Dani Harper's Blog, page 21

2012 - Year of the Water Dragon -- Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop Jan. 13 - 18

Everyone's had fun with the traditional Chinese zodiac printed on their restaurant placemat at one time or another. And by now, you've heard that 2012 will be the Year of the Dragon. Will be, because Chinese New Year is determined by the lunar calendar, and doesn't begin until Jan. 23. The Dragon will rule until Feb. 9, 2013.
The system of 12 animal signs in a recurring 12-year cycle is called the  Sheng Xiao  and it's been in use for over 4,000 years in China. The animals in order are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, Boar.  (Sometimes the Sheep is called a Ram, and sometimes the Boar is called a Pig)
The Dragon is the only one of the group that is a mythical creature, and it is the most powerful and dynamic of the twelve animal signs. Unlike the evil, fire-breathing creatures of Western stories, the ancient Chinese dragon is wise and intelligent, the symbol of strength, honor and benevolent power. It is the divine bringer of good fortune. 


Dragon years are considered auspicious for marriages and new business ventures. The Chinese believe that success follows children born in a Dragon year, because heaven and earth are forever in balance in their lives. Dragon years are associated with wealth, often bringing an increase in personal income and boosting world markets.
Because this sign tends to magnify both achievement and disaster, it's no surprise that the last time we had a Dragon year, we were terrified of Y2K and the end of the world as we knew it. And in this year, some have interpreted the Mayan calendar to mean the end of the world, period!  


There's good news, however. Each year's animal symbol is modified by one of five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water. A Fire Dragon year is the most volatile, but the year 2012 is a Water Dragon year.
A Water Dragon has a more peaceful disposition than other dragons, with water calming the dragon's fire.  The Water Dragon is known for its calm, visionary intelligence and a balance of right brain creativity with left brain logic. 


Of all the dragon years, the Water Dragon is most likely to bestow the Five Blessings – Harmony, Virtue, Riches, Fulfillment and Longevity. Because of this, some have said that 2012 may be more about breakthroughs than disasters. After the upheaval of the past few years, this would certainly be welcome! 
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And now for the FUN!  This blog is participating in the"Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop"
Jan 13 – 18 Every blog on the list hosts a giveaway and all hosts are linked up so you can HOP from one blog to another. 
Dani Harper Giveaway – Leave a comment telling me what your Chinese animal sign is, or what you hope the Water Dragon Year will bring. Please include an email address so you can be notified if you win. The prize is a signed copy of my newest shapeshifter romance, Changeling Dawn! Winner will be drawn at random from the comments on Jan. 19.
For a complete list of participating blogs in this Blog Hop, go here: http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2011/11/are-you-dreaming-of-books-sign-up-for.html  or here: http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=114769  You are not required to visit them all – there's over 200 in this particular hop – but you can sure try!

New Blog Hop starting Jan. 13th!

Runs Jan. 13 to 18th. I'll have a brand new post and a GIVEAWAY.

If you're a book blogger or author and would like to participate, go here for more information:
http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2011/11/are-you-dreaming-of-books-sign-up-for.html

New Year's Tradition of the "First Footer" - Happy New Year 2012 Blog Hop + Giveaway

"The First Footer"

Did you know that after midnight, it's bad luck for anyone to leave the house before someone enters it? That's because the "first footer" – whomever enters your home in the New Year first – is said to influence your luck for the next twelve months. This belief in the importance of the "first footer" is found in a surprising number of cultures all over the globe!

In the British Isles, it was considered very bad luck for your first visitor to be a woman. And a blonde-haired man was too much like the Viking invaders of old. Certain people were shunned as "first footers" - people with red hair, doctors, ministers, thieves, grave-diggers, anyone with crossed eyes or flat feet, or someone whose eyebrows meet in the middle of their forehead (thought to be a sign of being a werewolf!). Such visitors wouldn't be allowed in and might even be shooed away!

In Ireland, for optimum good luck, a dark-haired man should be first through the door. If he's handsome and single, so much the better.  And it's really lucky if he arrives on a horse! The man should bring symbolic gifts – some coins, a loaf of bread, a lump of coal for the fire, a branch of evergreen and salt. Ideally, the man will make his way through the house and leave by a different door.

In Vietnam, the first person through the door influences the family's fortune for the year. A person of great prestige, success or integrity is sought to be the first footer. No one visits a house uninvited at New Year's!


