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Just in time for summer: dive into THE DEEP HOUSE

DEEP HOUSE ART 2

I grew up on a lake that was created by flooding abandoned towns, and so we had our share of urban legends about the lake and what lie beneath. When someone on Insta posted about the 2021 movie The Deep House (2021, 1 hour/25mins), I couldn’t resist.

This movie is French-made, but is in English, so no, you won’t be reading subtitles unless you have the CC on.

*MOSTLY SPOILER-FREE – ONLY REFERENCES ARE TO THINGS THAT CAN BE SEEN IN THE TRAILER*

This movie is definitely in my wheelhouse and has echoes of my short story, “Rightfully Mine,” which I wrote back in 2016 and was published in Sanitarium #49 here,  in the same year (and although I promise a spoiler-free review, one of the spectral beings totally looks like the woman in my story, at least she does the way I pictured her in my head). I can’t recommend this enough—The Deep House gets high marks for Read the rest of this entry

My short story “Stones” featured on BEYOND THE SCREAMS podcast!

Stones -- Beyond the Screams Art

I was honored to be asked to present a short story for the Beyond the Screams podcast, which brings scary campfire tales to listeners along with its insightful theme-based monthly commentary on all things horror with hosts Holly, Patrick, and Steph. I chose the story “Stones,” an intimate take on the Pope Lick Goat Man legend.

The month of March covered creatures of mythology and lore. Check out all of their episodes here: https://beyondthescreams.com/

To hear the recording of “Stones,” click here: https://beyondthescreams.com/2021/03/08/stones/

To read about the Pope Lick Goat Man, click here: https://www.derbycityweekend.com/urban-legends-fuel-the-tale-of-the-pope-lick-goat-man/

Who remembers Chicken Rock? 7 Creepy Tales of Candlewood Lake…

CANDLEWOOD LAKE URBAN LEGEND MAP

This map marks the tales’ (approximate) locations.

Many writers pull their inspiration from childhood; fortunately, I had plenty of urban legends in mine–many surrounding Candlewood Lake.

New England Horror Writers recently posted a collection of these tales I put together: “Seven Creepy Tales of Candlewood Lake.” You can read them here: http://nehw.blogspot.com/2016/08/legends-of-candlewood-lake-guest-blog.html

If you grew up on or near the lake, do you remember any of these? I asked a few people when I was working on this and found out that yes, many do (everyone, especially, seems to recall the one about “The Kids in the Pipe” up at Lynn Deming)…and almost no one didn’t know Chicken Rock!

Anyway, enjoy! If you remember any of this, feel free to share in the comments below.

Missy Candlewood Lake Beach 1982

My sister prepares to jump off a concrete wall into (very shallow) water at the CTTA Beach in New Milford, CT, in the summer of 1982. Ah, unsupervised children. It was a thing.

Baby, it’s cold outside! Warm up with Scary Scribes’ Fireside Read…

Get out your blanket, light a candle and pull your chair to the hearth! On a special Fireside Read episode of Scary Scribes, hear the first two chapters of Don Franklin’s Reaper’s Walk: Hellstone here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/paranormaleh/2012/12/30/scary-scribes-ep-11

If you’d rather download it directly to your portable device or listen directly from this website, you can do that here: Scary Scribes Ep 11 – Don Franklin, 12-30-2012

Reaper's Walk Cover

Enjoy, and Happy New Year from Scary Scribes!

52 Weeks of Spam: Winners, Week of January 2

Everybody hates Spam—it fills up your Inbox (unless you’ve got G-mail, which does a great job of putting it in an appropriately-labeled folder), clogs your blog (WordPress does a great job filtering, too), and can threaten your computer’s security.

I have to say though, I love my Spam. It cracks me up—it’s poorly spelled, illiterate, and often leaves me wondering who would be dumb enough to click on the link for whatever product/service/sum from mysterious relative in a country you’ve never heard of. So I decided in 2012 I’d go through my Spam each week and pick my favorites to share with the world. I remove the sender and any links that might be damaging (plus, who wants to give them press?).

Winners, Week of January 2:

100 priecless tiips for thsoe wmoen whoo hvaen’t fonud thier iedal vagnial inefction teratment!

…um, what is a ‘teratment’? Is that a new species of turtle?

~

Re: build up of fool ingredients

Men are usually embarrassed to discuss their hale condition issues – MediTrust can help

I don’t think I want to even know what a “hale condition” is. I can only imagine it has something to do with uncontrolled weather coming out of someone’s orifice?

~

“Have you ever thought of meeting your true love in the Internet? A hot beautiful woman is waiting for you to chat with her! my account on this site: XXX.xxx.”

I just got engaged so I don’t need it, but I’m sure someone I know is in need of a hot, beautiful woman…I wouldn’t want any of my friends to be single too much longer.

See you next week! If you get any great Spam, you can post it here, just strip any links and the sender’s e-mail. And be sure to say something in the post to let me know you’re real. Otherwise I might think you’re…well, Spam.

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