Sylvia Shults's Blog, page 78

Seen at the Liquor Store…

This made me smile.

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Lights Out! Christmas Chills

Welcome to another episode of Lights Out, your virtual campfire. In today’s episode, we ring in the holidays with a true tale of holiday creepiness. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/Alg6AOjuQvE

And don’t forget, if you have a true story of haunted happenings, please leave me a message here. Your experience could be featured on an upcoming episode of Lights Out.

When you watch the episode, take a moment and click the Subscribe button on YouTube, if you like. That ensures you’ll be the first to hear of brand-new episodes. Remember, not listening to Lights Out is like not having chocolate cake for breakfast … the true richness of life will elude you.

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You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

(With apologies to Sally Field…)

When you log in to the card catalog at any area library, you can look at each library’s holdings. And you can see what people have been reading, and what they particularly enjoy. So it was really nice to see this as I walked past one of the computers this morning.

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What I’d Like For Christmas …

Well, it’s that time of year again, time to answer the age-old question …

“What do YOU want for Christmas?”

This year, I have a good answer.

A couple of years ago, I started up a little podcast, called Lights Out. For the multitudes who haven’t heard of it, it’s a place for people to share their true ghost stories — kind of a virtual campfire. Basically, people share their experiences with me, and I put them on the show. It’s my job to listen to the strange tales people have to share. Can’t beat that!

Anyhoo, here’s what I’d really like: right now, my YouTube channel (which can be found here ) has 27 subscribers. I’d be thrilled to bits to get more. So click the link, become a subscriber, and get ready to listen to loads of fun true ghost stories.

And remember, not listening to Lights Out is like passing up chocolate cake for breakfast — the true richness of life will forever elude you.

Lights Out!

It’s time for another episode of Lights Out, your virtual campfire! In this episode, we’ll take another look at what makes someone say, “Hey, yeah, there’s something to all this supernatural stuff.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZFZ3bj2RV4

 

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Strange Dimensions

A while ago, I had the distinct privilege of being a guest on Rosemary Ellen Guiley’s radio show Strange Dimensions. Rosemary and I had crossed paths at several paranormal conventions, but this was the first time we had ever had the chance to really sit down for a chat — and we weren’t even face-to-face! But it was a wonderful conversation. We talked, of course, about Rhoda Derry and 44 Years in Darkness. Rosemary asked some very insightful questions, and it was a true pleasure to be invited to appear on her show. You can listen to it here: Strange Dimensions: Sylvia Shults

Book Review: Pharaoh, by Wilbur Smith

It’s always fun to read a Wilbur Smith book. These books are … well, they’re SET in ancient Egypt, but I’m beginning to think that’s just to give the author a jumping-off point. They’ve developed into “fantasy that happens to be set in ancient Egypt”. Which is fun, because Smith has given us the somewhat unreliable narrator of Taita for six books now, spanning three generations. Taita, we discovered a couple of books ago, is actually divine, which is why he never ages and is perpetually young and strong (and, according to him at least, drop-dead gorgeous). It’s fun stuff, and we get to follow Taita’s adventures throughout many more books than if he was merely human.

This book follows the adventures of Taita as he drives the last of the Hyksos from Egypt (he was there for their invasion of Egypt too, which makes him VERY long-lived). The main characters here are Prince Rameses and Princess Serrena, the granddaughter of Queen Lostris, Taita’s mistress from the very first book. So we get, essentially, a family saga, with one character (who never ages) escorting us through the whole story. I recommend this for anyone who likes a historical novel — but isn’t too bothered about historical accuracy.

Lights Out!

Let’s return to Planet Weird’s traveling museum of haunted oddities. Listen to hear tales of haunted graveyard dust and a lonely doll. https://youtu.be/J-VnyX07JRo

Lay Your Weary Head to Rest …

We have a pillow problem at our house. Rather, Husband does. My pillow is a lovely down dream that I got as a present from my sister years ago, and which still holds a considerable amount of heft, if fluffed properly. Husband’s pillow, though, is a sad, deflated wisp of its former self.

Seeing as how the holidays are coming up, I thought it would be to my advantage to go out and price pillows. I figured I could surprise Husband with a nice new pillow for Christmas, if not before. I strolled innocently into The Mattress Doctor, a store in Pekin that holds the record for the most deeply annoying commercial jingle EVER. (“The Mattress DOC-tor … delivering dreams … to yooooou!” Warble this in a cloyingly sappy sing-song tone of voice for the full effect.)

