Amy H. Sturgis's Blog, page 172

21 Days Until Halloween

Today, my friends, is 10-10-10, also known as 42 Day. Binary 42 is the most significant date in this century because, as all good readers of Douglas Adams (1952-2001) know, forty-two is the answer to life, the universe and everything.

Today is also the launch of the second volume in the amazing StarShipSofa Stories collection, which I've mentioned previously. With stories by the likes of Neil Gaiman, Ekaterina Sedia, Nancy Kress, and Lawrence Santoro, this fully illustrated volume should make for terrific reading! Here's more information.

I have more audio recommendations for your Halloween season:

In the past I've recommended the wonderful podcast called The Classic Tales, which has featured beautiful narrations by B.J. Harrison of the works of authors such as Mary Shelley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft. For the month of October, The Classic Tales is offering an unabridged reading of the oh-so-spooky The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

For those of you using iTunes, check out the University of Glamorgan's "Mad Doctors of Cinema" show on iTunes U, in which scientists and scholars discuss such crazy characters as Drs. Frankenstein, Faustus, Moreau, and Strangelove. Click here to go to the University of Glamorgan on iTunes.

Ninteen Nocturne Boulevard is running new unabridged readings of some of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, including "Nyarlathoptep," "What the Moon Brings," "From Beyond," and "The Colour Out of Space," among others.

Text of the Day: Today's verses tell a spooky story: "The Skeleton in Armor" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).

"Speak! speak I thou fearful guest
Who, with thy hollow breast
Still in rude armor drest,
Comest to daunt me!
Wrapt not in Eastern balms,
Bat with thy fleshless palms
Stretched, as if asking alms,
Why dost thou haunt me?"

Then, from those cavernous eyes
Pale flashes seemed to rise,
As when the Northern skies
Gleam in December;
And, like the water's flow
Under December's snow,
Came a dull voice of woe
From the heart's chamber.


"I was a Viking old!
My deeds, though manifold,
No Skald in song has told,
No Saga taught thee!
Take heed, that in thy verse
Thou dost the tale rehearse,
Else dread a dead man's curse;
For this I sought thee.

"Far in the Northern Land,
By the wild Baltic's strand,
I, with my childish hand,
Tamed the gerfalcon;
And, with my skates fast-bound,
Skimmed the half-frozen Sound,
That the poor whimpering hound
Trembled to walk on.

"Oft to his frozen lair
Tracked I the grisly bear,
While from my path the hare
Fled like a shadow;
Oft through the forest dark
Followed the were-wolf's bark,
Until the soaring lark
Sang from the meadow.

"But when I older grew,
Joining a corsair's crew,
O'er the dark sea I flew
With the marauders.
Wild was the life we led;
Many the souls that sped,
Many the hearts that bled,
By our stern orders.

"Many a wassail-bout
Wore the long Winter out;
Often our midnight shout
Set the cocks crowing,
As we the Berserk's tale
Measured in cups of ale,
Draining the oaken pail,
Filled to o'erflowing.

"Once as I told in glee
Tales of the stormy sea,
Soft eyes did gaze on me,
Burning yet tender;
And as the white stars shine
On the dark Norway pine,
On that dark heart of mine
Fell their soft splendor.

"I wooed the blue-eyed maid,
Yielding, yet half afraid,
And in the forest's shade
Our vows were plighted.
Under its loosened vest
Fluttered her little breast
Like birds within their nest
By the hawk frighted.

"Bright in her father's hall
Shields gleamed upon the wall,
Loud sang the minstrels all,
Chanting his glory;
When of old Hildebrand
I asked his daughter's hand,
Mute did the minstrels stand
To hear my story.

"While the brown ale he quaffed,
Loud then the champion laughed,
And as the wind-gusts waft
The sea-foam brightly,
So the loud laugh of scorn,
Out of those lips unshorn,
From the deep drinking-horn
Blew the foam lightly.

"She was a Prince's child,
I but a Viking wild,
And though she blushed and smiled,
I was discarded!
Should not the dove so white
Follow the sea-mew's flight,
Why did they leave that night
Her nest unguarded?

"Scarce had I put to sea,
Bearing the maid with me,
Fairest of all was she
Among the Norsemen!
When on the white sea-strand,
Waving his armed hand,
Saw we old Hildebrand,
With twenty horsemen.

"Then launched they to the blast,
Bent like a reed each mast,
Yet we were gaining fast,
When the wind failed us;
And with a sudden flaw
Came round the gusty Skaw,
So that our foe we saw
Laugh as he hailed us.

