Book Review: Ghosthunting Maryland by M. J. Varhola and M. H. Varhola

Ghosthunting Maryland by Michael J. Varhola and Michael H. Varhola

This survey of hauntings in Maryland is part of a larger series of books, America's Haunted Road Trip. The books focus on states, regions, and cities in the United States. This book presents a lot of locations in the Old Line State. Maryland has seen a lot of historical events and figures that involve trauma and death, many from the American Civil War. The author traveled the state visiting sites, conducting interviews (both pre-arranged and spontaneous), and doing his own investigating, sometimes with help from members of ghost hunting groups like Maryland TriState Paranormal and Gabriel's Paranormal Society. He writes in an easygoing and personal style, telling what he did and experienced during his adventures.

What I enjoy in books with these types of ghost stories is learning the history of an area and reading dramatic stories of people's lives. I am not really interested in stories about using scientific equipment or identifying "spirit orbs" on photographs or getting reactions from people who claim to have sensitivity to the presence of the otherworldly. This book uses a lot of the "psychic investigation as narrative" storytelling. There are stories from history because that explains why areas might manifest supernatural phenomenon, but those stories are in service of the search for ghosts. So this book was not as enjoyable as other ghost story books in a similar vein.

The book ends with a travel guide giving a list of places to visit in Maryland, including some that weren't included in the narrative part of the book.

Mildly recommended--this isn't the sort of local ghost stories I enjoy the most.

Book Review: The Shining by Stephen King

The Shining by Stephen King

Jack Torrence has almost no good luck. A lot of things have gone wrong in his life, though most of his problems come from his own behavior. He was a promising author and taught English at a New England prep school. Unfortunately, he developed a drinking problem, which does not mix well with his occasional out-of-control temper. He's been fired and has wound up working as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. The Overlook is a luxury hotel up in the Rocky Mountains that's open from late spring to early fall. Jack has a chance to finish a play he is working on as well as reconnecting with his family during the isolated winter months.

Jack takes his faithful but wary wife Wendy and his son Danny. Danny has some psychic powers called "shining." He can see other people's thoughts and emotions; he has visions of possible futures; he feels the psychic presence of past objects and people; he can communicate with others who also have the shining. The parents don't know all of this, but they know that he is different. Sometimes Danny knows things that he couldn't possibly known. He's five going on six, so even he doesn't understand his powers. As the Overlook staff leaves, the African-American cook Hallorann takes the boy aside. Hallorann has the shining and recognizes Danny's very powerful shining ability. Hallorann warns Danny to stay away from certain parts of the hotel. And if Danny is in trouble, he should use the shining to call Hallorann back.

The hotel has a very checkered past, with lots of violent and tragic deaths. It's unclear whether the souls are trapped there or stay willingly or they are just manifestations of some malevolent entity embodied in the hotel. Weird events start happening, not just to Danny. Jack's delicate psychological state is exploited and abused by the hotel, as if it wants Jack and his family to become the next part of the checkered past. Danny and Jack start seeing, hearing, and feeling things as they spend more time at the Overlook. Bad things happen.

The book gives a fascinating portrayal of a slow descent into madness and horror. Jack's done a lot of bad things but he's also tried to reform his life. His father was an alcoholic and was abusive to his family, and probably his grandfather before that. The theme of being trapped in an unending cycle of misery is played out through him and the hotel. Wendy has a troubled relationship with her mother and deals with feelings of inadequacy as a wife and mother. She has her descent and tries to break out of her cycle too. A heartbreaking scene at the end has an insane Jack chasing Wendy slowly up a staircase, both very wounded physically and emotionally. Wendy is trying to escape the horror (by this point, she's hearing and seeing things too) while Jack is trying to drag her back down. The story is terrifying and heartbreaking, and also hard to put down because it is written so well.

I haven't read much Stephen King, only The Stand (which I read back in the 1980s) and On Writing (which I read a couple of years ago). Movies have filled in a lot of the gaps, but I should probably read some more. This book is so much better than the highly flawed Kubrick movie.

Highly recommended, though the brutal violence and language may be tough going for some readers.

The good folks at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast discussed this book on Episode 243. Go and listen.

Book Review: Hell House by Richard Matheson

Hell House by Richard Matheson

Belasco House was a home of great horror and depravity in the early 1900s. Emeric Belasco had the windows bricked up so no one could see in and, more importantly, his guests could not see out. Cut off from the natural world, they lived a debauched life that descended into madness, eventually turning on each other in the most gruesome ways possible. He died and the people were cleared out but the house was still unlivable because it became haunted. Nicknamed Hell House, it attracted two groups of spiritualist (one in 1931 and another in 1940) to try and exorcise the house. Both groups went crazy within a week and killed themselves. The only survivor (from the 1940 group) was a hot-shot spiritualist teenager, Benjamin Fischer, who lost his powers after failing to change the house.

