Catherine Cavendish and a dark veil…

Tags

Book review, Catherine Cavendish, Crossroads Press, ghosts, Halloween, hauntings, Hellems, Horror, Much Marcle, New book, Spooky Houses, the Darkest Veil

 

Hellens – Heart, History and Hauntings

 

Helens – Heart, History and Hauntings  BY CATHEINE CAVENDISH

Helens – Heart, History and Hauntings  BY CATHEINE CAVENDISH

I spent the first two years of my life in a little village, some 16 miles from Hereford, called Much Marcle. These days Marcle is best known for the incredible success story that is Westons Cider, but back in the twelfth century, the foundations were laid for a house that, over the centuries, has seen more than its fair share of history. Not bad for a manor house in a sleepy little backwater of rural Herefordshire.

Hellens (said to be named after the de Helyon family who were early owners of the property) has changed hands many times over the centuries. Early inhabitants were witnesses to the signing of the Magna Carta. Much later, in the sixteenth century, owner Richard Walwyn was knighted by Mary Tudor. She dubbed him (for reasons probably best left to her) Knight of the Carpet. Elizabeth I forgave him when she came to the throne. Sadly this didn’t stop him from dying bankrupt and, by 1619, Hellens was reported to be in ruins.

 

Over the next century, Hellens enjoyed mixed fortune and not a little tragedy. During the Civil War, the Walwyns fought on the King’s side. The opposing Parliamentarian forces stormed Hellens, where the family priest was acting as caretaker. They found his hiding place, dragged him out and stabbed him repeatedly with their halberds, until the poor man resembled a porcupine. He died in the room where Mary Tudor is supposed to have stayed – Bloody Mary’s Chamber. When I was there, a woman on the same tour reported feeling a distinct cold spot near the fireplace and many unwitting tourists have reported being chased out of there by a figure resembling a Catholic monk.

 

Also, at this time, a body was allegedly buried under the floorboards, where it remains to this day. The corpse is that of Sir Henry Lingen, killed in battle at Ledbury (three miles way). Does Sir Henry walk the house at dead of night? And where, precisely, is his body? No one – as yet – knows because it has never been found.

But the hapless priest certainly isn’t the only ghost to wander the rooms of Hellens. Around 1700, someone scratched a message on a window pane in a room now known as ‘Hetty’s Room’. It reads: ‘It is a part of virtue to abstain from what we love if it should prove our bane.’ This sorrowful little homily was etched using a diamond ring, but who did it?

)

Hetty Walwyn, daughter of the house, eloped with a local lad called John Piercel, but he abandoned her and, with nowhere else to go, she was forced to return home and throw herself on the mercy of her family. But there was little mercy for Hetty. Her mother marched her up to her bedroom and locked her in. Poor Hetty was to be denied human companionship for the next 30 years, until she died, still incarcerated in that one room. The only way she could communicate was by pulling a cord which rang a solitary bell. Visitors can still do this – and a more mournful, lonely sound you could hardly imagine. Needless to say, there was no way anyone could reply to her. Interestingly, her faithless lover may have repented, for high on the outside of the window, his name – John Piercel – is scratched, along with the date – 1702. Poor Hetty haunts the room to this day. If you visit, maybe you’ll hear her weeping…softly…just behind you.

Over the next 200 years, ownership of the house changed frequently until Hilda Pennington Mellor, became its new chatelaine in 1945. She married the philanthropist and scientist, Axel Munthe who was physician to the Queen of Sweden. Axel Munthe is most famous for writing bestselling book, The Story of San Michele, about his adventures in restoring a house on Capri, which had been built on the foundations of Emperor Tiberias’s villa. Professionally, he worked tirelessly through outbreaks of cholera and typhus – not to mention earthquakes – tending to the sick, during the years he worked in Italy. He refused to take any money for his services from the poor and even established a hospice for elderly, destitute people in a castle outside Rome.

Today, the descendants of Hilda and Axel still call Hellens home, and the house plays a major role in village life in a variety of ways. This carries on a long tradition. My mother remembered attending the Coronation Ball there in 1953. Much Marcle, Hellens and cider are so inextricably entwined that it was decided that, at midnight, the fountain in the forecourt would flow, not with water, but with cider. Unfortunately, no one thought to warn the family spaniel whose habit it was to drink from that fountain. Not only that, the celebrations started rather earlier than anticipated. As a result, the poor dog was intoxicated by four that afternoon!

This was only the beginning of a chapter of disasters that threatened to scupper the entire event and which are hilariously recounted in Malcolm Munthe’s enthralling book, Hellens – The Story of a Herefordshire Manor. Somehow, the guests – my mother included – did get their cider, the health of the new Queen was drunk and everyone talked about the wonderful masque for months to come.

Hellens is full of atmosphere – and all the better for being a little faded, a little worn and not a little frayed around the edges. It hasn’t been ‘tarted’ up for the tourists. It’s an honest house – a family home, with a big heart, that has been around for nearly a thousand years. Parts of it bear the scars of battle – relics of the Civil War and a World War II bomb, carelessly discarded following an enemy raid on Birmingham.

