Showing posts with label #GhostStories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #GhostStories. Show all posts

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Ghost Stories Now and Then by S. L. Carlson


Ghost Stories Now and Then by S. L. Carlson



Do you believe in ghosts? Should you believe in ghosts? The idea of ghosts has fascinated me my whole life. Ghosts have been around for as long as there have been people.



I’ve never been keen to see one, but I have sensed and heard them. I don’t like to acknowledge them for fear of an introduction. Ignorance-Ignoring is bliss. Still, it’s hard to ignore a mixer turning on and off by itself. So when something like that happens I spin and point my finger to the air, and in my strongest ghost-scolding voice, say, “Stop that! Not funny!”



A house siding contractor went into our basement when we weren’t home. He had no business down there. I only figured it out when we returned and he looked pale, asking if our house was haunted. I laughed and mentioned our doorbell ringing at odd hours with no one there (even when we’re by the door to “catch” anyone). He mentioned a door slammed when he was inside. (Why was he inside, anyway?) Even though there was no breeze, I suggested the wind did it. He said there were no windows opened. Well, yes, there were, but not in the basement! Good, old ghost.



The Great Lakes have thousands of ghost stories, as well they should from the many untimely deaths on them. One told in the Milwaukee Journal, January 24, 1895, is of a man named Bill who died en route to Buffalo. When the ship arrived, the entire crew felt the vessel was now unlucky, so didn’t sign on for the trip over to Cleveland. The mate shanghaied a new crew. As they neared the boat, they pointed to the ship’s mast. The mate recognized the figure as Bill. The new crew, drunk as they were, fled. Finally other crew members came. The ship never made it to Cleveland. It sunk off of Dunkirk with all hands.



One more (of the thousands): On November 28, 1966, the Daniel J. Morrell broke apart in the middle of the night during a storm on Lake Huron. Watchman Dennis Hale was in his bunk when the ship cracked. He grabbed his life jacket and ran on deck in only his shorts. The ship had buckled. He ran back to his bunk for his pea jacket and made it into a lifeboat with three others. As the waves crested the raft, the water turned to ice on them. They lay in the lifeboat. Dennis was in the middle. The other three froze to death in the night. The next day he washed up on rocks, but too far to swim in the freezing water. He started to eat the ice from his pea jacket when a translucent man in white hovered over him and told him not to eat the ice or it would lower his body temperature and he’d die. The following day the same vision occurred. He was rescued, given last rites because he was so near death, but lived. As the sole survivor of the sinking, it took more than twenty years before he told the rest of the survival story with words of ghostly advice.



F.Y.I. There will be ghosts in my book coming out in September with BWL, Escape, War Unicorn Chronicles, Book 2. Find my other books here: http://www.bookswelove.com/authors/carlson-sandy-young-adult/

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

DK Davis about Secret: At HL Woods, YA Paranormal


Tell a little about the main character in Secret: At HL Woods.

DK – I’ll let Bri tell you – here’s Bri Lancaster, main story-star of Secret: At HL Woods 

Hello everyone! I’m Bri, seventeen-years-old, and just finished my junior year in a new high school. I should be used to a new school because my family moves around a lot, but this move took me away from my best friend, Luke. Plus, we moved in March, so I didn’t really have much time to make friends before summer break…if I had wanted to.

Anyhoo, my dad got mom and me all settled into an amazing house on a lake – great neighborhood as far as that goes (even though I’m not really the type that really cares who our neighbors are). Then, dad left us…so, Mom, had Gramps move in.

The ongoing arguments and Mom’s emotional roller coaster ride died down somewhat – but I still didn’t like spending time with her.

Gramps was another matter, worth coming home and learning about Gram and her ability to see ghosts. No one, other than an aunt and Gramps, knew about my communications with the spirit world. I’d learned at a young age to keep it to myself or I would be medicated like a crazy (thank goodness Mom wasn’t an advocate of medications).

It’s tough not talking to a spirit when they know I can see them – let’s just say moving around so much saved me from most of the embarrassing situations that branded me as a “crazy” or “weirdo.”

I’ve managed to keep mostly to myself, until Luke, my best friend, who also had his own branding situation going on within his family.

Hope you decide to read my story and learn how the 1960’s murdered couple, Martin and Gloria, find their justice…and how I discover there’s more to living…much more. Nice to meet you all; )


Do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?

