Me in the Lovecraft Ezine

I’ve been having a go at writing fiction again and it’s been hard work, frankly. I decided to target the excellent Lovecraft Ezine, based in the United States, because editor Mike Davis regularly opens it up for submissions and the publication has achieved great critical success over the 15 months of publication. Also, H P Lovecraft’s crazy but highly influential ideas are always good for inspiration. A few months ago Mike hinted that he’d like to see some Christmas-themed Lovecraftian stories so I made that my target, coming up with a bizarre idea about an ancient lump of bog oak dug out of the peat on fairy-haunted ground in Western Ireland. I think I must have just made the deadline and am thrilled that ‘The Yule Log’ will be appearing in the December issue.

The November issue is currently, free as a downloadable PDF and available at a modest price for Kindle, Nook etc in a week or two. Visit http://www.lovecraftzine.com for more.

The Hallowe’en factor

I hope you all enjoyed a great All Hallows’ Eve. Unfortunately I had no internet at all due to some roadworks all day. Gah! October is definitely the month people start Googling for ghosties and ghoulies. I’ve been very pleased with the number of unique ‘hits’ I’ve been getting on this blog of late but am especially thrilled to announce that October achieved over 2,000 hits more than September or August. It’s a big difference to the thirty-odd hits per day when it started in the spring of last year. Imagine, if I updated it every day like I’m supposed to, how many more I’d get!

Pinpointing haunted places in London and Edinburgh

Just to let you know my Ghost Finder London and Ghost Finder Edinburgh apps are now available for Android phones as well as for iPhones. Just in time for Hallowe’en!

Both apps use Google maps to pinpoint the haunted locations of these historic and very spooky cities. The sites are all clearly labelled: all you have to do is click on them to read about the sites and the ghosts said to be haunting them. Or you can browse and search the database, which has been researched and written by me.

Both London and Edinburgh have famously haunted locations but there are many other much less well-known places which are just as interesting: pubs, parks, stations, streets and obscure houses. There are over 300 haunted sites on Ghost Finder London and the haunted locations in Edinburgh have been arranged with those of the Royal Mile first, then radiating out to the outlying areas, making it particularly useful for the tourist.

They’re not free – you’ll have to pay all of £1.49 for Ghost Finder London (the same as half a pint in a haunted pub!) and just 69p for Ghost Finder Edinburgh. The iPhone versions are the same price.

To learn more about the version of Ghost Finder London please visit: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ghost-finder-london/id493251459?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

For Ghost Finder Edinburgh visit: https://itunes.apple.com/app/ghost-finder-edinburgh/id509902065?mt=8

Jesus is buried in Devon! Or not.

Apparently the Isle of Avalon is in Devon – oh, and Jesus is buried there.  That’s according to a bizarre story in The Sun (yes, sorry about that). ‘Amateur archeaologist’ Michael Goldsworthy has determined that Burgh Island, just off the coast of Bigbury-on-Sea in Devon, is not only fabled Avalon but also the last resting place of Jesus Christ, who has been laid there alongside Joseph of Arimathea.

You’d think this would be enough to be getting along with, but, says The Scum, ‘barmy’ Mr Goldsworth (their word not mine) also believes the Holy Grail (natch!) and the Ark of the Covenant may be buried there, too.

Previously, Burgh Island found fame – well, infamy nowadays – as being the model for ‘Nigger Island’ in the Agatha Christie classic ‘Ten Little Niggers’, better known today by its original American title ‘And Then There Were None’ (which is not only not offensive but also a far superior title, in my opinion).

According to that great sage Wiki, the island was formerly known as St Michael’s Land and there was a monastery here. Whatever the likelihood of Mr Goldworthy’s claims, I have to say Burgh Island seems to be a place of great interest in its own right.

You can read the entire article, such as it is, here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4582040/Jesus-is-buried-in-Devon.html

Paranormal County Durham and Haunted Carlisle by Darren W Ritson

It’s good to see not one but two new books by Darren Ritson. Darren’s one of the more careful paranormal investigators in the UK and all his books are enlivened by his own personal ghost-hunting experiences.

Darren has researched and investigated paranormal activity all over the British Isles but his base is the north of England. These books both reflect his intimate knowledge of the region.

