Book Review: The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James

The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James

This book contains a second set of ghost stories by M. R. James after Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories. This collection of creepy tales follows the same format that makes James so successful: a mundane setting is interrupted or offset by an uncanny event or unseen force that causes terror and problems for the characters in the story. My favorites are "A View from a Hill," "There Was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard," and "Wailing Well." All the stories are interesting and give a little chill. The final tale is in fact a dozen medieval ghost stories from a medieval text (with the original Latin and James's translation). 

As with the previous volume, an appendix has writings by James about ghost stories, both his and others'. He provides a lot of leads for further reading. In one essay, he reveals the heart of his idea of an excellent ghost story: "...here you have a story written with the sole object of inspiring a pleasing terror in the reader; and as I think, that is the true aim of the ghost story." [p. 254] If you don't know what a "pleasing terror" is or find it intolerable, then ghost stories aren't for you. I do have a good sense of it and share James's idea, which is why I enjoy certain ghost and, more broadly, horror stories. This is another excellent collection.

Recommended, highly if you like a pleasing terror now and then.

Book Review: Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James

Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James

M. R. James was an academic at King's College, Cambridge, over the turn of the twentieth century. While he was a serious scholar, one of his hobbies was telling ghost stories at Christmas time. He's an acknowledge master of the genre and his stories have been adapted for both movies and television. This collection of fifteen stories includes a few short pieces by James in the appendix.

The stories are delightfully spooky. James's down-to-earth writing style helps to ground the uneasy situation in which the characters find themselves. A bit of humor goes a long way in heightening the contrast between the mundane realities of life and the supernatural intrusions that disrupt those realities. A lot of these people stumble into their problems or inherit something that on the surface seems desirable but has a lot of cost attached to it. My favorite stories here were "Number 13," "Casting the Runes," and "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad.'"

The appendix has a short essay on the stock elements of a ghost stories with some humorous asides. There's also an early comic tale of being trapped in King's College Chapel with the stained glass windows coming to life and introductions to some of the collected volumes of his works.

Highly recommended--these make great Halloween reading or Christmas Eve telling, if you have that British-style Christmas eve.

TV Review: A Ghost Story For Christmas (2013-2022)

A Ghost Story For Christmas (2013-2022) directed by Mark Gatiss

These BBC show are five separate spooky stories by the guy who plays Sherlock's smarter brother in the Sherlock series, Mark Gatiss. The second one is an original tale by Gatiss, the others are adaptations of stories by the classic British ghost story writer M. R. James. They were broadcast on Christmas Eve on the BBC following a tradition dating back to the 1970s. Here's the episode by episode breakdown...

The Tractate Middoth--A librarian has an episode when he looks up a book requested by a strange patron. He goes on a short holiday to get some air and a change of scenery. His bed and breakfast is the home of a mother and daughter who have a problem related to a book. The mother's uncle was a wicked and manipulative man who had a nephew and a niece. Originally his estate was to be divided equally, but just before he died he wrote a will giving everything to the nephew. He told his niece that he made a will giving everything to her but it was hidden in a book. He gave her some clues which she passes on to the librarian. He goes back to his library only to discover the volume in question is the very volume the strange patron wanted. The story has a lot of atmosphere and thrives more on that than on a suspenseful plot. I enjoyed it but it felt very familiar.

The Dead Room--An aging voice actor (Simon Cowell) is recording a horror story in the original studio where he started narrating tales for "The Dead Room." It's a radio show he has been doing for decades. His return brings up some old ghosts (or are they just memories?) that makes the recording a difficult process. He's a bit condescending to the young producer (Anjli Mohindra), describing all the classical elements of a creepy story. Unfortunately, the rest of the story follows that exact same pattern, making the experience feel more mechanical than unnerving. There's some special effects with lighting, camera angles, and make up that are more serviceable than scary. This show depends entirely on style and there isn't enough to overcome the self-awareness.

Martin's Close--A member of the 17th century gentry is accused of killing a simple-minded woman with whom he had been having an affair. The story is told through both a modern-day gentry relating the strange case from a transcript he had bought and also through the period courtroom drama, where the story is mostly told through the prosecutor's words (the prosecutor being played by Peter Capaldi). The case is strange because the woman appeared after her death a few times according to the testimony of witnesses. The tale is a bit creepy but the double levels of narrative take the viewer a little too far away from the action to be truly effective horror.

