Gight Castle, the Gordons and Henderson Close.

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Aberdeenshire, Catherine Cavendish, Edinburgh, Flame Tree Press, Fyvie, ghosts, Gight Castle, Horror, Lord Byron, New book, The Haunting of Henderson Close

Gight Castle and the Lost Gold of Hagberry Pot BY CATHERINE CAVENDISH

 

CATHERINE CAVENDISH  —(Please insert pic 1)

 

 

 

Ghosts aplenty haunt the towns, cities and countryside of Scotland. Near the town of Fyvie in the Grampian region,

stands the ruin of Gight Castle – once the home of the Gordon family whose most famous son was the infamous ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ Lord Byron. Gight was his childhood home – he and his mother being the last of the Gordons to live there.

Throughout its history, it was the scene of hardship, financial disaster, murder and untimely deaths. Byron’s mother – Catherine Gordon – had to sell the castle to distant relation the third, Earl of Aberdeen in 1787 to pay off the considerable gambling debts run up by her husband.

Local 13^th century poet and prophet, Thomas the Rhymer foretold, ‘At Gight three men by sudden death shall dee. And after that the land shall lie in lea’.

 

 

In 1791, George Gordon, Lord Haddo son of the Earl of Aberdeen, fell off his horse and died.

The castle was no longer lived in after that but at its Home Farm a couple of years later, one of the servants met a similar fate to that of the unfortunate Lord Haddo. Then a farmworker, who was working on demolishing one of the farmhouses, remarked that at least Thomas the Rhymer’s prophecy hadn’t been fulfilled, as only two people had died. The words were barely out his mouth before a wall fell on him, crushing him to death. The land was turned into lea. Now the prophecy was fulfilled.

The famous Ghost of Gight is said to be a piper who was working underneath the castle and was sent to investigate an underground passageway and never returned. The sound of his pipes can be heard among the ruins.

But there’s more. Indeed, there may be gold nearby. Legend has it that the seventh laird of Gight hid his treasure in the near bottomless pit that is Hagberry Pot, a short distance away on the River Ythan. He secreted it there during the Covenanters’ Riots in in 1644. After the rebellion ended, the laird tried to retrieve his treasure and sent a diver down to its murky depths to locate it and bring it up. The diver resurfaced, scared out of his wits. The Devil himself was guarding it, he said.

The laird was having none of it and forced the poor man to go down again. A few minutes ticked by and then the lifeless body of the diver floated up to the surface. The body was not intact. Something – or someone – had severed it into four parts.

 

It is said the laird’s gold and jewels remain down there – if you have the courage to go diving for it.

Legend also has it that some of the Gordons dabbled in sorcery and black magic and that the devil himself still visits the castle ruins.

For evil of a different kind, here’s what to expect from The Haunting of Henderson Close:

Ghosts have always walked there. Now they’re not alone…

In the depths of Edinburgh, an evil presence is released. Hannah and her colleagues are tour guides who lead their visitors along the spooky, derelict Henderson Close, thrilling them with tales of spectres and murder. For Hannah it is her dream job, but not for long. Who is the mysterious figure that disappears around a corner? What is happening in the old print shop? And who is the little girl with no face? The legends of Henderson Close are becoming all too real.

The Auld De’il is out – and even the spirits are afraid.

The Haunting of Henderson Close is available from:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Flame Tree Press

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 Haunting of Henderson Close, 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

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The demons of finding another publisher by Cat Cavendish

Tags

ASpects of Writing, Catherine Cavendish, Crossroad Press, Horror, Horror fiction

 

Catherine.

Well, firstly may I say I am delighted (if confused) that you hammies have invited me back again. I know poor Hamstah Dickens and I have had our differences –mostly over a complete misunderstanding which he took so personally.

 

Catherine ..

It was never meant as such… Anyway, that’s ancient history.

Catherine ..

Right now, I am looking around to see the quickest exit route. Ah, yes, over there. Just so I know. In case I need to make a swift getaway. Those hamster teeth are sharp.

Catherine..

Assuming I make it out here with all my faculties intact… Right now, I am thrilled that these five novellas – Cold Revenge, The Demons of Cambian Street, The Devil Inside Her, Miss Abigail’s Room and The Second Wife  – are out there again.

Then, in October, Damned by the Ancients is released by Kensington Lyrical. This is the third in the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy set in Egypt and Vienna (mainly) and centred on the evil, obsessed Dr Emeryk Quintillus who has hatched a new plan to reincarnate Cleopatra.

Catherine..

Sad to say, she didn’t have one. Mind you that was a good thing because she was away a lot and the poor thing would have starved. Or the maid, Becky would have screamed and let it out. Either way, it would have been a dog’s life… for a hamster.

 

 

Catherine..

Cold Revenge was the first – born out of a conversation when I pondered, what if revenge really was a cold dish? The Demons of Cambian Street was second and had its beginnings in a spooky walk-in cupboard in the 260 year old Welsh apartment we currently live in. When I decided to approach Crossroad Press (with whom I have another five titles), I read through each of these for the first time in a few years and immediately began re-editing them. I believe my writing is sharper now and the earlier work contained superfluous detail in some instances. I edited this out – trimmed off the fat if you like.

 

Catherine..

Then Crossroad’s editors gave it their professional eye and now we have five brand new editions I am really happy with.

 

 Catherine..

I have always liked scary stories, ever since I was a child. I would snuggle up in bed with a book of horror short stories and absorb M.R. James, Sheridan le Fanu, Edgar Allan Poe and a host of others. Horror is the safe scare. You know it’s not real but it gives you a delicious thrill. The real horror of course is what is happening in the world and that is far from safe. Loving to read horror fiction meant I was naturally inclined to want to write it. So I did.

 

Catherine ..

Crossroad Press is a brilliant, small, independent American publisher with a great ethos. They are such fabulous, talented guys to work with and treat their authors extremely well. They specialise in breathing new life into currently out of print work of a high standard and I share their roster with such names as Brian Keene, Mary Sangiovanni, Brian Lumley, Charles L. Grant, Frazer Lee and the late, great Jack Ketchum to name but a few. They also now welcome original books.

Catherine..