DK – I love this question and have actually shared it previously. When I was young, I had a few times when I woke out of a dead sleep to see an old woman standing beside my bed. Each time she’s reaching for me. I was so terrified, I closed my eyes and screamed my head off. If I would have been a little more evolved, I could have spoken to her.  Like I mentioned, she came back to me a number of times…and I’m sure it was to give me some sort of message (at least that’s what I choose to think😉.

I believe she might have been my grandmother who passed away when I was only a toddler. She has never come back to me since my youthful interventions with her. I do sense energy (positive or negative), and I also feel empathy, deeply, for those around me, which tend to create issues for me at times.

So, in answer, do I believe in the paranormal – I give a resonating YES!!


What titles are you working on now?

DK – I have a few books I’m working on to submit this year for release.

Jake & Sam ~ Twisted Tales of Freakish Fun – an anthology for mid-grade that I’m co-writing with S. Willett (author of the Country and the Rock mid-grade trilogy). Release scheduled for late spring / early summer 2018. The book is about two friends, Jake and Sam, and the crazy, fun adventures they each have and share. Once in a while, their adventures come together. And they wreak of paranormal, supernatural, sci-fi, and maybe even fantasy – but always freakish fun.

Secret: of Amber Eyes – Another book in the Secret Series to release sometime in December 2018. Morgan Redding graduates high school then gets sent to her aunt’s wildlife refuge in northern Michigan (her mother considers Morgan a trouble-maker and wants time without her to be alone with the new husband). Morgan discovers a species of beings beyond comprehension until she becomes one…

Malevolent, A Kendra Spark Novel – the second book in the Kendra Spark series, written as S. Peters-Davis and due to release in August of 2018. Another supernatural, paranormal suspense-thriller romance – Kendra, Jenna, and Derek have their work cut out in finding the head of a human trafficking ring kidnapping teenage girls, plus the kindling heat between Derek and Kendra shifts from playful to passionate.





Excerpt from Secret: At HL Woods (First meeting between Bri and ghosts)

Without a word, I ran toward the mound of wild rose vines and thistles, where Kyle and Max had stood a moment ago.

A black man and white woman shimmered into view beside it, arms around each other, both staring at me.

I stopped so abruptly I almost lost it again. Apparitions.

“Martin, look at her. She’s seein’ us.” The woman’s distinct southern accent caught me, but what set off my cursed paranormal spidey-sensors was their clothing…straight from the 60’s, according to some of the old romance books I’d read from Mom’s stash. 

“By damn, she does see us.” He stepped closer to me with the woman at his side. “You can see us.”

“I can, yes.” Holy crap, I just said that out loud. My whole body tensed. I glanced over my shoulder to see if Kyle and Max still roamed face-plant alley. A shiver shook through me. They’d left.

“We need your help, Missy.” Martin’s brows arched, his head tilted. “Please tell us you can help us.”

The woman turned to him and patted his cheek. “It’s gonna be all right, sweetie. We ain’t botherin’ this fine woman with our problems.” She turned to me. “It’s okay, darlin’, you never mind us.”

“Why are you both here?” Wherever I saw spirits of the dead, it usually meant they were connected to something in the area. I considered the mound, seeing something metal and rusty underneath all the greenery. “You should have crossed over, into the vortex of light…unless you’re meant to go to the dark plane.”

The woman gasped and clung to Martin.

Maybe I’d said too much. I yanked some of the vines away, getting scratched and poked from the effort.

A car, green, ancient. No wonder it was tough to see.

“We want justice, but we aren’t able to leave this spot. Something’s holding us here, like some kind of barrier.” Martin’s lips pinched together, his head nodding. He looked at the woman as if to confirm. She nodded also.

I scanned the area thoroughly to make sure Kyle and Max weren’t lurking behind a tree to get a shot of me talking to air. I’d dealt with Max enough during school to last a lifetime; his nasty pranks didn’t need to scar my summer too.

Thankfully, they’d really left.

“You fancyin’ one of those boys?” The woman smiled.

“Gloria, now don’t you be puttin’ on with this little lady. She won’t want to share her life with the likes of us.” Martin embraced Gloria, kissing her forehead.

I chuckled at the idea of considering either Kyle or Max as anything more than what? Simply guys in my grade? No one knew me here and I liked it that way. Moving from Marshall before the end of my junior year was the worst thing to happen in my life, well besides Dad leaving once we settled into the house here. Plus, Luke lived in Marshall.

