Mike
asked
Ian Rogers:
I'm sitting here in my apartment in New York City, a day after Christmas, and having just finished your phenomenal short story collection Every House is Haunted. Yesterday I watched "A Christmas Carol" with my kids, and recalled that the scene where Scrooge's door knocker turned into the ghostly face of Jacob Marley marked the first ghost I ever encountered in my life. What about you? What was your first ghost?
Ian Rogers
Hi Mike,
First of all, thank you for the very kind words about my book. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
Btw, I love "A Christmas Carol," and I've got to tell you, that scene you mentioned, with the door knocker, scared the hell out of me as a little kid -- even in the Muppet version. For years I had visions of knocking on my friends' doors and the knocker (if their door had one) turning into something nasty.
As for my first ghost... well, my whole family is from the East Coast of Canada -- Nova Scotia, to be exact -- which is an area rich in ghost stories and folklore. I have very vivid memories of going to Cape Breton one year when I was quite young to visit my mother's family, and being told ghost stories by virtually everyone in the family. I think everyone in Nova Scotia must have a ghost story -- and they all swear that they're real. There is an entertainment value to their storytelling, but they're also telling these stories because they believe them to be true. Mysterious cats wandering through houses (of people who don't own cats), phantom people wandering the roadside, strange lights coming out of ponds.
In my case, my cousins told stories about an old military tower on my family's property. It was an old barracks built during WWII, part of a whole bunch of miltary buildings construct to defend against a possible German invasion. It was a pretty spook place. My wife and I went to Nova Scotia for our honeymoon, and I showed her the old tower, which was still standing. She refused to go inside, and I must admit I was more than a little hestiant myself.
The stories my cousins told about the tower involved something red they saw on the roof. The really creepy thing is that there were multiple witnesses to the event and they all saw something different. One cousin said it was an orb that floated around the roof before disappearing down the side of the tower. But when I asked another cousin about it, he said, "Oh, you mean the bloody head that fell off the tower?" It made the story even more believable to me... and more terrifying. It really seemed like they saw something, even though they couldn't agree exactly what it was.
It wasn't my own personal encounter, but it was one that definitely left an impression on me at an early age.
And through the wonders of the internet I can show you the tower. Follow the link and scroll down to the comment section for links to pictures of the barracks.
https://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache...
Thanks for the excellent question and Happy Holidays!
Ian
First of all, thank you for the very kind words about my book. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
Btw, I love "A Christmas Carol," and I've got to tell you, that scene you mentioned, with the door knocker, scared the hell out of me as a little kid -- even in the Muppet version. For years I had visions of knocking on my friends' doors and the knocker (if their door had one) turning into something nasty.
As for my first ghost... well, my whole family is from the East Coast of Canada -- Nova Scotia, to be exact -- which is an area rich in ghost stories and folklore. I have very vivid memories of going to Cape Breton one year when I was quite young to visit my mother's family, and being told ghost stories by virtually everyone in the family. I think everyone in Nova Scotia must have a ghost story -- and they all swear that they're real. There is an entertainment value to their storytelling, but they're also telling these stories because they believe them to be true. Mysterious cats wandering through houses (of people who don't own cats), phantom people wandering the roadside, strange lights coming out of ponds.
In my case, my cousins told stories about an old military tower on my family's property. It was an old barracks built during WWII, part of a whole bunch of miltary buildings construct to defend against a possible German invasion. It was a pretty spook place. My wife and I went to Nova Scotia for our honeymoon, and I showed her the old tower, which was still standing. She refused to go inside, and I must admit I was more than a little hestiant myself.
The stories my cousins told about the tower involved something red they saw on the roof. The really creepy thing is that there were multiple witnesses to the event and they all saw something different. One cousin said it was an orb that floated around the roof before disappearing down the side of the tower. But when I asked another cousin about it, he said, "Oh, you mean the bloody head that fell off the tower?" It made the story even more believable to me... and more terrifying. It really seemed like they saw something, even though they couldn't agree exactly what it was.
It wasn't my own personal encounter, but it was one that definitely left an impression on me at an early age.
And through the wonders of the internet I can show you the tower. Follow the link and scroll down to the comment section for links to pictures of the barracks.
https://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache...
Thanks for the excellent question and Happy Holidays!
Ian
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