The Mezzotint--A university museum art dealer (Rory Kinnear) is offered a mezzotint, a black and white print. This particular mezzotint is of an English countryside house. The merchant wants a lot more than its seeming worth but the dealer takes it anyway. The label on the back is torn, leaving insufficient evidence to identify the house easily. The dealer is also doing research on his family history. Things become unsettling as the picture changes from day to day, with a sinister figure coming out of the woods and entering the house. Of course it is impossible. His small group of university friends also see the changes which tell an unsettling story. The whole show is unsettling, with a minimalist style that builds a lot more tension than seems possible. I was genuinely unnerved by it, especially the ending.

Count Magnus--Englishman Mister Wraxhall (Jason Watkins) travels to Scandinavia to research a family's history. The family's founder, Count Magnus, built a great estate and was a merciless lord to the locals. He was so bad, he went on a "black pilgrimage" to the Holy Land, coming back with something or someone unsavory. Local legends are vague and pessimistic. Wraxhall's investigations lead to even more unpleasant discoveries. This is another good chiller like the previous story. Both were based on M. R. James stories and make for some fine half-hours of horror. 

The series is available to stream on Kanopy as this is published (October 2024), though it is just called "Ghost Stories." "The Mezzotint" was easily my favorite of the bunch.

Book Review: How Fear Departed the Long Gallery by E. F. Benson

How Fear Departed the Long Gallery by E. F. Benson and illustrated by Seth

Church-Peveril is the countryside estate home of the Peveril family. It's also home to a plethora of ghostly apparitions, both visual and audible. The Peveril family is okay with the situation since most of the specters are benign and quite familiar. They spooks are old family members from centuries before. The only problematic ones are the twin toddlers who show up in the Long Gallery after sunset. They are not mischievous troublemakers but are genuine terrors who were tragically killed by a relative who wanted to inherit the estate. Whoever sees them dies soon afterwards, often in horrible agony. The Peverils only talk about the twins to warn visitors not to stay in the Long Gallery in the dark. As the title suggests, the problem of the Long Gallery is resolved by the end.

This story is actually a short story, not a full length novel or even a novella. This book is published as part of a series of Christmas-time ghost stories, in the old (18th century) English tradition of telling scary tales on Christmas Eve (hence Dickens' A Christmas Carol). The illustrations are fine but very few, maybe five or six in the whole text. The art follows the style of the cover above. I read this on my Kindle and found the story quite delightful--equal parts humorous and scary with a highly satisfying ending. It was well worth the 99-cent price.

Highly recommended.

I was inspired to read this story by, you guessed it, A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #267. They also discuss Dark Benediction by Walter Miller, which I read as part of an anthology of Miller stories I had to buy because it wasn't available anywhere else (a good story was hard to find!), and Honeysuckle Cottage by P. G. Wodehouse, which I read as part of an anthology edited by Audrey Niffenegger I found at the library (so not hard to find but easy to read just one story and return it guilt free).

Book Review: Ghost Stories of California by Barbara Smith

Ghost Stories of California by Barbara Smith

This book covers a wide range of stories of ghostly experiences in California. Tales from the entertainment industry, the ghost towns abandoned after the California Gold Rush, and everyday life are brought together. A lot of the stories are fairly short (just a page or two) and they are told more from a reporter's perspective than from a folklorist. The author takes the subject of ghosts scientifically, enumerating various types of apparitions and phenomena and referencing the sort of ghost hunters who use special cameras and other scientific equipment. While the attitude fits her writing style, I find it less interesting. I'm more interested in the drama and the history that comes with ghost stories, so I found this book only mildly interesting and less satisfying than other collections of ghost tales.

Mildly recommended--this isn't bad, it's just not my style.

Philly Ghost Tour

My eldest and I went on the Philadelphia Walking Ghost Tour, which did not feature any actual walking ghosts. We did the walking and the tour guide told the stories, all from the colonial period.

The tour started in Washington Park which was first called Southeast Park back when William Penn laid out the city plan in the early 1700s. 

Washington Park

The park was originally used as a potter's field, meaning that those who could not afford a proper burial were buried here. Many of the combatants, both British and colonial, from the American War for Independence were buried here. The park was renamed after George Washington and a memorial to the unknown soldier was set up, along with flags from the thirteen colonies.