As you walk its creaking corridors, descend the steep, narrow staircase and marvel at the faded elegance of its rooms, you get a real sense of presence, of a home well loved and well lived in. And, as such, this has to be one of my favourite haunts (in all senses of the word).

Have a look at their website, by clicking HERE

We are the Thirteen and we are one

 4 Yarborough Drive looked like any other late 19th century English townhouse. Alice Lorrimer feels safe and welcomed there, but soon discovers all is not as it appears to be. One of her housemates flees the house in terror. Another disappears and never returns. Then there are the sounds of a woman wailing, strange shadows and mists, and the appearance of the long-dead Josiah Underwood who founded a coven there many years earlier. The house is infested with his evil, and Alice and her friends are about to discover who the Thirteen really are.

When death’s darkest veil draws over you, then shall shadows weep

 

The Darkest Veil is available from:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

 

About The Author

Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. In addition to The Darkest Veil, Cat’s novels include The Haunting of Henderson Close, the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy – Wrath of the Ancients, Waking the Ancients and Damned by the Ancients, plus The Devil’s Serenade, The Pendle Curse and Saving Grace Devine.

Her novellas include Linden Manor, Cold Revenge, Miss Abigail’s Room, The Demons of Cambian Street, Dark Avenging Angel, The Devil Inside Her, and The Second Wife

She lives by the sea in Southport, England with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat called Serafina who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why that practice should not continue.

You can connect with Cat here:

Catherine Cavendish

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

MeWe

The Darkest Veil by Catherine Cavendish.

Five hamsters.

That there was something welcoming about the house is quickly dispelled in Catherine Cavendish’s latest book–a novella that yet feels and reads like so much more and in fact  shows that Ms Cavendish is every bit a master of the shorter genre as she is of a full blown novel. As ever, the time settings are carefully observed and evoked, moving seamlessly from the 1970s to the present day. The ordinariness of bedsit land and life is a perfect foil for the depth and scale of lurking horror in Yarborough Drive. It is often said that the evil men do live after them and it was never truer than of this house. In fact as Alice Lorrimer and her new friends soon find out it’s never left. But will it be to their cost or not? Can they save more than themselves in this gripping, page-turning chiller? The race is certainly on as they start unravelling the past. And the reader is led skilfully down paths where sighs of relief are breathed. But let’s not forget one vital thing. This is Catherine Cavendish’s world  and  a scary one it is. A must for Halloween.

 

 

Catherine Cavendish, One House, Many Ghosts,

Tags

Catherine Cavendish, County Durham, Damned by the Ancients, ghosts, Halloween, Haunted houses, Horror fiction, Kensington Lyrical books, New book, Stanhope Old Hall

The Many Ghosts of Stanhope Old Hall by our fiend, Catherine Cavendish

‘In my new novel, Damned by the Ancients, the Mortimers’ new home is haunted by a presence so evil and so obsessed, it will stop at nothing to get what it wants.

In real life, there are numerous stories of haunted houses and, today, I want to take you to Stanhope Old Hall which has enjoyed a small community of them over the years.

Six years ago, previous owners, Bill and Sue Gandy decided to sell up the beautiful manor house. Not because of the ghosts – of which there are indeed many. When they owned it, they lived in it as their own house. These days, the present owners run an exceptionally well appointed B and B and restaurant. The Gandys had simply found that caring for such a large Manor House on their own was too much work. They were sad to leave. Even though their first days –and particularly first night there – had been scary.

 

The exquisite house and grounds form a medieval manor house situated on the edge of the village of Stanhope in England’s picturesque County Durham and was first mentioned in 1139. It passed from the Craig family through to the Stanhopes and then, as a result of a daughter’s marriage, became the official seat of the Fetherstonehaugh (pronounced ‘Fanshaw’) family for many years.

The last Fetherstonehaugh fell at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704 and from then on the house passed through a number of hands, including a possible link to the Earl of Carlisle. The fabric of the building reflects its age, with huge 15th century open fireplaces still extant along with original oak doors, staircases and flagstone floors.
A number of memorable historical discoveries have been made here.

A 250 million year old fossilised tree stump was discovered and can still be seen in Stanhope’s churchyard and in 1859, a huge collection of Bronze Age items was found at nearby Heathery Burn Cave – including some of the earliest known evidence of wheeled transport on Britain. These items seem to have belonged to a wealthy Bronze Age family who may have been trapped during a flash flood and al perished. Their skeletons were also discovered.

They had probably lain there for around 3000 years.
So what of the spooky goings-on experienced by the Gandys and earlier owners of the house? One strange story has it that a young couple entered the house back in the Middle Ages. They were engaged to each other and were never seen again – until their skeletons were discovered under the floorboards. They were holding hands.

The owner – and old lady – who sold Stanhope Old Hall to the Gandys said she had called in the Paranormal Society as a result of all the strange experiences she had witnessed. The Society’s investigators reported sudden drops in temperature, images of red-robed monks in the boiler room, orbs captured on camera and an old grey lady. The monks apparently had hidden in the basement to avoid Henry VIII’s persecution.

