Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Posts Tagged ‘classic’

Historical Ghost Sightings, Scary Ghosts Throughout The Ages

Thursday, October 30th, 2014

Scary Ghosts Throughout The Ages

Introduction

Throughout history, imagery attached to ghosts is of shadowy, vaporous figures. Mysterious ghosts and phantoms reportedly haunt graveyards, misted moors, famous hotels, hospitals and prisons and castles. Spirits may possess good or evil auras.
Historical Ghost Sightings
In southeastern Ireland, Wilton Castle stands with only fire-scarred walls remaining. Ravaged by fire in the 1920s, this was the stately home of the prominent Alcock family since the early seventeenth century.
It’s believed several spirits reside within Wilton Castle walls. The strangest story about Wilton Castle is of a neighbor, Archibald Jacob, magistrate and captain of the local militia during the 1798 rebellion of the Irish against Britain.Jacob flogged and tortured many people in the parish. While returning home from a Wilton Castle ball one night in 1836, he was killed when he fell from his horse. For years, his ghost haunted the scene of his death and the castle.According to the story, a Catholic priest was summoned to perform an exorcism. When the priest made the sign of the cross and Archibald Jacob’s ghost appeared in the fireplace and subsequently disappeared in a cloud of smoke.Classic vs. Modern Sightings
Spectral hunting and paranormal research have always been subject to criticism and skepticism. The classic spectral image depends on the era in which the specter emanates. Although white-garbed spirits are the centuries-old popular image, naked spirits have been reported in a well-known Scandinavian story, where a scantily dressed man returns to his village after his death. The Japanese image of specters is clothed and often disheveled and bloody.Locations of Hauntings
The traditional locations of hauntings have been Scotland, Ireland, England and Germany. Hauntings of the early 1600s have also been reported in New England in the USA. The locations of hauntings have been reported in cemeteries and ancient Native American burial grounds. Military battle grounds of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars are reportedly haunted by unrested souls who died in battle.

Cultural Burial Rituals
Certain aboriginal cultures like Eskimos in the Bearing Sea, the Dogon people of West Africa, Siberian Chukchi and Kwearriburra in Queensland, Australia practice burial rituals to ward off the return of the dead who walk the earth restlessly. Within a culture, there are practices that transcend time and afford each culture a specific embodiment of understanding basic natural and spiritual events modern day people accept with skepticism.

Buildings, War and Mysterious Events
Old, empty buildings often evoke images in windows, in attics, basements, across expanses of lawns and lakes. A more recent haunting occurred when a well-known country and western singer purchased a large antebellum mansion in Tennessee. After moving in, she and her family experience paranormal events. After studying the history of the town and mansion, she learned it was located on the site of a Civil War battle.

Unexplained Events
Another unexplained event occurred when Charlie Troxell was murdered in Portage Indiana. His father, Romer, drove from his home in Pennsylvania to view his son’s body in the morgue. Romer Troxell believed he heard his son’s voice directing him to the killer. Local police later confirmed Troxell helped capture his son’s murderer. Unexplained visions shortly before or after a loved one’s death have been reported numerous times.

Halloween, Depictions and Demons
The celebration of Halloween is an annual event that arouses interest in scary demons, witches and specters. Halloween is actually an ancient Celtic harvest festival. It celebrated the bounty of harvest and souls who died.

Cemeteries
Among ghostly locations, an historical, ancestral or military cemetery elicits a large number of eerie sightings. Some believe the dead haunt a cemetery to prevent desecration of graves. Native American Indian folklore is strongly attached to cemetery sites. Folklore and legends tend to add emphasis to ethereal beliefs.

Have You Ever Felt a Ghostly Presence?
Ghostly presences often occur during times of heavy emotional stress. Stress can originate from loss of a loved one or when the mind is crowded with confusion. The greater the sense of stress, the more the individual feels isolated from reality. A ghostly presence doesn’t have to appear in shape or form. It can be a feeling of extreme cold or “not being alone.” The phantom of an unresolved issue with a deceased individual is another example of ghostly presence that occurs day or night. It may be a memory jogged by some vague reminder lurking in the back of the mind.

Do Certain Places Scare You?
A dark attic, a lonely road or a vacant old home inspires the deepest sense of solitude. Humans are naturally averse to feelings of loneliness and isolation. Ethereal vibrations occur when humans place themselves in locations where there is emptiness surrounding them. Some believe that attics or vacant old homes evoke spectors of unrested souls who were unable to resolve serious issues before their demise. Dark or empty places conjure thoughts of the past from the sheer curiosity of previous people and events that occurred in these places.

Have You Ever Used a Medium?
A medium is the intermediary between the spiritual world and conscious world. The medium may be a person, place or thing. Fortune tellers, old wells, tea leaves, Tarot cards, crystal balls, prisms, runic stones and I Ching are depictions used.

Consciously, most people know it’s impossible to know the future. In reality, these are implements that heighten meditation skills. Many unconscious questions lie in human minds that affect meditation. These implements are centuries old and became practiced arts among highly sensitive individuals.

Summary
We see ghostly spirits because humans are naturally sensitive, intuitive beings. As the most intelligent life form, we seek answers to the unknowable.

