The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire

HauntedVampire.com

2006-05-15T12:41:00.000-05:00

I bid you welcome. Enter freely and of your own will. Leave some of the happiness you bring when you vist the new HauntedVampire.com. If you have been kind enough to link to us, please update your blog roll to the new address. Thank you, my friend, protected static, for building the new lair for our dark tales.

Whitby rises from the grave

2006-05-11T22:54:00.000-05:00

As anyone who has read my novel knows, I love Whitby. And I've never even been there. From The Yorkshire Post:

A seaside town which was once one of Britain's worst unemployment blackspots has come first in a national survey of British resorts. During the 1990s the fortunes of Captain Cook's old port of Whitby had sunk to an all-time low with the worst jobless figures in North Yorkshire. But the port's economy has been regenerated by millions of pounds following visits by the Australian replica of Cook's ship Endeavour. It is bidding for World Heritage status as the home of Grade I listed Whitby Abbey, and at the other end of the scale it has prospered from its Dracula connection – Bram Stoker was inspired to write the spinechiller in Whitby and set an early chapter in the port. Now Whitby has come number one in a poll of seaside destinations by Holiday Which? – part of the Which? network, formerly the Consumers' Association – which says UK coastal resorts have come a long way in terms of the quality of their facilities and the cleanliness of their waters. Combing the shores from St Ives to the Firth of Clyde to select the 10 best, they decided Whitby was "a historic port with every-thing you could possibly want from a seaside resort". "Captain Cook set sail from Whitby on his way to the Pacific and, in Bram Stoker's novel, Count Dracula leapt ashore here from the ghost ship Demeter in the form of an immense dog," Holiday Which? says. "Without pausing, the undead aristo skedaddled up the 199 steps to St Mary's church graveyard, and so missed the chance to sink his fangs into some of the finest fish and chips in the UK at the Magpie Café. "Whitby is a town of two halves, its postcard-perfect harbour split by the River Esk. Beneath the jagged ruins of the seventh century abbey on the east side, the old town is a gem of cobbled ginnels where pasty-faced Goths browse jet jewellery in Georgian shops."

Ghostly 'Fingerprints'

2006-05-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

From The Film Asylum:

Brothers Cleveland Productions, an independent producer of motion pictures, has announced the completion of principal photography on its feature film, Fingerprints, a supernatural thriller. The film stars Kristen Cavallari, Leah Pipes, Josh Henderson, Andrew Lawrence, Lou Diamond Philips, Sally Kirkland and Geoffrey Lewis. Fingerprints is based on the widely publicised urban legend that took place 50 years ago in a small Texas town, where a school bus filled with children was hit by a train killing everyone on-board. The ghosts of the children are supposedly still in the area where the accident took place. It is said that if a car is put in neutral on the railroad tracks, the children will push the car off the tracks, leaving only their ghostly fingerprints behind. The movie centers on a troubled teenager who discovers the gruesome truth behind the legend.

Is it just me, or does Lou Diamond Philips seem to be in most movies of this type?

Nepal's king turns to 'god-woman'

2006-05-11T22:44:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't she be a goddess? From India's NewIndPress.com:

KATHMANDU: Four years of incessant ritual worship and animal sacrifices at various shrines in Nepal and abroad may have failed to uphold his absolute rule, but King Gyanendra is seeking fresh divine help. The king is now consulting a new "god woman", said a media report Wednesday. He is clearly undeterred by the fact that his 15-month rule, punctuated by erratic actions supposedly taken on the advice of his retinue of astrologers and god men, made the palace so unpopular that Nepalis are clamouring to abolish monarchy. A middle-aged, little-educated woman from Nepalgunj town in midwestern Dang district is the latest "divine mediator" for the Narayanhity Royal Palace, the popular Jana Aastha weekly reported Wednesday. Known as Bijuli Mata, the woman has supernatural powers and can bail the King out of his difficulties, royalists believe. snip Bijuli Mata replaces Kali Baba, a god man from India, who is said to know people in high places in the Indian capital. Last year, the Baba had also been flown in to meet the King and reportedly pray as well as mediate to strengthen his rule. Less than a week before the Bijuli Mata's arrival, the King made his first public appearance since surrendering power last week when he worshipped at a temple in Kathmandu Valley. Accompanied by Queen Komal, he had four animals and a bird sacrificed at the shrine of Dakshin Kali, whose worship is believed to increase one's power and destroy enemies.