Maryland flag

Memorial for those buried here

The guide told us about two ghosts frequenting this area. One is a soldier who marches about. Mostly his footsteps are heard, though on foggy nights a shadowy figure can be seen. The other is a lady with a pistol. She used to patrol the area at night keeping away grave robbers. The guide advised us not to come back to the park with a shovel unless we wanted trouble!

The tour moved over to Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation and the U. S. Constitution were all crafted. The ghost of Benjamin Franklin sometimes wanders around and Park Rangers either see or smell him. He was a bit gouty and didn't smell too well in real life.

Independence Hall at night

The other ghost that has been spotted is Benedict Arnold. He was a patriot at the beginning of the war but circumstances (like his own pride) drove him to betray the colonies. He died in England though his ghost has come back, maybe to make amends for his wrongdoing.

Franklin's ghost is also a bit of a traveler, because he's been seen across the street at the Library of the American Philosophical Society. He founded the society and donated many books. In the afterlife, he would take books off shelves, sometimes leaving them open on desks or tables. The cleaning lady often had to reshelve them. She put up with the bother for a while because it was the 1930s and other jobs were scarce. Eventually she got frustrated with Franklin and yelled at his ghost to stop the pranks. Her tactic worked!

The Library of the American Philosophical Society

Franklin does some other traveling. His statue above the door supposedly comes to life and walks down the street to City Tavern, where it takes a chair up on the second floor. We did not see him wander off during our tour.

A block or so away is Carpenter's Hall which was used as a bank in the early days of the country. The bank was robbed one night. The authorities arrested the guy who installed the safe, figuring he had the keys and the combination so he had the most opportunity. While he was in jail, one of the bank employees started depositing large sums of money into the bank. The bank officials wondered where he got the cash. They discovered that he and an accomplice had stolen the money. The thief gave back the money and lost his job; the innocent man was freed. 

Carpenter's Hall

Long afterward, when the building had some renters upstairs, they would hear people moving around on the first floor. The first time, they called the cops who could find no evidence of intruders. The second time it happened, the renters just listened. Eventually, they assumed it was the ghosts of the thieves re-enacting their crime.

A block away is the First Bank of the United States. The bank was very controversial because the U. S. Constitution did not authorize the Federal Government to start a bank. Alexander Hamilton was in favor of the bank and of repaying many of the debts incurred by the war. George Washington was a bit of a father-figure to Hamilton and often went along with his proposals. Thomas Jefferson was opposed to the idea. The situation was divisive enough that a political party called the Federalists grew up around Hamilton, while Jefferson's side formed the Democratic-Republicans. Thus another non-constitutional institution was created--the two-party system!

First Bank of the United States

Hamilton haunted the bank, often walking past the doors of workers. If any worker was not busy, the ghost would make a mess of the paperwork in the office! The building is currently closed for renovations.

Around the corner is the Bishop White House. Bishop White was a colonial clergyman who had a very tragic family life. His wife died in the house, along with many of the children. Even a few of the servants died there. He moved to the third floor and eventually died there. Sometimes a tall, thin figure is seen in the top-floor windows.

Bishop White House (it was a narrow street)

Down the street is the Todd House. John Todd was a lawyer who married Dolley Payne Todd. He died of yellow fever in 1793. Dolley stayed in the house and was eventually courted by James Madison. When he visited, he often had an uneasy feeling sitting in the parlor, like the late husband was keeping an eye on things. Dolley married Madison and became the first lady. She started the tradition of entertaining at the White House as a way for the introverted Madison to talk with and influence other officials.

Todd House and our guide

Just a block away is Saint Joseph's Church, one of the original Catholic Churches in Philadelphia. William Penn had set up the colony as a place of religious freedom (a very forward-thinking attitude at the time). As long as you worshipped one God and paid your taxes, he was okay with you living in Pennsylvania. Commodore John Barry, father of the U. S. Navy, was married here. His first wife, Mary Clary, died and was buried at Saint Joseph's. Barry eventually remarried, to a non-Catholic named Sarah Austin. They still attended services at Saint Joseph's, but the new wife often felt pinches and hair pulls. At first, she accused her husband. He denied it, as did others in nearby pews. They moved to the back where no one was near them. Sarah still felt the harassment, so John concluded it was his former wife causing the trouble. They went to a different parish where the pestering stopped!

Statue of Barry by Independence Hall

The tour was really great. It was mostly historical with some colorful anecdotes thrown in. We highly recommend it.

