I have been reading a ridiculous amount of ghost stories lately. Usually in the bright daylight, because I’m the sort of person that will freak myself out and then I will end up spending the night with the lights on watching Disney movies. (I watched Cartoon Network once, but I either found or managed to dream the most disturbing Flintstones episode of all time, so that is no longer an option.)
I swear this isn’t random. In the science fiction serial I’ve been working on, there’s a black cat. I knew I wanted the cat to be important, but I wasn’t sure how, and so I put “cat protectors” into Google and somehow found a website called yourghoststories.com. It’s user submitted stories and pictures, and while some stories are obvious hoaxes, a lot of them read “true” enough.
I did end up finding a purpose for my cat (elsewhere) but I find the stories to be interesting and I’ve found some things that I might use for a dark fantasy novel I’m planning. The comments are a treasure-trove, full of people offering solutions to various ghostly issues and recommending things not to do. It is brilliant. I do wish the search function worked better so I could search for stories pertaining to certain things (mirrors, doors, portals) because right now I have to haphazardly jump from story to story.
I am a bit worried that I will eventually manage to scare myself silly anyway, but I persist in my reading for now.
How do you feel about stories of the paranormal? Silly, scary, good story fodder? Inquiring minds (and landsquid) want to know.
I’m so glad I found your blog! I’ve been tossing an idea for a series of blogs about amature ghost hunting! I would love to hook up with a ghost hunting team and do a series of blogs and tweets of my expirence in real time.
I’m also a writer of sci/fi and fantasy so it fits nicely.
Do keep in touch! Our blogs seem like we might have some common intrests.
That would be interesting, especially from a writing standpoint!