In most countries with a first footer tradition, no one should leave the premises before the first footer arrives, not even to take out the garbage! It's important for the very first traffic across the threshold to be headed IN rather than OUT. The symbolism is obvious - it's desirable for people and prosperity to flow towards your home during the year to come. 

My favorite tradition is said to come from the southern United States. The sex of the first visitor through the door doesn't influence luck, but instead is said to shape the balance of power in a marriage for the coming year. If a man enters, then the husband will have more power. If it's a woman, the wife will be the more powerful partner. Myself, I think I'd settle for a happily married couple to step over the threshold at the same time!


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Here's the fun part.  From Dec 30 to Jan 3, it's the
"Happy New Year 2012 Giveaway Hop ".  
Each blog on the list hosts a giveaway and all hosts are linked up so you can HOP from one blog to another!  (You don't have to visit them all - each has their own giveaway that is separate from all others.)


Here's my giveaway prize:  A signed copy of CHANGELING MOON by Dani Harper and a tote bag to put it in!  All you have to do is leave a comment below about your favorite way to celebrate New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, plus an email address so I can contact you if you win (and no, I don't keep any addresses after the contest). A winner will be drawn at random on Jan. 4!  This particular giveaway is open to International entries.


Whenever you're ready to move on, the complete list of all participating blogs in this hop can be found on this page:   http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-new-year-2012-giveaway-hop-sign.html

Good luck and Happy New Year to everyone!

CHANGELING DAWN released - the latest in Dani Harper's shapeshifter series

Never judge a man by his species...

NEW RELEASE!!!My main characters are werewolves, but don't call themthat. They prefer the term Changelings,and they live right here among us. Your boss could be a Changeling. So couldthe gal that does your pedicure. The coach of your company baseball team oreven the cop that gives you a ticket for not wearing your seatbelt again couldhave furry tendencies. Your BFF could run on four feet at night and youwouldn't know. Changelings hide in plain sight and live very human lives mostof the time.

Love, however, complicates their lives wildly.
Check out the exciting trailer on YouTube! http://youtu.be/GvtSWYIiqt4     


ChangelingMoon and Changeling Dream were releasedearlier this year and the reviews have been wonderful. Changeling Dawn has just been released TODAY. I'm very excited about it – I feel that this third installmentis the best yet and I'm excited to finally be able to share it with my readers. It's already garnered several 4 1/2 and 5-star reviews! Here's the back cover description of the story:
RUN Shadow and moonlight merge beneath her bare feet, the forestfloor blurring as she flees the dogs and torches.  Werewolf, monster -- those are the namesgiven her kind by the humans who hate them.
HUNT Kenzie Macleod has spent her whole life hiding what she is, andshe's not about to open up to any man, even one as powerfully attractive aswildlife expert Josh Talarkoteen. But legend says that a Changeling cannotescape the call of her true mate, even in the wilderness of backcountry Alaska.
MATE An isolated archeological site, a terrified Changeling cub, asecretive research center – as Kenzie and Josh face the ultimate betrayal, hisobsidian eyes promise untold pleasure, and hint at dark secrets of his own . ..  
You'll find excerpts and reviews of Changeling Dawn and the other books in the series on my website at  http://www.daniharper.com/CHANGELING_DAWN.html  
Changeling Dawn is now available in trade paperback or ebook at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes & Noble, Chapters-Indigo, Book Depository, Kobo, Sony and many other fine online and walk-in booksellers.
Dani Harper www.daniharper.com  

KRAMPUS, THE CHRISTMAS DEMON

Christmas is a time for sharing old memories, old traditions and sometimes old blogs too!  This is one of my all-time favorites.  Enjoy, and happy holidays!
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Our North American Santa Claus is loosely based on the European Saint Nicholas, a kind, gift-giving fellow traditionally portrayed in long bishop's robes instead of a red suit. Saint Nick grew out of stories about an actual person, Nikolaos of Myra, a Greek bishop with a reputation for secret gift-giving such as leaving coins in shoes and working miracles.
So understanding Saint Nicholas is easy. It's the company he keeps that raises questions and eyebrows. In Austria, Hungary, Bavaria and other Alpine countries, St. Nick's assistant isn't a cute little elf, it's an enslaved demon. Yup, that's right. D-E-M-O-N. This cloven-hoofed creature goes by many names, but most commonly is called Krampus, which is Old High German for claw.

