Perhapablog

Monday, October 22, 2007

horror stories

okay...

as halloween approaches and the nights get cooler--and darker, i think--a part of me, something deep inside of me actually calls out for horror stories and scary movies and i begin to look forward to a long winter filled with books of terror and the unexplained. this season just does it to me.

i've mentioned before a few of the places i frequent on the net to check up on all things paranormal and cryptozoological; sure, i'm looking for all the latest news to possibly use and/or incorporate into the ever-growing perhapanauts mythos.
but mostly, i'm just looking to be scared.

one of my favorites, as i've posted before, is paranormal at about.com. they have a section there called "your true stories" and, while occassionally one or two of them smack of attention-seeking, completely-made-up, most of them translate an honest belief in whatever phenomenon or occurance the writer may have experienced.

"your true stories"
for readers, by readers.
most of them are short and to the point.
you can check 'em out here...

but here's one for you to check out right here.

Red Eyes, Hairy Feet
by Aaron

This happened in February, 2006, a few days before Valentine's Day. I was getting ready for the swing shift as a security guard at a motel. I was living at my mom's place on a small reservation outside Albuquerque with my brother, who was there with his wife and three kids.

I remember it was 9:15 p.m. and I had just had my breakfast. It was dark and a moonless night. I lay down on my mom's couch to rest for a little while because my shift started at 11:00. At about this time, I guess my brother (who was staying in the very back room of the house) sent my nephew ,Tre (6 years old), to his car that was parked a couple of feet away from my parents' rear door. He was supposed to get a bottle of juice.

While I lay on the couch, I heard him screaming like he was getting beat on. I got up and his dad came in holding his hand. He was shaking like crazy, almost like he had hypothermia. My mom talked to him and asked him what was wrong. He then told us of a "thing" that watched him from the fence line and then came after him. He said it was as tall as him (4 feet) and had red glowing eyes, gray hairy feet, long claws and a snout like a dog's.

At first I didn't believe him. His dad and I walked around the fence line and couldn't find anything. I didn't think anything about it until lately when I began to see footprints around my parents' windows that looked kind of human, but had claw marks.


also in my recent travels, i found this photo that someone did up of the jersey devil. a model/statue of some constrution, obviously, but still, it would take my breath away if i saw it perched on an embankment overlooking the little lane that i take jake for his walk on everyday.



no reason why i was looking up the jersey devil...

that's it.
got any "your true tales" of your own...?
send 'em in.

until then
here are the answers to the
"five for friday"

1. what did these three characters have in common?

a. niles' wife
b. norm's wife
c. rhoda's doorman

never appeared on camera

2. what were their names?

a. meris crane
b. vera peterson
c. carlton

3. what do these three characters have in common?

a. sam malone
b. abby lockhart
c. jack shepherd

they are all alcoholics.

4, who play(ed) them?

a. ted danson
b. maura tierney
c. matthew fox

5. crypto
a. what was the name of the man who filmed the classic and controversial bluff creek bigfoot footage?

roger patterson

b. what is mel waters (in)famous for?

mel's hole--an, apparently, bottomless pit located in the state of washington.

c. paula m called it 'the dump creature', but what was the name given to the strange creatures which appeared out of the ground to taunt french soldiers in north vietnam in the early 1950's?

the ingot

d. who wrote " the mothman prophesies"?

john a. keel

e. who played him in the movie?

richard gere

smell ya later!
todd

11 comments:

Christian D. Leaf said...

Nice creepy little tale. Those are kind stories I spout out to the wife when we're driving late at night or just randomly in bed. "Imagine if..." That's about as far as I get nowadays before she gives me a smack or the stink eye.

I'll definitely have to peep about.com now. Thanks for pointing it out, Todd.

Anonymous said...

I have a crazy ghost tale from when I was a child...should I post it here?

todd said...

mcgill!!

yes!!!
absolutely!!

or, better yet, send it to me at todd@perhapanauts.com and i'll put it on the blog this friday!!

that'd be great!

Brian said...

A nice little story to officially start the Halloween season.

Heywood Jablomie said...

Nice story there. I'll have to check out that website one day. Sounds pretty cool. I don't have a 'creepy' story/experience, but I have had some really whacked out, vivid dreams that would make some killer movies that's for sure. I usually try to write them down, but lately I've grown lazy. But the best one's usually come when I read anything by H.P. Lovecraft.

Warren said...

When I first got the internet about twelve years ago, I used to go to ghost story sites and ufo sites and bigfoot sites all the time. I still visit them now and then.

One of my favorite sites was
http://www.visitorinfo.com/ghost/fright.htm

aka Ghost Stories R Us. Some creepy stuff there.

I also spent hours at the Willard Library site, looking for ghosts on their closed circuit camera.

http://www.willardghost.com/

todd said...

thanks for the links, warren--
i'll be checking those out!

Anonymous said...

Creepy.
Love those kinds of stories.

I have an 'almost' ghost story of my own(from when I was about 18-19), but I didn't have the guts to check it out when the time came to confront.

I will definitely check out the sites including the 2 from Warren.

Later.

Warren said...

Slightly off the subject here, but the Frighteners is on AMC right now and I have to admit -- I love this movie. Probably one of my favorite ghostie movies ever. Certainly one of my favorite contemporary American horror movies. I can't stand the likes of Saw and its ilk. Scream was tolerable, but I Know What You Did Last Summer was not. I also liked the Sixth Sense, the Others, and Mothman Prophecies. The original 13 Ghosts beat the hell out of the remake, but Geoffrey Rush's performance made the remake of House on Haunted Hill completely awesome. Also the 1999 version of the Haunting sucked, especially compared to the moody and strange original Robert Wise version. And have any of you seen a movie called the Innocents, starring Deborah Kerr? It also was terrific and it seems to me that M. Night Shyamalan might have borrowed a few of that movie's techniques when he made Sixth Sense.

There. Done. Glad I got that off my chest.

todd said...

great reviews and suggestions, warren! thanks!
i'm there with you on the saw/hostel/torture-porn movies--when i was younger, i woulda dug them more, but now they just seem so wildly gratuitous. personally, i love a great story, hopefully one without any (or many) plot holes. but i can still appreaciate a good "jump" movie too! thanks for the tip on the innocents--i'll have to look that up!

Cooper said...

Doug Bradley was up in Greensboro doing a signing at Woods of Terror. Had to go up and chill with my man, Pinhead. As far as I'm concerned, my Halloween's already been made!