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Quote for the week:
"Her cold wind calls, and so I follow.
No time to rest my weary bones.
I hear her voice, and my heart grows hollow.
Best not walk these woods alone.
Best keep to the roads and out of the shadows.
Best get on home.
Best to leave them ghosts alone."
~From "The Land Unknown" by Landon Blood.
Almost every small town has its own version of a haunted house. In the town where I grew up, it was a big old abandoned place where three people were rumored to have died in the same room. People reported hearing strange noises from the house at night, and all the kids in town were afraid to walk past it.
The word "haunted" usually refers to structures or locations reported to be inhabited by spirits or other supernatural entities. A person can also be said to be haunted if they are preoccupied or obsessed with a memory or idea.
Some houses get the reputation of being haunted because of their appearance alone. A big old abandoned mansion with a tower and a widow's walk just "seems" more haunted than a more modern structure. Abandoned places often take on some of the trappings associated with haunted houses such as strange noises, spiders, and bats in the attic.
Other places are rumored to be haunted because of a frightening or traumatic event that happened there in the past. The Custer House in Mandan, North Dakota is a reconstruction of the home where General George Armstrong Custer and his wife, Libby, lived from 1873 until his death at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. The home is believed to be haunted by the ghost of Libby who has reportedly been seen waving goodbye to her husband at sunrise.
Often, closer, scientific investigation reveals that supposed hauntings have a non-supernatural cause. The house featured in the book and movie "The Amityville Horror" was said to be haunted after the murder of the DeFeo family in 1974. The book and movie described alleged experiences of George and Kathleen Lutz who purchased the home in 1975 for a greatly reduced price. The Lutzes later were sued by surviving relatives of the DeFeo family and admitted most of the events in the book were made up or overly dramatized. After purchasing the place, they had realized that they couldn't afford it after all and had made up the stories about the haunting in an attempt to make money. The house has had several different owners since then, none of whom claim to have witnessed any paranormal activity.
The actual history of the legendary haunted house in my hometown revealed that while three former owners of the house had died while living there, none of them died at home. The only strange noises heard by people who actually ventured in to the home were made by squirrels nesting in the roof. However, these revelations didn't stop kids from daring each other to race past the house at night and telling spooky stories about it to anyone who would listen. Stories of haunted places are just too much fun!
Something to try: Write a horror story that includes a haunted house or other haunted place.
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Question for next time: What subjects would you like to see discussed in future horror newsletters?
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Horror/Scary: February 25, 2026 Issue [#13615]
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