KrampusPerhaps the word for "long" would have suited him better. Not only does Krampus have lengthy talons, but sports exceptional horns on his head as well. His seven-foot tall body is usually covered with long shaggy hair (often black), he has a long tail and he has a tongue longer and more prehensile than that belonging to Gene Simmons' demon character of KISS fame.

If all that weren't intimidating enough, Krampus is not only a demon, but an incubus. That's a demon who sexually preys on sleeping humans! (Santa hangs out with a predator?!)

St. Nick and his goons
So while St. Nicholas got all the positive press by delivering gifts and treats to "good" boys and girls, Krampus was right by his side to dish out not just warnings but punishment to the "bad" children, and sometimes to adults too. In some places, the jolly old saint was accompanied by not one but several demons – his own personal gang of enforcers!

If you weren't saying your prayers, doing your chores and being properly respectful to elders, the penalty wasn't a mere lump of coal in your stocking. Krampus was armed with chains, a bag or basket and bundles of switches. If you were lucky, Krampus only took all your presents for himself. More often, you'd be spanked or even beaten. In some towns, kids had to run a long gauntlet of people dressed as Krampus and armed with switches!

Krampus taking "bad" children to HellReally naughty kids were allegedly shackled with chains or stuffed in a bag or basket, and carried off to Hell to burn forever – at least, that's what children were told. In Switzerland, where Krampus is called Schmutzli, children were routinely threatened with being carried off to the dark forest by the demon or tied in his sack to be thrown in the river and drowned!

We've all seen little kids who are intimidated or downright terrified of department store Santas (some of us WERE those little kids!). How on earth did European children cope with seven-foot demons threatening them? Were they tougher than today's kids or were they scarred for life? Psychological studies hadn't been invented when St. Nick's sinister sidekick first popped up in Germanic folklore around 1600. And the whole Christmas demon concept probably goes all the way back to pre-Christian winter solstice celebrations when pagan deities were said to roam the night.

Greetings from Krampus!Krampus' popularity grew until eventually he got his own day. Krampusnacht was usually December 5th which is the eve of St. Nicholas Day in many regions. In some places, there were entire Krampus festivals held, where young men dressed up like demons and terrorized the local children (and unwary young women) for days. By the way, the reward for this important public service was beer and other spirits. Many of these traditional festivals continue to this day.

In the 1800s, while the Victorians were developing the notion of sending pretty Christmas cards, a trend emerged in some European countries to send scary, lewd and suggestive postcards of the yuletide demon! Instead of Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas, these cards usually said "Greetings from Krampus!" (About as cheery to receive as "Compliments from Satan"!)

So the next time you start wishing for a real old-fashioned holiday, try singing "Krampus the Christmas Demon" to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" and remember that the season of goodwill once had a very dark and disturbing side!

Dani Harper
http://www.daniharper.com/


Your turn!  Have you ever heard tales of the Krampus? Got any other scary Christmas traditions to share?  By the way, have a look at this book on Amazon - The Devil in Design: The Krampus Postcards

"12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop" - Creepy Christmas superstitions from Dani Harper

See instructions at the bottom of this blog post!December is filled with myth and legend, wonder and whispers. And sometimes the weird, creepy and scary as well. Here are 5 superstitions associated with the season --- and they're definitely not visions of dancing sugar plums!


1.   Dogs that howl on Christmas Eve will go mad before the end of the year. A candle or a lamp should be kept burning all night on Christmas Eve to avoid a death in the house in the following year.


2.   Instead of water turning into wine at midnight on Christmas Eve, some hold the belief that the water in streams and wells turns into blood! Not only that, if you witness this change, you'll die within the year!


3.   A once popular parlor game gave everyone an apple after dinner, which was then cut in half across the middle to reveal the pattern of the core. If the core is star-shaped (most apples have this), the owner of the apple will see another Christmas. If the core is a different shape, the owner's death will occur in the next twelve months! The appearance of a four-pointed cross was worst of all – although what was worse than death is never mentioned.


4.   A Scandinavian belief states that it's dangerous to go out on Christmas Eve because of the many supernatural beings that come out of their hiding places that night. Trolls, witches, goblins and ghosts roam freely, some of which are the spirits of the dead revisiting their previous homes. Gifts must be left outside – bowls of pudding and cream, clothes, tobacco and even ale – in order to appease some of these creatures. The most perilous time occurred between cock's crow and dawn, when supernatural beings were at the peak of their power. To go outside meant risking death or being carried off by them, never to be seen again.