Maybe it isn't always good to be king.

How to properly appreciate a cemetery

2006-05-11T00:34:00.000-05:00

From the Anthropology Outreach Office of the Smithsonian Institution: "Exploring Historic Cemeteries"

The exercise below focuses on historic cemeteries. These cemeteries provide historic archaeologists with an interesting opportunity to examine how artifacts (in this case gravestones) vary at different times and in different places. Such variations often reflect how a culture is changing, how cultures differ from one another, and how artifacts reflect these changes and differences. To understand differences in gravestones, archaeologists observe both the individual markers and the larger context or setting of these graves. In general, they ask how important are artifact patterns and the context of these patterns to archaeological interpretations. Select a cemetery to study and answer the questions for each part of the exercise.
What is the name of this cemetery? Spend about 15 minutes just walking around the cemetery. Pay particular attention to fences, paths, paved drives, chapels and other buildings, plantings, and other features of the landscape. Identify the boundaries of the cemetery. Is it marked by a fence, sidewalk, shrubs, or in some other way?

Make a rough sketch map showing the location of the fences, paths, and other features you have identified. Note the earliest and most recent gravestones and sketch in their locations. Does the cemetery seem planned or are the graves located haphazardly?

Using a standard form [...], record 20 gravestones. Try to find different styles of gravestones to record. Do you find certain gravestone styles in only some areas of the cemetery and not others? Are these styles associated with only certain time periods? What does this tell you about the size of the cemetery at different times and how gravestone styles changed over time?

I've been meaning to check out some of Seattle's historic cemeteries - I'll have to bring this with me.

California ghost hunters conference convenes

2006-05-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

From The San Francisco Chronicle:

Mendocino -- The ocean is breaking thunderously against the cliffs just a hundred or so yards from the historic Mendocino Hotel, and a misty fog is starting to appear on the horizon, swallowing the setting sun. A cold wind begins to blow as the sky darkens. The scene is set for ghost hunting. This will be the setting for the culmination of the 2006 California Ghost Hunters Conference, held April 28-29. It's a chance to use both technology and spiritual gifts to try to coax sleeping ghosts into shaking hands with the living. Where better to start than a graveyard? A dozen or so cars caravan to the outskirts of town, to an ancient cemetery mostly overgrown with weeds. A sliver of moon hovers high overhead, and the horizon is orange and blue as we tumble out of our cars and start walking quietly through the tombstones. As was recommended in a seminar earlier in the day, respect is paramount when trying to contact the dead. You don't demand an interaction, you request it. Not like those guys in the very popular "Ghost Hunters" TV show, it was noted, who can be downright rude.

An American Haunting

2006-05-09T22:43:00.000-05:00

The Cincinnati Post on a movie I'll get to see probably after I'm dead and buried and return as a ghost at the current rate:

Before serial killers and psycho killers and killer dolls, movies depended on the quaint notion of the supernatural for chills. "An American Haunting" takes that retro approach and comes up with more scares than many a modern gore fest. "An American Haunting" focuses on a famous, much-written-about case of a supernatural entity - the Bell Witch of Tennessee - and gives it a faithful, flavorful treatment. The subject matter may be historic, but the look and psychology of the film are contemporary enough to please sophisticated moviegoers who are predisposed to believe in forces beyond what can be seen.

Dracula rises in sequel

2006-05-07T16:59:00.000-05:00

From Time Out London:

Dracula is all set to return from the grave, with director Jan De Bont resurrecting the long-fanged anti-hero. Bram Stoker's estate has authorized a sequel to the author's classic gothic novel, and writer Ian Holt has put together a screenplay entitled 'The Un-Dead' (the subtitle of Stoker's original). Holt's script will take place 25 years after the original, and includes characters like Mina Harker and Van Helsing as well as Inspector Cotford, a police officer who was edited from Stoker's original manuscript.

