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Desire
A killer roams the farmland surrounding the rural community of Franklin Furnace, Missouri. Not a typical nameless or faceless killer, but a man by the name of Homer Elwood, and infamously known as the Chocolate Man.Captured, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to life in a mental hospital, would seem to be all it would take to stop him—it wasn’t.He escaped and disappeared. Some think he died in a winter blizzard, other people think the local vigilantes got to him, still others think he just got better at his craft.Rachel Law, and her team of paranormal investigators think he is dead, but returned for unfinished work. In the paranormal realm, we hear of ghosts who can’t move on because of unfinished business. Normally that involves loved ones, not returning to continue a reign of terror and murder.When Rachel captures the EVP of a little girl crying and asking for help, there is no turning back.
341 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2020
About the author
Orville Burch
49 books16 followersOrville Burch has dedicated his entire vocation and avocation to peeling back the curtains on the windows of the unknown, stopping just short of being a peeping Tom.
While growing up, Orville Burch lived a family mystery. No wonder most of his writings are of the dark-side.
There were whispers, and bits of incomplete stories and legends relative to his ancestry.
His family was from the Appalachian area of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He was born in West Virginia, but grew up in Ohio. From as long as he could remember, he was told that he was part of the Blackfoot tribe.
That part of his heritage was a treasure he embraced, as he roamed the forests and streams of rural Ohio. The mystery, however, was that the Blackfoot tribe lived nowhere near that Appalachian area. It would be a few years before he uncovered most of the story.
His family oral history was that an Eastern Blackfoot fleeing to escape slavery was harbored on a farm in Virginia. There he met a woman by the name of Burch (some stories say she was an indentured servant from Wales or England). They fell in love and were married. He, fearing that the slavers would track him down, changed his name to Burch. Eventually, they left the farm and went west, maybe as far as Ohio.
Could the story have been true?
The Eastern Blackfoot, is not the same as the Blackfeet of Montana. They are an entirely different ethnic group. The Easter Blackfoot called themselves the Saponi. They spoke a Siouan language. The Western Blackfeet or Siksika spoke an Algonquian language. It is believed by anthropologists that both tribes received their name from settlers because they wore moccasins that were stained black.
There are many people living in Ohio, northern North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia who can trace their heritage to Eastern Blackfoot ancestors. This has always caused confusion since the Eastern Blackfoot have long been forgotten by American history books. They never fought a war against Great Britain, or the United States, so there was no peace treaty signed with them. They never were a tribe recognized by the United States government.
In 1660, the Colony of Virginia armed the fierce Rickohocken tribe and issued them a contract to capture unlimited numbers of Native American slaves. The Rickohocken capital, Otari, was near Bedford, VA. The Saponi were located directly across the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Rickohockens and therefore were immediately attacked by Rickohocken slaving parties.
By 1670, explorer Johann Lederer reported that the surviving Saponi had relocated southwestward to a site on Otter Creek, near Lynchburg, VA. Not too long after that the Saponi and Tutelo moved southwestward again to the confluence of the Dan and Staunton Rivers, where they form the Roanoke River. The islands they lived on were very close to the Virginia-North Carolina line. The purpose again was to put farther distance between their dwindling populations and their pervasive enemies, the Rickohockens and Iroquois.
The presence of some Saponi descendants in North Carolina is the result of the next move by the surviving Virginia Siouans. Explorer John Lawson reported in 1701 that the Saponi and Tutelo were living on the Yadkin River in North Carolina near present day Salisbury, NC. Slave raids by the ancestors of the Cherokees pushed them northeastward into the southeastern tip of Virginia, near white settlements.
Most Saponi had become Christians by the early 1700s and had adopted European (Christian) names. In 1711 Virginia Governor Spotswood placed the Christian Siouans on a reservation known as Fort Christiana in Brunswick County, VA. The Saponi lived with other Christian Siouans on the reservation for a few years, then dispersed. In 1722 the Iroquois agreed to stop raiding Virginia Indians, but continued to attack Carolina Indians.
In 1759, a band of 28 Saponi traveled northward to Sunbury, PA.
What probably happened in the 1
While growing up, Orville Burch lived a family mystery. No wonder most of his writings are of the dark-side.
There were whispers, and bits of incomplete stories and legends relative to his ancestry.
His family was from the Appalachian area of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He was born in West Virginia, but grew up in Ohio. From as long as he could remember, he was told that he was part of the Blackfoot tribe.
That part of his heritage was a treasure he embraced, as he roamed the forests and streams of rural Ohio. The mystery, however, was that the Blackfoot tribe lived nowhere near that Appalachian area. It would be a few years before he uncovered most of the story.
