Jessica Penot's Blog, page 11

The Accidental Witch is Officially Released!

My new book, The Accidental Witch, was released today!  Yay!  Here is a little bit about this haunting book, set in a house based on my favorite haunted plantation, The Moody Brick.







Phaedra Michaels is a small town psychologist who is beginning to lose hope. Two of her patients at the local hospital in Dismal, Alabama have just killed themselves, she’s still reeling from her divorce and what turned out to be a disastrous marriage, and her father has died, leaving her without any notion of who her real mother is.



Just as Phaedra decides to commit herself to a serious drinking problem and an eating disorder, or two, a mysterious spell book arrives in the mail. Feeling desperate, Phaedra uses it to cast spells to save her fading patients. Suddenly, good things start happening.  Phaedra’s patients begin to get better and she even starts dating the sexy doctor from the hospital.



Phaedra is so happy she doesn't notice the small things that start to go wrong in Dismal, or the dark creatures slithering out of the shadows near her house. When Phaedra finally realizes her spells have attracted every card-carrying demon from hell, she has no choice but to accept help from a slightly nerdy, 500 year-old warlock with a penchant for wearing super hero T-shirts and a knack for getting under Phaedra’s skin. Now, if only she could get the hang of this witch thing, she might be able to save her town.  


Click Here to Buy Now:    http://www.amazon.com/The-Accidental-Witch-Jessica-Penot-ebook/dp/B00GG83WLE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1383674726&sr=8-5&keywords=Jessica+Penot 

13 Most Haunted Sites in New York by Emily Nonko

13 Most Haunted Sites in New York City



Emily Nonko



 
 As you might guess, there
are no shortage of hauntings reported in each of the five boroughs. Some ghosts
date back as far as the Revolutionary War, others are a product of more recent,
grisly deaths. Here's our pick for 13 New York City haunts where New Yorkers,
dead and alive, still roam.






 
One – Algonquin Hotel






Location: Midtown, Manhattan



Why Haunted: The Algonquin is a well-regarded Manhattan
hotel famous for its ghost stories. A celebrated group of writers and actors,
known as the  “Algonquin Round Table,”
congregated at the hotel everyday for lunch in the 20s. There are reports that
the members still haunt the hotel grounds today. Dorothy Parker, founding
member of the Round Table, tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide in the hotel
in 1932. She died in 1967 and her spirit has been hanging around since.



http://blog.oyster.com/is-nycs-algonquin-hotel-haunted-one-guest-says-so-3707/



http://www.dorothyparker.com/dot21.htm



 
Two – The Dakota






Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan



Although the Dakota is famously known as the murder site of
John Lennon, the historic co-op building has a very long history of ghost
stories and lore. Lennon himself saw the “Crying Lady Ghost” roaming the
hallways of the building – a spectral figure of a woman who wailed down the
building corridors. Residents and building workers also report reoccurring
sightings of a little girl in turn-of-the-century clothing, as well as the
ghost of a young boy. Reportedly Yoko Ono, along with other residents, have
seen John Lennon's spirit periodically in the building.



http://jessicajewettonline.com/ghosts...



 
Three – Morris-Jumel Mansion






Location: Washington Heights, Manhattan 



This is Manhattan's oldest house and George Washington's
headquarters during the Revolutionary War. It's also haunted by the actress and
prostitute Madame Eliza Jumel. Jumel was driven into bankruptcy and divorced by
her second husband Aaron Burr; eventually she lost her mind and died in the mansion
at age 92. There are reports she roams the building and taps on the windows and
doors. In 1962 a mysterious woman asked a group of visiting school children to
quiet down, despite no living person living inside. That's not the building's
only haunting – the ghosts of Aaron Burr, a maidservant, a Revolutionary War
soldier, and Stephen Jumel, Eliza's first husband who died a mysterious death,
are also reported to roam the grounds.



http://voices.yahoo.com/the-morris-ju...



