Writing The Ghost of Captain Hinchliffe
I lost my dad, when I was twenty. He died of Lou Gehrig’s disease after suffering for six years. He was forty-eight years old.
I’d been at school with a fellow whose grandmother was a spiritualist medium. He often asked me if I’d like to meet her and I always declined. But when he asked me that question years later after the death of my father, I took him up on it and went to see the old lady.
She was a sweet person with a great sense of humor and I felt relaxed in her company. She took us to her spiritualist church and I attended for two years. I found it uplifting and extremely interesting. I wanted to find out about all this ‘life after death stuff’ for myself. I wasn’t interested in having someone telling me things after going on a fishing trip, asking me dozens of questions—like there’s someone here whose name begins with B or XYZ. If there was something to be learned I wanted to be the one ‘receiving’ those messages for myself.
I learned a lot and found it rewarding. I sat ‘in circle’ for a year, and yes, I did see stuff for myself. No, not trumpets flying around the room, or bells tinkling, but images and messages in my head. Some, seemingly insignificant, or it would have been insignificant to others, but when you receive these things yourself, no matter how small—it’s a big deal! I should mention that I felt my dad's presence around me for a couple of years after his passing. I think he was watching over me.
While working in the Bahamas some years later, I used to fly small planes. I was a scared pilot, I have to admit. Flying in those tropical unpredictable skies over shark infested waters didn’t do much for my nerves. But it enabled me to experience terror in the sky in a small plane.
These experiences helped me to write The Ghost of Captain Hinchliffe. I’ve studied the facts of the Hinchliffe story for a long time. I obtained the transcripts of the séances Emilie Hinchliffe made (no one had recording devices those days and she was a shorthand typist—so they were accurate). I incorporated her findings and some of her feelings into the novel. I’ve used a great deal of artist’s license to make the story entertaining and interesting. Early reviews have been excellent and highly encouraging. I based the lovable character of 'Mrs. East', who liked to work the Oija board, on my friend's grandmother the spiritualist medium.
I’d been at school with a fellow whose grandmother was a spiritualist medium. He often asked me if I’d like to meet her and I always declined. But when he asked me that question years later after the death of my father, I took him up on it and went to see the old lady.
She was a sweet person with a great sense of humor and I felt relaxed in her company. She took us to her spiritualist church and I attended for two years. I found it uplifting and extremely interesting. I wanted to find out about all this ‘life after death stuff’ for myself. I wasn’t interested in having someone telling me things after going on a fishing trip, asking me dozens of questions—like there’s someone here whose name begins with B or XYZ. If there was something to be learned I wanted to be the one ‘receiving’ those messages for myself.
I learned a lot and found it rewarding. I sat ‘in circle’ for a year, and yes, I did see stuff for myself. No, not trumpets flying around the room, or bells tinkling, but images and messages in my head. Some, seemingly insignificant, or it would have been insignificant to others, but when you receive these things yourself, no matter how small—it’s a big deal! I should mention that I felt my dad's presence around me for a couple of years after his passing. I think he was watching over me.
While working in the Bahamas some years later, I used to fly small planes. I was a scared pilot, I have to admit. Flying in those tropical unpredictable skies over shark infested waters didn’t do much for my nerves. But it enabled me to experience terror in the sky in a small plane.
These experiences helped me to write The Ghost of Captain Hinchliffe. I’ve studied the facts of the Hinchliffe story for a long time. I obtained the transcripts of the séances Emilie Hinchliffe made (no one had recording devices those days and she was a shorthand typist—so they were accurate). I incorporated her findings and some of her feelings into the novel. I’ve used a great deal of artist’s license to make the story entertaining and interesting. Early reviews have been excellent and highly encouraging. I based the lovable character of 'Mrs. East', who liked to work the Oija board, on my friend's grandmother the spiritualist medium.
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