More here and here.

Police chase off ghost hunters

2006-05-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

From The Carlisle (U.K.) News & Star:

GHOST hunters who break into a mysterious and remote Lake District house could be putting their lives at risk because of the dangerous state of the property. Police and local authority officials are concerned about a series of break-ins at Rigg Beck, the famous purple house at the foot of Newlands Hause, midway between Keswick and Buttermere. A police spokesman said that teenagers had been coming to the house, which once provided theatrical lodgings for the likes of Tom Courtenay and Bob Hoskins and was a favourite of poet Ted Hughes. Ted Hughes was also a regular visitor and Mrs Vee kept copies of letters and poems he sent to her.

American Haunting

2006-05-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

Someone asked me about this movie in another message thread. I haven't had the chance to see a movie in a while, but this is one I hope to see soon. From The Associated Press:

The spirits make way too much noise in "An American Haunting," a supernatural tale whose overbearing clamor is redeemed somewhat by engaging performances and fine 19th century period detail. Things don't go bump in the night - they go shrieking and caterwauling. Director Courtney Solomon, who made 2000's ludicrous "Dungeons & Dragons," takes a big step upward here, though subtlety seemingly remains a foreign concept to him. Creepy as it is at times, "American Haunting" loses much of its fright potential amid the frenzied visuals and screeching vocalizations Solomon employs to re-create the horrors wrought by an unworldly presence tormenting a Tennessee farm family in the early 1800s. Thank the spirits for the divine presence of Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland as Lucy and John Bell, the earthy souls whose family is haunted, and Rachel Hurd-Wood as their daughter, Betsy Bell, the focus of the phantom's wrath. The Red River, Tenn., family's unexplained haunting has fascinated ghost-hunters for almost 200 years. The film begins with a notation that the Bell haunting was the only documented case in American history in which a spirit caused a person's death.

By the way, I'll note is not lessened by the negativity of the reviewer. I find that most film reviewers are so biased against horror films of all types that if it is praised at all, it must be extraordinarily good.

Killer time

2006-05-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. If I told you I'd been too busy to post because of multiple killings, you probably wouldn't believe me and I wouldn't blame you, but nevertheless it would be true. And I spent most of last night and today with my three daughters because they haven't seen much of me either in the past two weeks. I watched part of The Unholy Night before they arrived home and then we watched Flash Gordon, one of the most entertaining bad movies ever made, together. Today I mowed the grass and worked on their treehouse, replacing the old steps with new. I took my daughters out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant, just the three of them, while Ms. Carnacki got some needed alone time at the gym and acupuncturist. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and now that three of them are down for a nap it is hard for me to fathom horror or ghosts or even vampires. Never fear. I'll post more later.

A happy story about death

2006-05-04T22:56:00.000-05:00

By special request for BooMan. I remember when I first met my dog Ben. He was a beagle puppy with a pack of other puppies in the bare dirt back yard of my uncle Ben. Ben was my grandfather's brother. My first name came from my grandfather and my middle name from my uncle. I named the dog after Ben. He (the puppy, not my uncle) had jumped higher than the others and I liked his enthusiasm. I was four. You don't put too much thought into picking out a dog when you're four years old. At first, Ben (the pup again although it also is true of my uncle) had the run of our farm chasing rabbits and jumping back from the big yellow tom farm cat. Tom (the cat, not my neighbor who also was a dear curmudgeon) terrified Ben, but little else did, including the skunk that sprayed him and left him smelling awful even after we bathed him several times. Ben (the dog although also true of my uncle) was rather lazy. He loved nothing more than sitting under the old apple tree at the foot of somebody. He wasn't particular (also true of my uncle) and he would travel from house to house for meals (again, true of my uncle, a World War II veteran who fought in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and France before returning home not quite right in the head. His wife, a particular woman, divorced him after he came home late -- or early in the morning depending on your point of view -- pissing in her flowers planted in front of the house one too many times.) But though he often scrounged food at the neighbors' -- and where we lived neighbors were a bit of a walk for him -- he always returned home for his meals as well. He was something of a character (also true of my uncle) and well-liked despite of or maybe because of his character flaws. As he grew into an old hunting dog, he didn't like the trouble of hunting if it meant getting up from in front of the wood stove (also true of my uncle).