"And as to catch the gale
Round veered the flapping sail,
Death I was the helmsman's hail,
Death without quarter!
Mid-ships with iron keel
Struck we her ribs of steel
Down her black hulk did reel
Through the black water!

"As with his wings aslant,
Sails the fierce cormorant,
Seeking some rocky haunt
With his prey laden,
So toward the open main,
Beating to sea again,
Through the wild hurricane,
Bore I the maiden.

"Three weeks we westward bore,
And when the storm was o'er,
Cloud-like we saw the shore
Stretching to leeward;
There for my lady's bower
Built I the lofty tower,
Which, to this very hour,
Stands looking seaward.

"There lived we many years;
Time dried the maiden's tears
She had forgot her fears,
She was a mother.
Death closed her mild blue eyes,
Under that tower she lies;
Ne'er shall the sun arise
On such another!

"Still grew my bosom then.
Still as a stagnant fen!
Hateful to me were men,
The sunlight hateful!
In the vast forest here,
Clad in my warlike gear,
Fell I upon my spear,
O, death was grateful!

"Thus, seamed with many scars,
Bursting these prison bars,
Up to its native stars
My soul ascended!
There from the flowing bowl
Deep drinks the warrior's soul,
Skoal! to the Northland! skoal!"
Thus the tale ended.

22 Days Until Halloween

Happy early birthday wishes to boojumlol , grisemalkin , and shadowkittykat_ . May each of you enjoy many happy returns of the day!


Today is homecoming at Lenoir-Rhyne University, which makes this post especially appropriate…

I created the following virtual campus ghost tour for my countdown in 2008. Many of my readers are new, and I hope you will find this to be fun; for those of you who read my post previously, I hope you will enjoy revisiting the spooky haunts of Lenoir-Rhyne University.

Special Feature of the Day: There is a Halloween tradition at my husband's school, Lenoir-Rhyne University, of a "campus ghost tour" during which the guides share local folklore, campus legends, and creepy stories. Thanks to the generosity of the good people at Lenoir-Rhyne, I now have all of those spooky tales to share with you. I have taken pictures around the campus to illustrate the stories, so that I may lead you through the tour virtually.

Without further ado, I would like to invite you to join me for a virtual "campus ghost tour" of Lenoir-Rhyne.

Ghost Tour Introduction: Most of the buildings on the Lenoir-Rhyne campus have acquired a ghost, gremlin, spirit, or legend that has lingered from year to year. Some of the legends have been exaggerated or miscommunicated through the years. The ghosts and spirits that you'll learn about now are as official, as documented, as close to recollection as possible. Most of the ghosts that you'll read about have been witnessed either by security officers, students, alumni, or others who visit the university. The older spirits, say from 1979 or before, have been included in the oral history of Lenoir-Rhyne College, Traces, which is available by special permission from the archives in the university library. Throughout the years, several articles in the college paper have accounted for the ghosts in our buildings, and the local newspapers have even run stories about them.




(Click on any picture to see a larger version.)

Morgan Hall


1. Morgan Hall- This is a ghost that is perhaps the closest to the student body. It is the spirit of David Moose. David, captain of the L-R football team, class officer, and one of the most popular members of the student body was tragically murdered at an off-campus function on March 20, 1985. David loved L-R and his family was - and still is - very involved in the life of the university. David was from Albermarle, N.C., but his love of the university keeps his spirit on campus. From time to time, a student may notice a cold chill on 3rd Long, or hear the door to the showers open a shower start, and look to find no one there. In the early 1990s, one of David's notebooks appeared on 3rd Long, placed just outside his old room: room 325. It also seems that his spirit is with us more during the fall, during football season, than the rest of the year. Recently, a young visitor to the Shuford Gym complex told of coming out into the hallway and seeing a person in a football uniform standing at the other end. although the visitor did not remember the number on the uniform. The player disappeared through the locked door of the football dressing room. Could it have been David?


Shuford Memorial Gymnasium


2. The Mystery Of The Stadium Banner – For the 1983 football season, a 20' X 20' banner was hung from the highest part of Shuford Gym, some fifty or more feet above the ground. The banner was made of the heaviest canvas, which made it impossible for one person to secure or remove it. When it was hung from the top of the building, more than eight large men had to assist. It was hung just before the first home football game of the season and remained in place for three home games. The banner ropes were checked weekly, and the access to the roof involved a series of unmarked doors and the use of two separate outside ladders. On the Friday before the fourth home game the banner was checked by college staff, and readied for the next afternoon's game. It was still in place at the close of the second shift of security, or 11:15 pm. Between 11:16 pm and 6:45am the banner and all of its ropes disappeared. The ladders were locked away in a room that was not accessible to anyone but a certain few staff persons and those certain few did not have access to the door that led to the first roof. The ropes were not cut - they were untied - and even the buckles that were used in the securing process were gone, as if they had never been there. There was a search of all campus areas, fraternity houses, and even a few off-campus apartments. Nothing ever showed up.


