Imaginary Friends

I want to send out a belated Happy Birthday to Molly Daniels!!!!

Imaginary friends. Did you have one? Did or does your child have one? My oldest son had two actually…well three, maybe, if you count Jesus. He had a male friend named Jacob Trent, a dog named Peddy, and he often talked with Jesus. Sometimes he and Jesus would plant flowers together in the yard. When asked where his imaginary friends lived, he insisted that they lived with God.

The internet says imaginary friends are a figment of a child’s imagination and often act as guardians and/or protectors. My son’s imaginary friends had elaborate personalities and behaviors. They were always present and sometimes I would have to set an extra plate at dinner for Jacob Trent. Once I remember being told that I was about to sit on Jacob Trent, so I had to ask him to move. Mostly though, his imaginary friends weren’t a bother, except for the one time my son told me that sometimes Jacob Trent didn’t like me very much. I always wondered if that was his—being my son—way of saying he didn’t like me at times. *chuckles* I told him that Jacob Trent was welcome to go back home and not return.

One theory is that children with imaginary friends retain knowledge faster and develop better language skills than those children without them. It’s thought that this is because children with imaginary friends have more linguistic practice from conducting extra conversations with imaginary friends rather than solely with their peers. This may have some merit in my opinion. My oldest son was talking early, while I never thought my youngest was going to ever talk, but my youngest never had an imaginary friend either.

The internet also suggests that maybe imaginary friends aren’t imaginary at all, but spirits or ghosts. My son often saw people that weren’t there. Once he pointed out the window and asked if that “black man and white man” could come in and play with him. When I looked out the window and saw no one and told him that, he jabbed his pudgy finger on the window and insisted that they were “right there”. He clearly could see them, while I could not. And that was not his only occurrence seeing people that weren’t there.

He’s eleven now and has outgrown “imaginary friends” and doesn’t see people that aren’t there any more either. But, I still wonder. Were his imaginary friends just that—imaginary—or were they really ghosts or spirits or something else that were there entertaining him? I don’t know and probably will never know, but it makes me wonder.

So, what do you think? Are imaginary friends just imaginary or are they something else, something more? What have been your experiences with imaginary friends?

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Gracen Miller

Please Welcome Author...Elizabeth Black!!

Ghosts And Sex – The Ultimate Paranormal Bliss

By Elizabeth Black

Here's something you don't read every day. The headline was surreal: Two Women Report Ghost Has Been Having Sex With Them.

Yes, you read that right.

Two women in Washington State in the U. S. claimed that a ghost "has been placing sensors on their bodies and visiting them in their house […] They said that the ghost has been having sexual intercourse with them."

I swear I'm not making this up.

I had heard of women claiming to have been attacked by ghosts, but it was surreal to see such a matter-of-fact article about it in a local, modern newspaper. Have you ever seen the movie "The Entity"? It's a 1981 flick about a woman who was repeatedly raped by a ghost in front of her husband and children. The movie was slammed by critics when it first came out because it was rather explicit, but it became a cult favorite. It was supposedly based on the real life astral rapes of Carla Moran. Whether Moran actually exists has been up for debate for years. I've seen a reality show that supposedly interviewed her and had shown pictures of the ghost that had raped her, but the jury is still out on whether or not the woman actually exists. The movie was remade in Japan, and it is slated to be released in 2009. I'm curious to see it, especially since I saw the original years ago. Can't wait until it comes out on DVD.



I am always interested in ghosts and sex because lots of my erotic short stories have ghosts and sex in them. Ghosts are very versatile. They're perfect for tales of voyeurism. In one of my short stories for Scarlet Magazine, "The Party Crasher", I include a male ghost fingering his widow's breast while she is sitting at a séance, in full view of everyone. Of course, the ghost is invisible, so her comments to him to stop pawing at her are amusing to those sitting around her.

I have a special penchant for ornery ghosts. My new novel, "The Haunting of the Sandpiper Inn", has several ghosts in it, including one very ornery and horny ghost. That book has just been accepted by Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, and it will be released sometime in 2009.

It would probably be exciting to have consensual sex with a ghost, but being raped by a ghost would be horrifying. First off, you can't see the attack coming. Ghosts tend to be invisible, but not always. My erotic horror story "Sweet Spot", published in the Halloween short story collection "Monster Mash" by Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, is based on an Irish myth called "The Fatal Phantom of Eringle Traugh". This "ghost" – or demon, it's hard to tell exactly what it really was – appears to mourners in a cemetery in the form of the type of man or woman they are most attracted to. In my story "Sweet Spot", it appears to Derek in the form of a luscious woman who had used him up and dumped him five years earlier. He knows the story of "the hag" who haunts the cemetery, but ignores it so that he can get his revenge. The otherworldy sex they have is very rough and steaming hot, and once you finish the story, you realize that Derek would have been better off if he had left the cemetery with the rest of the mourners.