But, despite the warnings, the Gandys fell in love with the house and bought it. They dismissed the woman’s warnings as she considered herself something of a psychic and they didn’t (at that time anyway) believe in all of that. It took just one night for them to re-think their earlier scepticism.

Recovering from a combination of pneumonia and the stress of moving house, Bill Gandy retired to bed late the first night when, just as the couple were dozing off, they were startled awake by a veritable cacophony of noise. Stomping feet, slamming doors, all coming from the floor above. The couple were so exhausted, they didn’t get up to investigate, but they were unnerved.

Nothing quite like that happened again, but there have been other strange events.
A workman employed by the Gandys fled from a bedroom in terror after hearing something he couldn’t see drop invisible stones or pebbles on the floor.
Bill heard the clomping footsteps once more some months after the first occurrence and their son, who lived with them for a time and worked form home, often heard running footsteps going up and down the stairs, even though there was no one else in the house.
The night before Bill’s birthday one year, Sue alleges she woke to see a cheerful Mrs Bridges-type (from Upstairs Downstairs fame) bending over him and singing ‘Happy Birthday.’
The old grey lady spotted by the Paranormal Society also seems to have been seen by neighbours who told the Gandys they had seen her standing at the window of what had been Bedroom 10 during the 1970s and ‘80s when the house was a hotel. That room also proved too much for two local women who used to work at the hotel. They refused to go into that room alone because they felt something wasn’t right with it.

Despite all the ghosts, the Gandys always found the house warm and welcoming. The spirits that linger there are, it seems, benevolent. In its new life, Stanhope Old Hall certainly seems comfortable and welcoming. As a family run B& B and Restaurant, it hosts weddings and accommodation, providing an excellent base for all sorts of walking and sporting activities. In winter, when the winds howl over the Pennines and horizontal rain lashes down, the house truly comes into its own. Those four foot thick walls keep out the weather and an open log fire toasts the toes of the weary walker.
As for the ghosts? The present owners don’t mention their presence on their website but who knows? They don’t seem at all threatening. The same however cannot be said for the ghosts that haunt Villa Dürnstein – especially the evil Emeryk Quintillus…

Here’s what to expect from Damned by the Ancients:
INFINITY IN DEATH

Vienna, 1908

Gabriele Ziegler is a young art student who becomes infatuated with charismatic archeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus. Only too late does she realize his true designs on her. He is obsessed with resurrecting Cleopatra and has retained the famed artist Gustav Klimt to render Gabriele as the Queen of the Nile, using ashes from Cleopatra’s mummy mixed with the paint. The result is a lifelike portrait emitting an aura of unholy evil . . .

Vienna, 2018

The Mortimer family has moved into Quintillus’s former home, Villa Dürnstein. In its basement they find an original Klimt masterpiece—a portrait of Cleopatra art scholars never knew existed. But that’s not all that resides within the villa’s vault. Nine-year-old Heidi Mortimer tells her parents that a strange man lives there.

Quintillus’s desire to be with Cleopatra transcends death. His spirit will not rest until he has brought her back from the netherworld. Even if he has to sacrifice the soul of a child . . .

Damned by the Ancients is available from:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple

Google

Kobo

Kensington Publishing

 

About the author:

Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. Cat’s novels include the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy – Wrath of the Ancients, Waking the Ancients and Damned by the Ancients, plus The Devil’s Serenade, The Pendle Curse and Saving Grace Devine.

Her novellas include Linden Manor, Cold Revenge, Miss Abigail’s Room, The Demons of Cambian Street, Dark Avenging Angel, The Devil Inside Her, and The Second Wife

She lives with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why that practice should not continue. Cat and her family divide their time between Liverpool and a 260-year-old haunted apartment in North Wales.

You can connect with Cat here:

Catherine Cavendish

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

 

Ghost pirates and vanished ships. Gosh, it’s Halloween in…Italy.

Tags

Halloween, Halloween in Italy, Halloween recipes, Pirates, recipes, Romance, Shehanne Moore, The Unraveling of Lady Fury, writing

 

 

Dudes, can we kindly stop arguing, so you can get ready for the special Halloween party  that will be the culmination of all your work? You know the business of  asking each of my fictional couples about Halloween where they are from?

 

We are blogging Italy today because Lady Fury lives there for most of the book.

Fury and Flint hero and heroine from the Unraveling of Lady Fury  are here, so how about you roll with the questions?

 

Lady Fury : I thought you said they were funny, sweetly articulate creatures who would make every effort to ask us interestingly worded  questions?  

Captain Flint : I have been known to lie.

Lady Fury : And you said they weren’t aggressive?

Captain Flint : If I told you the reason I’m down to nine fingers and they bite worse than you, you would never have agreed to this.

Shehanne : Okay, dudes…. Before she strops off can we maybe have a question? Or better still an answer?

Lady Fury :  Putting aside the fact that there is trick and treating,  and talking historically, Italy celebrates All Saints on November 1^st and All Souls on November 2^nd.

