Americans who were already living in the New World before the white man came. Then, when slaves were brought to the New World, they brought with them tales from Africa and changed them, molding them to fit their new home.

Today, in modern times, we continue this with urban legends. Who hasn’t heard of the killer with the hook in lover’s lane? Or who hasn’t said, “Bloody Mary” while staring into the mirror, hoping to make a ghost appear? There’s the hitchhiking woman dressed in an evening gown that is picked up and climbs into the back seat, giving directions to an address to the driver. Once they arrive at the house, though, the driver discovers that she has mysteriously disappeared. When he goes to the door, he is told that his hitchhiker is the daughter of the owner of the house, who had been killed just after she left a party several years before, never making it home. But stories like the hitchhiking ghost existed long before they ended up as urban legends. I know I’ve read stories when it was a buggy or wagon being driven, not a car. So how many urban legends started as folk tales from all over the world?

Many of the legends and folk tales told by our ancestors have some kind of moral attached to them. These may be warnings. Watch your womenfolk and children, so that marauding Indians could not kidnap them. Don’t dare approach some old woman living in the woods for a much needed potion to rid one of an unwanted pregnancy, for she may conjure a spell and convince you to crawl into her oven to be cooked.

 
 

To learn about legends, myths, folklore, and urban legends of Virginia, BUY THIS BOOK