Movie Review: Kuroneko (1968)

Kuroneko (1968) written and directed by Kaneto Shindo

Feudal Japan is plagued by war. A mother and daughter are raped, killed, and their house is burned down by a band of samurai who happened to be passing through. The women come back as vengeful spirits, luring random samurai deep into a bamboo grove where that samurai meets his doom. A war hero is brought in to deal with the demons, though he has his own problems both with the head samurai (who naturally wants the demons gone) and with the demons themselves.

This simple plot is made into a fantastic movie by the atmospheric cinematography and sound design. The ghosts are surprisingly mundane until they turn against whichever samurai happens to fall into their clutches. The women, even in demon form, are very sympathetic and strong, providing an interesting foil to the completely unheroic and selfish samurai in the film.

The story has an unexpected twist about a third of the way into the film that moves the plot in an unexpected direction. This move creates a lot of suspense about where the story is going and kept me riveted to the screen.

I enjoyed the movie a lot and am thankful to the B-Movie Catechism guy for flagging it up in one of his posts.

Recommended, especially for Halloween viewing or a chilling Christmas Eve ghost story like they have in Britain.

Book Review: Seven Dead Pirates by Linda Bailey

Seven Dead Pirates: A Ghost Story by Linda Bailey

Sixth-grader Lewis Dearborn has a bunch of problems. He's "terminally shy," meaning he hardly talks at school and has no ability to stand up to bully Seth. His great-granddad just passed away and left the spooky, rundown old house on the cliff to his parents. They keep the house only if they live there for six months. His parents are older and over-protective, so they are not enthusiastic about living in the moldy old fixer-upper. Lewis's reputation for being weird is only going to get worse when people find out he lives there. Lewis does get the bedroom at the top of the house's tower, which has spectacular views, old-fashioned toys, and the ghosts of seven pirates. They washed up on the shore after they were tossed overboard by evil pirate Dire two hundred years ago. At first, Lewis is frightened by the ghosts. Eventually, he learns to get along with them. His great-granddad's plan was that Lewis would help the pirates by reuniting them with their ship, which is now on display at the town museum. Can Lewis come up with a plan to get them passed the scary cars and potential onlookers?

The story is very charming. Lewis is a fun protagonist. His school problems are familiar and he handles them with varying degrees of incompetence. Other characters come to the rescue, especially the new girl at school Abbie, whose parents are just as weird. She gets by because she can talk to just about anybody. Lewis grows as a character in expected fashion. His interactions with the pirates and the other people in town (including his parents) are fun. He slowly grows into a more active player in his own life. The ending is action-packed and satisfying.

Recommended--a fun, light book for young and old.

Savage Mill Ghost Tour 2016

To celebrate the season, my wife and I did the ghost tour at Historic Savage Mill, Maryland. The tour began with a quick overview of the history of the mill, from its initial construction in the 1810s (delayed by the War of 1812, naturally) to its current state as a mall-like collection of restaurants, shops, and artist studios. The history gave us several reference points for the spectral stories from our tour leader.

Ghost Tour begins at Savage Mill

For most of its existence, the mill was indeed a mill, producing canvas made from cotton. That canvas was used for everything from clothing to tents to ship sails and many other uses. By the end of World War II, the demand for canvas dropped and the mill closed in the late 1940s. A great visionary tried to turn it into a Christmas wonderland (including a one-ring circus). He was too far ahead of his time and the operation went out of business in about a year. The mill was then used as a warehouse before it was converted into shops and artist studios in the 1960s. Both construction workers and patrons of the mill have had odd experiences that are credited to ghosts or other supernatural phenomenon.

I'll tell just a few stories so as not to spoil the tour, but merely to whet readers' appetites to go on the tour. One shop is Clipper's Canine Cafe. The store's inspiration, Clipper, was a dog who used to laze about in the middle of the store. One day, the dozing pooch suddenly jumped up and yapped at his tail. He settled back down for a few minutes, but then leaped up again and barked at where his tail was. After a few more time, the dog left the store. No coaxing from his owner or his owner's mother could bring him back into the store. Perhaps the spirit of one of the children who worked at the mill was giving a little tug at the poor puppy's tail.