As for losing those titles… I had no advance warning that they were disappearing. It was a fellow author with whom I shared their then publisher who gave me the heads up that a whole shedload of books, not just by me but by many of my fellow authors, had been taken down from all online retail outlets, without warning. I contacted the publisher only to be told that they had decided to discontinue publishing any non-American authors! It was a huge shock. At least, though, I had another publisher, but for some of my fellow authors, had been loyal to this one publisher only to be left with no books for sale. Not, to my mind, a professional way of behaving. Another publisher of mine sadly went out of business and they handled things very

 

 

differently.

Catherine..

Only one? That’s really difficult to decide. There are so many fantastic horror stories out there

Catherine..

but you’ve squeezed me into a corner and…OUCH! That hurts!…

OK, I’ll pick on one by one of my top favourite authors – Ramsey Campbell.

It’s actually the first one of his I ever read and it’s called The Overnight. Why do I love it?

It has all my favourite ingredients. It’s set in a large bookstore where the staff have to do an overnight stocktake. The tension builds steadily as we get to know the central characters but meanwhile, outside, a fog is descending and there is something in that mist. Something evil…and it’s getting closer. Fabulous! Ramsey is such a great storyteller. As I am sure Hamstah Dickens will be…one day…if only he’d stop eating his work!

 

The five titles:

Cold Revenge

 

Some dinner invitations are best ignored…

For no apparent reason, Nadine, Maggie, Gary, and Nick are invited to dinner at the lavish home of top fashion writer, Erin Dartford. But why has she invited them? Why doesn’t she want her guests to mingle? And what is it about the mysterious Erin that makes them want to run for their lives?

Little do they know that as they prepare to eat their first course, an evil as old as mankind is about to be unleashed. And revenge really is a dish best served cold…

 

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

 

Miss Abigail’s Room

 

It wasn’t so much the blood on the floor that Becky minded. It was the way it kept coming back…

 

As the lowest ranking parlour maid at Stonefleet Hall, Becky gets all the dirtiest jobs. But the one she hates the most is cleaning Miss Abigail’s room. There’s a strange, empty smell to the place, and a feeling that nothing right or Christian resides there in the mistress’s absence.

 

And then there’s the blood, the spot that comes back no matter often Becky scrubs it clean. She wishes she had somewhere else to go, but without means or a good recommendation from her household, there is nothing for her outside the only home she’s known for eighteen years. Then when a sickening doll made of wax and feathers turns up, Becky’s dreams of freedom and green grass become even more distant. Until the staff members start to die – and Lord Stonefleet sees her and screams as if the hounds of hell were after him.

 Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

 

The Demons of Cambian Street

Sometimes evil wears a beautiful face…

 

After her illness, the quiet backwater of Priory St Michael seemed the ideal place for Stella to recuperate. But in the peaceful little town, something evil is slumbering, waiting for its chance to possess what it desires. When Stella and her husband move into the long-empty apartment, they’re unaware of what exists in the cupboard upstairs, the entrance to an evil that will threaten both their lives…

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

 

The Devil Inside Her

 

When nightmares become dreams, someone must die…

 

Haunted by the death of her husband and only child, Elinor Gentry’s recurring nightmares have left her exhausted. She’s crippled by debt, and only the remnants of her former life surround her, Then, for no apparent reason, the nightmares transform into pleasant dreams. Dreams that lead her to take back control of her life.

A string of horrific and unexplained suicides–and an unnerving discovery about Elinor herself—lead her best friend to seek help from the one person who has seen all this before, and things begin to spiral out of control. Hazel Messinger knows that Elinor’s newly found wellbeing is not what it seems, and Hazel’s not about to let the demon inside remain there permanently.

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

 

The Second Wife

 

Emily Marchant died on Valentine’s Day. If only she’d stayed dead…

 

When Chrissie Marchant first sets eyes on Barton Grove, she feels as if the house doesn’t want her. But it’s her new husband’s home, so now it’s her home as well. Sumptuous and exquisitely appointed, the house is filled with treasures that had belonged to Joe’s first wife, the perfect Emily, whom the villagers still consider the real mistress of Barton Grove.
A stunning photograph of the first Mrs. Marchant hangs in the living room, an unblemished rose in her hand. There’s something unnerving and impossibly alive about that portrait, but it’s not the only piece of Emily still in the house. And as Chrissie’s marriage unravels around her, she learns that Emily never intended for Joe to take a second wife…

 

Amazon
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Cat’s contact links:

 

Catherine Cavendish

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A Thousand Passions and Catherine Cavendish

Tags

Anton Schellenbauer Alternberg, Austria, Castle Altenburg, Castle of the Thousand Passions, Catherine Cavendish, Cleopatra, Horror, Kensington Press, New book, Schloss Altenburg

Castle of the Thousand Passions by Catherine Cavendish.

 

 

 

Castle of the Thousand Passions by Catherine Cavendish.

‘I have set a large part of Waking the Ancients in Vienna, Austria where many ghosts and restless spirits walk among the verdant parks and lavish palaces. But Austrian ghosts do not confine themselves to their nation’s imperial capital. They can be found in towns, cities, villages and the depths of the countryside all over this beautiful land.

Also known as Schloss Altenburg, Schloss Tausendlust (Castle of the Thousand Passions) was built in the second half of the 16^th century by Alexander Rüdt von Khollenburg, although it is first mentioned as a farm in the earlier part of that century. It is likely there was an earlier medieval castle on the site but this has not been excavated and today the house is a private residence. It changed hands a number of times over the centuries, belonging to Adam Gabelkhofer in 1605 and passing to his daughter, who sold the estate in 1650 to Christof Rudolf Freiherr von Eibiswald. He gave it back a year later, unable to make a living from the small income supplied by winemaking.

The Haydegg family acquired it and sold it in 1740 and there were more changes of ownership until, in 1790, Anton Schellenbauer Alternberg acquired it. He hailed from Lower Austria and had acquired extreme wealth and a noble title. He also had a reputation for appalling cruelty to his farmers and labourers.

Official history states that he was caught in 1817, arrested and charged with fraud, and was stripped of his nobility, dying in detention in 1829.

But legends go further.

It is said that, one night, his abused workers decided enough was enough. They stormed the house and Schellenbauer hid in the closet. His valet told them where he could be found and they hauled him out. He had hidden from them for years, now they would have their revenge. Using four oxen, they set about tearing him limb from limb.

 It is his ghost who, to this day, haunts the small castle. He is most frequently seen near that same closet, which contains a secret passageway or in the castle grounds. Especially on stormy nights.