It’s an ancient tradition that can be  traced back to Ancient Greece and it is celebrated differently from region to region. In some they leave an empty chair, in others, they light bonfires……

That is a picture of The Beans of the Dead biscuits, fave dei morti, an Italian biscuit, eaten at this time.  But since it involves using your pointer finger to make them and you are likely to have eaten those, I am giving you this other recipe instead because there are rules about these things.

 

My recipe card is, of course,  so much better than these other trashy heroines of Shehanne’s brought along to bore you with.

 

• 
• 
• 
• Excuse me,  are we doing this or not?

• Witches fingers

• 350g (12 oz) plain flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 100g (4 oz) whole almonds

• 1 tube red decorating icing

• Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder and salt, continually beating; chill for 20 to 30 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 160 C / Gas mark 3. Lightly grease baking trays.

• Remove dough from fridge in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of greaseproof paper. Use the paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped biscuit. Press one almond into one end of each biscuit to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze biscuit near the tip and again near the centre of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance.
• 

Arrange the shaped biscuits on the baking trays.

• 
• Bake in the preheated oven until the biscuits are slightly golden in colour, 20 to 25 minutes.

• Remove the almond from the end of each biscuit; squeeze a small amount of red icing into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the icing to ooze out around the tip of the biscuit.

 

Captain Flint.  Of course we will be. Here’s the lanterns. Fury here sculpted them with her teeth,

Captain Flint : That’s a pity, I was going to leave them for your party. This one kind of reminded me of you guys.

 

If it had ears that is.

Lady Fury. Why don’t you shut up? You can see they don’t think it looks anything like them. We want to get back to the children,  alive.

Captain Flint  : This here’s the napkins.

Sorry.  You know, next to Fury, you’re my favourite critters. Of course I meant….

Lady Fury : And here’s something else from me. A little spell…..

Lady Fury :You know, I think I did that rather well. Now, do we have any spare boxes?

Just when you thought it was safe….Halloween in Scotland.

Tags

Ghost stories, Halloween, Halloween in Scotland, His Judas Bride, recipes, Romance, Shehanne Moore, treacle scones

 

 

 

The Black Wolf : Rough and violent. We carve up things to make lanterns.

The Black Wolf : In the old days it was turnips, or neeps, now it’s pumpkins. They’re so much easier to chop…..

Kara : Callm, they seem so scared of us. Do you think someone has said something about us to them? 

The Black Wolf : I can’t think what. I mean, I’ve killed everyone who might say something. From the 16th century in Ireland and Scotland, the festival included folks going about dressed up, reciting  verses, or singing a song. Nowadays it’s called trick or treating, or guising. We also have parties.

Kara ; Oh aye. We’re not savages you know. We  are very sociable. Fallon, Callm’s wee daughter plays knife throwing. She can hit a hamster at 20 paces. That was a joke by the way. Although she can. She takes after her father that way. No we play ducking or dooking for hamsters, I mean apples in a basin of water, and then there’s  the treacle game.  That’s where we hang a treacle covered hamster, sorry, scone,  on a string from the ceiling and you have to eat it with your hands tied behind your back as it swings back and forward.

 

The Black Wolf : Princess, did I ever tell you how scary you are?

Kara : When I went to the bother of getting the little sods a recipe?

 The Black Wolf :  You’re not exactly a cook. Anyway, they’d probably sooner spread treacle on your shoes and eat them.

Kara : Just the same. Here it is.

Treacle scones.

Ingredients:
8 oz self-raising flour (all-purpose flour with baking powder in USA)
2 oz butter
1 oz caster sugar (fine granulated sugar)
Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons black treacle (molasses) or golden syrup (light corn syrup)
Pinch of salt
Approximately quarter pint of milk

Method:
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter. Mix in the sugar, cinnamon, treacle or syrup and enough milk to make a soft dough. Knead this on a floured surface until it is both moist and elastic. Cut into rounds. For hanging, the rounds, need to be large and flat. Hamster Dickens sitting  on them as opposed to eating them would give the idea shape.

Grease a baking sheet (cookie sheet) and place the rounds on this. Brush with a little milk and bake for 10/15 minutes in an oven, pre-heated to 425F/220C/Gas Mark 7 until golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack and hang. covered in treacle,  voila —to quote by late father’s (courtesy of yourself Callm), French friend–  from the ceiling.

 

The Black Wolf. Better hamsters than you have asked me that. But gather round,

let me finish this with a Scottish ghost story about a man who did.

Several versions exist, but they all involve the Earl Beardie, thought to be the 4^th Earl of Crawford playing cards at Glamis  Castle. One of Scotland’s most haunted castles.

The clock struck 12. Midnight. It was now the Sabbath so no-one would play on.

The earl was angry. He said he would play with the very devil himself.

The door flew open. A tall man dressed in black walked into the room.

The stranger was, of course, the Devil, who won the nobleman’s most precious possession – his immortal soul. After his death, Earl Beardie was condemned to gamble with the Devil for all eternity. Often, at night, the sound of raucous play emanated from the fateful chamber.

Eventually, the occupants of the castle had it sealed up.