By the canine shop

Many workers who stay late into the night occasionally here some commotion in the hallways, as if children are running up and down. We can confirm that children do run around the mill, since we have played hide and seek there with our children. The stories were about restaurant managers who heard commotions at 2 or 3 in the morning, so that definitely wasn't our kids! The managers have also heard people eating in a back corner of the restaurant, only to discover an empty booth. The guide said that some managers have taken to leaving paperwork till the morning so they aren't bothered by late night shenanigans from people who are no longer there.

A hall frequented by our children...and maybe other children?

The tour doesn't have a lot of blood-curdling horror in it. One story involved a girl with a bloodied face who appears at a door. Whenever occupants come to help her, she vanishes. Often, the police are called in to help find her in the mall, but the more experienced officers know that they won't find anything. There's never a child or a blood-stained trail to follow. Again, it might be a restless mill worker making an appearance.

The spookiness is pretty mild. With only two hundred years of history and no real horrible crimes (except for Gooney Man Bridge, of course), the tour is quite PG. I think our nine-year old would be fine to take the tour.

More stories in the courtyard

We recommend the tour, which runs till the beginning on December.

Movie Review: Crimson Peak (2015)

Crimson Peak (2015) written and directed by Guillermo del Toro

Bookish young woman Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is mostly focused on publishing her first novel in 1901 Buffalo, New York. She is distracted from her ambition by Englishman Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). He's in town seeking financing from her father and his bank. Thomas's English estate has a special red clay that is very versatile. The only challenge is mining the clay. Thomas has a contraption that will mine efficiently but needs money to make a full-scale model. Edith's father has the goods on Thomas--Thomas has already been to London, Edinburgh, and Milan seeking financing. All with no success, so the dad does not want to finance him. Meanwhile, Thomas woes Edith. Is his motive true love or gold digging? A tragedy makes Edith travel to England as Thomas's wife, but her new home is haunted by more than doubts about Thomas's motives--there be ghosts as well.

A lot of Gothic horror tropes are in this movie. The spooky, isolated countryside estate is called Allerdale Hall. The clay seeps up from the ground, staining winter snow red, making it  the titular Crimson Peak. The house's creepy housekeeper is Thomas's sister Lucille (Jessica Chastaine) who is an excellent piano player and an icy woman. The house has a dark basement that you don't really want to visit. The house is stocked with poison, ghosts, secrets, dilapidation, and a library to die for. The steampunk element of the mining machine is an interesting addition and del Toro provides a lot of amazing visuals and atmosphere.

Then why is the movie disappointing to me? The heroine is on paper an interesting woman but she's a little too passive and subdued to be a favorite. Hiddleston's character and performance is charming and complex but his character peters out at the end. The story is a little predictable which isn't so bad but the movie had no breathtaking or heartbreaking moments. Outside of the awesome visuals and Hiddleston's performance, the film is not very remarkable.

Disappointingly average.

Oktoberfest at the Kentlands 2015, Part I

This year we celebrated Oktoberfest at Oktoberfest at the Kentlands. The Kentlands is a section of Gaithersburg, Maryland, and has both a strip-mall, chain-store shopping area and a quaint historic neighborhood with a market square, village green, and mansion. The fest stretched between all of these spots, making it one of the larger street festivals I've seen. Just my daughter and I went since the toddler is on an anti-social napping schedule and the birthday boy had a friend coming over. The first thing we saw (after getting off the shuttle from parking) was a balloon tower.

Going in the right direction

We navigated many streets full of booths to get to the Oktober part of the fest. We had some snacks and I had a beer as we watched the traditional German dancers.

Shopping...

...more shopping!

Volk dancing...

...more dancing!

Beer and a pretzel

Right nearby is the Arts Barn which was having an open house, featuring all sorts of art and a chance to get a picture with the Arts Barn resident ghost.

Arts Barn

Relatively dark inside

Face painting outside

Let me have my sunglasses back, please!

Visiting the ghost was tricky. When we first went, we got to the front of the line only to discover that the ghost was going on a twenty minute break! We came back later in the day and did make it in to see the ghost. Or the ghost's shadow, which appeared on a sheet right behind us. I tried to take a picture, but as is usual with paranormal evidence gathering, the photo did not turn out well.

Knocking on the ghost's door

Waiting for the ghost

I swear the ghost appeared just behind this sheet and I saw its shadow! 