At the same time, a playful ghost could make otherworldly sex lots of fun. I wrote a short story for Scarlet Magazine called "Things That Go Hump In The Night" that involved a sexy spanking ghost. The fun thing about this playful ghost was that, since she was invisible, you couldn't tell when she was going to spank the woman who booked the motel room for the night. When she did, it was very arousing. People who like to be blindfolded while engaging in a little fetish play probably know how exciting it can be to not know when the spanking is coming. That's what gave me the idea for my story in the first place.

So, not only do ghosts make great characters for sexy fiction, they really do like to have sex with humans, if that Washington State case is any indication. Bored with your very human partner? Find a horny ghost! You'd be in good company.



Monster Mash
Buy it at Whiskey Creek Press Torrid
http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/torrid/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=344

For more information about "The Party Crasher" and "Things That Go Hump In The Night', contact Elizabeth Black at trishcwilson@comcast.net.

Where you may find Elizabeth Black on the web:

Elizabeth Black - Blog
Elizabeth Black - RomanceWiki
Elizabeth Black – Yahoo Group
Lizzie's Sexy Newsletter
Elizabeth Black - MySpace

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Don't forget to check back on Saturday for your chance to win one of Elizabeth's books!!

Disclaimer (because we don't have a choice): The views expressed by the guest blogger do not necessarily reflect those of The Deadly Vixens.

*All ghostly images provided by Elizabeth Black and were reportedly taken from Photobucket. No copyright infringement is intended.*

Haunted Locations

Awesome Friday, everyone! *waves* My topic today is haunted locations. Before I get to that, I have a personal experience I wanted to share first before I delve into my topic. My best friend’s mother passed away this past Sunday. It was sudden and this time last week, she was babysitting my friend’s children. I went to my friend’s home on Tuesday to help her go through a box of documents left by her mother and grandmother. We were in search of life insurance policies. The computer, cow box was full of bills dating back to the 1930s and straight through to her grandmother’s time of death in 2004. It was fascinating to look at the rate of inflation for a vehicle from 1939 to today; $300 was the amount of the new Chevrolet Sedan her grandmother purchased. But, I veer off course. We even found her grandfather’s original social security card where his name and number were etched into a metal card. It was awesome to see the difference between then and now. And again, I veer off course.

We didn’t find the insurance policies. So, giving up, we left her home to eat lunch. When we returned, her door mat had a section torn off of it in the design of a cross on her stoop. It wasn’t there when we left as I have a tendency to watch my feet when descending stairs. It’s a habit after falling on a flight of stairs and injuring myself in my teenage years. Upon spying this cross, I immediately insisted that it was a sign from her mother, saying everything was okay. Later, we found a folder of documents titled “Bev’s stuff” located on the table near the box of stuff we had gone through. That folder was NOT present when we went through those documents in the box. We spent several hours in the same spot, only for the folder to appear after we left and returned. No one else was present but the two of us.

You can think I’m crazy, but I don’t care. To me the cross was like a calling card from Bev, saying she was taking care of her daughter, the important insurance folder had been located and placed in a visible location. It was a strange, somewhat eerie moment for us both. Even stranger still, as we left for lunch my friend asked me if I had felt a presence with us while searching through the box.

Okay, now on to my topic….

The Winchester Mystery House

This home was built by Sarah Winchester, who was the sole heir to the Winchester rifle fortune after her daughter and husband’s death. Sarah consulted a medium and was told that her family was cursed because of the people who had died as a result of the Winchester gun. Through this seance, Sarah's husband, John, told her that the only way she could break this curse was if she moved to California and began to build a home for the spirits. There was one strange catch, however. If she ever stopped building on the house, the curse would reappear and take her life.

Sarah did exactly as instructed by her husband, building an oddly designed home where doors joined to windows and the number 13 prevailed. There were staircases with 13 steps, but they would lead to the ceiling and nowhere else. The thirteenth bathroom had 13 windows, while the kitchen sink had 13 drain holes. Most of the windows had 13 panes of glass, while there were 13 cupolas in the greenhouse and the walls had 13 panes as well. Aside from her fascination with the number thirteen, doors opened onto brick walls or dropped off to the landscaping below. Needless to say, Sarah Winchester's mental stability was in question.

There is haunting evidence of pages in books turning by themselves, organs playing when no one is present, doors banging, spots of light, cold spots, voices and fog-like sightings of people.

I’ve seen a documentary on television about this house, and “oddly designed” is putting it mildly. Fascinating story. It was said she had a seance room and she would hold seances there at will. Maybe by doing so she was inviting spirits the freedom to come into this realm at will. What do you think?

The Alcatraz Hauntings

Once home to some of the worst criminals, it is also rumored to be haunted. Moreover, it is rumored that the Native Americans believe it is a portal where malevolent spirits are permitted to enter into this world. There were reports of “The Thing” that had glowing eyes, witnessed by inmates and staff. There were further reports of shrieks, banging metal doors, rancid smells, weeping and ghostly figures.