In the autumn of 1018…. Halloween, the Vikings and the dark elves

Tags

All Soul's Day, Halloween, Halloween recipes, October, recipes, Regency, Soul Mate Publishing, The Viking and The Courtesan, Viking Halloween, Vikings, writing

 

getty images.

 

Lady Malice : Not  a great deal. I’m not from Viking times.

Lady Malice: What is this? Twenty questions? Calculating how many pairs of shoes I can have from a hundred guineas is much more my forte.

Sin : Do let me help you out here, sweeting and let you get back to counting your shoes. Elves represent the souls of the dead that still reside in the world. The dark elves are those in purgatory, the fair elves are those souls  who are immortal .

Lady Malice : Elves wear such hideous shoes.

 Almost as bad as Viking ones.

Sin : I’m going to ignore that.

Also at the start of the winter…the date was later moved to All Soul’s Day… we hold a feast, and a sacrifice for a good season. An animal sacrifice.  Midwinter is  the time of ghosts and spirits, and more importantly of placating them after all. It’s nothing personal.

Sin : And we wear masks…. Animal masks…

Lady Malice : Sin, you scared them. They probably thought they were going to be the sacrifice or something…..  Well, never let it be said, we didn’t come bearing gifts for their Halloween party.

Masks.

  

A very special recipe….. Just the the thing to make them come back out of hiding.

Or maybe not……….

Blod Kaker (Filled Cake)   5 egg yolks 2 cups sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. cold water   Beat egg yolks very thoroughly, until pale and thick.  Fold in other ingredients.  Bake in buttered cake pan for 1/2 hour.  Cut in 3 layers.  Moisten with sherry or lemon juice and water.  Fill with fruit, chocolate, or custard.  Cover with heavy coating of unsweetened whipped cream.

And of course because they are my favourite things after you my dearest, some Halloween shoes for them to put their little paws into …

Halloween in Regency Times. Yes? Or no?

Tags

Halloweedn in Regency times, Halloween, Love spells, Loving Lady Lazuli, recipes, Regency

 

Devorlane Hawley : Hamsters? I am being interviewed by hamsters? I thought I had stopped taking hallucinatory things?

Sapphire : Well, to answer your question, I think it is very clear from the work of Robert Burns, Halloween was still alive and kicking in Scotland. In his poem Halloween he talks about stealing out alone and throwing blue hamsters…sorry, yarn into the cooking pot and winding it back to find the name of your future spouse.

SO I think we can say that that these kind of superstitions might be sort of acted out, depending on the household south of the border.

Let’s face it we all like love spells, now don’t we?

Devorlane Hawley :  We might also have a bonfire. Burn a few things. What do you think Saff?

Sapphire : That would of course be more for Guy Fawkes, Dev. Lay off, You’re scaring the little things.

Devorlane Hawley : I’m just making sure you don’t steal one and put it in my pocket.

Sapphire. : Certainly.

 

Sapphire : Not exactly. No………… I think we were more in the burn and die category.  

Devorlane Hawley :  Now Saff, you’re doing the scaring. As you can see historical romance authors may set a lot of their stories at Halloween but we don’t  really keep it. We are however very interested in gothic novels. Saff reads this kind of tripe all the time. ……

Devorlane  Hawley : And if I look in my crystal ball, I can see that when it comes to future generations dressing up at Halloween, Regency times still has this to offer. ….

 

Devorlane Hawley:  So we’re not a complete lost cause, here in Regency England.

Sapphire   :   Exactly. But Dev, we wouldn’t like to scare the little creatures out of their fur now would we, so I think we should leave them with a little something for their Halloween suppers……..

100g plain chocolate

• 5 tablespoons soured cream
• 125g chocolate biscuit crumbs

• For decoration
• 5 tablespoons chocolate biscuit crumbs
• 5 tablespoons icing sugar
• 24 silver dragées (silver balls) for the eyes
• 25g flaked almonds
• 12 (5cm) liquorice strings
• 1. Melt the chocolate and combine with soured cream. Stir in 125g chocolate biscuit crumbs. Cover and chill until firm.
  2. Roll by level tablespoonfuls into balls. Mould to a slight point at one end (the nose) to form hamsters.
  3. Roll each hamster in chocolate biscuit crumbs. On each hamster, place dragées in appropriate spot for eyes, almond flakes for ears and a liquorice blob  for the tail.
  4. Chill for at least two hours until firm.

From Bear Mountain to Wolf Creek…Happy Halloween

Tags

Capro, Etopia Press, Halloween, Honor's Debt, Ireland, Let Angels Fly, Noelle Clark, Rosamanti, Secret Cravings Publishing

 

Dudes….is this wise? I mean, I never let that delusional hamster in here.

 

Dudes, can we seriously quit sounding like Fury and Flint and get with the program for the rest of the Spooktacular. It’s Halloween and time is running out.

 

For when you go to visit her blog…yes..

Look….the bear picture was an honest mistake. Lace sent that weeks ago. I forgot it was there.

After Noelle invited you, Cat Cavendish invited you AND Lace Winter gave you a lovely blog award.

