Here's a haunting photo from Swan Point Cemetery (where H.P. Lovecraft, among others, is buried), shared with permission from the photographer, 
primroseburrows.
And now, on with the show:
Link of the Day: Northstar Gallery. (Visit here for fine art photography and photos of cemetery and memorial art. Don't miss it!)
Literature of the Day: "Mrs. Amworth" is a vampire short story that is quite remarkable, not only for the scares it delivers and the vampire lore it introduces, but also for the fact it includes an early scientific paranormal investigator as one of its main characters. This is a chilling and absorbing story definitely worth reading. Enjoy the spookiness!
"Mrs. Amworth"
by E.F. Benson (1867-1940)
Excerpt:
I went straight up to my bedroom, of which one of the windows looks out over the street, and as I undressed I thought I heard voices talking outside not far away. But I paid no particular attention, put out my lights, and falling asleep plunged into the depths of a most horrible dream, distortedly suggested no doubt, by my last words with Mrs. Amworth. I dreamed that I woke, and found that both my bedroom windows were shut. Half-suffocating I dreamed that I sprang out of bed, and went across to open them. The blind over the first was drawn down, and pulling it up I saw, with the indescribable horror of incipient nightmare, Mrs. Amworth's face suspended close to the pane in the darkness outside, nodding and smiling at me. Pulling down the blind again to keep that terror out, I rushed to the second window on the other side of the room, and there again was Mrs. Amworth's face.
Read the complete short story here.
primroseburrows. And now, on with the show:
Link of the Day: Northstar Gallery. (Visit here for fine art photography and photos of cemetery and memorial art. Don't miss it!)
Literature of the Day: "Mrs. Amworth" is a vampire short story that is quite remarkable, not only for the scares it delivers and the vampire lore it introduces, but also for the fact it includes an early scientific paranormal investigator as one of its main characters. This is a chilling and absorbing story definitely worth reading. Enjoy the spookiness!
"Mrs. Amworth"
by E.F. Benson (1867-1940)
Excerpt:
I went straight up to my bedroom, of which one of the windows looks out over the street, and as I undressed I thought I heard voices talking outside not far away. But I paid no particular attention, put out my lights, and falling asleep plunged into the depths of a most horrible dream, distortedly suggested no doubt, by my last words with Mrs. Amworth. I dreamed that I woke, and found that both my bedroom windows were shut. Half-suffocating I dreamed that I sprang out of bed, and went across to open them. The blind over the first was drawn down, and pulling it up I saw, with the indescribable horror of incipient nightmare, Mrs. Amworth's face suspended close to the pane in the darkness outside, nodding and smiling at me. Pulling down the blind again to keep that terror out, I rushed to the second window on the other side of the room, and there again was Mrs. Amworth's face.
Read the complete short story here.
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Comments
I've saved the story for later... and the link to the website. I'm planning on a story with a lot of supernatural overtones and you can't ever have too many sources!
I hope you enjoy the story. There's a neat section at the end that explains how the tale sets up some of the classic vampire story ingredients we now see in so many works of fiction and film. I hope it's useful! I'm really excited that you're working on a story incorporating supernatural ingredients.
I haven't seen too on film with kids and creepy because my medium for creepiness is usually books, which can be worse sometimes because my brain can conjure up all kinds of strange images.
Yes - that's it exactly!
Ooo... {{{hits print button}}}
{{{shivers at picture}}} I watch waaaay too much TV... ;-)
http://freepages.pavilion.net/tartarus/b.htm
http://freepages.pavilion.net/tartarus/b14.htm
http://freepages.pavilion.net/tartarus/b15.htm
http://freepages.pavilion.net/tartarus/b16.htm
Kim Newman's novel Anno Dracula features a number of famous and obscure literary characters, Mrs. Amworth among them.
One of the main characters is a reluctant female vampire who was born in France during the Hundred Years' War. I didn't care for her that much and wouldn't read his other books where she's the protagonist, and I'm not a huge vampire fan in general, but Anno Dracula is a great read and full of literary cameos and a few larger parts. I bought the book on abebooks and plan to reread it one day.
I will not spoil the fun by listing any of the other borrowed characters I remember.
The foreign-sounding woman who used to appear in the Folger's coffee commercials always reminded me of Mrs. Amworth for some reason.
PS--icon love!
Also thanks for the story link. Hope you are enjoying the wonderful Halloween season.
Deal! ;) I think this one is particularly effective, because it's looking down toward the grave rather than up at the heavens.
I hope you're having a great Halloween season, too! :)