The Cromer Center


3. The Cromer Center – Jerry Shaw, Residence Director and Director Of Student Activities, died after a long battle with cancer in December 1989. Jerry was a very popular and charismatic member of the campus community and the first black member of the L-R football team. When Jerry passed away, there was a large memorial service on the campus in December 1989. More than 1,000 members of the L-R community, alumni, and family came to be a part of the service. That afternoon, as Jerry's secretary returned to the office for the first time after the memorial, she noticed the usual messages that every administrator gets on his/her door when he/she is away from their office. As she sorted through these messages, she came across one that stopped her in her work. It was a message from the switchboard operator about a phone call that came in that morning. It was addressed to the Student Activities Office. The message was "Arrived safe, everything is fine. Jerry." None of the L-R switchboard operators remember taking such a call.


Schaeffer Hall


4. Schaeffer Hall – For many years Mauney and Schaeffer Hall housed women. Since these are the oldest residence areas on campus, there are still many alumni who remember the old days. Some of the residents of Mauney and Schaeffer stayed at the college and worked on for several years. Others, like Mrs. Ona Peery, returned to the campus as Head Residents, the house mothers of old. Mrs. Peery, the Head Resident of the brand new Price Village complex in 1973, passed away of natural causes in 1975 in her apartment at Price. This was the same year that the decision to house men in Mauney Hall was made, something Mrs. Peery and most of the Head Residents at that time opposed because of tradition. Starting in 1976, reports of a rocking chair rocking, humming in the hall – especially second floor Schaeffer – and that room 206 Schaeffer was extremely cold all the time started to come to the staff's attention. In 1978, a student walking in from the breezeway encountered a matronly, transparent spirit checking the doors of the second floor. When the spirit turned and noticed the student, the student reported that she gave a stern look, placed her hands on her hips, and vanished. When the student described the spirit to the staff, the description most certainly fit that of Mrs. Peery, who lived in room 206 when she was a student at the College, and whose favorite piece of furniture while she was a Head Resident was a rocking chair. Reports of sounds and drastic temperature changes on second floor continue to this day.


The Pine Tree on the Quad


5. The Vision At The Tree – On the main quad of the campus, you can see a pine tree that was planted as a gift by the students of 1916. For years it has grown and flourished. Several alumni and students have given an account of a garden party that appears early on spring mornings just below the tree. The party usually contains 8-10 young ladies in dress reflective of the early twentieth century. They are talking, and sipping small cups, apparently enjoying the surroundings. As the sun rises, or if one were to get close to the tree, the vision disappears.


The Rhyne Building, Former Site of Old Main


6. The Rhyne Building And The Bell – Old Main was the central campus building for many of the early years of Lenoir-Rhyne College. It housed classrooms and offices, a dining hall, library, and most of the other necessary operations of the school. Old Main had a large tower at its center in which there was a school bell almost three feet in diameter. In 1920, the bell mysteriously disappeared from the tower. The President of the college stopped classes and conducted a full-scale investigation of the disappearance. For more than two weeks the campus was shrouded in the mysterious event. Then six seniors confessed to the President that they had taken the bell from the tower and buried it as a prank. The President, not seeing any humor in this prank, summarily expelled all six. When Old Main was destroyed by fire in 1927, the bell was one of the few salvaged items. When the new Rhyne Building was constructed, a plan was made to incorporate the bell in the design, so that it would never be subject to another prank. After much discussion, the bell was reshaped and coated in copper and brass and placed at the left corner of the main entrance.


