Lynn L. Clark's Blog: Writing in Retirement, page 13

Ghosts and History

I discovered when I was writing The Home Child that I enjoy doing research and incorporating this research into a novel--enough to interest readers in the subject matter, but hopefully not enough to overwhelm them with details.

I'm currently working on my second novel, which is based on various sites in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that are reportedly haunted. An interesting side benefit of researching these sites is learning more of the history of this country and its people. For example. I've learned of the tragedies that befell some of the builders of the Rideau Canal--renowned for being the world's longest skating rink--who were French-Canadians and poor Irishmen from County Cork in Ireland. And I've discovered that such research puts a human face on the historical past.

In addition, I've found out that many of the ghostly encounters recorded at these sites are scarier than anything I could come up with on my own.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of my second novel. In the meantime, back to my research...

The Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait

A previous post on ghost ships in Behind the Walls of Nightmare proved to be extremely popular so I thought readers might enjoy another post on the subject.

One of the most interesting of phantom ships is the ghost ship of Northumberland Strait, a body of water that separates Prince Edward Island from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on Canada's eastern coast. There have been various sightings of this ghost ship for over 220 years. The ship is said to be a schooner, which is a type of sailing vessel with sails on at least two of its masts. According to various onlookers, the sails burst into flames before their eyes.

There is no predetermined spot where the phantom ship appears, and sightings occur most frequently between September and November, although they have been reported at other times. Because the sightings frequently occur before a northeast wind, local folklore suggests that the ship forewarns of impending storms. The last sighting of the ship was in mid-January 2008.

Because the ship appears to be on fire, there have been attempts to rescue the crew, but the ship always disappears without a trace.

There have been various scientific explanations proposed for the ship and its fiery appearance, including electrical phenomena, moonlight on a fog bank, and a crescent moon setting below the horizon.

Of course, there could also be an element of the supernatural at work...

For the account in the Truro Daily News of the last sighting of the ghost ship, please click here.

(Source: Wikipedia)

2015 World Horror Convention

The Horror Writers Association will be staging its 25th World Horror Convention this year from May 7-10 in Atlanta, Georgia. Guests of honor include Charlaine Harris of True Blood fame and best-selling novelist Christopher Golden.

Because the convention is being held in Atlanta, Georgia, attendees will also have the opportunity to visit the location where The Walking Dead series is filmed.

To get additional information and to register for the convention, please visit http://www.whc2015.org/.

An Unfolding Horror Story

When you are doing research as an author for supernatural novels, you sometimes come across true-life horror stories. This is the case with the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida.

A team of researchers led by a forensic anthropologist from the University of South Florida has been trying to determine the fate of boys who died in custody at that school. The researchers have found more than 50 sets of remains in the makeshift cemetery of unmarked graves on school property. The school operated for more than a century before finally being closed in 2011. Throughout the years, former students came forward with stories of physical abuse and murder at the facility.

The investigation took a particularly unusual turn when the team of researchers decided to exhume the remains of Thomas Curry, who died in 1925. He was one of at least seven boys who died under suspicious circumstances after escaping from the school. (His Florida death certificate states that his skull was crushed by an unknown source.)

Historical records indicate that Curry was not buried on school property, but that his remains were sealed in a coffin and sent to his grandmother in Philadelphia for interment in a local cemetery. The lead researcher, Erin Kimmerle, obtained permission to exhume Curry's remains, which she hoped would be better preserved than those excavated to date in the school cemetery. However, when the grave was opened, there was no trace of Curry's body.

According to the CBS news report, "[w]hat made it unusual was that there were none of the usual tell-tale signs that a body had ever been inside. There was no hair, bits of clothing or teeth, not even tooth enamel which was present among the much poorer preserved remains . . . excavated in Marianna."

To view the full text of the article, please see http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dozier-sc....

And if you are interested in following-- from the beginning-- this four-part CBS Web series on the search for the dead from the Dozier school, please see http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-searc....

(This post was adapted from one previously published on the Behind the Walls of Nightmare blog.)

The Walking Dead: Los Angeles

If you're a fan of The Walking Dead franchise, you may have followed the buzz for the past two years concerning a proposed "companion" series. The new series, which is set in Los Angeles, is now in production with the working title Cobalt. There is much speculation that the new show will be a prequel showing how the zombie epidemic began. Unlike the CSI and NCIS franchises where actors from the original series appear in special episodes of their spin-offs, it's not expected that Rick and his crew will pop up in the new series--unless they somehow make it out of Georgia.

And if you're anxious to see what happens in Season 5 of The Walking Dead now that Beth ( Emily Kinney) has shared the fate of her screen dad Hershel (Scott Wilson) in being killed off suddenly and violently with a blade, the series resumes on February 8, 2015.

Best of 2014

Now that the year is coming to a close, the "best of" lists for 2014 are proliferating on the internet. Why are such lists so popular? Is it because we think they allow us to catch up or see what we missed during the year? Is it because with tweets and texts and social media in general, we've become accustomed to breaking down information into manageable bites? Maybe it's because there's an element of gossip or intrigue that makes us want to read these lists. And some of them may actually be informative.

For my part, I enjoyed the list on the Huffington Post website of 14 (not 10) "badass" female authors that it published in conjunction with its Best of 2014 Books article. (See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12... and scroll to the end for the slideshow.) I hadn't even heard of some of these authors, and then my mind started adding a number of others who were overlooked.