The novel Hell House starts in 1970 when another group comes to the house to discover and remove whatever forces lurk within. Fischer comes back for a second try. Florence, another psychic who has promising powers, also comes. They are joined by Dr. Barrett and his wife. Barrett has been studying psychic phenomena in a scientific way and plans to prove his theories about what really causes "hauntings." He has a bit of disdain for the psychics but sees them as necessary to spark activity in the house. They've all been promised a lot of money by the current owner of the house, Mr. Deutsch, who wants proof of an afterlife. Deutsch even fronts money to Dr. Barrett to build a machine that he needs to "take care" of the haunts.

Once ensconced in the house, the group has a few seances that bring out the typical "you'd better get out of here or we'll have to kill you" messages, which they are more excited about than fearful of. Tensions mount between the psychics and the Barretts. Their continued investigations bring some insights into each other and the house's history but also causes a lot of pain and danger. And ectoplasm!

The story follows some standard haunted house tropes (science vs. psychics, is that ghost really who they say they are, etc.) but the characters are interesting enough that I bought into the plot. The book is graphic in that way many books from the 1970s are (the novel Jaws springs to mind), giving explicit details both sexual and gory. The graphicness bothered me, but the book is a horror story. I probably won't shelve it where the kids can reach it. The book is an interesting, typical haunted house book.

Book Review: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Middle-aged London lawyer Arthur Kipps relates the story of his first out-of-office assignment. He takes a train ride out of a city stifled by a yellow fog. He has to go through the papers of deceased client Alice Drablow, a little old lady who lived in an isolated house on the English coast. The house is called Eel Marsh House and is accessed by Nine Lives causeway during low tide. At high tide, visitors are stuck for many hours. Before he gets to the house, Kipps meets a local solicitor and they go to Drablow's funeral. They are the only mourners. At the grave side, Kipps sees a mysterious, emaciated woman clad in black at the far side of the graveyard. He mentions it to the other solicitor who doesn't want to hear anything about it. Nobody in town wants to talk about Mrs. Drablow or Eel House and they discourage Kipps from staying at the house. Of course, he gets caught there during high tide and at night. Many creepy things happen, including more appearances of the woman in black.

The book is a great ghost story. The spooky atmosphere and looming dread are well weaved into the story. The movie version follows the novel quite closely but even having seen the film I still got nice chills from the book. It makes for excellent Halloween reading.

Dual/Duel Review: The Haunting (of Hill House)

Dual/Duel reviews are an online smackdown between two books, movies, games, podcasts, etc. etc. that I think are interesting to compare, contrast, and comment on. For a list of other dual/duel reviews, go here.

Just about every book made into a movie is better than that movie. The only exceptions that spring to mind are Jaws (the movie wisely drops the soap-opera-esque adultery subplot in the book) and Moby Dick (the movie doesn't bog down in cetacean biology or whaling techniques). Otherwise, you are better off reading the book. But what about The Haunting, the film version of Shirley Jackson's novel?

Growing up I saw The Haunting on television and it scared the pants off me. The movie was made by Robert Wise, director of The Sound of Music and West Side Story. It's a simple and effective chiller about a group of people who go to a house to investigate psychic disturbances there. The organizer of the group is Dr. Markway, who wants to write a paper about the phenomena. Luke Sanderson, who will inherit the house, comes to represent the family interest, though he seems more interested in having a good time. Dr. Markway invites several other people to come to the house. Only two accept. One is Eleanor, a fragile woman who has spent most of her life caring for her sick mother (now deceased). She wants to go since she has nothing in her life other than an annoying sister and brother-in-law who are completely unsupportive. She takes the car (which is half hers) and drives off to Hill House to meet the doctor. The story remains mostly from her perspective and we can tell she's already troubled before she even gets to the haunted house. Things go bump in the night and from bad to worse for her as the story goes on.

The movie is highly effective in that it does not rely on special effects other than mostly sound effects. In one great scene, Eleanor is in a bedroom with Theo, the other female in the group. A noise is out in the hall, coming closer, getting louder. It bashes on the door like a cannon ball, then gets quiet and whispery as whatever it is tries to get in. It's all worked out through sound effects and is a great scene that made me hide my eyes in fear. Even the third time watching it!

The movie stays very close to the plot of the book (though the doctor's name is Montague in the book--it doesn't seem like there's much reason for a change). The book goes much deeper into Eleanor's mind and shows how much the house gets under her skin. Presenting her perspective is much easier in a book than a movie, so naturally that's better. There's also more humor in the book which allows readers to have greater mood swings when the horrors happen. Getting that balance right (the humor and the horror) is pretty difficult and more humor might have sunk the movie. The book is better than the movie, but this particular pairing is very close. Both are highly recommended (though avoid the 1990's movie remake, which is truly terrible because of the dependance on visual effects in the place of psychological terror).

For some great commentary on the book, listen to A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #71. Scott and Julie from the podcast are who inspired me to read the book, which I found at the local British library. Though they did say there's an edition with an introduction by Guillermo del Toro. I may search that out someday. The amazon link below is to that edition.