I shook my head. “No. Neither of those guys is into me, and I’m definitely not into them.”

Martin and Gloria’s eyes narrowed, a frown creased both of their foreheads.

“Whatcha mean? Into me…into them…like friends or somethin’ more?” Gloria asked, and I could tell Martin didn’t understand it either. I was sure the music back then used words like those in reference to relationships, although, maybe it’d been a while since they heard music.

“I don’t like them and they don’t like me.” I studied the couple. “How old are you guys? What’s your story?” Didn’t want to ask them what year they died…or how they died, in case they hadn’t acknowledged it to each other. Once in a while that happened, like the time I’d come across a spirit that didn’t realize he was dead. He went into hysteria, ranting, and raving, jumping from one extreme emotion to another that lasted for days as his apparition faded then came back, disappearing and reappearing all over the house and property.

“Eighteen, both of us, we just graduated high school.” Martin’s lips pressed together. 
“We were followed, by a truck; didn’t notice it at first.”

“We was drivin’ to Idlewild, a city in northern Michigan, for work and a place to live. Gettin’ married there,” Gloria added. She turned toward Martin and suddenly their apparitions washed-out like bad static on a television. An electric pop snapped through the air and they vanished.


DK Davis BWL Publishing Inc. Author Page: http://bookswelove.net/authors/davis-dk-ya-paranormal/

BWL Publishing Valentine’s Day Contest http://www.bookswelove.com/bwl-valentine-contest/

First Prize choice of Godiva Chocolate Ballotin or Chocolate Basket
Second Prize one print copy of any BWL Romance novel
Third Prize three BWL Romance eBooks

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Story-star Kendra Spark – Growing up with Ghosts


Hello everyone and thanks so much for stopping into BWL today: ) I’m Kendra Spark, the story-star of Unorthodox, a paranormal suspense-thriller with elements of romance and a generous portion of supernatural; ) The story released on September 15, 2017, and I’m as excited about it as S. Peters-Davis is, my author: )

S. (that’s what I call her) asked if I would share what it was like growing up with the ability to see and communicate with ghosts…so here goes…

I honestly don’t remember a time I didn’t see ghosts, mostly because I didn’t know the difference between people alive or people dead, they all looked the same to me and pretty much treated me the same. The first time I realized it was when my mother asked about my imaginary friend. At five years old, I didn’t really understand the word imaginary, other than it meant not real, but Jonny stood right beside my mother. Our chat about Jonny didn’t go so well.

Mom ended up taking me to a few doctors to find out what was up with a daughter who always played with imaginary friends. Thank goodness Grandma Ellie whooshed in and saved the day before I ended up on medication. Grandma knew about Jonny, she could see what I saw.

The thing is, ghosts knew I could see them…I never hid it, so they kept coming around, wanting me to give someone a message or just wanting to talk. They were mostly lonely.



As I grew older it was tougher to chat in public with spirits. I got labeled for being a weirdo and became a bully target. I shut down all “air-talk” and only my best friend, Jenna, knew about my ability. It mostly scared her, so I didn’t talk too much about it with her either, only with my grandmother.

I didn’t have a lot of friends, not even in college, but I loved journaling about my ghost experiences. That was partly why I became a writer…I adored writing out their stories. Plus the fact I was an avid reader and enjoyed losing myself in someone else’s life, especially mystery-suspense romance stories.

Ghosts are part of my life and I’ve finally accepted my ability as something worthy…even though I won’t share this with most people. They don’t see what I see and will never understand, unless they actually know I’m an honorable person who doesn’t lie…like you all now know: )

Thank you for stopping in and hearing all about my ghost sight – about why I do what I do; ) I hope you enjoy S. Peters-Davis’ book about me, Unorthodox, A Kendra Spark Novel – I plan on being in a few more of her stories.

Happy reading; )   






HALLOWEEN CONTEST - THREE PRIZES -- AN EBOOK READER, A BASKET OF GODIVA TREATS CHOICE OF PRINT OR EBOOK SUSPENSE NOVEL – scroll down to enter: http://bwlpublishing.ca


About my author:

S. Peters-Davis writes multi-genre stories, but loves penning a good page-turning suspense-thriller, especially when it’s a ghost story and a romance. When she’s not writing, editing, or reading, she’s hiking, RV’ing, fishing, playing with grandchildren, or enjoying time with her favorite muse (her husband) in Southwest Michigan.

She also writes YA paranormal, supernatural novels as DK Davis.


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