Of course she didn’t. Lace deeply regrets that photograph which she sent you in good faith.

For your own safety…….I have shed buckets.

But, if you cannot find it in your hamstah hearts to welcome Noelle to the last post in the Spooktacular, well I shall just have to do it myself. AND swipe the blog award. AND have a hamstahs week.

I know. But as they say, it is not raining either. Now then, Noelle Clark is an Aussie author and a wonderful supporter of other authors.

In another few weeks she has a new book coming out, which I know she worried about ever seeing the light of day.

Nice huh?

But you do, cos it’s not. Anyway Noelle isn’t here today to talk about that. What she drew out the cauldron wasn’t a recipe, it wasn’t an interview, it wasn’t a spooky place, or character. NO…What she drew was the following…

 

‘Whilst my generation of Aussies don’t really celebrate – or understand – Halloween, the younger generation are embracing the Trick or Treat fun with gusto.

These days, supermarkets are decorated in ‘scary’ stuff, pumpkins, and witches, and I have to ensure I buy some lollies to hand out to the local kids in my street. Heck, don’t want them to egg my car!

But if I had to choose the singular most scary movie that I’ve ever watched (through slits in my fingers because my hands covered my face), then I would choose……

Sorry dudes….the Australian movie Wolf Creek. Scared the you-know-what outta me!

There’s now Wolf Creek 2 out, but I haven’t seen it yet. Not sure I will either.’

Check out this trailer and see what you reckon.

http://youtu.be/8S13W69FQhs

 

 

And for more Australian Halloween-ish scary movies, check these out:

‘Top 10 Aussie films to scare off tourists’

Happy Halloween everyone!!

 

Noelle Clark
www.noelleclark.net     Facebook page      Twitter

Coming soon

 

They Walk Amongst Us

Tags

ghosts, Halloween, Heart of the Arena, Mishka Jenkins, spooky, The Magic Spark

 

MARY AKEHURST’S SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

http://theunpredictablemuse.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/scottish-shortbread-recipe.html

All right, so today on the Spooktacular we move to our next guest, the lovely Mishka Jenkins.

A very talented author of several books,

And what Mishka drew in the Spooktacular was the following……..

So, let’s put our paws together and welcome her along to find out just what that is.

GUYS???????

My Favourite Spookiest Halloween character…….by Mishka Jenkins.

‘No contest, it has to be ghosts.

The thought of something haunting you, something you can’t see or do anything about, creeps me out big time!

 I can deal with the vampires and their fangs, or the Freddy Kruegers and their claws; at least you can see them, and then stab them in the chest with a large wooden stake.

But ghosts, not so much! What do you even do if they haunt you?

 Yeah, they are definitely the creature that scares me the most.

 

Especially when so many things can be attributed to them. Like when the curtains blow open and everyone jokes, ‘oh, it’s a ghost’ and then laugh. I’m the one in the corner hyperventilating!

So far, I have never written a ghost character and am not sure I’d ever attempt it. If I did, it would have to be done during the day with lots of other people around!

Blurb:
Successful businesswoman Alex is content with her life in London, and any ideas of romance have been left on the back burner. But when her fairy godmother, FG, waltzes into her office one morning announcing she has come to help Alex rekindle a passion for life and love, she is about to check herself into therapy!

The fairy godmother’s incessant wand-flicking soon lands them in the isolation of the Scottish highlands, where Alex’s next client, Mal Ross, not only stirs her professional interest but her romantic ones too.

Tasked with the enormous challenge of turning a historic castle into a flourishing hotel, the pair must work closely together whilst attempting to avoid the awkward situations the rom-com obsessed fairy godmother keeps forcing them into.

But the path of love is never smooth, no matter how much magic you throw at it.

‘The Magic Spark’ is a light, enjoyable read, full of fun and romance.

Links:

Blog: https://awriterslifeformeblog.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8277234.Mishka_Jenkins

Twitter: @writerlifeforme

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mishka-Jenkins/260588067439282

Buy link for my new release, The Magic Spark: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O1AAT3S

 

 

Bear Night in the Spanish Museum…..

Tags

Elyzabeth M. Valey, Erotic Romance, Evernight Publishing, ghosts, Halloween, Spain, The Reina Sofia museum

 

 

 

Okay, okay, can we have some order please for our next guest in the Spooktacular where I threw some post ideas in the bucket and then drew for our guests?

We’ve had spooky covers, new releases, recipes, an interview with a real live horror writer and a session with a scary musician. Today we zip off to Spain. Do they have Halloween there?

But they do have museums and they do have my doodling buddy, the lovely Elyzabeth M. Valey, as you can see…

.and never mind Shorty….Mitsy and The Dook have already sounded it for her, so let’s go and let the lady speak………………………….

‘Spain is filled with scary things. From the famous Faces of Belmez (images of faces that mysteriously appeared in a house’s concrete floor in 1971)

to the haunted hospital of Agramonte, there are ton of mysterious things going on in this old country.

However, I’m going to tell you about a place that is easily overlooked; a place that is filled with thousands of tourists every day; a place full of art but also of paranormal occurrences.