Rudisill Library


7. The Library – Rudisill Library offers perhaps the most real ghost experience ever at L-R. There are two phenomena that have occurred in and around the library. The first occurred in July 1976, as security was making rounds on the campus. At about 9:00pm, security made the usually rounds through the library, checking doors and turning off all the lights. This was more difficult a process than it appeared, as the light switches were scattered throughout the building, not on one main panel. After checking all the doors, windows and turning off all the lights - something that had been done every night for many nights - security left by the front doors, and drove the security vehicle up the front of the Cromer Center, the next stop of rounds. Parking directly in front of the center, the officer had a good view of most of the central campus; he got out of the vehicle, locked the doors, and began to walk to the Center. Then a strange feeling came over him and he turned around and looked across campus. There was the library, a building that was secured and dark just 3-4 minutes before, with every light on! The officer stood there watching for a long time, and in a few minutes the relief officer came on duty. He came up to the front of the Center and asked what the lights were doing on in the library. The first officer told him that if he wanted to find out, could go on and go in, but he was not going back inside. On the report the next day, the relief officer stated that all lights were turned on: closets, hall, stairs, room lights. All of the lights were on, which meant than many individual switches had to have been turned on, not just one switchboard.


Rudisill Library (Just Ahead and to the Right of the Drive)


8. The Little Child – In 1980, while walking around the campus, strolling his one-year-old daughter, an employee of L-R came to the library. As he came down the sidewalk behind the library, he noticed some people looking over at the library as they walked. Turning the corner at the college sign, he caught a glimpse of a small child running and crying close to the library, just skirting the bushes. Continuing to walk the sidewalk, he turned up toward the library. The child, looking back occasionally, was visibly crying as it ran. He also noticed the child's clothes, which were torn and shredded. Walking faster, approaching the main doors of the library's old entrance, he saw the child run around the corner of the library and out of sight. He now walked as fast as he could with his daughter in arms and rounded the corner. He stopped. There was the child, 25 feet away with the saddest look ever seen on a human being, one that cuts right through him. Taking a few steps, he asked what was wrong. The child just ran around the corner, as he followed. As he turned the corner, the child was gone!

Students and members of the community who use the library have reported a child's cries coming from various parts of the library. Also, students report books being knocked from shelves when no one is near them. Lights flicker and doors open with no one around. The library was destroyed by fire in 1927, but there was no record of anybody perishing in the fire. No one knows who or what the vision is.


Belk Centrum, Former Site of The Yoder Building


9. The Yoder Building – The Yoder Building stood where the Belk Centrum building now stands. It was an imposing structure, three stories tall, with a sharp angled roof. There were no bathrooms in the Yoder Building, just classes. For years it had housed the Business Department classrooms and other work areas, including the Art Department studios. One night as a security officer was crossing the campus on rounds, he looked up toward the Yoder Building. There on the edge of the roof was a man dressed like a painter or laborer, just sitting on the roof. Security walked over to the building and called up to him. There was no answer. After several attempts to talk with this person, the guard entered the Yoder Building and started climbing the stairs, thinking he'd go up to the roof access and see what was going on. About halfway to the third floor he stopped as he realized that the Yoder Building had no access to the roof: no door, no panel, no ladder, no way to get to the roof from the inside. He went back outside and looked up: the figure was gone. As he walked around the building and stood farther away, there was nothing, no clue of who this person was or why he was on the roof. The other guard on duty did come rushing up to the first, and asked him, "Who was that guy up on the roof?"


The Former Site of Highland Hall



10. Highland Hall – This is the only specter that has been aggressive with anyone on campus. The experience here has been encountered by several staff and faculty members over the last twenty years. Working the graveyard shift, a security guard went into Highland Hall to check the doors and lights. First floor was offices and classrooms: no problems. Second floor was student offices and faculty offices: no problem. Third floor was used, at that time, for storage of college property: lamps, bookcases, bed frames, mattresses, etc. As he approached the door to the hall, he noticed all the lights were out, which is unusual for that floor. So, he turned to the switch panel, turned on the main hall lights, and walked on down the hall. Ten steps down the hall, the lights went out again. Turning on a flashlight, he turned around and went back to the switchboard. He again flipped the switch. Nothing happened. He tried this several times: still nothing. So he turned to go back down the hall, and the door to the switch panel slammed shut. He walked down the hall just a few feet farther than the first time, and encountered a lamp pushed toward him. Then a drawer came flying out of a room not far from him and the bed frames started to shake, then still more lamps and a chair. The guard quickly turned to go out the hall door, but on the first try the door would not open: more noise from behind him on the hall, a second push, leaning on the door, and it finally gave way. The next morning, the maintenance staff called security to report vandalism to third floor Highland Hall: lamps broken, mattresses ripped open, and wooden furniture smashed. That particular guard never went up to the third floor after dark, alone, again.

Another staff member recounts the story about coming out of her office in Highland Hall, starting down the hallway, and looking up to see a man standing just feet from her, dressed in just pants: no shirt, no shoes. As she approached and attempted to talk with him, the vision turned and entered a room. When she got to that room there was no one there. Other staff members who have offices in the building have reported howls and moans, doors slamming, and banging on the walls.