I loved the smell of him. He smelled of the outdoors and he made me think of hunting prints although there was not much classy about him. He often listened to my troubles without comment except to lick my hand (the dog not my uncle who wasn't much for licking -- or listening to someone's troubles for that matter) and he was a great companion (true of my uncle as well.). When Ben (the dog, my uncle died later) passed away, I was living at home while going to college at the local branch campus. I cried over him and did not want him to be gone. And to be honest, he isn't. I think of him all the time. I can remember the feel of his fur, the way he liked his ears rubbed, the smell of him and the feel of his tongue on my hands. Nothing is gone forever as long as it is loved. Grief seems like a terrible thing. It isn't. It is the passing storm with the rainfall of tears to wash away the sadness and leave behind the good memories shining like a rainbow behind it. I think something that my uncle Ben said when he died is probably true about the passing of my dog Ben. My older sister, a registered nurse, and my younger sister, then a respiratory therapist, both were working when Ben came in to the hospital for the last time. He told them he had had a good life. And he was ready to go. And he did.

Ernie Pyle on Spanish speaking Americans

2006-05-04T20:37:00.000-05:00

I'm late to this by a few days, but apparently people on the right think there might be something unAmerican about Americans speaking or singing in Spanish. A reader at Digby raised a good question.

A reader writes in to ask:
Please tell us again why the Spanish translation of the National Anthem is making wingnut heads explode when they all but genuflect at the waving of the Confederate Rebel flag? Tell me please, which of these was meant to turn hearts to America, and which is meant to tear the country apart?
I don't know the answer to that. Apparently honoring the confederate flag is ok because it's a tribute to the heritage and culture of some Americans' forebears. But that's the only culture and heritage to which Americans are allowed to pay such tribute. The one that seceded from the United States and created its own country.

So I'm re-reading Ernie Pyle's Brave Men. I go through phrases where I break out all of Ernie Pyle's books and re-read them. He's got an incredible gift for words and imagery. And then I came upon some passages that he wrote during the Sicily campaign that are relevant to the debate today. So what does Ernie Pyle write?:

The bulk of the 120th hailed from my adopted state of New Mexico. They were part of the old New Mexico outfit, most of which was lost on Bataan. It was good to get back to those slow-talking, wise and easy people of the desert, and good to speak of places like Las Croces, Socorro, and Santa Rosa. snip The 120th was made up of Spanish Americans, Indians, straight New Mexicans, and a smattering of men from the East.

[There's a long section of names and addresses the way Pyle, an old time newspaper columnist would do]

The unit's losses from lines and shellfire were moderately heavy. Colonel Frantz estimated that half their work had been done under at least spasmodic shellfire, and at one time his engineers were eight and half miles out ahead of the infantry.

[More on the tough conditions and the Colonel living just like the men.]

A large percentage of the battalion spoke Spanish, and occasionally I heard some of the officers talking Spanish among themselves, just to keep in practice, I suppose. That New Mexico bunch missed more than anything, I believe, the Spanish dishes they were accustomed to back home.

[Any typos are mine and not Ernie's.] So why is the heritage of Spanish speaking Americans less desirable that that of the Confederacy? Beats the hell out of me.

Ghost ships plundered for cargo

2006-05-02T19:01:00.000-05:00

From The Telegraph of London:

Soaring commodity prices have inspired a new marine salvage venture to plunge the ocean depths in search of shipwrecked copper and tin. snip Deep6 has acquired a detailed archive of more than 200 20th-century shipping and cargo losses. It will be assisted by David Mearns, a world expert in shipwreck location. The archive contains the coordinates of merchant vessels that were sunk en route to England or Germany during the Second World War.

OK, it's not spooky on it's face, but it has enough details to inspire amateur horror writers.