And speaking of "best of," all my best wishes to you for a Happy New Year!

Upcoming Horror Movies in 2015

As a fan of horror movies, I did a quick survey to see what's on the horizon for 2015. Included among the ones that look interesting are the following:

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death - I really enjoyed the original movie, based on the novel by British horror writer Susan Hill. Hill has co-written the screenplay for this movie, which occurs forty years after the original haunting when a group of school children are evacuated from the London bombings during World War II. The group takes up residence in Eel Marsh House and soon discovers they are not alone. (Release Date: January 2, 2015)

The Visit - I enjoy the movies of M. Night Shymalan, even if they tend to be uneven in the quality of their scripts and acting. There's always something of interest and some element of newness in his story-telling. The Visit is the story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a week-long trip. The children discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing, and see their chances of returning home diminish each day. (Release Date: September 11, 2015)

There are a number of other horror sequels and re-makes planned for 2015, including the update of the Predator franchise. To see more movies airing in 2015, please click here.

And, speaking of 2015, Happy New Year to everyone reading this blog!

What Did I Miss?

Sometimes it's encouraging to see that other readers share your perspective on highly-touted, award-winning works that leave you scratching your head and thinking: What did I miss?

I'm referring to a novel that I read several months ago, which has catapulted its author to millionaire status. If I could wash my mind out after reading a book or "unread" it, this would be the one. I know I could have just stopped reading it at any time, but I made the mistake of thinking that there would be some "point". Instead, the novel ended as it began--bleak, smug, and without redemption. So, out of curiosity, I went on Goodreads to see what types of reviews the novel had received. As I expected, the majority of them were positive. However, there were also many 3-star (and 2- and 1-star) reviews that were bang-on about the shallowness of the book and its characters and the poor quality of its writing. The emperor has no clothes indeed!

I am happy to learn that I'm not completely alone out there. And, by the way, since that time I have stopped reading two other "best of the year" novels without feeling guilty or thinking I'm missing something--other than the money I spent on the books.

Remembering Rocky Wood

Photo courtesy of Rocky Wood Official WebsiteRocky Wood, the president of the Horror Writers Association, died on December 1, 2014, after battling ALS, often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, since 2010. If you watch the video of the 2014 Bram Stoker Awards banquet, you will see Rocky Wood in attendance in a wheelchair, remaining, as always, extremely active in support of horror writers in spite of his debilitating illness.


Rocky Wood was considered the foremost authority on Stephen King, and he published extensive research on King, as well as a collection of his previously unpublished works.  He won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction for Stephen King: A Literary Companion. King once commented that Rocky Wood knew his work better than he himself did. In fact, King called upon Rocky Wood's research skills to ensure continuity between The Shining and Doctor Sleep.

Rocky Wood also wrote graphic novels, and he won a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement on a Graphic Novel in 2012 for Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times, which examined the witch hunting phenomenon in Europe and New England.

Lisa Morton, a long-time friend and admirer of Rocky who co-authored his award-winning graphic novel on witch hunts, is the new HWA president. In an open letter to HWA members, she speaks of his kindness, his strong support for women's rights, and his devotion to charities, including his work at local animal shelters. Ms. Morton describes him as a master of organization, who worked tirelessly to encourage young writers and to expand the HWA volunteer base and membership. 

To share condolences with his family, please visit the guestbook at his official website.

R.I.P. Rocky Wood, 1959-2014.

Trixie Belden Night

Growing up in a small, conformist New Brunswick town in the 1960s was not always easy. In fact, if I could borrow the "little flashy-thing memory-messer-upper" from Men in Black, I would probably be tempted to zap most of my memories of childhood and adolescence. One memory that I wouldn't erase, however, is of Friday night: it was Trixie Belden Night.

For those of you not familiar with Trixie Belden, she was a girl detective who appeared in books written by Julie Campbell Tatham, and then subsequently by various writers under the pseudonym Kathyrn Kenny.

Trixie was much different than Nancy Drew, who was the more popular girl detective of the time with her own series of books. But I never really liked Nancy as much as Trixie, probably because she was a bit too glamorous for me.

Trixie, on the other hand, was more human. Like me, she wasn't crazy about school; experienced teenage self-doubts; and had curly hair. And, if memory serves me, she didn't have a bunch of schoolmates telling her that boys didn't like her because she was too smart. Smart was good. Smart meant you could solve mysteries.

So on Friday night, armed with the latest Trixie Belden mystery and a bowl of popcorn--made by my mother in a dented old steel popcorn-maker with a handle and glass lid and its own hotplate element--I headed to my bunk bed to read. I can still remember that it had a pink chenille bedspread and there were those sad-eyed Moppet pictures on my bedroom wall that my mum had bought for me in Stedmans.

It was a grand ritual to crack open that book, peek to the end without reading the last page so I would know how many pages I had before me to enjoy, and then grab a handful of popcorn and begin to read.

I see on the internet that Random House has been reissuing the old Trixie Belden series. I don't think I'll re-read the books. I want Trixie to remain as she is now in my mind--a wonderful character who brightened the life of an awkward young girl.

Trixie was boss. And Friday night belonged to the two of us.