His family oral history was that an Eastern Blackfoot fleeing to escape slavery was harbored on a farm in Virginia. There he met a woman by the name of Burch (some stories say she was an indentured servant from Wales or England). They fell in love and were married. He, fearing that the slavers would track him down, changed his name to Burch. Eventually, they left the farm and went west, maybe as far as Ohio.
Could the story have been true?
The Eastern Blackfoot, is not the same as the Blackfeet of Montana. They are an entirely different ethnic group. The Easter Blackfoot called themselves the Saponi. They spoke a Siouan language. The Western Blackfeet or Siksika spoke an Algonquian language. It is believed by anthropologists that both tribes received their name from settlers because they wore moccasins that were stained black.
There are many people living in Ohio, northern North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia who can trace their heritage to Eastern Blackfoot ancestors. This has always caused confusion since the Eastern Blackfoot have long been forgotten by American history books. They never fought a war against Great Britain, or the United States, so there was no peace treaty signed with them. They never were a tribe recognized by the United States government.
In 1660, the Colony of Virginia armed the fierce Rickohocken tribe and issued them a contract to capture unlimited numbers of Native American slaves. The Rickohocken capital, Otari, was near Bedford, VA. The Saponi were located directly across the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Rickohockens and therefore were immediately attacked by Rickohocken slaving parties.
By 1670, explorer Johann Lederer reported that the surviving Saponi had relocated southwestward to a site on Otter Creek, near Lynchburg, VA. Not too long after that the Saponi and Tutelo moved southwestward again to the confluence of the Dan and Staunton Rivers, where they form the Roanoke River. The islands they lived on were very close to the Virginia-North Carolina line. The purpose again was to put farther distance between their dwindling populations and their pervasive enemies, the Rickohockens and Iroquois.
The presence of some Saponi descendants in North Carolina is the result of the next move by the surviving Virginia Siouans. Explorer John Lawson reported in 1701 that the Saponi and Tutelo were living on the Yadkin River in North Carolina near present day Salisbury, NC. Slave raids by the ancestors of the Cherokees pushed them northeastward into the southeastern tip of Virginia, near white settlements.
Most Saponi had become Christians by the early 1700s and had adopted European (Christian) names. In 1711 Virginia Governor Spotswood placed the Christian Siouans on a reservation known as Fort Christiana in Brunswick County, VA. The Saponi lived with other Christian Siouans on the reservation for a few years, then dispersed. In 1722 the Iroquois agreed to stop raiding Virginia Indians, but continued to attack Carolina Indians.
In 1759, a band of 28 Saponi traveled northward to Sunbury, PA.
What probably happened in the 1
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 15, 2023
Heed the warnings in the opening of the book if you are susceptible to triggers of violence/abuse/rape. I had "Desire" in my TBR queue for a long time, and I am so sorry that I did. I had read the Rachel Law "Boo" series about her younger years on the family farm and loved them. "Desire" begins her adult series as she continues investigating the paranormal and ghost phenomena. I could not put the book down once I began. Page after page was filled with action and intrigue. I wouldn't be surprised if our author could hear me yelling at Rachel, "Don't go into that basement!." That girl is fearless. I am reading the second book in the series now. It is a nail-biter as well. One portion of a sentence in the novel that I believe was well thought out and full of imagination spoke about a scene in the newspaper office. . . . the smell and sensation of walking into a paperback novel. If those words don't give you something to think about when reading ANY novel, I don't know what will. A talented writer makes us feel like we are in the scenes of his/her writing, and Orville Burch does just that.
August 20, 2022
Although Orville Burch’s novel Desire contains something I usually avoid in fiction (serial murderers), his well-designed story compelled me to read to the end. The paranormal twist is just right, neither heavy-handed nor superfluous. Rachel is likeable and determined. Orville draws the characters in the book with skill and I especially enjoyed Rachel’s family and her pal Edgar. The community is a character of its own as well, the kind of place (barring serial killers) I would enjoy living. I highly recommend Desire.
May 13, 2022
A Paranormal Mystery
Part mystery, part horror, Desire takes the reader on a dark and twisty ride that keeps moving and keeps one guessing. Every chapter contains action and intrigue, with some occasionally scary content thrown in. A book that doesn’t take a break.
Part mystery, part horror, Desire takes the reader on a dark and twisty ride that keeps moving and keeps one guessing. Every chapter contains action and intrigue, with some occasionally scary content thrown in. A book that doesn’t take a break.
August 4, 2022
The creepy paranormal aspects and mystery were very intriguing, however the need for editing at times eclipsed the story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews