Category Archives: Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole — Tales from Haunted Disney World
NIGHTMARE IN WORCESTER: NEHW ROCK AND SHOCK 2011 VIDEO OVERVIEW
Writers, artists, and other creators spend a lot of time in isolation—not necessarily because we are actively crafting, but because, I’ve often felt, we seem to think differently.
Although I’ve always been comfortable in my surroundings, I’d forgotten how much fun it was to be around other people who share the same creative drives, dreams, ambitions and even habits. At this weekend’s Rock and Shock—where I worked the New England Horror Writers booth with several of my peers—I almost felt like I was on a different planet, one I wasn’t too anxious to leave.
I’m planning on writing something up for the NEHW blog that discusses this a little bit more in depth, but for now, I think this mini-movie I made—at least for me—says it all. Enjoy!
A “LIT” LOOK AT DISNEY’S HAUNTED MANSION: THE SKELETON IN THE COFFIN
A shot of the coffin scene in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. Photo by Dave DeCaro and used with permission; if you’re a Disney Park fan, you won’t want to miss his site! http://www.davelandweb.com/
If you love classic ghost stories, Disney’s Haunted Mansion offers more than thrills and chills. This four-part series takes a look at classic ghost story images the attraction brings to life.
You’ve just boarded your Doombuggy at Disneyland’sHauntedMansion, and it isn’t long before you come upon a room full of decaying funeral flowers. In the center, on a pedestal, is a rattling, thumping coffin. A pair of skeletal hands are desperately trying to loose the coffin’s lid, and if you listen closely, you hear: “Let me outta here! Please! Le-let me outta here!”
While the dead rising from graves is pretty common in the horror story canon, the specific image of a skeleton rattling his coffin lid is an allusion to Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Premature Burial.”
For those who haven’t read the short story but have seen any of its film or television adaptations, the tale’s storyline is different. The story opens with several accounts of premature burials—most likely inspired by newspaper articles of the day. Consider these notes by Stephen Peithman in The Annotated Tales of Edgar Allan Poe:
“While rather farfetched today, premature burial did occur occasionally in Poe’s day, although not to the extent one would think after reading his tales on the subject. Some instances are recorded in George Alfred Walker’s Gatherings from Grave Yards (1839)…apparently due to a lack of sophisticated medical equipment. In order to avoid this problem, a “life-preserving coffin” was invented in 1843, mentioned by N.P. Willis in the New Mirror of November 18, so constructed as to give the victim air and a means to signal to those above ground that he was alive.[1]
Commentary on Poe’s description of a Baltimore incident:
“A similar story appears in the Lancaster(Pennsylvania) Democrat December 5, 1845.”[2]
Commentary on Poe’s description of the unfortunate story of a wealthy young girl:
“Poe’s source here may be a story in the Philadelphia Casket, September 1827, entitled “The Lady Buried Alive,” which in turn admits to borrowing from two older stories…As for the names, they are all Poe’s invention, as is the date.”[3]
Whether Poe’s piece was based on real incidents or not, it’s reasonable to think that the terrified skeleton clawing to escape his coffin may have been inspired by a few passages in his “The Premature Burial.” One of the reports Poe presents contains direct reference to a skeleton:
“…how fearful a shock awaited the husband, who, personally, threw open the door. As its portals swung outwardly back, some white-apparelled object fell rattling within his arms. It was the skeleton of his wife in her yet unmoulded shroud.”[4]
And here are references to struggles within coffins:
“…that her struggles within the coffin had caused it to fall from a ledge, or shelf, to the floor, where it was so broken as to permit her escape.”[5]
“On the Sunday following, the grounds of the cemetery were, as usual, much thronged with visiters[6]; and, about noon, an intense excitement was created by the declaration of a peasant, that, while sitting upon the grave of the officer, he had distinctly felt a commotion of the earth, as if occasioned by some one struggling beneath…Spades were hurriedly procured, and the grave, which was shamefully shallow, was, in a few minutes, so far thrown open that the head of its occupant appeared. He was then, seemingly, dead; but he sat nearly erect within his coffin, the lid of which, in his furious struggles, he had partially uplifted.”[7]
If you’d like to read “The Premature Burial,” you can for free here: http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/preburc.htm. If you’d like to own a copy in print, you can get it as part of his complete works here: http://amzn.com/0385074077. If you’d like it for your Kindle, it’s available here: http://amzn.com/B002LIT0F0.
[1] Edgar Allan Poe, “The Premature Burial,” in The Annotated Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Stephen Peithman (New York: Avenel Books, 1986), 149.
[2] Ibid., 151. It is, however, interesting to note here that the very first published appearance of “The Premature Burial” that included the passage was in 1844, so obviously, Poe wrote the story long before this newspaper article appeared.
[3] Ibid., 151
[4] Ibid., 151
[5] Ibid., 151
[6] This is how it is spelled in the original text.
[7] Ibid., 153
Horror Icons and Fans at Rock and Shock
Horror Icons and Fans at Rock and Shock.
Up-to-the-moment Rock and Shock! Mine coming soon, but don’t miss these photos and videos!
THE FIRST ANNUAL ANTHOCON: ANTHOLOGY 2011 CONFERENCE IS COMING!
I’ll be at the New England Horror Writers’ table at AnthoCon: The Anthology 2011 Conference Friday, November 11 – Sunday, November 13 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at the Best Western Wynwood Hotel & Suites.
To get a sense of why this first annual conference is so unique, you can read my article up on the NEHW blog here: http://nehwnews.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/get-in-on-the-ground-floor-at-first-annual-anthocon-november-11-13/
For me, the highlight of the weekend will be getting to meet Literary Mayhem’s Peter Schwotzer (www.literarymayhem.com), who’s commissioned my short story “Growlers” for a feature in January 2012, in person. We’ve been corresponding for awhile now and it’s going to be great to put a name with a face.
There are really so many awesome panels, guests, and other activities going on at this event that you really should just visit the website for complete details:http://anthocon.com/
SKELETONS IN THE SWIMMIN’ HOLE AVAILABLE FOR NOOK
Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole—Tales from Haunted Disney World is now available for Nook! You can get it here: http://bit.ly/SkeletonsNook
GhoStory Guru: OCTOBER HIATUS
Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion's Bride Action Figure.
October may be a strange time to choose to put GhoStory Guru on hiatus, but this month, I decided to do a special five-part series on Disney’sHauntedMansionand the real ghost stories that may have inspired some of its scenes. The series runs every Monday, and on Sunday, October 30, 2011, I’m releasing a never-before-published short story from the original Tales from Haunted Disney World collection called “Grave Error,” written just for Haunted Mansion fans.
Here are the links to episodes #1 and #2 of “A Lit Look at the Haunted Mansion.” Enjoy and have a safe and happy Halloween!
A “Lit” Look at Disney’s HauntedMansion: The Cemetery’s Caretaker & Dog http://wp.me/pIXRs-Y1
A “Lit” Look at Disney’s HauntedMansion: The Attic’s Portrait http://wp.me/pIXRs-Y7
JOIN ME AND THE NEW ENGLAND HORROR WRITERS AT ROCK & SHOCK THIS WEEKEND!
It’s here! Rock & Shock blasts its way intoWorcester, Mass this weekend at the DCU Center & the Palladium!
Rock and Shock is a fan convention and features celebrities, movies, vendors, and Q&A panels as well as musical concerts. This year’s celebrity guest list is extensive and includes Ace Frehley and Lance Henriksen.
I’ll be at the New England Horror Writers table along with other members including:
T.J. May (Ill Conceived)
Matt Bechtel (House of Pain)
Bob Booth (Phantom—NeCon Classic Horror)
Scott Goudsward (Shadows Over New England)
Stacy Longo (Dark Matter Heart)
Jason Harris (NEHW Newsblog)
Geoffrey Goodwin
Danny Evarts (Shroud Magazine)
Kelli Jones
Trisha Woolridge (Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad)
Jack Haringa
Jennifer Yarter (The Coven)
Tracy Carbone (The Man of Mystery Hill)
Anthony Laquerre
Rob Watts (The Crooked Roads Through Cedar Grove)
Larissa Glasser
Nathan Wrann (Dark Matter Heart)
LL Soares (Cinema Knife Fight)
Paul McMahon
John M. McIlveen
Morven Westfield (Darksome Thirst)
Ken Wood (Shock Totem Magazine)
We’ll have books for sale, you can talk one on one with any of us, and we’ll have plenty of cool swag, too! Be sure to stop by!
For complete list of guests, schedules, and just about everything you could possibly want to know, check it out here: http://www.rockandshock.com/
For a complete list of guests, schedules, and just about everything you could possibly want to know, check it out here: http://www.rockandshock.com/ Wanna know more about the NEHW? You can find out more about us here: www.newenglandhorror.org.
MISS ‘WHY GHOSTS LOVE ME?’ FUNDRAISER? PIX AND VIDS HERE!
Thanks to Jennifer Strickler Cole for this fantastic pic! I don't exactly know what they're doing--trying to scare up ghosts?--but here they are, left to right, Frank Todaro of The Invisible World, Terri J Garafolo of Entities-R-Us, Nicole Hall of CT Soul Seekers, Mike Mafara of CPEAR, Nathan Schoonover of various paranormal and TV programs, Angel Ortiz of CT Soul Seekers, and Andy Siedel of Indy Para.
Why Ghosts Love Me at St. Peter’s Masonic Lodge #21 in New Milford, Connecticut was a huge success! If you missed it, here’s photos and video.
Frank Todaro, of The Invisible World, and Nathan Schoonover are ready to go!
Nathan Schoonover of A&E’s Extreme Paranormal, Travel Channel’s Paranormal Challenge and The Ghostman & Demon Hunter Show was on hand for spooky stories and Halloween fun. The presentation included ghostly stories and paranormal evidence with guest speakers Nicole Hall and Angel Ortiz of Connecticut Soul Seekers, Terri J Garofalo of Entities-R-Us—ghost hunting comics—Donna Parish-Bischoff of Indy Paranormal and Frank Todaro of The Invisible World Radio. I was there signing copies of my book, Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole—Tales from Haunted Disney World, and was joined by fellow horror short fiction writer Stacey Longo, also of New England Horror Writers Association.
Proceeds from all sales and admission went toward the upkeep of the historical St. Peter’s Lodge.
Me, taking a break on the lawn of the Lodge before heading inside to set up. Photo by Maureen McFarlane.
Yeah, this is my Krissi-a-Go-Go look. Photo by Maureen McFarlane.
The entrance to the lodge. The Masons did a great job decorating the outside! Carl Keyser, of the lodge, is facing the camera; he also did the event’s flyer.
Billy Mo Buckbee, longtime friend and member of the Lodge, created this cemetery to the right of the stairs.
Nathan had tables for presenters on reserve.
The alcove where presenters set up their tables. The stained glass windows are just so gorgeous; at last year’s event, this area was cordoned off.
Stacey Longo, short fiction horror writer, also of New England Horror Writers.
A close-up of the Skeletons in the Swimmin' Hole Table.
A full shot of the Skeletons in the Swimmin' Hole--Tales from Haunted Disney World table.
Connecticut Soul Seekers' table. Nicole Hall, who also writes the Our Haunted Lives column for the Canadian group Paranormal, Eh? and Angel Ortiz did a great presentation.
Terri J Garofalo's table. She writes terrific ghost hunting comics.
Thanks to Jennifer Strickler Cole for this fantastic pic! And no, they are so not ready to present yet! Here they are, left to right, Frank Todaro of The Invisible World, Terri J Garafolo of Entities-R-Us, Nicole Hall of CT Soul Seekers, Mike Mafara of CPEAR, Nathan Schoonover of various paranormal and TV programs, Angel Ortiz of CT Soul Seekers, and Andy Siedel of Indy Para.
Connecticut Soul Seekers gets ready to take the stage.
A close-up of one of the windows in the Masonic Lodge's main hall.
Stacey Longo’s table. Stacey and I are both members of New England Horror Writers.Stacey has written many scary short stories and has been featured in numerous anthologies.
The foyer of the Masonic Lodge. The couches were especially comfortable.
The foyer of the Masonic Lodge.
Terri J Garofalo of Entities-R-Us, Donna Parish-Bischoff of Indy Para, and Frank Todaro of The Invisible World.
Me and Frank.
Stacey and me.
Dinner of champions! Seriously, they have good food available at these events. That burger was delicious. Just rare enough to be juicy.
Left to right, Mike Mafara of CPEAR, Angel of CT Soul Seekers, me, writer Stacey Longo, Donna Parish-Bischoff of Indy Para, Nicole of CT Soul Seekers, and paranormal humorist Terri J. Garofalo.