Paranormal County Durham, from Amberley, is naturally the thicker of the two volumes. Among the usual mansions, castles and pubs, Darren showcases several more unusual haunted locales, including a waterfall, a disused mine, a former POW camp and a particularly eerie abandoned MOD site (at an undisclosed location!). Accounts range from the short and snappy to in-depth descriptions of investigations and their follow-up research, all of which make for fascinating reading.

The ghosts are as varied as the locations. Darren has devoted a whole chapter to the phantom horsemen which charge around the Durham countryside. He rounds off with a selection of stories collected by a local historian which are generally well-known.

Unusually for one of Amberley’s ‘Paranormal’ series, ‘County Durham’ is almost entirely devoted to ghostly phenomena, as opposed to the selection of strange creatures, UFOs and the like which are usually included.

Darren stays in the north but heads west for Haunted Carlisle, published by the History Press. This is another thoroughly well-researched volume offering the same mix of folklore, eyewitness accounts and on-the-spot investigations in sites varying from Carlisle Castle and the railway station, through pubs and hotels to a haunted bus stop and a Laser Quest venue (the mind boggles!). Lots and lots of new material here (well, new to me) and a must-have for any resident of the town or the surrounding area (one section highlights haunted sites on the rural outskirts).

Both books from this busy ghost-hunter and prodigious author are highly recommended.

Paranormal County Durham by Darren W Ritson is published by Amberley and priced £12.99 (ISBN: 978-1-4456-0650-7); Haunted Carlisle by Darren W Ritson is published by History Press and priced £9.99 (ISBN 978-0-7524-6087-1).

Spooks on wheels

I’ve come a bit late to mentioning the latest edition of Phenomena Magazine – indeed I’m about on deadline to write another article. I’ve just started a short series under my ‘Spookology’ headline on ghostly modes of transport. They are classic ‘spooks’, ghosts that don’t fit the general explanations for what ghost might be. Certainly, a ghost train, airplane or automobile can’t be expected to have a soul – never mind how much some people love their cars! – and therefore can’t be returning spirits.

I begin my trip with the most traditional of ghostly modes of transport, the spectral carriage. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of the ghosts of coaches-and-horses reported as trundling around the British highways and byways and many of these could reasonably be considered playbacks of past events. However, a good number are extra-spooky with headless horses, coachmen and passengers and some are fiery to boot. Some are even stranger and I detail my favourites in my article.

Other articles in the September edition of ghostly interest include an overview of the poltergeist phenomenon; an appraisal of ghost-hunting equipment; ‘The Entity’ case from 1974 revisited; and an amusing report of an on-site investigation in Northampton by Steve Mera. There is also an intriguing probe into the nature of consciousness and artificial intelligence. UFOs are covered in an exopolitical piece on disclosure, or rather non-disclosure, by the American administration and cryptozoology raises its scaly head in the form of a feature on dragons and other winged beasts.

The usual website is down so, to access the latest issue visit http://www.mapit.kk5.org/ and download for free.

I’m at Dickensian Hauntings event

I’ll be taking part in a Dickensian Hauntings event in London at the end of the month. The major event celebrates the Victorian novelist’s contribution to the ghost story genre with writers, artists and performance artists coming together for what promises to be a spectacular and gruesome few days.

I’m joining in with a talk on ‘The Strange Sites and Stranger Sights of Haunted London’ inspired by the research I carried out on my Ghost Finder smartphone app. I’ll be picking a few highly haunted locations previously unknown to me and also some of London’s weirdest ghosts, including a multicoloured donkey, a man who looks like ‘a shaved pig’ and a motorcyclist without a face. I’ll also mention London’s most dangerously haunted house. The talk is free of charge.

I’ll be on at the Dickensian Hauntings event at 6pm on Saturday September 29. It’ll last about 45 mins plus questions, so plenty of time to enjoy the rest of your Saturday evening – although I would encourage you to stay for the rest of the night’s entertainment, all of which is being held in the spooky basement of Shoreditch Town Hall.

For more details of the event, run by Illumni, a non-profit making organisation, visit: http://www.illuminievent.co.uk/2012/2012-info.html For more on the Ghost Finder app, visit: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ghost-finder-london/id493251459?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4