Alcatraz was sometimes called “Hellcatraz” because it was sometimes the last stop before entering Hell. Death was a common occurrence at Alcatraz, from prisoner-on-prisoner murder, to guard beatings, and failed escape attempts. The first reported death was in 1857, wherein Daniel Pewter and Jacob Unger were excavating between the guard-house and wharf and were buried beneath a landslide.

It is believed that ghosts are caused by a life cut too short, typically in some traumatic way or because of some unsolved business. Alcatraz would certainly qualify for this type of residual afterlife.

There is still an unexplained event that transpired in the wee hours of the isolation block of Alcatraz, which was known as “The Hole” or the “Strip Cells”. It was located at the bottom of the prison, Cell Block D, and the most serious offenders of Alcatraz’s rules were kept here. As a punishment, they would be stripped of their clothing, held in a cold cell with a mattress that was removed each morning and given only the basic necessities, sink, lavatory and a small light. It was reported by guards that a figure from the 1800's haunted Cell Block D. The apparition was seen repeatedly and inmates asserted that they had been assaulted by a man with glowing eyes.

One evening, a prisoner shrieked throughout the night that the man with glowing eyes was assaulting him. Finally he fell silent. When his cell door was opened the next morning, he was found dead, a grimace marring his face and handprints on his neck. It was determined that the handprints were not self-inflicted. Whether this inmate died at the hands of “The Thing” with the glowing eyes or by an irate guard no one knows. It is believed that the murdered inmate became a ghost of Alcatraz. It was reported that this man showed up in a line-up with other inmates and then immediately dissipated to the astonishment of everyone in attendance.

Cold spots, along with impulsive emotional outbursts, apparitions alleging cruelty, vibrations and innumerable other ghostly traces have been reported by numerous psychics. These areas of ghostly encounters range from the hospital, Cell Blocks C and D, the Warden’s House, the therapy room, the lighthouse and the utility rooms.

If Alcatraz is indeed haunted to this extraordinary extent, one can only imagine the horrific atrocities committed against mankind there in order to create such a ghostly vortex. Tell me what do you think?

These are only two of the haunted places I researched. There are so many out there that if you are interested in this topic, I would encourage you to research it. It’s there free for your viewing on the world wide web. Share with us your haunted research or experiences.

Wish my boys luck as they are going to a karate tournment tomorrow! Have a great weekend everyone! *waves*

P.S. If you get a chance, don't forget to check out my post entitled Nominated for Night Owl Romance's Best Erotic Paranormal Romance where Terry Spear and I were nominated for Awards!!!

Please welcome author Skhye Moncrief!

Thanks for having me, Deadly Vixens! I'm sorry I missed my scheduled day during hurricane Ike. I was evacuated. (LOL, this reads executed when I reread it!) But Sarah was kind enough to invite me back. I've posted hurricane Ike pictures at my myspace www.myspace.com/skhyemoncrief. Check out what was ripped apart, sandblasted, and grounded...

I write insanely cross-genre romance. That really should be a genre so readers aren't stunned by the jolt they experience when embarking on a strange journey into my fantasy romance. ;) If you're interested in Druids, fairies, ghosts, the afterlife, soul mates, time travel, shape shifting, astral projection, numerology, Tarot, alchemy, and heroes in kilts with a theme that questions reality, my work should appeal to you. I'm formally educated in geology and anthropology of which both lead directly into worldbuilding. Hence, my Time Guardian series loaded with hunky kilted men and the women they are bound to for eternity, i.e. soul mates. I hate to say this, but you're probably one of these lucky ladies. You just don't know it yet! And who wouldn't want to learn this big guy with a sexy accent and enormous time-travel key, sword, is ready to whisk her off across time and space? Yep. Space. Because the past is born of the future. The future is born in the past. There are no coincidences. There is only purpose... And everything start on planet Scotia Major. Or so it would seem. Those blasted fairies just can't leave things well enough alone.

A few Time Guardian titles are available at http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=232, and a few are coming soon. My novel HE OF THE FIERY SWORD where once upon a time King Arthur was a time-traveling shape-shifting dragon is available in print at www.amazon.com. I'm also excited about my Time Guardian Halloween tale releasing Oct. 1--NAKED ON THE STAIRCASE. Read into that title any way you like, you're probably dead on! *chuckle* Of course, it implies nothing of the psychic vampire...

NAKED ON THE STAIRCASE:
A demon stalks Druidess Aron MacKintosh, trying to use her to gain control of the timeline in present-day Scotland. Time plows toward Samhain when the doorways open between the Now and the Happy Otherworld. She finds herself in a strange alliance with an unusual time guardian, Cowboy. The duo struggles to defeat the demon. If Cowboy can't earn her trust, the integrity of the timeline could be endangered. Only Cowboy's charm and southern idea of chivalry has what it takes to leave an ancient evil bound NAKED ON THE STAIRCASE.