P.E. Monroe Auditorium


11. P.E. Monroe Auditorium – For many years, students and faculty have reported strange lights appearing in the auditorium. Lights, like that of a small table lamp, moving throughout the auditorium and its offices and hallways. One day the lights stopped and there were no more reports. For a couple of years, no reports were made of the lights. Then they started again, just as suddenly as they had stopped. When they started again, a member of the faculty stayed in the building for several nights trying to observe the lights firsthand. The professor did witness the light - emerging from the portrait of Dr. Monroe and roaming the entire auditorium for most of the night. It was the next morning, as the faculty member examined the place where the light started and ended that he and others discovered that the portrait light above the picture of Dr. Monroe was missing. The light was replaced and the same surveillance was conducted the next night. Nothing. No sightings. The light was removed and the sure enough the mysterious lamp lights reappeared. Because of that discovery, every night the auditorium faculty check to make sure that the portrait of Dr. Monroe is lit with the accent light, so that Dr. Monroe can rest. And if that light over the portrait ever goes out, we will know, because Dr. Monroe will roam the auditorium until it is fixed.

Another report from the auditorium relates the sighting of a large shadow floating through the office area and auditorium lobby, as well as the spinning of the Astrosoma, as if its being intentionally spun one way, then stopped and spun the other.


The Mauney Music Building


12. The Mauney Music Building – Students over the years report a great deal of spirit activity in the Music Building. One student reported an unauthorized person playing the large practice organ in the building. When the report was responded to by security, the organ was in operating mode, but there was no one in the room. Another student reports that while practicing in the building, she heard a large group of people moving up and down the hallway. When she opened the door to see what all the commotion was about, there was dead silence and not a soul in sight.

View Across Campus


I hope you have enjoyed reading these legends and tales of the Lenoir-Rhyne campus!

Text of the Day: To give you a shiver, here's "Superstition" by Madison Cawein (1865-1914).

In the waste places, in the dreadful night,
When the wood whispers like a wandering mind,
And silence sits and listens to the wind,
Or, 'mid the rocks, to some wild torrent's flight;
Bat-browed thou wadest with thy wisp of light
Among black pools the moon can never find;
Or, owlet-eyed, thou hootest to the blind
Deep darkness from some cave or haunted height.
He who beholds but once thy fearsome face,
Never again shall walk alone! but wan
And terrible attendants shall be his
Unutterable things that have no place
In God or Beauty that compel him on,
Against all hope, where endless horror is.

23 Days Until Halloween

If you're looking for some appropriate Halloween literature, I recommend the new 2010 edition of Jules Verne's The Castle in Transylvania (originally published as The Castle in the Carpathians in 1893). I'll let the cover speak for itself: "In its first new translation in over 100 years, this is the first book to set a gothic horror story, featuring people who may or may not be dead, in Transylvania."

I just finished it and enjoyed it very much.
Read the Salon.com review here.
Read the Barnes & Noble review here.
See the castle that may have inspired the novel here.




Speaking of Halloween literature, check out the Haunted House Tour 2010, where Maurissa Guibord and some of her fellow fantasy and suspense authors have gathered to fill a virtual haunted house with appropriately spooky short fiction for the Halloween season.

Last but not least, via agameofthree : "How to make your own pumpkin spice latte."


Text of the Day: Today's text is the short story "The Revolt of the Machines" by Nat Schachner (1895-1955) and Arthur L. Zagat (1895-1848). (Why yes, I am having fun with this. Could you tell?)

Teaser: For five thousand years, since that nigh legendary figure Einstein wrote and thought in the far-off mists of time, the scientists endeavored to reduce life and the universe to terms of a mathematical formula. And they thought they had succeeded. Throughout the world, machines did the work of man, and the aristos, owners of the machines, played in soft idleness in their crystal and gold pleasure cities. Even the prolat hordes, relieved of all but an hour or two per day of toil, were content in their warrens—content with the crumbs of their masters.

Read the complete story here.

24 Days Until Halloween

On this day in 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died at the age of forty under mysterious circumstances.

For more information about Poe's death, read "Mysterious for Evermore" by Matthew Pearl, an article on Poe's death from The Telegraph. Pearl is the author of a fascinating novel about the subject, The Poe Shadow .