Winner: The Book



Loser: The Movie

Double Dead Tour in Edinburgh

Friday night my sister and I went on one of the many ghost tours available in Edinburgh. We chose the City of the Dead's Double Dead Walk. This walk includes the highlights of their two regular and exclusive tours, one for the South Bridge Vaults and the other for the Covenanter's Prison. We met our guide at the eastern end of St. Giles' Cathedral.

Our tour guide was a lovely Aussie named Ariadne, after the famous figure in Greek mythology who helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur Labyrinth. She (our guide, that is) has a completely unsqueamish interest in human bones and the paranormal. She claims no psychic or paranormal abilities but is fascinated with both and asked us to report anything we felt or experienced during the walk. Her enthusiasm for the subject and storytelling skills made the tour quite fun.

Ariadne does her worst to us in the South Bridge Vaults

The South Bridge Vaults is an area of the South Bridge that was originally used for storage by merchants who had their shops nearby or above. When they realized that sewage (including human waste) was seeping through the sandstone bridge and covering their wares, they moved it all elsewhere. The area became a haven for the poor (who couldn't afford to live in parts not ankle-deep in sewage), which eventually attracted criminals to the area. The area became so dangerous that the police would no longer come there. The boldness of the criminals increased. The average life expectancy for a male who moved into the South Bridge Vaults was six months, less for women and children. Between the sewage spreading disease, the graverobbers looking for fresher fare, and the baby farmers exploiting pregnant women, the area hosted a lot of suffering and many miserable deaths.

Ariadne's stories stuck mostly with authenticated history and her personal experiences of being a tour guide for seven years. She's seen a lot of people's strange reactions, including passing out (two people on tours were left behind overnight!), injuries explainable and unexplainable, people feeling "cold spots" or being touched (though she did admit often the touching was by "horrid buggers" on the tour trying to freak out their friends).

No way back, so we had to go on to the next stop....

Our next stop on the tour was the Covenanters' Prison in Greyfriars Graveyard, home of the Mackenzie Poltergeist. The Covenanters were a group of Scotsmen in the 17th century AD who protested being forced to become Anglicans by the English King. They were eventually defeated and a thousand of them were imprisoned in this part of the churchyard with no shelter and hardly any rations. Dying from the harsh conditions (exposure, starvation, intolerant guards shooting prisoners with little or no justification), this area also hosted a lot of suffering and many miserable deaths. After the prisoners left in 1679, the area was used for burials. Many mausoleums were built along the walls, including one for George Mackenzie.

This burial chamber, dubbed the "Black Mausoleum," is home to the Mackenzie Poltergeist. The mausoleum and the nearby churchyard experienced so many unexplained phenomena and attacks that the Edinburgh council had it locked, presumably to get rid of the complaints. The tour company organizer has since made a deal to allow groups in to see it, allowing them to pin all the complaints on the tour company. Ariadne told us that on a previous tour a man thought his chums were hitting him while in the tomb. She took him outside and looked at his back which had five large welts under his clothes. Another time a small boy came out of the tomb with blood all over his face. He told his mom and Ariadne that he felt someone touching his face and assumed that was part of the tour. The mom was understandably furious, though Ariadne admired the boy's pluck.

A quiet night in the mausoleum, mostly.

Our tour alas did not have any supernatural or unexplainable manifestations, though there were three "jump" moments provided by Ariadne's expert storytelling and other helpful sound effects. The tour was a lot of fun, even if a cold drizzle started halfway through. We enjoyed the stories but had no problem sleeping that night.

Church for Sale

I forgot to mention another quirk about our temporary living place. The church across the street is for sale. You can see the sign out front. Which made me wonder, "Is someone going to be driving along, see the for sale sign, and say, 'Wow, I should buy that church!'" I can't imagine that happening, but maybe my zombie brain just isn't imaginative enough.

Before you start thinking to yourself, "Wow, I should buy that church!" let me mention a few drawbacks about the church. First, there's the undesirable neighbors across the street. Though I have it on good authority that they will be moving out in a few weeks. So you could just be patient and bide your time.

Which reminds me of the second problem, the clock tower. Astute observers may guess from the picture below that I took the photo at 3:36 p.m., or to write it more Britishly, 15:36. That's a great guess, quite logical and based on the evidence at hand. The only problem is that we were walking in the morning when I took the shot. The clock tower is not working. So if you plan to make an offer on it, be sure to have that checked out.

At least you know what time services start!

A third problem is the tower. It seems they've swapped the bell out for an old-style television antenna:

Or maybe it's a Transformer hiding from Michael Bay

Not only is this a bad trade, but I think the antenna is also probably useless since British TV has switched to digital like we did in America.

The biggest problem is the spooky lights at night and the seemingly human forms that move past the windows in the dusk and the dark. You might think someone is fixing it up for the sale, but I like to think the church is haunted. It's the romantic in me. I guess you'll just have to check for yourself. Maybe they'll give you a discount if you can survive a whole night inside the church. It's Summer now, so nighttime is pretty short here at the higher latitudes.

If you are in the market for a church, let me know. I'll scare up more information. But I won't spend the night.