Left to right, Mike Mafara of CPEAR, Angel of CT Soul Seekers, me, writer Stacey Longo, Donna Parish-Bischoff of Indy Para, Nicole of CT Soul Seekers, and paranormal humorist Terri J. Garofalo.
Left to right, Mike Mafara of CPEAR, Angel of CT Soul Seekers, me, writer Stacey Longo, Donna Parish-Bischoff of Indy Para, Nicole of CT Soul Seekers, and paranormal humorist Terri J. Garofalo.
OH MY GOD THERE'S AN ORB!!!
Nathan just before the presentation.
Left to right, Billy Mo Buckbee and Nathan. Both are members of the Masonic Lodge.
You know, clowning around… Billy and Nathan or Obadiah Stane and Tony Stark?
You just gotta love a changing portrait!
What was cracking us up about these portraits was that Nathan said they took down a couple of portraits of lodge members and put these there instead.
Nathan and Frank just before the presentation started.
Taking a break outside. The jack o'lanterns were a great touch...and kept Sam away, of course (points if you know what I’m talking about). They were carved by Lodge members Carl Keyser and Billy Mo Buckbee.
Thanks to Jennifer Strickler Cole for this fantastic pic! It looks like they’re finally ready to begin! Here they are, left to right, Frank Todaro of The Invisible World, Terri J Garafolo of Entities-R-Us, Nicole Hall of CT Soul Seekers, Mike Mafara of CPEAR, Nathan Schoonover of various paranormal and TV programs, Angel Ortiz of CT Soul Seekers, and Andy Siedel of Indy Para.
The opening moments of Why Ghosts Love Me.
The presenters' corner.
Jennifer Strickler Cole, of Goshen, and Stacey. Jennifer picked up the anthology HELL HATH NO FURY, which features one of Stacey's stories, for her spooky Halloween read.
From left, Jennifer Strickler Cole, Stacey Longo Harris, me, and Jayne Mackel, also of Goshen, who picked up Skeletons in the Swimmin' Hole for a friend.
Thank you JENNIFER STRICKLER COLE for this great shot! Left to right, Jennifer, Stacey Longo Harris, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, and Jayne Mackel.
Frank Todaro delivers his "Campfire Stories," which is a popular segment of his show, The Invisible World.
Frank Todaro shares a tale from his very popular “Campfire Stories” on his radio show The Invisible World.
…because neither Nathan nor Frank can go very long without mentioning either thing…
Nathan gives his opinion on a Campfire Story.
This is the ghostly bride Billy hung from a lamppost. It reminded me of Miss Havisham.
The St. Peter's Lodge silhouette on one of the pumpkins. Carl Keyser did this. It rocked, yes!
Nathan's second biggest fear: Sharks. His first? Trolls.
Good friends Michele Ingram (left) and Maureen McFarlane (who does all my headshots) joined us for the night!
Nathan and Marty Landgrebe.
The spread back at my house. It had been a long day and we were all starving.
Maureen and Michele drink from matching Halloween glasses. Festive!
Nathan and Stacey.
Nathan and Stacey in front of our Halloween mantel.
Me and Frank.
Me and Frank.
Chilling out on the back porch. It had been a hot day, and I'd been running around so much that, when the night set in, it was refreshing to sit outside.
I cleaned up the kitchen and set up coffee for the next morning. I didn't hit the sack until 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
A “LIT” LOOK AT DISNEY’S HAUNTED MANSION: THE ATTIC’S PORTRAIT
A shot of the Bride’s portrait in the attic scene in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, taken in May, 2008. Photo by Dave DeCaro and used with permission; if you’re a Disney Park fan, you won’t want to miss his site! http://www.davelandweb.com/
If you love classic ghost stories, Disney’s Haunted Mansion offers more than thrills and chills. This four-part series takes a look at classic ghost story images the attraction brings to life.
Your Doombuggy rounds the corner and enters the Mansion’s attic, a creepy menagerie of web-shrouded trunks, lamps, furniture and dishes. The deeper you go, the more dense and specific the items become—you see fine china, a rotting wedding cake, an embroidered wedding announcement…and then a ghostly bride.
There have been so many changes in that scene in the last few years, and not just to the bride herself. The last time I traversed the forbidden attic was in 2008, and I noticed for the first time that at least one portrait—that of the bride with one of her husbands—is in an oval frame.