Back outside, we saw an American version of the Green Man. The Green Man is a mythical figure who represents the fertility of nature. He's often seen in architectural carvings both medieval and modern with leaves around his face or shooting out his mouth. Spring is his season. This guy is more about Fall, with red, orange, and yellow hues. He was walking around and getting his picture taken.

The Orange Man? (Red and Yellow wouldn't work)

Front view with someone photo-bombing us

More in the next post!

Gen Con 2015 Seminars and Workshops

Gen Con has a long list of seminars, workshops, meetings, and other get togethers that allow attendees to zero in on their favorite part of the hobby. Some focus on role playing as a player or as a campaign designer; others focus on crafting and painting models and miniatures for all sorts of games; others concentrate on game design, development, and distribution; still others focus on writing skills, tips, techniques, and advice for publishing. I attended a few seminars, here's a sampling:

• Pathfinder Card Game Developments--a panel including the game's designer discussed the soon-to-be-releases Mummy's Mask adventure with its new system for selling those items collected during an adventure that you really don't need. They also talked about an online/app version of the game that is close to completion and was available at their booth in the exhibit hall. It was an interesting presentation but I realized I am not into the game as much as the other people in the room.
• Medieval Food and Cooking--medieval cooking expert Daniel Myers discussed various myths and truths about food from the period of 800AD to 1500AD in Europe (his definition of medieval). He said that English cuisine was quite good until they learned to boil things! He debunked a lot of myths, especially the "they used spices to cover up the flavor of spoiled meat." He said the medieval people would leave the meat on the hoof as long as possible and only kill an animal if it was going to be eaten immediately. Butchers could only sell meat the day they butchered it, unless they killed it in the evening. Then they had to sell it before noon the next day. Also, spices were expensive relative to today, so it would be much cheaper to just kill another animal than to eat rancid meat and use lots of spices to cover up the flavor. He said they ate any meat they could catch, so they had a much more varied diet than we do. He also talked about vegetables, the fancy feasts they put on, how the church's dietary restrictions impacted the diet, and lots more. The point of the seminar was to let writers have more accurate depictions of food and eating in their books, shows, and games. The presentation was great.
• Teaching Through Games--Christopher Harris, a former teacher and now school library administrator, talked about using games in education, especially for home schooling. While most games are good at practicing critical thinking, just playing games won't really be educational. Games need to be tweaked to bring out the instructional content available. For example, Evolution by North Star Games can teach about biology, ecosystems, and Darwinian principles. One way to adapt it for teaching is to take out the carnivores and see how that changes the ecosystem. Without natural predators, herbivores survive and thrive for a few rounds but, soon enough, food production doesn't keep pace with animal reproduction and mass starvation happens. This result can help students understand why limited hunting by humans can have a positive impact on the environment. Harris also had a great definition for games: The voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles. Games can often be delightfully unnecessary as players discover new and varied ways to overcome difficult obstacles through intelligent play. Harris has a line of books about games in education for secondary schools and is working right now on elementary and pre-K resources. The seminar was excellent and well worth the time.
• Ghost Stories--a panel of ghost hunting experts were supposed to tell us about various hauntings in Indianapolis. I was expecting a sort of ghost walk without the walking. Unfortunately, they followed a slide show for a bit which discussed some hauntings in Chicago, then they switched over to telling some of their own experiences and asking the audience for their experiences. The presentation was disorganized and they weren't the dramatic story tellers I am used to on ghost walks. They were very low key and were just as interested in hearing from the audience as in telling their own stories. The highlight came when a train at the nearby station came in, causing a rumbling noise that some people thought was some sort of psychic phenomena. Overall, I found the presentation disappointing.

On the other hand, the hotel where the Ghost Stories seminar was held has amazing architecture. The reason the train rumbled the seminar room is because the hotel is built into the downtown train station. Visitors can see the steel girders and even stay in rooms that are train cars!

Crowne Plaza attached to the convention center with an above-street walkway

Coming into the hotel from the convention center

Train car with rooms and a statue

A better shot of the statue

Hotel lobby looks like a train station

Workshops included teaching about painting miniatures. I saw an amazing case full of miniatures that were in some sort of competition.

The Phoenix and the Gorgon (if you couldn't guess)

Red dragon about to get the drop on Cthulu

Futuristic battle minis

Futuristic marine minis

Ancient Spartan warriors

Not sure what era these guys are from

Another workshop had people crafting foam weapons. Then, they had a small arena to test out the weapons!

Battle area

More of the battle area