Last year, on the occasion of Poe's 200th birthday, I took over the StarShipSofa Audio Science Fiction Magazine to host an hour-long tribute to this pioneer of the short story, luminary of Gothic horror, father of detective fiction, and giant of science fiction. You can stream or download the episode here at the StarShipSofa website. If you listen, I hope you enjoy my celebration of Poe's life, works, and legacy!

Here are some Poe-related links for your day:
From The Chronicle of Higher Education yesterday: "Goucher Presents New Ballet About Edgar Allan Poe."
From Reuters last year: "Edgar Allan Poe Gets Funeral 150 Years After His Death."
PoeStories.com: An Exploration of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe
The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore
The Poe Museum of Richmond (See my pictures of the museum here.)
The Edgar Allan Poe Digital Collection at the Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas at Austin)

Once more I bring you Nox Arcana. Their tribute to Poe includes memorable quotes from the master himself:




Text of the Day: This year, I'm going to post my very favorite work by Poe (and that's saying a lot, for I do love Poe). Here, my friends, is "Alone."

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were--I have not seen
As others saw--I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
Then--in my childhood--in the dawn
Of a most stormy life--was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold--
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by--
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

25 Days Until Halloween

I'm feeling rather Lovecraftian today.

One of my favorite groups to listen to during the Halloween season is Nox Arcana. Whether you want music inspired by the Grimm Brothers, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft, or music inspired by pirates, vampires, and haunted houses, their albums are a perfect backdrop to October. You can listen to many of their songs at their website.

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Let's take in a music video for the song "Hidden Horrors" from the album Blackthorn Asylum by Nox Arcana. Can you spot all of the references to H.P. Lovecraft?



Text of the Day: In keeping with today's theme, here's the Lovecraft-inspired short story "I Cthulhu or What's A Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing In A Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47° 9' S, Longitude 126° 43' W)?" by Neil Gaiman (1960-present).

Teaser:
Cthulhu, they call me. Great Cthulhu.

Nobody can pronounce it right.

Are you writing this down? Every word? Good. Where shall I start -- mm?

Very well, then. The beginning. Write this down, Whateley.

I was spawned uncounted aeons ago, in the dark mists of Khhaa'yngnaiih (no, of course I don't know how to spell it. Write it as it sounds), of nameless nightmare parents, under a gibbous moon. It wasn't the moon of this planet, of course, it was a real moon. On some nights it filled over half the sky and as it rose you could watch the crimson blood drip and trickle down its bloated face, staining it red, until at its height it bathed the swamps and towers in a gory dead red light.

Those were the days.

Read the complete short story here.

26 Days Until Halloween

I'm a big fan of Librivox.org and the unabridged narrations its volunteers offer for free download. Now, just in time for Halloween, Librivox has added an unabridged reading of the 1786 classic Gothic novel The History of the Caliph Vathek by William Beckford.

Here are some of the other 18th-century Gothic works Librivox has available for your Halloween listening:
* The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764)
* The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve (1777)
* A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe (1790)
* The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (1794)
* Sign up for email alert when narration is available: Bungay Castle by Elizabeth Bonhôte (1796)


Talk about getting into the spirit of the season! Science fiction author Michael Swanwick has posted a Halloween story called "October Leaves" on Flickr, written one word at a time on autumn leaves and photographed where they lay in parks and cemeteries and city streets. Read it here or click on the image below.




Text of the Day: Something spooky this way comes, and it's "Ghost Glen" by Henry Kendall (1839-1882). I hope you enjoy it!

"Shut your ears, stranger, or turn from Ghost Glen now,
For the paths are grown over, untrodden by men now;
Shut your ears, stranger," saith the grey mother, crooning
Her sorcery runic, when sets the half-moon in.

To-night the north-easter goes travelling slowly,
But it never stoops down to that hollow unholy;
To-night it rolls loud on the ridges red-litten,
But it cannot abide in that forest, sin-smitten.

For over the pitfall the moon-dew is thawing,
And, with never a body, two shadows stand sawing
The wraiths of two sawyers (step under and under),
Who did a foul murder and were blackened with thunder!

Whenever the storm-wind comes driven and driving,
Through the blood-spattered timber you may see the saw striving
You may see the saw heaving, and falling, and heaving,
Whenever the sea-creek is chafing and grieving!

And across a burnt body, as black as an adder,
Sits the sprite of a sheep-dog (was ever sight sadder?)
For, as the dry thunder splits louder and faster,
This sprite of a sheep-dog howls for his master.

"Oh, count your beads deftly," saith the grey mother, crooning
Her sorcery runic, when sets the half-moon in.
And well may she mutter, for the dark, hollow laughter
You will hear in the sawpits and the bloody logs after.