 
Four – White Horse Tavern






Location: West Village, Manhattan



The White Horse Tavern is the historic bar where the famed
poet Dylan Thomas died a famous death – collapsing outside the bar after a
reported 18 whiskey shots. Now patrons occasionally see him sitting at his
favorite corner table in the bar, or wandering outside. It certainly helps that
the bar looks nearly unchanged since it opened in 1880, decorated with old
porcelain horses and portraits of Thomas. The bar serves the poet's purported
last meal in the back room every year on the anniversary of his death, November
9th.



http://theoccultsection.com/2012/02/2...



 



Five – Kreischer Mansion



Location: Charleston, Staten Island



The Krischer family built this mansion in the 1880s, right
next door to an identical mansion that eventually burned down. The family made
its money through brick making, although the fortune ran out. Distraught over
his dwindling funds, mansion owner Edward Kreischer committed suicide. Staten
Island residents have spotted a spectral couple – possibly Edward and his wife
-- wandering the grounds. There are also reports of wailing coming from the
home. Many years later in 2005, a mob-related murder took place here. Now the
rundown property is a popular destination for Staten Island kids on Halloween.



http://buckminsterfullerene/forkinthe...



 
Six – The “House of Death” at 14 West 10th Street






Location: Greenwich Village, Manhattan



This 1856 townhouse was dubbed the “House of Death” because
a reported 22 former residents have haunted the building over the years! A
number of these tenants died mysteriously in the home. Once of the reported
ghosts is Mark Twain, who lived in the house in 1900 and appeared in the ground-floor
apartment in the 1930s. In 1987, the home made headlines after a tenant beat
his daughter to death in the second-floor apartment.



http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com...



 
Seven – Melrose Hall






Location: Flatbush, Brooklyn



Melrose Hall was
one the most heavily reported haunted houses in the late 1800s and early 1900s,
when the Brooklyn Eagle reported ghost stories like hard news. The interior has been described as having "dark
corridors, oddly shaped rooms, winding stairways, black holes, mysterious trap
doors, and other unprecedented features." During the Revolutionary War,
the owner built secret chambers in the mansion to hide Tory supports, as well
as a dungeon in the basement to imprison American patriots.  The home's most famous ghost is a young woman
who died in one of the secret chambers.



http://brooklynology.brooklynpublicli...



 
Eight – Seaview Hospital and the New York Farm Colony






Location: mid Staten Island



First a poor house, then a tuberculosis hospital, now a
decrepit and abandoned New York City landmark. The farm colony/poor house
(designed as a means of rehabilitation for the mentally ill) was established in
the 1830s and the hospital opened in 1913. The complex has sat in decay since
1975, but due to a landmark designation in 1985 nothing can be torn down.
Workers of the hospital claimed to have seen old patients wandering through the
hall, now it's a rotting asylum left to the elements.



http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/satanic-insanity-the-new-york-city-farm-colony



 
Nine: Brooklyn Public Library






Location: Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn



In 1977, the six-year-old girl Agatha Ann Cunningham visited
the Brooklyn Public Library with her classmates, disappeared, and was never
found. Both employees and patrons have heard mysterious noises, like a girl's
laughter or sobbing, coming from the library's basement stacks. In 2011, a few
interns looked a little further into the haunting, and published this
convincing video...



http://misc.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/mipmap/post/2011/11/03/The-True-Story-of-Agatha-Cunningham.aspx



 
Ten – Belasco Theater






Location: Midtown, Manhattan



The Belasco Theater, in Manhattan's famed Theater District,
is haunted by the theater's namesake. David Belasco started writing plays in
the 1880s and died in 1931 after a celebrated career. There are no scandalous
or tragic stories attached to his death, but for whatever reason his ghost
decided to stick around the theater. Theater workers have spotted him in the
upstairs apartment and offices of the theater wearing a cassock and a clerical
collar. (They dubbed the ghost “The Monk.”) He's also been spotted standing on
the balcony, observing the shows that go on in his theater.



http://www.broadwayspotted.com/broadw...



