A ghost on a military base? by J. S. Marlo

J. S. Marlo BWL Author Page

During the Second World War, HMCS Cornwallis (later renamed CFB Cornwallis) was the largest naval training base in the British Commonwealth. Built on the southern shore of the Annapolis Basin in Nova Scotia and commissioned in 1942, the military training base closed in 1994.

In the late 1980s, my husband and I enjoyed a three-year posting at CFB Cornwallis. During that time, we attended many functions inside the Officers' Mess. It was a beautiful building (pic on the left), rich in history, and haunted by the ghost of a young woman. I was fascinated by the sad story of that young woman who allegedly hanged herself in one of the upstairs bedrooms after her lover, a sailor in the British Navy during World War II, abandoned her to go back to his wife.

The legend of her ghost was very much alive. While I didn’t know of anyone who had ever seen her, there were reports of strange activities inside the Mess, but was her ghost really roaming the Officers' Mess and only showing herself to unfaithful married men?

Despite all the research I did, I couldn’t find any evidence that a woman ever killed herself inside the Mess, but the basement of the Base Commander’s Residence did shelter grave markers. The dead no longer rest in the basement, their remains were moved to a different burial site, but two of the markers still stand side by side, each engraved with the names of two young children. The four siblings—Edward (1 month), Amelia (1 yr & 6 months), Gilbert (3 yrs), and W.C. (3 yrs)—died between 1850 and 1858.

The legend of the ghost and the grave markers inspired me to write Misguided Honor, my latest novel which was released last week.

In Misguided Honor, Becca Shea sneaks into Cornwallis and travels back in time to 1941 where she meets the young heart-broken woman in the days leading up to her tragic death.

To bring the story of the ghost to life, I took some liberties with history. Among other things, I gave Cornwallis a fictional past as a private shipyard, moved the buildings around, changed their layouts, and delayed the closure of the base. I wish I had unearthed the origin of the legend, and though I didn't, I'm convinced something dreadful happened a long time ago in the Officers' Mess—or else the legend wouldn't have been born.

Happy reading!

JS

 J. S. Marlo's Website

Many Thanks to Worcester Resident, Randy Bloom

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As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, I’ve been researching Worcester history and the neighborhood in which some of the characters in the sequel would have worked and lived as domestic servants. Randy Bloom, a long time resident of the Crown Hill historic district of Worcester generously opened his 1856 home to me for a private two-hour tour.

Like the residents before him, Randy has kept the interior of his home true to its original. What a treat it was to meander through all those rooms – three floors in the main house plus a two-story carriage house – taking the original gas lighting fixtures and coal burning fireplaces, reproduction wallpaper perfectly replicating the original, the floor-to-ceiling windows and the French doors leading from the parlor to a glassed-in porch, which in the 1850s was use as a greenhouse to lengthen the growing season and as a solar collector to add warmth to the porch and parlor in the colder months.

As I walked through the house and grounds, I was struck with inspiration for exactly how this house will fit into the sequel. I’m not telling, though – no spoilers here!

Again, my gratitude to Randy for his generous hospitality!

Original gas lighting fixture in the dining room. The extra gas jet (visible at front center) allowed for an attached rubber tube to hang down and connect with a gas lamp in the center of the table.

Kindling and coal were burned in the basket at the front of this fireplace. Though the mantel and surround appear to be marble they are really soapstone painted to look like marble right down to the gold veining.

How to use your sub-conscious to write and cure writers' block.

Start using a tool we all have but often overlook. The results are worth it.

When focusing on a challenge and unable to find a solution, I turn the problem over to my subconscious. I use what Stephen King calls ‘the boys in the basement.’

I wasn’t sure how the final plot for my first published book would play out. (After all, I had already written five versions of the story.) I tossed it around in my head as I went to sleep. In the morning, I woke with the title bouncing in my head. Came Home Dead. The title came with a host of ideas and shaped the book.

There is a good reason why it works.

Years ago, an instructor described our sub-conscious minds as a honeycomb. As snippets of memory and information enter our brains, they are stored in tiny compartments. Since the subconscious has no sense of organization or judgment, the good, the bad, and the ugly are stored willy-nilly in our honeycombs--one snippet per little cubby.

Given a topic, a question, or an event the boys in the basement or the girls in the backroom, race up and down the rows pulling out any idea that is remotely connected.

The searchers toss all the information into conduits that deliver the bits into the conscious mind. Bingo, we have answers or ideas to work with.

This happens daily without our participation, delivering up joy, anger, comments, and sarcasm. Not all of it is productive when we are non-focused.

Why not use it deliberately, it helps more often than not.

• State your question or problem.
• Be specific. Put it down in writing or typing.
• Occupy your conscious mind with mundane tasks.

 Take a walk, clean the oven, mow the lawn— tasks requiring minimal thought.

Always have the means to capture what comes up. 

This process produces results and provides starting ideas and a cure for writer’s block.