Happy Weekend!

And now for a well-deserved vacation at my favorite haunted hot spot. I may have some fun things to share next week. But for now, have a safe and happy Halloween!!!

Looking for Halloween plans?

Have you made your Halloween plans yet? If not, I have a few suggestions for you, based on mass amounts of research. (T.V. programs and internet searches) 

Savannah GA- The most haunted town in America

Reasons to go:

Several parts of the town supposedly built on top of old cemeteries. (Bonus creepy points)

The17-hundred-90 Inn, where Anna Powers leaped to her death off a 3^rd floor balcony. She supposedly haunts room 208

Mercer Williams House – from the true crime novel Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil.

Tombstone, Az.

Reasons to go:

The O.K Corral shootout happened just days before Halloween in 1881

Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, known for poltergeist activity, possibly even haunted by Doc Holliday.

Bird Cage theatre, you can hear disembodied gamblers and opera singers

The town is named Tombstone.  Come on!

 Salem Mass.

Reasons to go:

Salem With Trials, need I say more? 

New Orleans, LA

Reasons to go:

Some of the best ghost tours in the US (So I’ve heard)

Witchcraft ceremonies

Voodoo

Brandywine Valley, PA

Reasons to go:

Eastern State Penitentiary-What’s creepier than an abandoned Gothic church-turned prison?

And on a side note, they have a Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off

Estes Park, Co.

Reasons to go:

The Stanley Hotel, the setting for Stephen King’s The Shining offers hotel ghost tours, including an underground tunnel.

Providence, R.I

Reasons to go:

Jack O’Lantern Spectacular, Over 10,000 carved pumpkins are on display at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.

Okay, so it doesn’t have anything to do with ghosts, but how cool is this?

Tammy and Jonathan... the rest of the story

I just love s’mores, don’t you? Anyway, back to the story.

Tammy was surprised to see Jonathan’s car in the drive when she returned from her library trip. Rushing in the house to share her discovery, she was stunned to see Jonathan kneeling in their bedroom, ripping up the carpet. “What are you doing?” She yelled, dropping her purse in the doorway.

 “I hate this carpet. The old carpet was much better.”

“Old carpet?” Tammy asked, confused. “Honey, this is the carpet that came with the house.”

“No. It isn’t” Jonathan snapped. I hate it. Get it out of my house.” 

“Okay.” Tammy was dazed. Jonathan never acted like that. She would have been surprised if he even knew what color the carpet was. But, after helping him haul the roll of carpet out to the curb, he did seem to calm down. It wasn’t until a few days later when Tammy noticed Jonathan rubbing a rust colored spot on their-now bare-floor that she remembered to tell him what she’d learned at the library.

“So, I’m not crazy. I really want to move.” She finished. 

“This is my house.” Jonathan snarled. “I’m not leaving. You can’t make me.” 

“Jon,” Tammy sighed. “I know you love this place. I’m just talking about moving across town. I’m really uncomfortable here.”

“NO!” Tammy stared in shock at the butcher knife sticking out of the wall, inches from her head. Jonathan had never been violent, but looking into the eyes of the man in front of her, a cold chill ran down her spine. That wasn’t Jonathan. He looked the same, except for his eyes. Jonathan’s green eyes were gone. The eyes glaring back at her were brown, and so dark they were almost black.

“Okay. Forget I brought it up.” Jonathan relaxed as soon as the words left her mouth. But Tammy was still terrified. She knew something wasn’t right. And then the dreams started. Jonathan woke up confused and disoriented almost every night. He would scream about bodies in the walls, something under the floor that was out to get him, and he would threaten to kill Tammy if she tried to take him from the house.

 It wasn’t long before Jonathan lost his job. He’d simply quit going to work. He spent his days pacing up and down the halls, stopping to talk to people who weren’t there. Tammy was devastated, but she didn’t know what to do. Every time she tried to help him, he threatened her. And more than once he became violent when she suggested that they leave, even for the weekend.

 Too afraid to stay home all day with her husband, Tammy started spending more and more time in the library archives. The murders at her home were constantly on her mind. The most detailed information she could find was about the brothers who’d rented the house before she and Jonathan bought it. Just out of college, they moved to town in hopes of starting a business together. By all accounts, they got along well. But then there were police reports. Apparently, the older of the brothers became violent. The reports called him “mentally unstable.” He often didn’t know where he was, and didn’t recognize his own brother. When their bodies were found, the older brother was in the living room, both of his wrists slashed. The younger brother was in one of the bedrooms, multiple stab wounds covering his torso.

Of the family that had been there before them, Tammy found less information. Only that the family had been well thought of, the son a model student. His father was even up for a promotion at work, which would let them move to the city. Both parents were found, stabbed to death in bed. The son was rocking back and forth in a corner, chanting “Don’t sell the house.”  He died, Tammy discovered, a little over a year ago in a hospital for the criminally insane.