 

Following the demise of Schellenbauer, the castle’s fortunes declined sharply. Lightning had destroyed the tower in 1825 and by 1878, most of the castle had fallen into ruin and it was used solely as a winery. It was eventually purchased by the Nyary family in 1903 and an inscription of 1911 above the family coat of arms, shows that major rebuilding began then, and included the construction of a bell tower, under which a chapel was built.

Today, following yet more extensive renovation under its current owners, its beautiful grounds are particularly noted for the magnificent magnolia trees, which bloom in spring. The castle lies on the hill between the villages of Hitzendorf and Berndorf and provides a delightful sight for passers-by.

As for the ghost, the current owners are keeping quiet.

The same cannot be said for Dr. Emeryk Quintillus…

 Waking the Ancients

 Legacy In Death

Egypt, 1908

University student Lizzie Charters accompanies her mentor, Dr. Emeryk Quintillus, on the archeological dig to uncover Cleopatra’s tomb. Her presence is required for a ceremony conducted by the renowned professor to resurrect Cleopatra’s spirit—inside Lizzie’s body. Quintillus’s success is short-lived, as the Queen of the Nile dies soon after inhabiting her host, leaving Lizzie’s soul adrift . . .

Vienna, 2018

Paula Bancroft’s husband just leased Villa Dürnstein, an estate once owned by Dr. Quintillus. Within the mansion are several paintings and numerous volumes dedicated to Cleopatra. But the archeologist’s interest in the Egyptian empress deviated from scholarly into supernatural, infusing the very foundations of his home with his dark fanaticism. And as inexplicable manifestations rattle Paula’s senses, threatening her very sanity, she uncovers the link between the villa, Quintillus, and a woman named Lizzie Charters.

And a ritual of dark magic that will consume her soul . . .

You can find Waking the Ancients here:

Kensington Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple

Google

Kobo

‘I have read all of Catherine Cavendish’s books. In addition to writing the kind of horror I love, she has a real knack for blending past and present. And this first part of this new series does not disappoint, opening and closing with the kind of spine-tingling bang where you just know that for her characters horror is everywhere and there’s no escaping it no matter how hard you run.

Pity poor sensible, not easily frightened, Adeline Ogilvie who not only has the misfortune to be a descendant of Cleopatra, but comes to realise there’s something nasty in the basement and that something might be the very person she’s related to. Then there’s Cleopatra’s one true love and it’s not the men history shows her to have been involved with either. Dr. Emeryk Quintillus will stop at nothing to resurrect his queen. And nothing will stop him.

That’s as many spoilers as I’m giving but I will add that not only does Catherine Cavendish effortlessly blend past and present, giving us all kinds of insights into ancient Egypt, her stomping ground for this book is early twentieth century Vienna, the coffee houses, the streets, the historical figures who graced them.
Bring on part two.’

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. 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

 

Vienna’s Street of blood and some dudes.

Tags

Basilicks, Blood Streeet Vienna, Catherine Cavendish, fiction, Horror, Kensington Lyrical Press, New book, The Knights Templar, The wrath of the ancients, Vienna

Blutgasse, Vienna’s Street of Blood by Catherine Cavendish.

 

( Please insert picture 1.)

 

My latest novel – Wrath of the Ancients – is mainly set in the endlessly fascinating city of Vienna, Austria’s imperial capital and one of the most architecturally beautiful cities in the world. This is largely due to the efforts of one of its most famous Emperors – Franz Josef – who reigned from the turbulent revolutionary year of 1848 until his death in 1916.

It was Franz Josef who ripped up the cramped, unhealthy and unsanitary heart of the walled city and replaced it with the famous Ringstrasse, encircling inner Vienna and flanked by magnificent neo-classical Greek edifices housing the parliament, opera house, post office and much more besides.

Yet some of the narrow, winding cobbled streets remain. No longer unsanitary, these provide a romantic evening stroll and a peaceful daytime wander, away from the hustle and bustle of the main tourist areas.

 

One of the oldest of these streets is Blutgasse – Blood Street – which lies in the heart of the city, near to St Stefan’s Cathedral.

The street is home to a number of picturesque courtyards – most of which are open to the public to wander around. At night, with few people around, the silence can be quite uncanny. The tall buildings effectively soundproof the street and, with no traffic allowed, the sound of your footsteps can be the only noise to puncture the quiet. It becomes quite easy to believe some of the many legends surrounding this unique place.

It is said that, in 1312, the Knights Templar were brutally slain in this street. So many were killed that its cobblestones ran with blood, giving it the name it has been known by ever since.

 

The men had tried to hide, but in vain. It is said that they did manage to conceal their treasure there which, to this day, has never been found. Maybe this is why they return, still searching for that which was theirs.

Their headquarters can still be seen at Blutgasse 9. This leads to a courtyard called Fähnrichshof (Ensigns’ Court)  Here stands an ancient plane tree, said to house the remains of a Knights Templar’s sword, embedded deep within it.

For many years, those who were condemned to death had to walk along this street to their place of execution.

No wonder their cries echo as whispers to this day and take people by surprise. The ghosts don’t wait for nightfall. Many of them can be heard and even glimpsed in broad daylight.

Another legend which refuses to go away is that of a fearsome basilisk, which lived in a deep well along the street.

Such creatures were greatly to be feared as they could kill with one glance and their venom was so powerful, it left a deathly trail in its wake. Whenever anything went seriously wrong, you could be sure the basilisk was at the heart of it.

For one small street, Blutgasse packs a mighty punch. Stroll along it, stop, listen. Is that the sound of swords clashing? Or the hiss of the mighty basilisk, arising from its slumber?

 

 

Destiny In Death

Egypt, 1908

Eminent archaeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus has unearthed the burial chamber of Cleopatra. But this tomb raider’s obsession with the Queen of the Nile has nothing to do with preserving history. Stealing sacred and priceless relics, he murders his expedition crew, and flees—escaping the quake that swallows the site beneath the desert sands . . .

Vienna, 1913

Young widow Adeline Ogilvy has accepted employment at the mansion of Dr. Quintillus, transcribing the late professor’s memoirs. Within the pages of his journals, she discovers the ravings of a madman convinced he possessed the ability to reincarnate Cleopatra. Within the walls of his home, she is assailed by unexplained phenomena: strange sounds, shadowy figures, and apparitions of hieroglyphics.