5.   Swedish folklore puts a chilling twist on this story. On Christmas Eve, they prepare their dining room with food and ale and blazing fire – and leave it overnight to enable the spirits of the dead to celebrate. The family checks the chairs in the morning for traces of earth, proof that the dead have come calling!


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Ready for some fun?  From Dec 13 - 24, it's the 1st Annual "12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop". Each blog on the list hosts a giveaway and all hosts are linked up so you can HOP from one blog to another!  (You don't have to visit them all - each has their own giveaway that is separate from all others.)


Here's my giveaway prize:  A signed copy of CHANGELING DREAM by Dani Harper and a tote bag to put it in!  All you have to do is leave a comment about the creepy December traditions above and an email address that I can contact you if you win. A winner will be drawn at random on Dec. 25!  This particular giveaway is open to the US only.


Whenever you're ready to move on, here's the LINKY LIST for all participating blogs in this hop:
http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=109862

1st Annual "12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop" - author Dani Harper

See instructions at the bottom of this blog post!December is filled with myth and legend, wonder and whispers. And sometimes the weird, creepy and scary as well. Here are 5 superstitions associated with the season --- and they're definitely not visions of dancing sugar plums!


1.   Dogs that howl on Christmas Eve will go mad before the end of the year. A candle or a lamp should be kept burning all night on Christmas Eve to avoid a death in the house in the following year.


2.   Instead of water turning into wine at midnight on Christmas Eve, some hold the belief that the water in streams and wells turns into blood! Not only that, if you witness this change, you'll die within the year!


3.   A once popular parlor game gave everyone an apple after dinner, which was then cut in half across the middle to reveal the pattern of the core. If the core is star-shaped (most apples have this), the owner of the apple will see another Christmas. If the core is a different shape, the owner's death will occur in the next twelve months! The appearance of a four-pointed cross was worst of all – although what was worse than death is never mentioned.


4.   A Scandinavian belief states that it's dangerous to go out on Christmas Eve because of the many supernatural beings that come out of their hiding places that night. Trolls, witches, goblins and ghosts roam freely, some of which are the spirits of the dead revisiting their previous homes. Gifts must be left outside – bowls of pudding and cream, clothes, tobacco and even ale – in order to appease some of these creatures. The most perilous time occurred between cock's crow and dawn, when supernatural beings were at the peak of their power. To go outside meant risking death or being carried off by them, never to be seen again.


5.   Swedish folklore puts a chilling twist on this story. On Christmas Eve, they prepare their dining room with food and ale and blazing fire – and leave it overnight to enable the spirits of the dead to celebrate. The family checks the chairs in the morning for traces of earth, proof that the dead have come calling!


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Ready for some fun?  From Dec 13 - 24, it's the 1st Annual "12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop". Each blog on the list hosts a giveaway and all hosts are linked up so you can HOP from one blog to another!  (You don't have to visit them all - each has their own giveaway that is separate from all others.)


Here's my giveaway prize:  A signed copy of CHANGELING DREAM by Dani Harper and a tote bag to put it in!  All you have to do is leave a comment about the creepy December traditions above and an email address that I can contact you if you win. A winner will be drawn at random on Dec. 25!  This particular giveaway is open to the US only.


Whenever you're ready to move on, here's the LINKY LIST for all participating blogs in this hop:
http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=109862

The "Romancing Christmas Giveaway Hop" - author Dani Harper

   For a list of all the blogs
participating in the hop,
click HERE.It's December, month of gifts and giving, legends and lore. There's plenty of superstitions too. Here's five:

1.   The first person downstairs on Christmas morning was to take a broom, open the front door and sweep all "trouble" from the doorstep. A variation on this is to sweep all the bad luck out of the house (I'm betting both were ploys to get the kids to clean up!)


2.   Eating a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning was said to make you exceptionally strong. (Strong-WILLED if nothing else!)


3.   In Wales, the plough was to be brought into the house and kept under the dining table during the entire Christmas season. This assured a good harvest in the coming year (and not much legroom during dinner!)


4.   English folklore instructs young girls to knock on the henhouse door on Christmas Eve. If a rooster crows, she'll marry within the year. If there is silence, she'll never marry! (AS IF any self-respecting chickens would be quiet if someone banged on their door!)