Ay, count your beads deftly, and keep your ways wary,
For the sake of the Saviour and sweet Mother Mary.
Pray for your peace in these perilous places,
And pray for the laying of horrible faces.

One starts, with a forehead wrinkled and livid,
Aghast at the lightnings sudden and vivid;
One telleth, with curses, the gold that they drew there
(Ah! cross your breast humbly) from him whom they slew there:

The stranger, who came from the loved, the romantic
Island that sleeps on the moaning Atlantic,
Leaving behind him a patient home, yearning
For the steps in the distance never returning;

Who was left in the forest, shrunken and starkly,
Burnt by his slayers (so men have said, darkly),
With the half-crazy sheep-dog, who cowered beside there,
And yelled at the silence, and marvelled, and died there.

Yea, cross your breast humbly and hold your breath tightly,
Or fly for your life from those shadows unsightly,
From the set staring features (cold, and so young, too),
And the death on the lips that a mother hath clung to.

I tell you that bushman is braver than most men
Who even in daylight doth go through the Ghost Glen,
Although in that hollow, unholy and lonely,
He sees the dank sawpits and bloody logs only.

27 Days Until Halloween

Today begins the first full week of October. May yours be full of chills, thrills, and things that go bump in the night!

On this subject, I'd like to recommend a podcast I recently discovered thanks to ankh_hpl . MonsterTalk is well worth your time this Halloween season. I've listened to the Cthulhu and Bigfoot shows, and I'm looking forward to the other episodes waiting for me on my iPod. To quote the official description, MonsterTalk is "a free audio podcast that critically examines the science behind cryptozoological (and legendary) creatures, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or werewolves. Hosted by Blake Smith, Ben Radford, and Dr. Karen Stollznow, MonsterTalk interviews the scientists and investigators who shine a spotlight on the things that go bump in the night. For once (and unlike mystery-mongering television shows) a monster-themed program gives skepticism more than just a couple minutes of lip service!" Check it out here.


Of course, before we celebrate the things that go bump in the night, we should probably define our terms, right? Fortunately for us, Wondermark by David Malki can help. (Thanks to The Hog's Head!)

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Text of the Day: I hope this starts your week off in the right spirit: "Voices in the Air" by Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803-1849).

As sudden thunder
Pierces night;
As magic wonder,
Wild affright,
Rives asunder
Men's delight:
Our ghost, our corpse; and we
Rise to be.

As flies the lizard
Serpent fell;
As goblin vizard,
At the spell
Of the wizard,
Sinks to hell:
Our life, our laugh, our lay
Pass away.

As wake the morning
Trumpets bright;
As snow-drop, scorning
Winter's might,
Rises warning
Like a spright:
We buried, dead, and slain
Rise again.

28 Days Until Halloween

This afternoon my husband and I are attending a concert at Lenoir-Rhyne University by Heinavanker (The Haywain), a music vocal ensemble from Tallinn, Estonia named after the famous altarpiece by Hieronymus Bosch. I think their performance will help set the Gothic mood for my favorite month very nicely. Yes, indeed.

Star Trek and zombies: now there's a marriage made in Halloween heaven. ("He's undead, Jim!") Quirk Books recently published Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall, a novel that explores this very subject. What would happen if the zombie apocalypse began at your local science fiction convention?

Enjoy the book trailer:



Speaking of zombies, if you're looking for zombie-related music, check out Tor.com's "I Rocked With A Zombie: An Undead Playlist."

Also see PopCrunch's list of "The 13 Best Zombie Novels of All Time."

Text of the Day: Today's text seemed appropriate: "Horror Is a Kind of Play" by Nicholas Gordon (1940-present).

Horror is a kind of play,
A need to undergo
Life along the borderline,
Lest death be just a name.
On Halloween we dream away
What wailing we well know,
Enchanted by the danger sign
Each savors up and down the spine,
Near haunts that are no game.

29 Days Until Halloween

Tulsa gargoyle
I'm sure you've heard of the "werewolves of London." But what about the vampyres of Tulsa?

The mother-daughter author team of P.C. and Kristin Cast set their best-selling House of Night series in an alternate-universe version of my hometown, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA -- a version of Tulsa that has, among other interesting inhabitants, vampyres (that's the Casts' spelling). As a matter of fact, I'm currently writing an essay about the ways in which the authors reimagine the most Gothic sites in Tulsa. (It's for a forthcoming Smart Pop Books collection about the House of Night novels, entitled Nyx in the House of Night: Folklore, Religion, and Myth in the PC and Kristin Cast Vampyre Series.)