Something pursued Dr. Quintillus from Egypt. Something dark, something hungry. Something tied to the fate and future of Adeline Ogilvy . . .

Wrath Of The Ancients

Available from:

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Nook

iApple

Google

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. She was the joint winner of the Samhain Gothic Horror Anthology Competition, with Linden Manor. 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, Saving Grace Devine and many more. She lives with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshiped 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

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Revisiting The Pendle Curse

Tags

book, Catherine Cavendish, Crossroad Press, Horror, Knaresborough, Mother Shipton, Pendle witches, The Pendle Curse, The witch of Knaresborough, Witchcraft

 

 

 

https://dgkayewriter.com/who-has-a-new-book-guest-author-shehanne-moore-lady-lazuli/

The Witch of Knaresborough   By ….. Catherine Cavenidish  

 

 

My novel – The Pendle Curse – has some of its roots in a true story. In August 1612, ten men and women were convicted, in Lancaster, England, of crimes related to witchcraft and subsequently hanged on Gallows Hill. They became known to history as the Pendle Witches.

Needless to say, as mine is a horror novel, my witches are a pretty evil bunch –

powerful too. But back in fifteenth century Yorkshire, not all that far from Pendle, lived a witch of a very different sort.

In 1488, some say in a cave near the Petrifying Well, a young girl gave birth to an illegitimate daughter: one who would be called Ursula Sontheil but whom history would remember as Mother Shipton.

Mother Shipton was not exactly England’s answer to Nostradamus, but she developed a reputation for her prophecies.

These involved not just the local people around and about Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, where she lived, but also the great and good of her time.

One of the most famous of these was the Archbishop of York, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who had never actually visited that city. Mother Shipton predicted he never would. In an attempt to dissuade her from repeating these assertions, the somewhat rattled Wolsey sent three lords to Knaresborough to see her. They told her in no uncertain terms that one of Wolsey’s first acts on reaching York would be to see her burn for witchcraft. She laughed in their faces. After all, why should she be scared? He would never get there in order to carry out his threat.

(c) Leeds Museums and Galleries (book); Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

The Archbishop was furious

and made haste to travel up from London and prove her wrong. But, just ten miles south of the city, he was arrested for treason and Mother Shipton’s prophecy was fulfilled.

Many of her other predictions are legendary – and, shall we say – subject to a certain amount of embellishment and creative interpretation. Did she really predict the advent of ships, submarines, motor transport and airplanes?

In water, iron then shall float

as easy as a wooden boat…

Through towering hills proud men shall ride, no horse or ass move by his side. Beneath the water, men shall walk, shall ride, shall sleep, shall even talk. And in the air men shall be seen, In white and black and even green.

 Or telecommunications?

Around the world men’s thoughts will fly, quick as the twinkling of an eye 
Indeed, if all the interpretations are to be believed, she predicted the French Revolution, the rise of Nazism, Benjamin Disraeli and just about every disaster – man-made or otherwise – since the year of her birth. She may have even predicted the European Union (although I don’t see any reference to Brexit!)

 

Whether true or not, you can today visit the famous Petrifying Well and the cave where she was reputedly born. The Petrifying Well is said to be unique and, if you take along a teddy bear, leave it there and return five months later, it will have turned to stone. Although, if you can’t wait that long you can always buy one in the shop ( ‘here’s one I prepared earlier’!)

 

She may have got some things wrong though – including the date of the end of the world which she allegedly gave as ‘eighteen hundred and eighty one’, (however, it is entirely possible that the inclusion of any such date was added by someone else, after her death. One of a number of examples of the embellishment I mentioned earlier.)
As 1881 passed and the world carried on, some versions then amended the date, while others dropped it, although I do have a recollection of it being in the little book of her prophecies given to me when I was about eight or nine. That would have been in the early Sixties and I vaguely remember something about ‘nineteen hundred and ninety one’, but my memory could be faulty on this. Mother Shipton was said to have married a man called Toby Shipton at the age of 24 and she lived to be 72, just as she had predicted. Her prophecies and legend live on. Was she really able to see hundreds of years into the future? Or was she just an eccentric, old, poetic witch, mentally a little flaky, but excellent with herbal cures and potions?

We will probably never know…unless we live to see the fulfilment of her prediction of the future after the apocalyptic end of the world:

… the land that rises from the sea will be dry and clean and soft and free

of mankind’s dirt and therefore be,  the source of man’s new dynasty.

And those that live will ever fear  the dragon’s tail for many year

but time erases memory

You think it strange? But it will be!

Four hundred years ago, ten convicted witches were hanged on Gallows Hill. Now they are back…for vengeance.

Laura Phillips’s grief at her husband’s sudden death shows no sign of passing. Even sleep brings her no peace. She experiences vivid, disturbing dreams of a dark, brooding hill, and a man—somehow out of time—who seems to know her. She discovers that the place she has dreamed about exists. Pendle Hill. And she knows she must go there. But as soon as she arrives, the dream becomes a nightmare. She is caught up in a web of witchcraft and evil…and a curse that will not die.

Absolutely compelling
Hands up. I am a big fan of the kind of horror Catherine Cavendish
serves up in spades. A rich blend of good old spine tingling horror usually served in a historical sauce but with a dash of the present  day sprinkled in. The Pendle Witches are well documented. We know their stories, how it happened and the awful ends that befell them. What Catherine Cavendish does so successfully is transport us to that time to try and get to the real story of people who played with fire in their every day lives and suffered the consequences, James by obliging Mistress Towneley in more ways than one, Alizon, by believing a little too deeply in her powers. People who lived in that atmosphere of fear and superstition. But there’s another story and that is that of the recently widowed Laura Phillips and it’s set in the present day.
I won’t spoil things by saying what the link is but the meld is seamless. Hats off to the author for pulling it off.
I turned the pages of this book knowing that eventually I would come to the words, the end, never wanting to reach them.

You can find The Pendle Curse here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

And other online retailers

Other books by Catherine Cavendish include:

 

And are currently available – or soon will be – from:

Catherine Cavendish Amazon page

Catherine Cavendish lives with a long-suffering husband and ‘trainee’ black cat in North Wales. Her home is in a building dating back to the mid-18th century, which is haunted by a friendly ghost, who announces her presence by footsteps, switching lights on and strange phenomena involving the washing machine and the TV. Cat has written a number of published horror novellas, short stories, and novels, frequently reflecting her twin loves of history and horror and often containing more than a dash of the dark and Gothic. When not slaving over a hot computer, she enjoys wandering around Neolithic stone circles and visiting old haunted houses.