I invite the curious to read chapter 1. http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com/2008/04/09/naked-on-the-staircase.aspx

I'm also fortunate in being included in a group of talented authors with the Wild Rose Press paranormal anthology, SONG OF THE MUSES, that's been released throughout this past summer. I took up the torch and ran with it into the dark Greek underworld with the series' first novella, ANCIENT MUSINGS. Each of the Greek muses gets a romance! And the series will be released in print as three anthologies in October! Plans are in the works for a second anthology featuring all the Greek muses once again. ;)

ANCIENT MUSINGS:
(One's darkness proves the other's light.) When Calliope challenges Zeus to end her immortal existence, she faces the reality of death in Hades. Only Jake Genoese, an archaeologist's soul, can outwit Zeus's Harpies and help her find new purpose. Far more is at stake when both realize they are no more than pawns for ANCIENT MUSINGS. ANCIENT MUSINGS was definitely a challenge to write because I knew very little about classical archaeology. In studying archaeology, my area of specialization was Mesoamerica a wee bit across the pond. Since I had always been interested in kilts and bagpipes, the Celtic mythology came easily throughout life. But Greek was literally Greek to me. ;) I found that the deeper I investigated the more fascinating Greek ideology became. So, I'm anxious to write another novella for the series.

On an instant-gratification note for those readers who love "free", my free read is available. VOW OF SUPERSTITION: DRAGON'S BLOOD is totally unrelated to my Time Guardians or the Greek series. If you like dragons, ritual, and poisonous blood, you can snatch up a copy at: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=232

As for what I do when I'm not writing, I'm usually hosting contests on my blog at http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com/ where I blog about reference books--everything from Scottish clans to life during different periods among different cultures, New Age interests, the paranormal, books on writing, and archaeology. That's not to say I don't post recipes, links to cool science articles (okay, maybe I'm the only person who finds them cool!), or blather about kids because I am a stay-at-home mom wrangling a three-year old 24/7. Everyone's invited to check out and enter my current contests. This week I'm giving away a photo mousepad and 5 romantic and inspiring gifts. So, stop by and enter!

As for the time you've spent reading this blog entry, I'm going to give away a pdf from the list of my available titles http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=232 to someone who'd like to share a psychic experience they've had with me by midnight CST tonight. I recently participated on a blog event hosted by a psychic author who informed me that I was a strong medium or clairvoyant based on things I saw and heard as a child. I've done nothing to check into this other than feel chilling gooseflesh and think maybe I don't want to see dead people. So, what about you? Have you had any strange experiences that made you wonder or investigate?

Thanks for having me, Deadly Vixens. I'm going to leave everyone with my favorite quote. "Be the change you want to see in the world." ~Ghandi

~Skhye
http://www.timeguardians.com/
http://www.skhyemoncrief.com/

Please Welcome Guest Author...Marilu Mann

I'd like to share a ghost story with you. Unlike many of the things I write about, this one is real…

There's a lovely Victorian home in a small town in Arkansas. Built in the 1920s, it has a wrap-around porch, rounded corner rooms, and the carriage house still stands in the back yard. There's also a gazebo where you can almost hear a band playing while men and women stroll around the backyard - the men in their high collars and the women in their long dresses carrying parasols. On certain nights, you really CAN hear music coming from the backyard…no, it's not the neighbors--it's some of the ghosts.

The house belonged to a friend of mine - I don't know if she still owns it, so I'd rather not reveal her name or the town itself, just to protect the privacy of whoever does own it now. I first saw the house at Christmas time. My friend, let's call her Barbara, had put a lighted tree on the porch on the second floor and another one in the front room (to the right as you faced the house). The front doors had oval glass fronts, and when you drove or walked past the house, you could see the staircase leading to the second floor. She'd wrapped greenery around the newel posts and had a small votive candle on every other step going up. All in all, it was a gorgeous house and I loved going by it.

One year, in the fall, I tried out for a play at the local little theater. The play was Blythe Spirit by Noel Coward. For those not familiar, the main characters are Charles (a writer), his second wife, Ruth, their friends the Bradmans, Edith (the maid), and Madame Arcati - a spirit medium. Madame Arcati has been invited along to the dinner party as a research subject by Charles. He doesn't believe in spirits, so when a séance is proposed, he goes along willingly. Little does Charles know that a real ghost will be raised…the ghost of his first wife, Elvira. Complications ensue…but I won't spoil it for those who aren't familiar with the story. J (There were several movies made of this play - Rex Harrison plays Charles to Margaret Rutherford's Madame Arcati (Remember her? She starred as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in many BBC productions.) in one of them.)

Anyway…I was cast in the play as Ruth, the second wife. Barbara was cast as Madame Arcati. We spent many nights at the theater, talking, becoming friends, practicing our lines. One night Barbara asked if anyone wanted to come to her place for a glass of wine. I took her up on it - being a poor college student in a 'dry' county, it was a good way to actually GET a glass of wine!

