Ghost Stories

I have always loved ghost stories. So it was inevitable that my first novel Shepherd’s Fall fit into the genre of paranormal suspense.

Sage advice always recommends that writers write about what they know. Although I have never encountered a spectral apparition, I have talked to many others who have strange and scary tales of the supernatural. As a child I would thrill to stories from my uncles about their experiences living in a haunted house. (More to come about this in a future post.)

From early childhood, I remember racing home to watch Dark Shadows after school. And although Barnabas Collins was my favorite character, it was the ghost of his little sister Sarah that first attracted my attention.

And then there was my favorite Don Knots movie The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. I loved the pipe organ and the creepy old mansion.

Of course Stephen King and Peter Straub both contributed to my education with The Shining and Ghost Story.


I’m not sure why I’ve always been fascinated with these earth bound spirits. Partially I’m sure it’s the fear of their unknown nature and maybe because of all the things that go bump in the night they are difficult to defeat, and then there is a terrifying possibility of becoming one. It is a particularly horrific thought that we might end up trapped in some sort of limbo, unable to enact any real impact on our surroundings, stuck re-living the same days over and over, wait, that sounds like some of my previous work experience.


At any rate, I collected many tales from individuals who swear they are true. I’m sure all this crept into my subconscious mind while I labored away at the keyboard to create Shepherd’s Fall. And while I don’t know any ghosts, I do know ghost stories.