You can connect with Cat here:

Catherine Cavendish

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Catherine Cavendish, imaginary friends and serenading the devil

Tags

Catherine Cavendish, Horror, Imaginary friends, New book, Samhain Publishing, The Devil's Serenade

 

Imaginary Friends by Catherine Cavendish

When you were growing up, did you have an imaginary friend? Did they seem real to you? Maybe sort-of-real. You could talk to them, imagine their responses, play with them – but you probably kept the ‘relationship’ within certain boundaries, however young you were. In my case, I invented an entire family of siblings – three sisters (two older, one a few years younger) and an older brother who looked out for us girls. Being an only child, I found them comforting, and fun, but I never imagined them to be real. They, in turn, kept themselves firmly lodged in my own mind and never attempted to cross any boundary into the real world.

In my new novel, The Devil’s Serenade, my central character also had an imaginary family when she was a child. Scarily for her, they now start to appear in her real adult world.

Of course, my story is fiction, but there have been a number of accounts of small children making ‘friends’ with most unsuitable imaginary friends – who then cross the line.

 

One such story concerns a woman called Layla who lived with her four year old son, Ryan and her partner in a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent in England called Trentham. Although an only child, Ryan was a good mixer, socialising well with other children and enjoying a normal childhood. He had no history of talking to himself so his mother was surprised to hear him doing just that – quit loudly – as she passed his room one January evening.

On entering his room, she found her son sitting cross-legged on the floor. She asked him who he was talking to and he replied that he had a new friend, “Fred.” They had been talking. Ryan described his new friend as, “silly.”

Layla decided there was no harm in this new imaginary friend and left him to it. For the next few weeks, Ryan could often be heard chatting and laughing and his parents thought nothing more of it, putting it down to his lively imagination.

Then, one unforgettable night, Layla and her husband were woken by an earsplitting scream. It was Ryan.

They dashed into his room and found him curled up in the corner, white-faced, his hands over his face. Layla tried to comfort him, asking him what was wrong.

Ryan sobbed. He said Fred had got angry with him and shouted at him when Ryan said it was too late to play. Then Fred had screamed at him and scared him.

It took some minutes to calm the terrified little boy down.

The next day, Layla was cleaning out Ryan’s room while he was out with his father. She had a sudden urge to warn the imaginary friend and told him to keep away from her son. “If you ever scare my child again I shall have you removed. I will take Ryan to the doctor’s if I have to.”

She felt rather silly issuing such a warning to nobody, but a strange sense of satisfaction spread over her.

Ryan came home and went immediately to his room. Shortly after, he emerged and asked his mother why he had to go to the doctor’s. “Fred says you are taking me.”

Layla stared at her son, uncomprehendingly. How could Ryan have known about her tirade in his room? She had been alone in the house at the time and told no one else about it.

Ryan continued, each word chilling Layla’s blood. “He says you told him off today when you were alone. He says he’s sorry for shouting at me and he won’t do it again.”

Layla didn’t take Ryan to the doctor and, although Ryan continued to play with ‘Fred’ for some months, nothing further happened to make her concerned. Then, Ryan stopped playing with his imaginary friend altogether.

Forever afterwards, Layla was never able to explain how Ryan could have known about her warning to Fred. Ryan could throw no light on the matter either. It remained an unsolved, intriguing mystery.

 

 

Now, to give you a taste of The Devil’s Serenade, here’s the blurb:

Maddie had forgotten that cursed summer. Now she’s about to remember…

“Madeleine Chambers of Hargest House” has a certain grandeur to it. But as Maddie enters the Gothic mansion she inherited from her aunt, she wonders if its walls remember what she’s blocked out of the summer she turned sixteen.

She’s barely settled in before a series of bizarre events drive her to question her sanity. Aunt Charlotte’s favorite song shouldn’t echo down the halls. The roots of a faraway willow shouldn’t reach into the cellar. And there definitely shouldn’t be a child skipping from room to room.

As the barriers in her mind begin to crumble, Maddie recalls the long-ago summer she looked into the face of evil. Now, she faces something worse. The mansion’s long-dead builder, who has unfinished business—and a demon that hungers for her very soul.

Here’s an extract:

A large flashlight rested on the bottom stair and I switched it on, shining it into the dark corners. There wasn’t a lot to see. A few broken bits of furniture, old fashioned kitchen chairs, some of which looked vaguely familiar, jam jars, crates that may once have held bottles of beer.

The beam caught the clump of gnarled and twisted roots that intertwined with each other, like Medusa’s snakes. I edged closer to it, my heart thumping more than it should. It was only a tree, for heaven’s sake! The nearest one was probably the willow. Surely, that was too far away? I knew little about trees, but I was pretty certain their roots couldn’t extend that far.

I examined the growth from every angle in that silent cellar. The roots were definitely spreading along the floor and, judging by the thickness and appearance of them, had been there for many years. Gray, like thick woody tendrils, they reached around six feet along and possibly four feet across at their widest point. I bent down. Close up, the smell that arose from them was cloyingly sweet. Sickeningly so. I put one hand over my nose, rested the flashlight on the steps and reached out with the fingers of my free hand to touch the nearest root. It wriggled against my palm.

I cried out, staggered backward and fell against the stairs. The flashlight clattered to the floor and went out. Only the overhead bulb provided any light, and it didn’t reach this darkest corner. Something rustled. I struggled to my feet, grabbed the torch and ran up the stairs. I slammed the door shut and locked it, leaned against it and tried to slow down my breathing. A marathon runner couldn’t have panted more.

I tapped the flashlight and it flickered into life, seemingly none the worse for its accident. I switched it off and set it on the floor by the cellar door. Whoever came to fix those roots was going to need it.

 

You can find The Devil’s Serenade here:

 

Samhain Publishing

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

And other online retailers

About the author:

Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Cat is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. She was the 2013 joint winner of the Samhain Gothic Horror Anthology Competition, with Linden Manor, which features in the anthology What Waits in the Shadows.  Other titles include: The Pendle Curse, Saving Grace Devine, Dark Avenging Angel, The Second Wife, Miss Abigail’s Room, The Demons of Cambian Street, The Devil Inside Her, Cold Revenge and In My Lady’s Chamber.