5.   In some places it was unlucky to receive a gift of new shoes or tanned leather on Christmas. However, some people in Greece ward off bad luck in the upcoming year by burning their old shoes during the Christmas season (Hmmmm... I know a pair of my husband's shoes I'd like to burn!)  Another footwear superstition says that all the family's shoes should be placed neatly side by side on Christmas Eve to prevent quarreling in the new year.


In line with the "giving and gifts" portion of the season, I'm participating in the "Romancing Christmas Giveaway Hop".  Each blog on the list hosts a giveaway and all hosts are linked up so you can HOP from one blog to another!  (You're not required to visit them all - each has their own giveaway that is separate from all others).


How to enter Dani Harper's Giveaway:

So, for MY giveaway all you have to do is answer this question in a comment between now and Dec. 16 --- 
What's your favorite thing about December?  
And please leave me an email address so I can contact you if you win. That's all, easy peasy! You're entered!
(Note - this draw is open to US and Canada)

On December 17, 2011 a winner will be drawn at random to receive a signed copy of CHANGELING DREAM and a Dani Harper tote bag to put it in!  Good luck to everyone!

Click here for a list of other blogs in the "Romancing Christmas Giveaway Hop"

The Time Traveler of Bralorne

Bralorne is a tiny little town tucked into the Chilcotin mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It owes its existence to the rich gold deposits that were first discovered there in 1858. As mining operations expanded, houses and businesses sprang up. By the 1930s, the population reached 3,000.

I visited family in Bralorne this past summer, where a tight-knit group of about 60 people now comprise the year-round community. Against the backdrop of mountain peaks, many of the vintage houses and buildings stand empty, and I rented a room in what once upon a time was the Pioneer Mine Office Building. A highlight of my trip was a personal tour of the town's delightful little Museum. Amid the gold mining artifacts and the treasured relics of a once-bustling community, I saw a photograph that has become unexpectedly famous in recent years:



The innocuous black and white photo records an event from 1941, the re-opening of the South Forks Bridge (a flood washed away the original in 1940). It's a crowd scene with everyone intently focused on the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The scene is typical for that era, with everyone dressed in their best for the occasion. Suits and dresses, fedoras and hats. 


But one figure stands out – and in fact, stands head and shoulders above the crowd as well. This man is bareheaded with oddly styled hair. He's dressed in what appears to be a screen-printed t-shirt and a hooded sweater, and the only person in the entire crowd to wear sunglasses – unusual ones at that. In his hands is a camera, the model of which some have claimed would not have been available for several years in the future!

He's since been dubbed The Bralorne Time Traveler.
The photo first came to light when the local museum incorporated it into a slideshow in 2004, which they titled Bralorne-Pioneer:Their Past Lives Here (it's slide #123 of 154) http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm_v2.php?id=record_detail&fl=0&lg=English&ex=00000470&hs=0&rd=117666  Later, the museum digitized its entire photo collection and uploaded it, as well as the aforementioned slideshow, to The Virtual Museum of Canada, a website devoted to preserving and sharing history.
That's where the internet community discovered it and spread it like wildfire. The photo of the Bralorne Time Traveler received over a million hits! It was a sensation in several countries, including Russia – so much so that a Russian news team travelled all the way to tiny snowbound Bralorne in November 2010! 


The three men, reporter Alexey Bakharev, cameraman Egor Litvinov and senior producer Evgenie Balamutenko painstakingly went through many of the photo albums in the Museum and were delighted to find the photograph still in an album! The cameraman was rolling film at the time and recorded the exciting discovery as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD_b83_RpJ0&feature=youtu.be
So forget Photoshop. It was plainly evident that the 70-year-old photo was original and could not possibly have been tampered with. Did the Russian news team believe the strange man in the photo was a time traveler? According to the Bridge River-Lillooet News, Balamutenko said no, although he planned to present the story in such a way that people could make up their own minds. Bakharev, however, said yes, he did believe the man could be a time traveler. He pointed out that at a science convention on quantum physics in 2006, time travel was determined to be possible, at least in theory. The Russians aired their program in December 2010. This is the trailer that preceded the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v4mYWCcM0g&feature=youtu.be
Meanwhile, the mystery of the Bralorne Time Traveler continues to be a hot topic of discussion. There are many skeptics of course, each trying to explain the man's appearance in rational, reasonable ways. And perhaps he was just a free spirit, maybe a college student with brave new fashion ideas. 
But what if he truly didn't belong there? Was he from the future, from another dimension or even from another planet? And why was he there in that particular place, at that particular moment in time? Theories range from an extraterrestrial scouting out one of the top producing gold mines in Canada, to a healer of history staging an intervention with an individual known only to him. 