This store is … weird. It’s been open for as long as I’ve lived in Pekin, and probably for lots longer than that. But I’ve never seen anyone actually in the store. This evening was just the same. I strolled innocently through the doors, intending to have a quick peek at the prices of pillows. I know they’d be a bit spendier than, say, Wal-mart, but I wanted to have a basis for comparison.

The first price tag I saw was $139. For a PILLOW. For reals. Granted, they were having a “buy one, get one” sale, which is the other reason I stopped in. But jeezum crow, that much for a freakin’ pillow?

I turned on my heel, but it was too late. A saleslady, who had been chatting on her phone (and from whom I thought I was safe), quickly ended her call and came striding over to me. Chirpily, she pointed out the sale they were having — buy one get one! For over a hundred bucks!!!!

I said, “Thanks, but I’m really just looking.” She actually made me lie down and try one of the pillows. Then she said, “Have you ever been fitted for a pillow?” Like a dork, I said, “Umm … no.” She flitted off, while I was still trying to get the runaway pillow under my head. (This sounds easier than it actually was. Picture a naked pillow, on a naked mattress, with no headboard. Everything’s … slippery. With no headboard to stop the slidyness.)

I had just gotten myself extricated from the slick bed and pillow, when another salesman trotted up. He, too, pointed out the sale they were having on pillows! (Criminy, the cheapest one they had started at $79!) I said, “I’m really only just looking…” and headed for the door. I hate disappointing sales people … but I hate spending money even more.

So I went home and made a pillow. I had some fabric sitting around, and I found an elderly pillow in the basement. It wasn’t at all musty. I discovered that it was, in fact, a down pillow, which pleased me a great deal. I sewed up the fabric, stuffed the old pillow inside, and there ya go — an old pillow has a new lease on life, and Husband has a new pillow.

Movie Review: “Devil’s Pass”

I love horror stories. Love. Them. I started out writing horror fiction before I switched to paranormal nonfiction. And a good horror story will always hold a special dark place in my twisted heart.

I prefer to get my chills on the page rather than on a screen, but I will make an exception every once in a while. (I’m also a bit hampered by the fact that I am the only one in the house that likes to watch scary movies.)

I was on vacation this week, and Husband went out to have coffee with a friend, so I had the house to myself for a few hours. My entertainment of choice was a movie I’d come across at the library (Interlibrary Loan is a marvelous thing), a film called “Devil’s Pass”.

This film takes as its starting point the Dyatlov Pass incident. In 1959, nine Russian hikers went camping in the Ural Mountains. After the hikers went missing, a search party was sent out to find them. Instead, the search party found an enduring mystery. The hikers had apparently suffered some sort of mass hallucination. Someone, or something, spooked them so badly that they slashed their way out of the tents, preferring to cut their way free rather than bother with the zippers of the door. They had run out into the seventeen-below night, into the snow, wearing very little clothing, and every single one of them had frozen to death. There were unexplainable internal wounds on some of the bodies — crushed skulls, cracked ribs, and one of the women was missing her tongue — although none of the bodies had a mark on them. One of the men had been exposed to a high dose of radiation.

I’ve been entranced with this story ever since I read Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass incident, by Donnie Eichar. The library got that book in 2013, and I snapped it up. I’ve been fascinated with true tales of the weird ever since I was a kid, and here was a story that I had never heard of. (With over forty years of exploring the strange, you can imagine how rare that is for me.)

So when I saw that this movie used that incident as a starting point, I put it on my want-to-watch list. And it didn’t disappoint.

“Devil’s Pass” starts out a wee bit on the slow side — it takes a while to get going. But, the storytelling device used is that of the “found footage” trick, so I’m willing to forgive the slow start. The story moves along at a decent pace once the five students get into Russia. There’s a bit of character development, but not a lot — these students all know each other, and the banter between friends lets the audience in on some of the dynamics. As a writer, I can appreciate the delicate limitations of the found footage device.

The monsters, when they do show up, are fabulously horrifying. The ending worked for me — I wasn’t left going “whaaa? That’s IT?!?” And the more I think about the film, the more intrigued I get. It’s one that stays with you after the credits roll, which makes it a good movie for me.

I’d be willing to watch it again. I’d like to share it with Husband, if he’s willing to watch it with me. If I do watch it again, I’ll turn the lights off this time. I watched it with the basement lights on, not because I was scared, but because I’m too lazy to get a flashlight, turn off the lights at the top of the stairs, and find my way back to the couch. But, as this is a found-footage film, there are times when the screen is completely black. It would have been even freakier if I had been watching in the dark. If you dig horror movies, give this one a go.