 
Eleven – The Octagon






Location: Roosevelt Island 




Roosevelt Island, once an island the city used as a location
for corrective hospitals, is rife with ghost stores. The Octagon, a rental
building located there, was previously the site of the former New York Lunatic
Asylum, famously criticized as a place of suffering and horror. The only
remaining architectural element of the asylum is the building's octagon, which
is now the centerpiece of the residential development. The residents report
unexplainable incidents and paranormal activity; they also report that pets
sometimes refuse to walk up the stairs of the building. The island is also home
to ruins of a former smallpox building (declared a landmark in 1975), only
adding to the eerie vibe of the place.



http://ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com/2012/01/ghosts-of-roosevelt-island.html



http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/roosevelt-island-smallpox-hospital-ruins



 



Twelve – Van Courtland House



Location: Van Courtland Park, Bronx



The Van Courtland House is the oldest surviving home in the
Bronx, located on a park that's also said to be haunted. Visitors of Van
Courtland Park, the site of the Stockbridge Indian Massacre, have heard
whispers and seen spirits around Vault Hill, the park's burial grounds. As for
the house, built in 1748, it is the site of hauntings by Adrian Van der Donck,
a Dutch settler who laid claim to the area and later died in a Indian raid, and
Jacobus Van Courtland, the original owner of the home. Sighting of George
Washington have also been reported – he stayed at the home at least twice
during the Revolutionary War.



http://theoccultsection.com/2012/12/02/photo-of-the-week-the-van-cortlandt-house-the-bronx-ny/



http://riverdalepress.com/stories/Sea...



 



Thirteen – Merchant House Museum



Location: East Village, Manhattan



The New York Times dubbed this East Village house museum the
“most haunted house in Manhattan” – there's even a dedicated section of the
Merchant House's website for the resident ghosts. The Tredwall family lived in
the house for nearly 100 years, and the last living resident of the house,
Gertrude Tredwell, is said to still watch over it. She died in the home in 1933
and it became a museum in 1936. Since then, the museum staff, visitors and
volunteers have experienced strange happenings – sites of a woman in a brown
dress roaming the house, mysterious piano music, and unexplainable flashing
lights. All this month, the museum hosts a series of “spirited” events in honor
of its not-quite-dead residents.



http://www.merchantshouse.com/ghosts/



http://www.merchantshouse.org/calendar/

 

Thanks to Emily for giving me a chance to repost this awesome story!



 

The Accidental Witch

Here is a look at my new book!





http://lachesispublishing.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TheAccidentalWitchE

The Origin of The Halloween Costume

For those of us who passionately love Halloween, the season's preparations have already begun.  Part of every child and adult's preparation is deciding on a costume.  This is perhaps the most beloved part of any Halloween celebration.  Dressing up as a sexy maid or a horrible zombie is the Hallmark of our modern Holiday celebration. But as Halloween creeps up on us, I always think it is fun to think back to where this tradition came from. It is good to know why we dress up on Halloween. Halloween's history is most commonly traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. During Samhain, the Celts believed that the divider between this world and the next became thin. This thinning allowed both malevolent and benevolent spirits to cross over to our world. This naturally caused a good deal of fear and anxiety for the ancient Celts. While family ghosts were welcomed, bad spirits had to be scared off. Celts used bonfires to drive evil spirits off. They also used apotropaic devices to scare off bad spirits.



Apotropaic literally means to ward off evil but apotopaic devices are often devices that are so terrifying that they scare away evil. My favorite examples of apotropaic devices are the gargoyles and terrible monsters that line the outside and insides of medieval cathedrals in Europe. The most holy places in the medieval world were lined with horrifying demons and monsters that are often depicted devouring people and animals. These horrors were so terrible that medieval people thought that even evil spirits would be frightened off.



Costumes were used as both apotropaic devices and disguises to confuse the spirits. In Scotland, young men pretended to be dead by blackening their faces. These costumes evolved over the years and were eventually used in the late medieval practice of souling when poor people would go door to door asking for food. This practice eventually evolved into costumed trick or treating. So as you plan your costume this year remember that it should not only be interesting, but it should scare off evil spirits as well!