The 7 Classic Horror Novels You Must Read before You Die

Thursday, October 30th, 2014

Here are 7 Horror Novels You Must Read

Spine-chilling stories of supernatural creatures and terrors from beyond the third dimension have been thrilling readers for centuries. Whether you are a fan of frightening fiction, or a lover of literature, here are seven must-read horror novels that have stood the test of time to take their place with the classics.

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is the enduring tale of scientific hubris. In a gloomy gothic setting, Dr. Frankenstein pursues his goal of animating a man of his own making. His efforts produce a terrifying monster so grotesque that it is shunned and driven away by the humans whose companionship it craves. Dr. Frankenstein and his monster are bound together for life in a nightmare of hatred, anger and desperate regret.

Equally well-known is the story of Dracula as told by Bram Stoker. Despite all the vampire stories that have been written since, “Dracula” is the original and the best. It tells the tale of how the unsuspecting Jonathan Harker meets the Count in Transylvania. He is puzzled by the strange psychological effect Dracula has on the villagers, as they seem to find him creepy, and even suspect him of murder. Jonathan unwittingly draws the Count back to his home where Lucy, a young woman of his acquaintance, becomes the focus of Dracula’s attentions. The suspense builds until finally Van Helsing reveals that Lucy’s terrifying illness is the work of a vampire that must be destroyed.

The third classic frightful story with which many are familiar is “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. This tale is a scary exploration of the dark side of a seemingly normal personality. Dr. Jekyll is a bright young man interested in science and the psychological duality of the human mind. He compounds a drug that causes him to become possessed by the vile side of his nature. At first he experiences this as a lark, a way to free himself from the conventions of his time. However, as Mr. Hyde’s actions escalate to murder he seeks the asylum of his stable personality, Dr. Jekyll. Eventually he must make a choice between the best and the worst of himself.

“The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James is a classic ghost thriller in the gothic vein. It is a work of supernatural literature that allows suspense to build from a sunny, innocent beginning. A young governess is given the charge of two small children at a beautiful country estate. She soon develops the haunting feeling that all is not as bucolic as it seems. She learns that the previous governess had a dalliance with another employee which left her in a compromised state. There is the suggestion, although not explicitly stated, that the pair may have also taken illicit liberties with her young charges. Both lovers ended up dead through unclear circumstances. The new governess begins to see apparitions of the two, and she is horrified to realize that the children are aware of and welcoming to these ghastly presences. Have the children been possessed? Is it too late to save them?

The fifth title on the list is Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House”.  cters know what they are getting into and do it anyway. Dr. Montague is an investigator of the paranormal. He invites a number of people to spend the summer at the supposedly haunted Hill House to determine if the supernatural stories are true. The townspeople tell stories of family hatreds, suicide and the ghost of a sister. Two women, Eleanor and Theodora, accept his invitation, along with the nephew of the owner of the house. Creepy occurrences begin almost immediately. Doors close by themselves; loud banging sounds are heard at night; soft patterings are heard outside locked bedroom doors. The guests begin to realize that someone, or something, is trying to separate them. The house seems to have the strongest effect on Eleanor. When the others decide to send her home, whatever is in the house makes a decision of its own.

“The Island of Dr. Moreau” by H.G. Wells is not a ghost story, but it is definitely horror fiction. A man survives a shipwreck and is offered asylum on a small private island. The island is owned by Dr. Moreau, a scientist involved in mysterious biological experiments. The man is told that the island is rarely visited by outsiders, and it may be a year before he can return to his everyday life. As he rests in his quarters, he hears the piercing howls and screams of an animal in agony. The sounds become intolerable, and he flees the compound to walk about the forest. He catches glimpses of grotesque creatures that seem to be half man, half beast. Dr. Moreau confesses that his life’s work has been the attempt to humanize lower animals. Although some of his attempts are initially successful, all eventually revert to their animal natures. The dread of being trapped on the island as the doctor gradually loses control of his creations drives the rescued man to take desperate actions.

The last and most modern entry on the list is “Rosemary’s Baby” by Ira Levin. This is the story of Guy and Rosemary. They unexpectedly have the opportunity to rent an apartment in their dream building, but as they settle in and plan to start a family the dream becomes a nightmare. At first, everything is too good to be true: the neighbors are friendly, Guy is doing well in his career and Rosemary finds herself pregnant with the eagerly anticipated baby. On the other hand, a young woman in the building commits suicide, Rosemary finds an odd connecting door between her apartment and the one next door, and her pregnancy occurs only after eating a dessert with a strange aftertaste. Rosemary begins to understand that something is very wrong, and that she may not be able to turn to Guy for help.

As you scan through this list of frightful selections, there are a few questions that may spring to mind.

Q: What about the horror master Edgar Allan Poe?
A: Poe is known for his short stories and poems, not novels. A couple of other notable writers of short stories in this genre are Guy de Maupassant and Ray Bradbury.

Q: Are there any titles in this category that are considered modern classics?
A: There are many very scary selections that have been written more recently, such as “The Amityville Horror” and “Pet Sematary”.

Q: Should I read the books, or just watch the movies?
A: Read the books. You can catch the movies later, but what your mind can create is more complicated and more frightening than anything Hollywood can put on the screen. 

Summary
This list of seven classic horror novels to read before you die includes selections from early gothic novels to terrifying tales set in contemporary culture. Reading these books will give you a sampling of monsters, ghosts and a demonic baby. Reading these books will also give you seven examples of outstanding writing by authors who were not only masters of the genre novel, but of the written word.