Many of the places described in the novels truly exist (including Street Cats, a non-profit rescue for felines, Utica Square, the Starbucks there, and the school attended by protagonist Zoey Redbird -- and yours truly -- South Intermediate High School).



I thought you might enjoy a quick tour of some of the most interesting "real life" places in Tulsa that feature in the series, several of which are reputed to be haunted.

Cascia Hall, a Catholic college preparatory school, has changed hands in their novels, and it's now the House of Night academy for vampyre fledglings.



The gorgeous Art Deco Union Depot, now the Tulsa Jazz Hall of Fame, figures prominently in the novels.

One of my favorite places in Tulsa, Philbrook Museum of Art, is the setting for some of the series' most significant action, along with Philbrook's elaborate gardens. Just take a look: can't you just imagine vampyres hanging out here?

Last but most definitely not least are the famous Tulsa tunnels running underneath the city's downtown and connecting many of its most prominent buildings. Originally built to move freight, the tunnels became popular with the more security-conscious of the wealthy businessmen after the 1932 kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. Rumor has it these tunnels also moved alcohol during Prohibition -- supplying the oil needed to fuel the oil tycoons, as it were. In the Casts' novels, the tunnels become the territory of a new breed of so-called "red vampyres." Click here to see a photo set of the tunnels and the buildings they connect. Click here to read more about the tunnels.




Text of the Day: Beyond its Tulsa setting, the House of Night series is also known for its incorporation of pagan, Wiccan, and Catholic traditions, Manichean thought, and especially Cherokee mythology, the latter of which explains the presence of Raven Mockers as characters. It seemed fitting to quote today from the classic Myths of the Cherokees by James Mooney (1861-1921) for more information about the terrifying Raven Mockers.

Teaser:
Of all the Cherokee wizards or witches the most dreaded is the Raven Mocker (Kâ'lanû Ahkyeli'skï), the one that robs the dying man of life. They are of either sex and there is no sure way to know one, though they usually look withered and old, because they have added so many lives to their own.

At night, when some one is sick or dying in the settlement, the Raven Mocker goes to the place to take the life. He flies through the air in fiery shape, with arms outstretched like wings, and sparks trailing behind, and a rushing sound like the noise of a strong wind. Every little while as he flies he makes a cry like the cry of a raven when it "dives" in the air--not like the common raven cry--and those who hear are afraid, because they know that some man's life will soon go out.

Read James Mooney's complete description of the Raven Mockers here.

30 Days Until Halloween

October is here! With a mug of pumpkin spice coffee in hand, I salute you.

Today begins my sixth annual 31-day celebration of the season, a virtual Halloween party that lasts all month long. Thank you for joining me! Please pass the word if you know of others who would like to visit. Each day I will be posting a "spooky text" (some poetry and some prose, some classic and some contemporary) and a picture, and along the way I will also be sharing videos, links, virtual tours, and other treats. I hope you enjoy them.


I'm not the only one online counting down to Halloween. Be sure to check out mamomo 's daily posts, as well.

is also hosting a month-long Halloween extravaganza:


In addition, the Countdown to Halloween site has a list of many other blogs participating in the daily festivities:

In other news…

Special thanks to lizziebelle for today's remarkable picture. Look for more of her haunting photos in the days to come.
By Eric Diaz : "The Top 10 Greatest Classic Horror Comics in Comic History."
From Emma Taylor: "The 20 Greatest Works of Dystopian Literature."
Happy early birthday wishes to fenice_fu , saladinahmed , coalitiongirl , and fory_san . May you all enjoy many happy returns of the day!

Text of the Day: Let's start the month with something moody and dark by one of my very favorite poets, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).

The Soul has Bandaged moments —
When too appalled to stir —
She feels some ghastly Fright come up
And stop to look at her —

Salute her — with long fingers —
Caress her freezing hair —
Sip, Goblin, from the very lips
The Lover — hovered — o'er —
Unworthy, that a thought so mean
Accost a Theme — so — fair —


The soul has moments of Escape —
When bursting all the doors —
She dances like a Bomb, abroad,
And swings upon the Hours,

As do the Bee — delirious borne —
Long Dungeoned from his Rose —
Touch Liberty — then know no more,
But Noon, and Paradise —

The Soul's retaken moments —
When, Felon led along,
With shackles on the plumed feet,
And staples, in the Song,

The Horror welcomes her, again,
These, are not brayed of Tongue —