Don’t sell the house. The phrase bounced around in Tammy’s brain. What was it with that house? Jonathan seemed obsessed with it as well. Tammy knew she had to dig further. To her surprise, there wasn’t much to find. The first family to have lived in her house were the ones who had been murdered. They’d had the house built. Just when she was about to give up, a footnote caught her eye. The house had been built on the same spot where another had burned down, several yeas before.

 It didn’t take long for Tammy to find the story. The house that had once stood on her land was called the McCarthy house. Apparently, it had been in the same family for generations, and was a great source of pride. But, as sometimes happens, the house fell into the possession of a McCarthy with few good traits. A gambler and the town drunk, he soon found himself in danger of losing the family home. The night before he was supposed to be evicted, the house burned to the ground, owner still inside.

 The last three homeowners had met violent ends. Tammy’s mind reeled. She knew she had to get out, with or without Jonathan. After making a frantic call to her sister, she rushed home to pack her bags.

 After three days and no word from Tammy, her sister called the police. When they arrived, they found Jonathan in his recliner, multiple stab wounds to his chest. On the coffee table there was a message written in blood. She wanted to leave us. We couldn’t let that happen.

After Jonathan’s funeral, the house was torn down. The land has sat empty for years. But I heard last month that someone bought the hand and is building an apartment complex. Tammy- or her body- was never found.

 So, who wants a Pumpkin Latte?

By Keshia Swaim

Ghostly Tales

In honor of Halloween, one of our favorite times of the year, my daughter, Keshia, will be bringing you some ghostly tales...

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing colors, I can get pumpkin spiced anything, and Halloween is just around the corner. Which means that the travel channel is helping me add to my list of “places I must visit” and there is another “scary movie” coming out every time I turn around. It’s also the perfect time to sit around the campfire and share ghost stories. I’ll go first!

 About twenty years ago a friend of a friend of mine got a new job out-of-state. After just a few weeks of searching, he and his wife found the perfect house: three bedrooms, big kitchen, a nice backyard, and, most importantly, the price was right. It wasn’t long before they were all settled in. 

Jonathan loved his new job, and thought everything was great. Tammy, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure about their move. As soon as they’d moved in she began complaining that she didn’t like being alone in their new home. Jonathan assured her that the noises were just the house settling, and that she was just uneasy in a new place.

But Tammy knew it was more than that. At first, it there were only little things: a radio playing when she thought she’d turned it off, or the coffee cup she remembered leaving on the bar appearing in the living room. And there was the constant feeling of being watched. Since she knew how happy Jonathan was, she tried to keep her complaints to herself and be a supportive wife.

 That changed the night she woke to see a shadow standing over Jonathan’s side of the bed, arm raised as if holding a knife. She screamed and the shadow disappeared, but not before she caught the glint of a steel blade in the moonlight. Jonathan bolted out of bed at Tammy’s scream. Even though she saw the shadow disappear, she wouldn’t sleep until Jonathan circled the entire house, checking every lock, and making sure all of their kitchen knives were in place.

Maybe it was just because Tammy was now constantly on edge, but she sensed a definite change in the house after that night. The air was always heavy, as if it was about to storm. The feeling of being watched grew so strong that she kept a can of pepper spray in her pocket at all times, and she woke up at least twice a week, soaked in sweat, screaming from some terrible dream she couldn’t quite remember.

For weeks, she begged to move. But Jonathan wouldn’t consider it. He couldn’t understand what had gotten into his wife. She had never been an overly nervous person, but now she wanted to move because of a bad dream. Not knowing what else to do, he suggested that Tammy start volunteering in the community, or even get a part-time job to get her out of the house some.

 Tammy agreed that time away would be best, and started filling out applications. When she handed in her first application, at the local library, the librarian immediately commented on her address. “So you’re the one who bought that place. Isn’t it creepy living there, after everything that happened?”

Tammy was immediately interested. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh. You didn’t know about the murders?” She directed Tammy to the town’s newspaper archives.

 Tammy quickly learned that a couple had been murdered in the master bedroom-her room- by their teen-age son. Not only had the realtor failed to mention that, he also forgot to mention that the house had been rented out to two brothers before she and Jonathan bought it. Their bodies had been discovered in the living-room several days after they died, an apparent murder-suicide.

Tammy rushed home to tell Jonathan what she’d learned. Finally, she had proof. The house really was evil. They had to leave. Unfortunately, it was already too late for Jonathan.

To be continued…

Can someone pass the marshmallows?  
Keshia Swaim       

COVER REVEAL!!!!!!!!!!

This is the cover for On Haunted Ground. The book is scheduled to be released May 8, 2012. What do you guys think about it?