So, imagine my surprise when I followed her home and found that she lived in the Victorian house that I had to pass twice a day on my way to and from college classes, and that I secretly adored. Barbara introduced me to her husband who then excused himself to go work in his shop - the converted carriage house. She gave me a tour of the house - pointing out the curved glass windows on the first floor and the antiques in each room - including a baby grand piano in “the music room” (the room where the downstairs Christmas tree had been).

We went into the “family room,” no antiques in this room, just Barbara's cats - all four of them. The family room adjoined the kitchen where Barbara's collection of Carnival glass adorned shelves above the kitchen windows. We sat talking, sipping our wine and relaxing. Suddenly, from the kitchen, I distinctly heard the sound of glass breaking. I looked around, seeing all four cats in the room with us, one of them staring into the kitchen. There wasn't anyone else in the house, but Barbara didn't react to the sound. I just waited to see what she would do…eventually she got up and asked if I wanted more wine. When I agreed and followed her into the kitchen, we both looked around.

Barbara asked if I'd heard anything and I told her I had - we couldn't find anything broken anywhere, and Barbara shrugged it off as “the ghost trying to get some attention.”

Of course, I HAD to hear more about 'the ghost,' and here's what she told me. The house was haunted by three distinct spirits, an older woman, a younger woman (the daughter), and a little boy. The older woman was the wife of the man who built the house, the younger woman was their middle daughter, and the boy their grandson. Both the daughter and her son died tragically in the house, the daughter by suicide, the grandson by a lung infection possibly caused by influenza. The older woman died of a heart attack in her 80s, and not in the house.

The music from the gazebo is attributed to the younger woman - she loved the parties her parents would throw for all their friends and frequently hummed around the house. The breaking glass was an activity of the boy, as was the moving of some small objects (keys, shoes, glasses) from room to room. The older woman was a bit more direct - once overturning a glass case built into a table that was filled with knives belonging to Barbara's recently deceased son. Apparently the older woman didn't approve of any type of weapon in the house.

A medium who visited my friend told her about the two women and the child, even going so far as to tell Barbara that the older woman was very pleased with the renovations Barbara and her husband were doing to the house, and that the stain in the upstairs bedroom (the medium had not been upstairs at all) was caused by a leak in the dormer window in the attic, and the rattling in the pipes upstairs was nothing more than air in the pipes. Seems the older ghost wanted my friend to know about those two items specifically since one of them could be easily fixed and the other was going to take some time and effort.

I should mention here that my friend Barbara would NEVER read her lines in the house - you need to remember that she was playing a medium and many of her lines revolved around the séance in the play - she definitely didn't want to increase the ghostly population of her own home! There are more 'adventures' I could share from my visits to her home, but I'd like to hear about some of your 'ghostly visits/sightings/experiences.' Won't you leave a comment and share your experiences with everyone?

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Disclaimer (because we don't have a choice): The views expressed by the guest blogger do not necessarily reflect those of The Deadly Vixens.

Reincarnation

Hi everyone! I'm back to my Wednesdays for certain now. *winks* No more time away from y'all.

My thought on reincarnation is that it might be possible, but I but haven't really contemplated it much. I've seen movies and TV shows dealing with it. There was an episode of Blood Ties that had about a guy and a woman that had so many lifetimes together, and in each life they would find each other by going back to a certain tree. In the current life, she was older than him and had gotten married, but he was insistent on them being together to the point that he was trying to mess up her marriage. It was romantic at first, but then it turned into downright creepy. With that in mind, I think I prefer the concept of living out my life and then having my soul move on to the "afterlife." This world can be challenging enough with the thought of living in it once, let alone an infinite amount of times! LOL

Plus, if you think about it, in my personal opinion, if reincarnation was real then why would there be a such thing as ghosts and spirits trapped here on earth? They would go on to their next life right? Hmm... never say never though. I think I have reached my fill on philosophic ponderings for these wee hours of the morning.

Now, tell me your thoughts on the subject! What do you think about reincarnation? Do you believe in it, or do you hold some skepticism to it like I do? *smiles*

Sarah Mäkelä on Haunted Houses

Would I stay in a haunted house? You bet! I agree with Sierra about not wanting to be near a maleviolent ghost though. I wouldn't want it to start trying to hurt me.

I watched Supernatural last night and they were dealing with the haunted house topic. (I love Supernatural, and if Sam and Dean were there in the haunted house with me, I would certainly go stay wherever they were. LOL) The ghost they dealt with was freaky, and I would not stay in that house by myself! I have been on ghost tours, and I've heard from others who have seen ghosts, but I'm not really afraid of them though I haven't been able to see anything firsthand.

Earlier this week in some of the comments, some of us were talking how much fun it would be to stay in a haunted house together, but then again, we'd probably end up having so much fun that we would miss the ghost altogether! I think I'd end up going just to see if there was a ghost in the haunted house, and to see if I could see it.