One thing seems obvious – if the traveler wasn't of that time and place, then it's unlikely he was there just for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a tiny little bridge in an out-of-the-way town......


Dani Harper
www.daniharper.com  

Stonehenge in America - Sam Hill's Memorial to the Fallen

Stonehenge in EnglandAbout 5,000 yearsago in Britain, construction began on a circle of gigantic standing stones. Completedperhaps a thousand years later, the monolithic structure known simply as Stonehenge has been a mystery tohistorians and archeologists ever since.
Anothermystery was built in the early 1900s, this time in America.
Samuel Hill wasmany things -- a businessman, a lawyer, a railroad executive, a Quaker and apacifist. He was also a globetrotter in a time when travel was slow, makingover 50 trips to Europe and 9 to Japan. For thirty years he made his home inthe Pacific Northwest and constructed a memorial there, dedicated to the men fromKlickitat County in Washington State who had been killed in World War I. It was the very first memorial for that war in the entire United States.

Dedication, 1918 (Sam Hill, center)And it was not an ordinary memorial.Sam Hill had personally visited Stonehenge in Wiltshire County, England, andthe prevailing theory at the time was that the immense circle and altar hadbeen used by Druids for human sacrifice. Hill adopted both the idea and the design for hismemorial, seeking to remind people that "humanityis still being sacrificed to the god of war."   Stones are made of reinforced concreteA windswept promontoryoverlooking the Columbia River was chosen as the site. It was the location of Maryhill,a small town that Hill had designed and built some 10 years earlier but whichfailed to attract residents. Accounts differ on when the fire took place that burnedmuch of the town 
to the ground, but Hill is said to have cleared some of thesurviving buildings away for this new project so that the memorial could havethe most dramatic spot. There, guided by leading authorities onarchaeology and engineering, Hillcreated his Stonehenge as an exact replica of the original – that is, if the originalwas shiny new, with all its lintels and capstones in place.
Sam Hill's plans calledfor the memorial to be built of stone like the one in England – but local stone turned out to be unsuitable for the job. Heturned instead to a material he had plenty of experience with in his business life: reinforcedconcrete. 

A trilithonThe ambitious project took over ten years tocomplete. There are two concentric circles of pillars. The outer 30pillars are 16 feet high and the 40 inner pillars are 9 feet high. In thecenter of the circle are five trilithons(two largevertical stones supporting a lintel orthird stone set horizontally across the top. The altar stone is 6 by 18 feet high. All of the pillars are concrete slabs. They werepoured in massive wooden molds that were lined with crumpled tin in order to createa rough stone-like surface.  
The astronomical alignment of Hill'sStonehenge differs from the original, however. In 1918, the year he was to dedicatethe memorial site, a solar eclipse occurred on June 8 –and the best viewing of the phenomenon was in Washington State! 


Sam Hill's Stonehenge in Maryhill, WAThis meant thatsome of the world's best astronomers were in the area, and Hill persuadedProfessor Campbell of the University of California to fix the position of thealtar stone. Campbell aligned to the astronomical horizon rather than to themidsummer solstice, as the ancient Stonehenge was once believed to be. Considering the additional difference in latitude between the two monuments, it becomesapparent that Hill's creation cannot be used as an astronomical calendar.

Hill's Stonehenge site overlooks the
 Columbia River Valley
Note the small white crypt further down
 the hill, which holds Samuel Hill's ashes.It's a very small flaw, however.Most of us on this side of the ocean will visit the original Stonehenge onlythrough photos and TV documentaries. Thanks to Sam Hill, we can wander and wonderthrough his life-sized creation, getting a firsthand feel for the scope and symmetryof both Stonehenges.
It's been suggested that SamHill listens in on the conversations of the many tourists who seek outthis out-of-the-way site. After all, on the hillside below the memorial is a verysmall and simple crypt overlooking the Columbia River Valley. Hill's ashes wereburied there in 1931.



Dani Harper

Paranormal romance combines with suspense in an exciting new shapeshifter series by author Dani Harper, published by Kensington Brava. See more on Dani's website at www.daniharper.com