Vintage Halloween Postcards

I have been doing this blog for some time now and I noticed that every Halloween I do a series of Halloween posts that feature vintage Halloween postcards as the image.  I love vintage Halloween postcards.  They speak of the history of my favorite Holiday and breath an old magic into the spirit of the Holiday.   Here are a few of the postcards I have featured in my past posts.  I hope they bring the same magic to your Halloween as they've brought to mine.

Decking the Halls With Balls of Horror!

It is October.  The pumpkin spice lattes are at Starbucks.  Spirit Halloween is selling massive amounts of Halloween Horrors.  The kids can practically smell the bags of candy in the air.  For me, that means it is time to get out the Halloween decorations and begin decking the halls, yard, living room, kitchen, and any other area I can find with skeletons, monsters, and all manner or horrors.  Here is a look at what I've started with!

The Ghost Bride

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo has become one of my favorite books. It is like nothing I have read before and it tells a ghost story unlike any I have ever heard.  I have long had a fascination with Asian supernatural beliefs and The Ghost Bride is a journey into these beliefs.  The novel is set in old Malaya.  Malayasia at this time is still deeply set in old Chinese customs.  The novel is the story Li Lan, the daughter of a bankrupt family with no hopes of a proper marriage for her. It is because of this that her family considers an unusual offer for her from the rich and powerful Lim family.  She has received a rare offer to become a ghost bride to the Lim family's deceased son.



This dreamlike book pulls its heroin through the ghostly world of the dead and into a realm of superstition and magic.  It is beautifully written and oddly educational.  The author introduced me to a new concept of death and dying.  According to Choo,  "The folk tradition of marriages to ghosts or between ghosts usually occurred in order to placate spirits or allay a haunting.  There are a number of allutsions to it in Chinese literature but its roots eem to lie in ancestor worship.  Matches were sometimes made between two deceased persons, with the families on both sides recognizing the marriage as a tie between them.  However, there were other cases in which a living person was married to the dead.  These primarily took the form of a living person fulfilling the with of a dying sweetheard, or to give the rank of a wife to a mistress or concubine who had produced an heir.  In rare cases,  an impoverished girl was taken into a household as a widow to perform the ancestral rites for a man who died without a wife of descendants.  In such a case, an actual marriage ceremony would be performed with a rooser standing in for the dead bridegroom."



Choo does an amazing job integrating this old costume into a fictional account of a young woman coming of age.   I can't wait to read more books by Choo.

American Horror Story's Madame LaLaurie

Anyone who has ever heard me tell ghost stories knows that the positively diabolical tale of Madame LaLaurie is my absolute favorite tale of ghoulish, ghostly, evil.  Madame LaLaurie makes most serial killers look like house pets and the mansion that stands as a rembrance of her cruelty is often called the most haunted house in the nation.  It is one of the few haunted locations that holds ghosts that have actually killed their victims (according to legend).



This is why I literally jumped for joy when I found out that my favorite television series, American Horror Story, will feature Kathy Bates playing Madame LaLaurie this year.  It really doesn't get much better than this.  Kathy Bates plays evil as deftly as any master and I can't wait to see her bring this iconic monster to life.  In order to celebrate, I've done a little history of Madame LaLaurie below.  American Horror Story premiers on FX at 10 pm October 9th.  I'm already there, in spirit.



  According to haunted New Orleans tours and Haunted America, the LaLaurie Mansion is the most haunted site in New Orleans. Sources say that the house is filled with tormented screams and terrifying wails. They describe chains rattling at night and the apparitions in chains wandering the halls. The house has been many things since the famous Delphine de LaLaurie abandoned it, but it hasn't been anything for as it has been quickly abandoned by every resident afterwards. Some stories indicate that the ghosts here are aggressive and that they have attacked residents with whips and some even claim that multiple deaths have resulted from the hellish, supernatural residents of 1140 Royal Street.