Well, make sure to leave me a comment! I hope y'all have a great weekend.

Gracen Miller's ramblings on Haunted Houses

We’ve all grown up with stories of haunted houses or haunted dormitories or haunted areas—something haunted anyway. The city I grew up in had a local legend about a bridge. If one went to it at night, the ghosts of those that had driven off the bridge would haunt the place. Personally, I went necking down there with my boyfriend and I didn’t see anything. Nope, nothing! So much for a legend, huh? Or maybe I was too consumed with kissing the boyfriend to notice any ghosts had they been haunting the place. =)

The term “haunted houses” brings to mind my personal experiences though. I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in a house that, while not necessarily haunted, it had a spirit of some sort living with us in perfect harmony. A lot of times I often felt protected and loved by that spirit. I mentioned my father’s house where the spirit of what I believe to be my great-grandfather haunts the place. I really believe that was a haunting. The feeling was so intense, so vile and aggressive, whatever was there wanted us gone. Or that was the way I interpreted it.

I have a girlfriend (I’ll call her Nicole) who bought a home with her husband. It was a beautiful piece of property, twenty-five acres, with an older fixer-up home. The home was so old it had a well built on the corner of the front porch. It was cool, a neat little piece of history with the way things once were done. I can’t even imagine having to draw my water out of it just to meet the basic necessary needs. But after having kids I see the danger in it too. The place had oodles of potential and best of all it was away from the big city. It was so quiet and peaceful.

My first visit there, I came home telling my husband the place had a ghost. Everywhere I went, I felt like I was being watched. I never felt any hostility, but more curiosity. Daytime or nighttime, it didn’t matter, some unseen presence was watching. From inside the home to the shed in the backyard, something was always watching. The only time I could truly get away from the presence was when we would ride the four-wheelers across the back part of the property and woods.

I didn’t realize until we visited for a Halloween party a couple of months later that Nicole had purchased the home from an estate after the previous owner, an elderly woman, had passed away in it. It was like the light-bulb went off in my head—a V8 moment—where I thought ‘that is why I’m feeling those hidden eyes’. Another weekend I was there goofing off with Nicole and her mother, Jill, when Jill started talking about her conversations with the spirit of the woman who once owned the house! I got chills!! My eyes even watered! To have my feelings and thoughts confirmed was exciting. I went home that night and told my husband, “I told you so!” His reply was that I wasn’t the only crazy person in the world. ;-)

I’d love to hear your comments. And we’d love for you to come by the The Deadly Vixens Yahoo Group and tell us about your own "haunted house" experiences and stories! =)

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for special guest author, Teresa D’Amario!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! And wish my boys good luck this weekend; they are competing at a karate tournament! – Gracen Miller

The Making of a Ghost- Sierra's Story for the Week

Alexa stared at the dark man wielding the knife. She knew her life was over before he raised it to her neck. She knew it by the way he smiled at her. His eyes held a far off look, like he wasn’t seeing her. He was seeing someone else entirely. She held her breath as the sharp instrument sliced through her skin. The blood trickled from her neck.

His hot breath bared down on her, suffocating. She hoped it would end quickly, praying for quick release from this monster’s grip. He pressed the knife into her throat, but not hard enough to end her short life. Please, let him finish it. Why was he torturing her like this? She didn’t understand. If he wanted her dead, why didn’t he just do it?

She closed her eyes so she didn’t have to look into his smiling face, his yellowed teeth bared to disgust her. His palm crashed against her cheek and she whimpered. “Look at me when I kill you. Do you hear me?” His voice was loud and gruff. She tried to protest, to keep from looking at him, but he wouldn’t allow it. His fist made contact with her jaw. Her eye throbbed from the pressure building underneath.

“Please! Please stop!” She begged him for mercy and he was happy to oblige. The knife slit through her throat. The last sound she heard was his chuckle.

All went silent around Alexa and darkness engulfed her. Where was she? Was it over? She felt her legs moving, walking forward in the darkness. Finally, a light appeared before her. She stumbled toward it, her knees trying to buckle. She fell forward with a thud, her knees scraping the unknown substance of the ground. She saw the light flicker and tried to move towards it, but her strength was gone. Her eyes fluttered closed and she succumbed to the darkness.

Alexa woke with a start. Where was she? The ground was cold and wet, the sun barely shining through a mass of heavy gray clouds. She could hear singing in the background and turned to see where it came from. Her family stood dressed in black, in a half circle around a coffin. Her mother brought a tissue to her eyes while her father pulled her closer into his arms.

Alexa was intrigued and crept closer to watch her funeral. It was larger than she’d expected. The preacher talked of green pastures and still waters. Alexa wished it were true. She wasn’t standing in green pastures right now. She stood, actually hovered, in the middle of a cemetery while her family grieved. She couldn’t even comfort them.