In defense of goth

2006-05-02T18:55:00.000-05:00

A Canadian columnist has a defense of goth culture in the wake of triple murder in Canada that has people pointing fingers at Vampire Freaks.

The case in Alberta is just one where there are much bigger issues than just the clothes one wears.

Massachusetts Paranormal Crossroads

2006-04-30T22:16:00.000-05:00

Via an anonymous commenter, an excellent supernatural investigation site, Massachusetts Paranormal Crossroads.

Ghost hunting summit

2006-04-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

From the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle:

Ghost hunting isn't as glamorous at it looks on television. That's just one of many common misconceptions Western New York Paranormal, a local team of paranormal investigators, wants to clear up. "Most of our investigations are going out and sitting around in a dark house, taking pictures and shooting video," said Dwayne Claud, an investigator with the team. To set the record straight, the group launched the first Supernatural Summit on Saturday at the Army Reserve Center on North Goodman Street. "We think that putting on a conference like this will help to educate the public," Claud said. The conference blends the scientific methods of hunting the supernatural — ghosts, spirits and other unexplained phenomena — with the spiritual approach of psychics and tarot card readers. On the first day of the conference, shoppers browsed among crystals, candles and books. Others attended workshops focused on the history and methods of ghost hunting, like "Ghost Hunting 101" and "Orbs: What Are They Really?"

Code in the DaVinci Code decision

2006-04-29T22:06:00.000-05:00

From The BBC:

The judge who presided over the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case at London's High Court hid his own secret code in his written judgement. Seemingly random italicised letters were included in the 71-page judgement given by Mr Justice Peter Smith, which apparently spell out a message. Mr Justice Smith said he would confirm the code if someone broke it. "I can't discuss the judgement, but I don't see why a judgement should not be a matter of fun," he said.

Terrifying specter haunts pub

2006-04-29T21:50:00.000-05:00

From the Yorkshire Post:

A TERRIFIED landlord is calling in a priest to exorcise his Yorkshire pub after he confronted a ghostly apparition causing mayhem to his premises. Roger Froggatt, of the Low Valley Arms, was left severely shocked after seeing the ghostly figure of a woman dressed all in white when he went to what he thought was a break-in at his Barnsley pub around at 1.30am yesterday. But it was when he went to check the toilets that he got the shock of his life. In front of him stood the grotesquely disfigured apparition of an elderly woman dressed all in ghostly white. When she turned to look at him he saw half her face was missing, from her cheekbone down to her jaw. He and his wife Kathryn were so terrified they called the police who also witnessed spooky goings-on.

Shipyard calls in vicar to expel ghost

2006-04-29T21:44:00.000-05:00

From the North West Evening Mail of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria:

STRANGE spirits have scared the life out of BAE shipyard workers, prompting top brass to call in ghost-busting experts. A specialist in paranormal research and the shipyard’s chaplain, Reverend Di Hervey, will visit the Pipe Shop on Ferry Road next Tuesday to exorcise the spirit. They have been called in after paranormal occurrences caused things to go bump in the night.

Suspected killer claims to be 300-year-old werewolf

2006-04-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

The murder suspect linked to Vampire Freaks (see posts below) has some issues:

Jeremy Steinke is accused of a horrific crime: Killing a mother, father and their eight-year-old son in Medicine Hat. Now the mother of the 23-year-old suspect is speaking out, saying her son has been maligned in the media. Acquaintances of Steinke have told the press that he claimed to be a 300-year-old werewolf who liked the taste of blood. But Jacqueline May paints a different picture of her son, who is charged with three counts of first degree murder for killing a family. His 12-year-old girlfriend has also been charged. “He talked to me about anything,” says May. “He would say, ‘Mom, I love you,’ and I would tell him I love him."

NY Post vs. Vampire Freaks

2006-04-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

The New York Post gets shrill about Vampire Freaks.

Croatia revives vampire -- for tourists

2006-04-26T22:47:00.000-05:00

So if the vampire is revived and kills all the tourists, what will that do to Croatia's economy.