Welcome to the Reina Sofia Museum.

The Reina Sofia museum has been since 1986, Madrid’s Modern art museum. With over 3 million visitors from every corner of the world, it has pieces from Picasso, Dali and more. It also has ghosts. Numerous ghosts.

Originally built in the 18^th century as the General Hospital, the building was declared a national treasure in 1985. In 1986 its remodelation began. Numerous skulls, chains, medical material and bodies were found.

In 1990, 3 mummies were discovered.

 

They belonged to three nuns from a religious order that once cared for the hospital and their patients.

The museum opened and little by little, more was uncovered.

In the early 1900’s the people that worked there already talked about ghosts walking the halls. Paranormal investigators say that in a circular room where the psychiatric ward was located, you can see men tied to the wall, attempting to attack each other.

However, that isn’t the scariest place.

In the Museum’s basement there are hundreds of roaming souls, for it was there that the hospital’s patients, beggars and soldiers were buried.

In 2001 the museum was remodeled again to become the beautiful building that it is today. However, the paranormal activity has not ceased.

 

More than one worker of the Reina Sofia Museum has quit their job, unable to cope with the screams, the praying nuns roaming the halls and the constant movement of the disconnected elevators………………………….

 

 

ArcanusAmator… Elyzabeth’s NEW RELEASE……

 

 

 

As an Arcánús, one of Cupid’s blessed children, Amandus’s mission in life was to aid his father in bestowing love upon others. Unfortunately, when he found his own soul mate he was incapable of making her perceive their connection. Furthermore, she doomed their love forever. Amandus’s only hope is a spell concocted by Cupid: The ArcánúsAmator: Spell of the Secret Lovers. Hailey is desperate for love. She’s so desperate that when she finds a spell on the internet that promises to connect soul mates, she decides she must try it. Convincing her friend Hannah to help her, the girls embark on a one-night craze that will produce life-changing results and bring to life what was thought to be only a myth.

Buy Links

Evernight

Amazon

Amazon.uk

Bookstrand

All Romance Ebooks

 

Author Bio:

Defined as weird since she was about eight, Elyzabeth honors the title by making up songs about her chores, doodling stars and flowers on any blank sheet of paper and talking to her dog whenever he feigns interest.

Losing the battle to the voices in her head is her favorite pastime after annoying her younger sister with her singing. Writing stories full of passion and emotion where love conquers all is her happy pill and she’ll forgo sleep to make her readers live the dream.

Stalk me at:

Blog Website Facebook Twitter Goodreads Pinterest

 

Excerpt:

She frowned. “What the hell’s happened?” She was quite sure this was not how the spell worked. Granted, she hadn’t exactly read the entire information sheet on the website.

“No one does,” she whined, bouncing on the balls of her feet while staring at the flickering flame of the candle. The thing was more than 20 pages long. It was like reading one of those software agreements. No one read the damn thing. She’d read the instructions and the first page with all the warnings and that was more than enough. Taking a deep breath, she managed to settle her nerves a little. Everyone thought she was the ditsy blonde obsessed with the occult, but she wasn’t. She was a hard worker, impatient when things didn’t go as expected. It was partially the reason why she’d filed through so many relationships. Why stay with a guy when he clearly had nothing to offer? Some of her friends argued that she didn’t give them a chance. She begged to differ. She’d given them a chance, they just hadn’t taken it.

True, her impatience sometimes got her into some trouble but it also saved her from a lot of it. That, however, wasn’t the case now. Annoyed that the spell had gone awry, she brushed back her bangs impatiently. Whatever had happened was not important. The priority was getting Hannah back home. Scanning the room for her discarded laptop, she did a double take.

Obstructing the exit to the living room stood the most gorgeous man she had laid eyes on. He was massive. His head almost brushed the top of the doorframe. His heavily muscled arms were crossed in front of him, his chest bare except for the intricate design of a red-inked tattoo that started around his left nipple and descended across his side to his hip. Low on his hips, he wore a long black skirt made out of what looked like leather.

Hailey hesitated a moment before finally glancing fully at his face. Her breath stilled as their eyes locked. A clear shade of violet, they were not from this world. Swallowing, she took a step backwards without breaking her stare. The stranger’s eyes glittered with curiosity and amusement.

“Careful with the center of the star,” he warned. Hailey stumbled and froze. His voice was deep and commanding and had a familiar ring to it that sent her senses reeling. Shaking her head slightly, she continued moving away from him.

“Watch—”

Breath exploded from her lungs as she crashed into a shelf, a few ornaments she and Hannah kept, crashing to the floor.

“—out. Are you all right?”

Hailey winced, the back of the shelf digging into her skin, but she nodded anyway. The stranger flashed her a grin that made her knees weak. Hailey swallowed. The urge to see him smile again clawed at her insides like a desperate hunger.

Ignoring her, he glanced down at the pentagram, his silky dark curls framing his strong jaw and straight nose.

“You don’t look like you knew what you were getting into.”