The history of this mansion can only be confirmed to a point. It is known that Delphine LaLaurie was a wealthy, socialite who resided until 1833. Many accounts from contemporaries show that Madam LaLaurie was uncommonly cruel and beastly to her slaves, even for a time when cruelty to slaves was somewhat common. Following a kitchen fire in the house in 1833, the remains of over 100 dead slaves were found. After this, the evidence becomes weaker. Many sources indicate that firefighters entering the house found a room in the house in which slaves had been tortured in the most gruesome ways. It is said that some slaves had been subjected to many unnecessary surgeries and had had their sex organs removed, mutilated, or sewn onto other slaves. Other slaves had their mouths sewn shut with feces in them and their intestines removed and nailed to the floor. The list of atrocities goes on and on and are so vile that I shutter to even write about them.





Whether the more gruesome elements of this story are true or not, it is true that LaLaurie was a beast and a serial killer and that reports continue that this house is tormented by constant ghosts and spirits. Anyone curious about this house will be easily appeased, as it is a regular part of all haunted New Orleans tours and the guides stories about the house are beyond chilling.  However,  the house's inability to maintain an owner still remains a problem.  Nicolas Cage bought the house in 2007 and it was foreclosed on in 2008.  The house is still vacant and owned by the bank.

The Island of the Dolls

There is an island just South of Mexico City called Xochimico. Xochimico is famous for its beautiful gardens, scenic canals, and ancient history. Thousands of tourists travel through the canals of this beautiful island to gaze in wonder at the hanging gardens of Mexico. Hidden deep in these canals, far away from the normal tourist routes is a swamp with that is thick with scraggly trees that are all hung heavy with with the broken and shattered remains of an army of dolls.



According to travelocity, it is the creepiest place on earth. Although I have never seen this island, I tend to agree. Fifty years ago, a little girl drown in the extensive canals that innervate the small island. At the time the island was occupied by a man named Don Julián Santana Barrera. Shortly after the little girl drowned, Barrera found a doll in the swampy waters of the isolated island. A few days later, he found another doll. Several days later he found another doll. Berrera became convinced that the dolls were a sign from the netherworld. He believed that the dolls were vessels that had been sent to keep the little girl company and prevent evil from seeping out through the swamp. Berrera took this message seriously and began to collect dolls from all over and hang dolls from the trees.





Berrera died mysteriously some time later and from that point the mystery grew. Many people said that the dolls had come to life and killed Berrera. Others insisted they had seen the dolls wandering the island at night. Some believe that the dolls have come to life to replace Berrera as the island's keeper. Whatever the case, the pictures of this location are terrifying. It is an island hung with decaying, glass eyed dolls that stare out vacantly at those that pass by in boats.

The Fengdu Ghost City

The Fengdu Ghost City is located on the North end of the Yangthze River on Ming Mountain.   If you wander through this old Chinese City, you will cross a landscape of ghostly loss that is rarely seen in this world.   You can walk across The Bridge of Helplessness.  This is the bridge every soul must cross before it can enter the underworld.  You will find statues of the ghost king, the judge of hell, the drunkard ghost, and the the lustful ghost.  Every bend and turn of the road brings you to meet another building that would be found only in the land of the dead.  Every statue is a depitction of a ghost.  The Fengdu Ghost City is trully a ghost town..



Fengdu Ghost City got its name during the Han Dynasty when two officers came to Ming Mountain to practice toaist teachings.    On Ming Mountain, these officers sought immortality and accourding to legend, they eventually became the kings of hell.   During the Tang Dynasty a temple was built in this location to show life in hell.  The temple was meant to be horrifying.  It showed graphic depictions of the horrors that awaited those who did evil in hell.  Now, Fengdu is an entire city dedicated to Diyu, the underworld of Chinese mythology.



It isn't surprising that ghost stories linger in Fengdu.   It is said that Fengdu was a Taoist cemetery before it became the ghost city it is today.   Although the city bustles with tourists during the day, some believe it is crowded with ghosts after the night falls.   Fengdu is one of the creepiest places in the world on almost every list of creepy places I have seen.   It is certainly on my bucket list as one of the places I dream of going before I die.