 

You can connect with Cat here:

 

Catherine Cavendish

 

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Tsu

 

The February Author Interview-Deno…Deno. A certain Mr Sandz

Tags

Deno Sandz, Dime Horror novels, Horror, Whorehouse on Penguin Creek, writing

Hey, hey, hey fellahs, can we just be a bit nicer here?

Ok..but you see that this here button….?

 

Okay…..Deno, firstly  tell us a little about your good self?

Deno. My name is Deno Sandz, originally from Chicago, Illinois now residing in Ohio, a U.S. Army Veteran.

I’ve published horror novels such as: “Miss Mary Weather: A Southern Nightmare”
(2000), “Pen of Iniquity” (2008), “I,AM” (2010), “Blood Plantation” (2011), “Cry
Heaven Cry Hell…The Return of Miss Mary Weather(Sequel)”(2013), “Icabob Shaw”
(2014),  “The House of Shangri-La” (2014), and “7even Dreams: A Dialogue with
Evil” (2015), and  have numerous unpublished novels in the works.  I have
written articles on every aspect of society. 

My short stories transcend the heart, soul, and mind of the reader.  For example, my story, “Awakened” is a teaching tool in the Oakland School District for the last five years.

I have other short stories published in the pages of magazines across the country.  I
also write poetry/prose.  I am the creator of Deno Sandz Productions/Six
Shortyes Films.

Shey…. Horror writers come in many types.  How would you describe
your work?

Deno. I would describe my work as “Soul Frightening,” “Consolidated Horror
Fiction,” “Thought beyond reality,” and “Optical Fear Provoking Entertainment.”

Shey. So? Scary Maries eh! 

What drew you to write and get into this ‘murderous’ business?

Deno.  The love I had as a young person to read and
imagine propelled me to write, creating an acronym I call today: “V.I.C.”: This
is Visualization, Imagination, and Creativity.

Shey.  Who would you cite as your main influences?

Deno. I would have to say the Lord my God, then my grandparents
and parents.

Shey.  Your grandparents must be very special to you Deno. Where does your actual inspiration come from?
Deno, My inspiration comes from the world’s mind, body, soul, and its parallel existence to another world that we cannot see, thrust upon us in our nightmares.

 Shey.  Can you tell us a bit about your next release?

Deno. My next novel is entitled: “Whorehouse on Penguin
Creek”

 It’s a paradise gone bad. If you are ever driving, pass a sign that reads, “Whorehouse on Penguin Creek” next exit–keep driving…  Because not every pleasure is good for you. In the summer of July 1834 in Arkansas, during the time of the, “Wild Man of the Woods,” believed to be a Bigfoot…a gigantic hairy man-like creature with huge feet,  six people of a secret cult  brutally sacrificed themselves  in the name of Satan. One by one their bodies fell and descended beneath the shallowly waters of Penguin Creek………  Until they were reborn with a drop of human blood….

Shey. What is this King of Cleve biz?

Deno.  It was an honor and privilege to receive a TOP AUTHOR AWARD from the Land of Cleve Achievement Awards: Raise the Glass Ceremony 2014.  Cleveland has shown me true artist adoration.  In addition, through these great accomplishments/awards bestowed upon me.  I am humble and grateful to receive the accolades such as King, Acclaimed, Master, and Prolific from artistic enthusiasts, fans, and friends.

Shey.  A lot of aspiring authors follow this blog, any writing tips?

Deno.  If you are not inspired to write on your own, why write. If you are not willing to be inspired, why write?  Bad reviews should not discourage you from continuing
to write. In addition, remember: “If a writer’s work is to be read, the writer
too must be read.”

Shey. That’s cos you ate it. Thank you Deno, for joining us today. Now I do believe Bobby Bub wants a word. Just let me press this button…….

 

Blurb:
A reinvention of the 19th Century Dime Novels

What happens when you curse God and touch a book of Dead Dreams written by the (Son of Satan)? This book makes the reader wonder if the Dialogue with Evil is a
distortion. Is the mirror reflection of reality without a mirror his (Omar
Small)?

Buy Link:
http://www.amazon.com/7even-Dreams-Dialogue-Horror-Novel/dp/1503307700/ref=la_B00JOF1TXO_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423768411&sr=1-4

 

Catherine Cavendish, the Pendle Curse and the Witches of North Berwick

Tags

Anne of Denmark, Catherine Cavendish, Horror, James 6th, Samhain Publishing, Scottish Witch Hunts, The Pendle Curse, The Witches of North Berwick, Witch hunts

 

 

The Witches of North Berwick by Catherine Cavendish.

 

 

My new novel – The Pendle Curse – has some of its roots in a true story. In August 1612, ten men and women were convicted, in Lancaster, England, of crimes related to witchcraft and subsequently hanged on Gallows Hill. They became known to history as the Pendle Witches.

But they weren’t alone. Scotland was not short of witches – especially in East Lothian.

 When tourists come to Edinburgh Castle,

they often admire the pretty flowers at the well. They don’t generally notice the detail of the design on the wall, but if you take a close look:

 See it now? Witches and they are certainly not happy and sparkly. During the 17^th and 18^th centuries, more than 3800 so-called witches were killed in Scotland – by strangling, drowning, hanging or burned alive at the stake. This makes that country the biggest persecutor of witches in Europe.

The first major witch trial took place in 1590 and was presided over by the King of Scotland himself – James VI, later to become James I of England.

He believed witches were out to kill him. He based this reasoning on an incident that took place a couple of years earlier when his new bride – Anne of Denmark – was on her way from her home country to Scotland, following her proxy marriage to the king. Fierce storms blew up from nowhere, forcing her ship to put into a safe harbour in Norway. James did the gallant thing and set out to bring her back. The treacherous journey saw them buffeted by three consecutive storms, which nearly wrecked the ship.

If it had, it is almost certain the king and his new bride would have drowned.

At that time, James learned of a coven of witches operating at the Auld Kirk Green in North Berwick, East Lothian. He believed they had vowed to assassinate him and, in order to do so, had conjured the storms. The king was assisted and encouraged in his beliefs by his wife. She, her family and many members of the Danish nobility attributed the near death of a relative to witchcraft, while, in Denmark itself, witch-hunts were rife.