Please Welcome Cozy Griffith

Hello, I'm Cozy Griffith and this is my first blog although I am already a member of this wicked bunch. I have responded to several of the posted questions, so you guys know a little about me. First I'll tell you some things that you don't know about me and then I'll try my best to thrill you and chill you with a ghost story. I am an aspiring writer and mother of three children. I am fortunate to have a very flexible work schedule, but nonetheless, I usually stay extremely busy. I am a long time friend of Gracen's (since we were 11) and have spent many years writing both my own stories and shared stories with her. I think I was about 6 when I wrote my first book, which was mostly illustrations with crayons and very simple words. I still have it and believe it or not my 6-year-old daughter just started writing her own books. All through junior high and high school, Gracen and I used to write stories back and forth to each other first in letterform and then in story form. Our stories eventually turned into sagas that spanned several generations of our characters. I think it was good practice and helped us both develop our skills as writers. I am currently working on a novel that I have been trying to bring to life for so many years. It started out with a simple idea and for so many years it wouldn't go anywhere. I had a beginning and an ending and that was it. No matter how hard I tried to force the words to come, they wouldn't. I finally set it aside and didn't think about it again for several years. During those years my life was quite chaotic and I didn't have time to even think about my novel. There was no reason to anyway; it had no substance. I just picked it back up this February and have been blazing through it. You see, I met inspiration in human form and finally found a purpose for the novel I had begun. I can't give too many details about my novel, but I will tell you it is a vampire love story that is full of intrigue, deception, awareness and of course, sex. It will be a few more months before its completed, but hopefully soon.

Now that you know a little about me, let me tell you about the picture that I am sending in with this blog. My friend and I spent a wonderful weekend in New Orleans this February. Walking around the French Quarter this time was like seeing it with new eyes. I heard things and felt things that I had never experienced before. I have already alluded to the incident in the bar where a stranger who apparently knew my friend from a former life approached us. Creepy... We visited a tarot reader on Jackson Square who knew things about us that there is no way she could have known. The door of the restaurant in the lobby of our hotel opened and closed on its own. Freaky... On our last morning there we were walking around the Quarter, finishing up last minute shopping and taking pictures. As we walked down Ursilines, we passed a building with a sign that said 'Haunted Hotel on Ursilines'. Just for fun we took 2 pictures. That evening when we got home I uploaded the pictures to my computer so we could all look at them. When we got to those pictures, I zoomed in on the window and behold we could all see a ghost! Thought that was pretty cool. Take a look at the picture and see if you see what we did.

I also took a picture of Marie Leveau's Voodoo Shop and it turned out blurry except for the Bourbon Street sign in the middle of it. I thought this was strange, too.

I’d love for you to come friend me at my myspace page here.

Well, that's about all the time I have right now. Hope I did all right, G.

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Disclaimer (because we don't have a choice): The views expressed by the guest blogger do not necessarily reflect those of The Deadly Vixens.

Also, don't forget to join Sarah and I at The Literary Nymphs TODAY for a chat from 12pm-6pm EST.

Things that go bump ALL DAY LONG!!

Ghosts! That seems to be the topic for the week, so I’ll stick with it. But they don't go bump only at night in my house.

Unlike my counterparts, I have had supernatural experiences. Many of them, none of which are ever centered around one place or one event. Paranormal central – that’s my life. I mentioned on The Deadly Vixens forum that I had seen my great-grandfather at my dad’s house with my stepmother in the form of a white t-shirt. The only visible part of this apparition was the white t-shirt. There was no arms, no legs, no head, absolutely nothing. That has been the only real apparition I’ve seen.

Mostly I simply sense that there is another unseen presence about. I’ve watched doors open, balls of white light appear and disappear, I’ve felt the cold chill of prickles skimming my skin and knowing without a doubt that someone was watching me when I was completely alone. I have never felt the so-called “cold spots” off the ghost hunting shows. I have ghosts come to me in my dreams...a lot, way more than I would like. The last girl that came was beautiful and young, but I sent her away, refusing to listen to anything she had. I felt terribly guilty the next morning and I still wonder what she had to say. But if I don’t send them away, they interrupt my sleep and I do not get any rest.

I think this ability has been passed to my oldest son. As a small child he would see people that were not there all the time. One night, he was standing at our bay window overlooking our driveway and asked if “they” could come in and play. I was thinking maybe someone was outside, so I went to the window and peered out. No one. When I told him no one was there, he proceeded to point and tell me that they were right there, “a black man and a white mine.” They wanted to come in and play with him. I wanted to say “hell, no!”. Instead, I calmly told him that they were not allowed to come in and play. My logical thinking was that maybe they were similar to vampires and couldn’t come into my home without an express invitation. No way was I expressly inviting them into the home.

That was only one of several incidents with my son. He saw people all the time. He told an invisible man to get out of our apartment repeatedly; I believe that same invisible man pushed him out of bed once. That apartment had the creepiest feel to it, with a distinct hostile undertone.