Hailey held on to the bookcase behind her. She was afraid that if she moved the whole thing would topple over her head and she’d wake up, realizing that the man in the center of the room was nothing more than a dream.

“Read the first page of the instructions and didn’t bother to read the rest, huh?”

His eyes lifted to hers with a sassy smirk that lit up his violet eyes. Hailey stared speechless, the urge to touch the man making her palms itch as if she’d stepped into poison ivy.

“Yeah, you never did care what you got into, Ariadne.”

 

How Horror-ible is the Cat?

Tags

Catherine Cavendish, Dracula, Edgar Allan Poe, Halloween, Horror, Horror fiction, Horror writing, Linden Manor, Night of the Demon, Samnhain Publishing, Saving Grace Devine, Stephen King, The fog, The Monkey's Paw, What Waits in the Shadows

 

 

Hey…hey..hey fellahs, what did we say about Hamstah Dicken’s manuscript? Are we going to bring out a picture of it?

EXACTLY.

 

 

Yes today as the Spooktacular continues

I’m thrilled to welcome  a real, live horror writer. AND, not just any old one but

——cos I do. And I also get to welcome a lady who has been on a roll this year, the super talented Catherine Cavendish who writes it the finest horror tradition.

What she drew in the Spooktacular was the seven questions. And since she writes horror, what else would they be about BUT horror.

1 Why do you write horror?

When I was a child, we read The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs at school.

I could have only been about nine

I loved the way it scared me – deliciously. Then, when I was around twelve or thirteen, I started reading Dennis Wheatley – The Devil Rides Out, To The Devil A Daughter,

The Satanist and The Ka of Gifford Hillary were early favourites. I’d read in bed at night and be too scared to switch the light off! As the years went by, M.R. James,

Edgar Allan Poe, Daphne Du Maurier, Anne Rice, Stephen King and James Herbert were added to my authors of choice. Horror became one of my two favourite genres (along with historical fiction). So, when it came to my own writing, it is probably only natural I should want to attempt to reproduce on paper what I most enjoyed reading myself.

2 Ignoring the hamstahs, how would you describe your blend of horror?

My horror tends to be of the ‘creep up behind and scare you’ variety. While there can be violent scenes in my books, you won’t find many mutilated body parts or excessive gore. I think that’s because I tend towards the more traditional Gothic horror style. You will often find a creepy, haunted house or bleak, ancient landscape in my stories, but rarely (never so far) someone going on the rampage with a chainsaw!

3 Where do your ideas come from?

Anywhere or everywhere. A chance remark led to the title, and then plot of Cold Revenge; a spooky walk-in cupboard in our flat inspired The Demons of Cambian Street. A nightmare provided the basic storyline for Saving Grace Devin, and the inspiration for Linden Manor came from the competition brief supplied by Samhain Horror Publishing’s Executive Editor, Don D’Auria. When he announced that he was looking for entries for the Gothic Horror competition last year, he wrote, “Come with me into a world of isolated mansions, ruined castles, guttering candles, dark shadows, and of course…creeping horror…” I immediately thought of a house.

A dark, forbidding, Gothic pile of a house, set at the end of a broad avenue of lime (linden) trees. Then, an image of a mature student, researching ancient local nursery rhymes for her dissertation came into my mind, swiftly flowed by the opening lines of an odd little ditty, “Run and hide, Far and wide, Run and hide from the Scottish Bride…” A story was born.

If you look at the other winning novellas in the What Waits In The Shadows anthology– Blood Red Roses by Russell James, Castle By The Sea by JG Faherty and Bootleg Cove by Devin Govaere, you can see we all stuck to the brief!

4 Fav horror film?

Now, this is a tough one. I usually prefer the old films – frequently in black and white – so atmospheric. One I never tire of is Night of the Demon, adapted from a short story by M.R. James,

but I also loved the John Carpenter classic, The Fog and…it’s a pretty long list actually!

5 Fav horror story?

 

This is even harder! Pretty much anything by the authors I listed earlier, but I also love Susan Hill’s The Woman In Black among many, many others.

 

6 Fav interpretation of Dracula onscreen?

For me, Christopher Lee brought the right combination of gravitas and kitsch to the role.

7 Halloween plans?

Well, I’ve just had my broomstick serviced (it flew through its M.O.T.), my pointy black hat is back from the dry cleaners, and I’ve told all the spiders to build tidy cobwebs (you should see what happened when I gave them a cup of coffee!). So, let’s party! Bring your own cauldrons of course…

 

Four original novellas of Gothic horror! Enter if you dare four worlds of chilling Gothic horror. Feel the oppressive heat on a plantation in the Old South, where the spirits of the dead do not rest easy. Smell the salt air in a dilapidated coastal restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay, a restaurant with a very deadly past. Explore a British manor house, but remember, what you find may have been looking for you. Hear the pounding surf beyond the stone walls of a looming castle that shouldn’t even exist. But regardless of the setting, no matter what you may think you hear or see, the truly terrifying thing is…

 

…What Waits In The Shadows

 

Buy Links:

Samhain Publishing

Amazon

B&N

 

You can connect with Cat here:

Catherine Cavendish

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