Now James was convinced he too was a victim. He set out on a holy crusade to rid the land of witches by any means – including barbarous torture.

Suspicion and fear became rife in North Berwick as the inhabitants speculated on who was and who wasn’t a witch. One man – David Seaton – reported his maid, Geillis Duncan. The poor woman had been rash enough to help sick people get well. She was arrested, but refused to confess. In jail, torturers discovered a witch’s mark – a mole or similar blemish which, when poked with a sharp implement, didn’t bleed.

Terrified out of her wits, Geillis accused a long list of others in the neighbourhood, totalling more than 70 men and women.

One of the accused – Agnes Sampson – was shackled to the wall of her cell. A witch’s, or ‘scold’s’, bridle was secured to her head. This contained four sharp prongs which pierced her cheeks and tongue. Perhaps not surprisingly, the woman confessed to being a witch and implicated others. A lot of others. She said that around 200 witches had met with the devil at the coven on Auld Kirk Green and summoned the violent storms to kill the king.

 

 For her co-operation, Agnes was granted the mercy of being strangled before being burnt as a witch.

James decided to make a further example of accused schoolmaster, James Fian, who had initially confessed, following hideous torture, including the infamous, bone-crushing boot, accompanied by having his fingernails pierced by needles and then torn out by pincers. Bloodied and maimed, he later retracted his confession, but James was having none of it. The schoolmaster was burned to death on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle in January 1591.

In all, the trials of the North Berwick witches lasted two years, resulting in multiple executions – the exact number of which is unknown. We can probably assume that the overwhelming majority of those brought to trial would have been condemned to die.

James’s experiences led him to believe he was now an expert on witchcraft, He wrote his treatise, Daemonologie, which was published in 1597. The Scottish witch-hunts had begun in earnest.

 

Now, here’s the blurb for The Pendle Curse:

Four hundred years ago, ten convicted witches were hanged on Gallows Hill. Now they are back…for vengeance.

Laura Phillips’s grief at her husband’s sudden death shows no sign of passing. Even sleep brings her no peace. She experiences vivid, disturbing dreams of a dark, brooding hill, and a man—somehow out of time—who seems to know her. She discovers that the place she has dreamed about exists. Pendle Hill. And she knows she must go there. But as soon as she arrives, the dream becomes a nightmare. She is caught up in a web of witchcraft and evil…and a curse that will not die.

Here’s a short extract from the beginning:

His spirit soared within him and flew up into the storm-clad sky as blackness descended and the rain became a tempest.

He flew. Lost in a maelstrom of swirling mists. Somewhere a baby cried until its sobs became distorted, tortured roars. Beyond, a black void loomed. He saw Alizon’s spirit just ahead and tried to call out to her, but his voice couldn’t reach her.

Beside him, another spirit cried out. His mother. He flinched at her screams before they were drowned in the mass—that terrible parody of some hideous child.

The blackness metamorphosed. An amorphous shape formed as his eyes struggled to see with their new vision—the gift of death. Small baby limbs flailed towards him. Eyes of fire flashed as a toothless mouth opened. Screeching, roaring and demanding to be fed. Demanding its mother.

His spirit reached out for his lover. Tried to pull her back. “Alizon!”

She turned anguished eyes to him. “It calls to me.”

He recognized it instantly. The blazing fire. The devil child. That cursed infant had come for them.

Again he reached out with arms that no longer felt connected to him, but he was powerless to stop Alizon being swept away, deep into the abomination’s maw.

“No!” His cry reverberated around him—a wail of anguish in a sea of torment.

Then…silence. Only he remained, drifting in swirling gray mists of time.

“I will find you, sweet Alizon. One day I will find you. And I will find the one who betrayed us.”

From somewhere, he heard an echo…

You can find The Pendle Curse here:

Samhain Publishing

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

About the author

Catherine Cavendish – Cat to her friends – lives with her husband in a haunted 18th century building in North Wales. Fortunately for all concerned, the ghost is friendly and contents herself (she’s definitely female) with switching on lights, and attempting to discover how the TV and washing machine work (it’s a long story!).

Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Cat is now the full time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. She is the 2013 joint winner of the Samhain Gothic Horror Anthology Competition, with Linden Manor, which features in the anthology What Waits In The Shadows.  The Pendle Curse is her latest novel for Samhain; her first  – Saving Grace Devine – was published in 2014.

Her daily walks have so far provided the inspiration for two short stories and a novella. As she says, “It’s amazing what you see down by the river, as it flows through a sleepy rural community.” Those with delicate constitutions are advised not to ask!
You can connect with Cat here:

Catherine Cavendish

Facebook

Twitter

Tsu

Goodreads

Pinterest

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

Facebook

Twitter

 

Pinterest

Goodreads

It’s Black Friday..with Catherine Cavendish

Tags

Catherine Cavendish, Georgia, ghosts, haunting, Horror, Poole Mill's Bridge, Samhain Publishing, Saving Grace Devine, the undead

 

 

 

 

Okay…okay… Firstly there is no It’s girl Friday today.

Incy Black, author of the fast and furious and fabulous Hard To Hold

has launched a wonderful  new feature

The Redoubtable Shehanne Moore

Sorry…that’s not what it’s called. It’s called

Fire Starters
Writers/Books that ignite that ‘something’ in me…

http://incyblack.weebly.com/blog-into-the-black/july-04th-2014

So, yeah I am blowing my own trumpet cos it’s damned good of Ince to do this and help me out when I’ve been kinda snowed under. I’m also going to be having a kind of week of Girl Friday on the themes, settings, characters  of my own books, kicking off  with a Scottish themed week on Monday for His Judas Bride,

 

 

That’s what you think….  What kind of hero, what kind of heroine, how action leads to reaction and drives the plot forward,  etc, etc, etc, so for today we are giving It’s Girl Friday a miss and  welcoming the lovely Catherine Cavendish….get off her neck…

Catherine has been here before but she is one talented lady and what’s more  has a new book out. Saving Grace Devine.

Let me tell you all you fans of horror, it’s a cracker. Right up the street of those who like that little bit of past mystery with their horror. Ooh, got the chills already.

So here she is. Par excellence. With a  very special creepy blog post.

I know……..