He had imaginary friends and dogs that he named. The imaginary friends were with him all the time. He talked to them as if they were real people right there with him. They would ride in the car with us, eat at the table with us, sit on the couch and sleep in our beds. Sometimes I thought enough was enough. One time I was scolding my son and he told me that his imaginary friend, who was named Jacob Trent, said he didn’t like me very much some days. I told him that his friend Jacob Trent was welcome to go home if he didn’t approve of me. I laughed about it later, of course, because my son was dead serious. Now, if you haven’t figured it out already, I am one of those people that strongly believes “imaginary friends” are none other than ghosts. Believe me when I say the things my son and his imaginary friends came up with required an imagination. My son has never had much of an imagination.

Scariest of all, there was a week out of the blue that my son would cry about going up to his bedroom because he was scared of the man in his room. He had never given us trouble before about sleeping in his room, so the suddenness of it was strange. When we tried to explain that no one was in his bedroom, he insisted that there was and that the man had green hair and red eyes and he would stare at him from over his bed. I took that child to church the following Sunday! I don’t know what the man was, but he never messed with my son again.

This is the tip of the iceberg for me. I could write another ten pages, but I’ll end my blog here. Leave me some comments! Even if you think I’m one crazy gal, tell me; my husband does often and I won’t be offended.

And don’t forget, we’d love for you to come by the The Deadly Vixens Yahoo Group and tell us about your own supernatural experiences! =)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Continuing on with the topic of Things That Go Bump In The Night topic, I'll share my experiences. I haven't really had a ghostly experience, or been visited by any sexy vampires, unfortunately. I would love to be able to experience something spooky and know it involved seeing a ghost or something along those lines.

Anyways! I had a pretty nervewracking experience when I was younger one night in an old house in a very small town called Adams, TN. It basically just had a gas station, a museum for the Bell Witch, which had a small eatery, and a post office. If you've ever heard of the Bell Witch that is where she haunted the Bell family. I'd already known about those tales when we'd gone to stay with a family friend for a visit.

The family friend happened to live across from a church with a graveyard, which added to the spookiness! I would look out the window hoping I would or wouldn't see something strolling along in the graveyard.

One night there happened to be a bad storm and there was just me and my mom at the creaky, really old house. The lights flickered a bit and there were strong winds. The house kind of freaked me regardless of it being dark and stormy that night, but put together with that. Wow! Creepy.

We closed both of the doors coming into the room, and I huddled under the blankets. Needless to say, I was happy when we left there! Okay, so I didn't see anything... just knowing that I was so close to where some stuff really had happened emphasized my fear, and well, the graveyard being right there didn't help the situation! lol

Come by the Yahoo! group and tell your own supernatural experiences! =) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/deadlyvixens/

Things that go bump in the night!

I'm sitting in my house at 2:30 in the morning and thinking to myself how lonely it gets when everyone has to go to bed. I love my house, it's so pretty. It's an old two story with hardwood floors throughout. It has the most amazing dark wood trim, which is what made me fall in love with the place. It's so pretty, but it can be kind of creepy in the early morning hours when all is silent and no one is awake but me. For some reason it reminds me of "The Sixth Sense". I love that movie. Love it! So anyway, as I sit here alone in the quiet, except for the soulful sound of a train whistle as it passes, my mind gets to wandering. Naturally, I'm thinking of ghosts. Makes sense right? Old house to "Sixth Sense" to ghost. There's a good train of thought (no pun intended).

So I'm thinking of ghost stories, all the ones I've heard throughout my life. My aunt telling us about how she saw my grandpa sitting on the end of her bed at the exact moment that he passed away (in another town completely), all the family members who swear my mother's house is haunted (my daughter included), and the story of the old sawmill that used to run on the family farm. Supposedly, a man was killed at the sawmill and if you listen at midnight, you can hear the blades running. I swear that as a teenager, my friend and I heard it. But that's as close to the supernatural that I've come. There was an old house on the farm that belonged to my great-grandparents that has fallen into dilapidation. We used to love to explore it when we were teens. I can remember one Halloween when my friends and I decided to spend the night there. It wasn't that far from my parents house, so they agreed to let us spend the night (probably because they knew we wouldn't stay). My dad hooked up a generator so we could have lights in the main room. We had a blast, but we didn't stay all night! As the hours passed and midnight approached, too many of my friends started freaking out and refused to stay. So we ended up going back to my house. Ah, the good old days.

I've always been fascinated with the supernatural. I have done my share of chasing ghosts, but I haven't found one yet. Give me time, I'm sure one day I will. Who knows what will happen. I may pass out, but I hope not. So this is my question for the week, I want to hear about your ghostly encounters. Has anything happened to you that you'd like to share? Be sure to check out the Deadly Vixens yahoo group and post your stories. I can't wait to read them.

I've finally got my web page up and running. Please stop by to check it out. Well, it's time for me to change my thoughts from ghosts to vampires as I have a story to work on. Good night and don't let the bedbugs bite (or whatever else lurks in the dark)!