KRINGA, Croatia (AFP) - As evening mist slowly embraces this village in the heart of Croatia's picturesque Istrian peninsula, a few young enthusiasts gather in a bar trying to revive the legend of a 17th century local Dracula. Sitting in a red velvet chair in the "Vampire" bar, decorated with garlic wreaths and lamps with crosses, Mladen Rajko explains how local tourist authorities launched a project last year called "Jure Grando, the Vampire from Kringa". "No one is claiming that vampires or evil forces exist, all we want is to promote a documented legend in order to boost what we can offer tourists," says Rajko, 28, head of the nearby municipality of Tinjan.

Be careful Rajko. So who is their local version of Count Dracula?

In his 15-tome work "The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola", which was published in 1689 in Germany Valvasor tells the story heard when he visited Kringa. According to the legend, for 16 years after his death and burial Grando terrorised his former fellow-villagers, notably his widow. At night he wandered the area knocking on the doors of houses, many of whose inhabitants later died, it said. The lustful demon paid regular visits to his widow, forcing her to continue fulfilling her marital duties. Eventually, in 1672 a group of nine local men decided that they had to put an end to the menace. Upon opening his grave they saw Grando, his body intact, smiling at them. After the first attempt to drive a hawthorn stake through his corpse failed because the wood rebounded, the bravest of the nine eventually managed to decapitate the body, bringing to an end Grando's reign of terror, the legend said. "Grando already has all the characteristics of future literary vampires -- who appear some 150 years later -- he is a cynic, challenges both civil and church authorities and is sexually active," explains Boris Peric, a writer who investigated the issue.

Actually, those characteristics probably describe a lot of the tourists too.

Frankenstein on trial in Indiana

2006-04-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

From the Northwest Indiana Times:

VALPARAISO | The chains around the waist of the massive creature clanked noisily as he lumbered through the courtroom. Too large to fit easily into the witness stand, he flopped clumsily into the seat. "He left me, he abandoned me," the creature said, abdicating responsibility for the four murders in question. All the while, Victor Frankenstein, the creature's creator, sat at the defense table with a blank stare. The debate over who was to blame -- Dr. Frankenstein or his creation -- played out in the Porter County Courthouse on Tuesday evening. The mock trial, conducted by the Valparaiso High School Speech and Debate team, was part of the annual "VALPO Reads a Book!" civic event to encourage reading and conversation in the community. Organizers chose Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" as the book this year because of its universal themes.

What a great idea. You'll have to read the full story to find out the verdict. Before you do though, if you're familiar with the book, is Dr. Frankenstein guilty or innocent of the acts committed by his Monster in your opinion?

Accused killers met on vampire site

2006-04-26T22:02:00.000-05:00

No it wasn't here. It was Vampire Freaks. From The Chronicle Herald in Canada:

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — In one photo, she can be seen holding a gun to the camera as she professes her love for goth, punk, dark poetry and death metal music. In another, she’s pretending to cry, black teardrops drawn in eyeliner marking her cheeks. The images of a preteen girl, now accused of killing her parents and younger brother, were part of her website on the Internet, where she is said to have met the co-accused in the slayings, the Calgary Herald reported Tuesday. The two were arrested in Saskatchewan on Monday after the bodies of the deceased were discovered in their Medicine Hat home Sunday afternoon. "I go crazy if I’m kept inside my house for to (sic) long," the girl wrote in a Feb. 23 blog entry. The 12-year-old girl cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. A classmate of the seventh grader told the Calgary Herald she was "feeling really sad" because the girl was one of her closest friends. The friend told the newspaper the girl was a good student, earning marks in the 80s and above, but started to change about six weeks ago. Her well-scrubbed look turned goth with dark eyeliner and black nail polish, she said, referring to the teen subculture characterized by a preoccupation with macabre themes of death, darkness and sometimes vampires.

The people at Vampire Freaks are discussing it in this message thread. raging angel nailed it in my opinion:

So, did they find the body in Jet's apartment [he's the founder of Vampire Freaks, Carnacki]? No? They didn't? So why is anyone surprised that two out of five hundred thousand are murderers? Cleveland has a higher ratio of killers than this place does.