One of the Edgar Allan Poe’s freakiest little pieces isn’t the one that’s read as part of school curriculums or even the most talked about. If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, then you know what that piece is, because I’ve referenced it several times: “The Oval Portrait.”
While it’s true that oval frames for portraits were quite common during the Victorian age, the bride’s portrait at its very core seems to have been inspired by Poe’s short piece.
*POE’S “THE OVAL PORTRAIT” SPOILER ALERT*
٭ Poe’s “Oval Portrait” is a story within a story: it opens with the narrator and his valet stumbling into an abandoned mansion for shelter. In theHauntedMansionattraction, we play the role of the narrator: we have “stumbled” into a decrepit, abandoned (well, by LIVE people, anyway) mansion.
٭ The narrator and his valet choose to settle
“in one of the smallest and least-sumptuously furnished apartments. It lay in a remote turret of the building. Its decorations were rich, yet tattered and antique…”[1]
A turret could certainly be comparable to an attic—high and tucked away—and notice that the turret’s furnishings could easily describe what’s in theHauntedMansion’s attic.
٭ The comparison between the frames in “The Oval Portrait” and the Haunted Mansion is also worthy of note. “The Oval Portrait”’s frame is described as “richly gilded and filigreed in Moresque.”[2] Another term for Moresque is Arabesque, which is a type of symmetrical scrolling (usually consisting of some kind of foliage). Take a closer look at the photo above. Note that the Haunted Mansion’s frame appears, although worn a bit, gilded—and that the silver scrolling on the top and bottom appears to be symmetrical: Arabesque (Moresque). The word “arabesque,” in addition, is used higher up in “The Oval Portrait”: “frames of rich golden arabesque.”[3] So there may have been some consideration of this story here when the Imagineers were choosing the frame.
٭ Both portraits are stunningly life-like. While we Disney fans would normally attribute that to the Imagineers’ insistence on quality, this fact is a key plot point in Poe’s piece (which was originally titled “Life in Death,” by the way): The narrator is so captivated by it he is drawn to learn more about the work:
“Least of all, could it have been that my fancy, shaken from its half slumber, had mistaken the head for that of a living person…I had found the spell of the picture in an absolute life-likeliness of expression, which, at first startling, finally confounded, subdued and appalled me. With deep and reverent awe I replaced the candelabrum in its former position…I sought eagerly the volume which discussed the paintings and their histories. Turning to the number which designated the oval portrait, I there read the vague and quaint words which follow…”[4]
٭ Lastly, the tragic tale “The Oval Portrait”’s narrator reads in the volume is that of a young bride—and it ends in death.
If you’d like to read Poe’s “The Oval Portrait”—a later version in which he removed some extraneous details about opium use—you can read it for free here: http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/ovlprtb.htm (if you want to read the original 1842 version which includes the whole introductory paragraph at the beginning, you can do that here, although most published versions of this story never include it: http://www.eapoe.org/works/tales/ovlprta.htm). If you’d prefer to own it for your library, you can find it in The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe here: http://amzn.com/0385074077. You can also get just the story “The Oval Portrait” for your Kindle here: http://amzn.com/B005EC3KI8; or, if you prefer to own his complete works for your Kindle, you can buy that here: http://amzn.com/B0038M2IMK.
I’LL BE AT THE OPEN AIR MARKET & FESTIVAL IN MIDDLETOWN WITH NEHW ASSOCIATION SUNDAY, OCT. 23
A far shot of the Open Air Market and Festival at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT. Photo Credit: Mel Tavares, Rocky Hill (CT) Patch ~ http://rockyhill.patch.com/users/mel-tavares
I’ll be at the 9th Annual Open Air Market and Festival at Wadsworth Mansion Sunday, October 23, 2011, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., signing books and socializing with New England Horror Writers Association members Stacey Longo, Rob Watts, Kasey Shoemaker, and Dan Foley. Don’t miss your chance to pick up some signed spooky reads for Halloween!
The event will featureConnecticutgrown or made products, entertainment throughout the day, horse-drawn carriage rides, face painting, and docent-lead tours of the mansion (which I hope I get the opportunity to do!). It’s held at Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate, 421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown, CT 06457.
For more information, you can check out this article on Patch: http://rockyhill.patch.com/events/9th-annual-open-air-market-at-wadsworth-mansion-in-middletown or visit http://www.wadsworthmansion.com/
Hope to see you there!