The Blue Girl of Poole Mill’s Bridge

By Catherine Cavendish

‘In my new novel, Saving Grace Devine, a young girl is drowned, but her spirit returns to haunt the lakeside where she met her untimely end. She seeks help from the living, to help her cross over to the afterlife.
From my research, it would appear that my fictional Grace is not alone. Many people have reported seeing ghosts of drowned girls who are all apparently earthbound. Searching for something, or someone. In need of help from the living to help them join the world of spirit.
So it is with this account – that of the mysterious and frightening Blue Girl of Poole Mill’s Bridge.

Situated in Forsyth County, Georgia, Poole Mill’s Bridge is set in a delightful location and is one of the few remaining lattice work covered bridges. There are a number of stories relating to hauntings there but that of the Blue Girl is probably the most persistent.

Back in the 1930s, on a burning hot day, a young family – mother, father and nine year old daughter -decided to take a picnic there. Enticed by the cool water, the little girl ran down to the creek to paddle. She ignored the calls of her mother to be careful and, what none of them realized was that recent heavy rain had made the creek much deeper than it looked. The child kicked off her shoes and socks and jumped into the water. Her screams sent her parents running down to the water but the strong current was already sweeping her away, into imminent danger.

 

In those days, a water wheel operated a grist mill there and the little girl was swept straight towards it. Her father dived in and, although he was a strong swimmer, he could not save her. He grabbed at the big blue bow on the back of her dress just seconds too late, as she was swept under the mighty wheel. Even the efforts of the mill workers weren’t enough to save her. They retrieved her lifeless body – her face as blue as the bow on her dress. The devastated couple left with her and never returned to the county. No one knew their names.

News of the tragedy spread quickly and soon strange stories began to emerge. People reported seeing a young girl dressed in her Sunday best in a pretty dress with a large blue bow. They would see her at the bridge, totally dry – except for dripping wet hair. Then she would vanish.

Years went by and a Vietnam veteran named Chuck Morse, down on his luck, happened to be sitting in a bar, when he got into conversation with a World War II veteran who showed him a large gold nugget he said his grandson had found up at Poole’s Bridge. Chuck could barely believe his eyes. By the size of it, the nugget must be worth thousands of dollars. When his companion told him there was allegedly much more where that came from, Chuck didn’t need any greater motivation. He wasn’t even deterred when the older man told him that the new park built on that site meant daylight digging was impossible without getting caught and that, at nighttime, people tended to leave it well alone. “Why?” Chuck asked.

The man told him of a friend of his – BJ Corliss – who had been up near Poole Mill’s Bridge and had seen a young girl, dressed in her Sunday best dress, not a wrinkle on it, but with wet hair. As he approached her, she vanished. Then she sprang up again not ten feet away from him. He saw the bluish tinge to her skin and ran for his life. Chuck had heard stories of the Blue Girl since his childhood. He wasn’t about to believe in such fairy stories. He laughed, paid the tab and left. The older man was insistent – BJ had told him no amount of gold would ever tempt him to dig there after dark.

Chuck started for home. An old man’s wild stories. Impossibly large gold nuggets. Couldn’t be real, could it? But if there was just one slim chance it was, his whole life could transform overnight. All he had to do was go up to Poole Mill’s Bridge and dig there. After dark. Then he’d find out one way or another.

Back home, he thrust pickaxe, shovel and any other tools he might need into the back of his old truck and drove off up to Poole Mill. First he had to find the remains of the now long-demolished grist mill – and the old millstone. He stepped over heavy stones, tripped and slipped into the cold water, bashing his leg against a rock. In pain and anger, he threw the heavy stone out onto the bank. Then he retrieved the flashlight he had dropped when he fell, and shone it into the water. Something glittered. But it wasn’t a gold nugget. He picked up a small, heart-shaped gold locket that must have lain buried under the stone that had injured him. As he examined it, his flashlight suddenly went out.

 

But behind him a strange glow he thought at first was moonlight, grew stronger. Then he heard a sound that chilled his blood. Tiny footsteps splashing in the water. He whirled around and saw the girl, glowing blue, dressed in her Sunday dress with her wet hair. He cried out in terror. “Please God, help me!”

The girl stared at him, her eyes sad and filled with longing. He realized he was rubbing the locket.

It’s hers. She wants it back, he thought. His fear almost paralysed him but, with a great effort, he held it out to her. She came closer and took it from him. Then she smiled. And vanished.

Despite his injured leg, Chuck raced up the hill and back to his truck. He never returned to dig for the gold. Plenty of others have – but no one has reported seeing the Blue Girl since. It seems that her locket was her only remaining link with her family. It must have come adrift during her terrible accident. Now she has been reunited with it, her reason for haunting is over.

But still those who have heard Chuck’s story won’t venture up there after dark.

Here’s a flavour of Saving Grace Devine:

Can the living help the dead…and at what cost?
When Alex Fletcher finds a painting of a drowned girl, she’s unnerved. When the girl in the painting opens her eyes, she is terrified. And when the girl appears to her as an apparition and begs her for help, Alex can’t refuse.
But as she digs further into Grace’s past, she is embroiled in supernatural forces she cannot control, and a timeslip back to 1912 brings her face to face with the man who killed Grace and the demonic spirit of his long-dead mother. With such nightmarish forces stacked against her, Alex’s options are few. Somehow she must save Grace, but to do so, she must pay an unimaginable price.
You can find Saving Grace Devine in all usual ebook formats here:

Samhain Publishing
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com.au
B&N
Kobo

and in paperback here:

Samhain Publishing
About the author
Catherine Cavendish is joint winner of the Samhain Gothic Horror Anthology competition 2013. Her winning novella – Linden Manor – is now available in all digital formats and the print anthology will be published in October. She is the author of a number of paranormal horror and Gothic horror novellas and short stories. . Her novel, Saving Grace Devine, has just been published by Samhain Publishing.
She lives with a longsuffering husband in North Wales. Her home is in a building dating back to the mid-18th century which is haunted by a friendly ghost, who announces her presence by footsteps, switching lights on and strange phenomena involving the washing machine and the TV.

When not slaving over a hot computer, Cat enjoys wandering around Neolithic stone circles and visiting old haunted houses.

You can connect with Cat here:
http://www.catherinecavendish.com
https://www.facebook.com/CatherineCavendishWriter?ref=hl
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4961171.Catherine_Cavendish
http://twitter.com/#!/cat_cavendish