Come on boys and ghouls! It's time to hop on Route 666 for a spooktacular Paranormal Road Trip.
This week's stop is Dark World and our special guide is Toni V. Sweeney author of A BIT OF THE DARK WORLD.
Dark World's Top 5 Spooky Places
In
A Bit of the Dark World, Mother-to-be Lisa Chambers has the
misfortune to lose her husband in an auto accident. Occurring on Land’s
End Island, where he’s accused of trespassing. When she finds herself
being pursued by the owner of the island, she has no idea what she’s
getting into for Drexl von Dorff claims he’s other than human, the child
of a creature out of Time and Space, and that Lisa’s child is also his.
When her son is born, Lisa refuses to believe the evidence of his
otherworldly origin. Unfortunately, in her attempts to escape, she finds
herself in Colfax Harbor, the heart of where it all began, and
discovers the truth behind Drex’s claims and the place young Robbie is
expected to take in the plans of the creature’s worshippers.
Colfax Harbor and its neighboring towns of Arkham and Dunwich have
always had tales of mystery and horror surrounding them. Land’s End
Island and its nearest island, St Simons, are equally filled with gory
deed, if of a somewhat more historical nature.
1. Arkham
Even before Arkham lent its name to a popular comic book and a
television series, the city was known for dark unspeakable deeds.
According to the brochure supplied by the Arkham Chamber of Commerce
(which does try to play down its supernatural aspects), the city is
located in Essex County, Massachusetts, a little north of Boston. It is
home to Miskatonic University, established in 1691, named for the nearby
Miskatonic River, and the site of several unsavory occurrences which
the town fathers would prefer to forget. At the behest of the Reverend
Cotton Mather and Judge John Hathorne, its Department of Occult Sciences
came into existence after the Witch Trials in nearby Salem, in order to
further study and explain the phenomenon of ‘demons and their
possession of mortals.’
In keeping with its motto of Ex Ignorantia Ad Sapientiam, Ex Luce Ad
Tenebras, (Out Of Ignorance Into Wisdom, Out Of Light Into Darkness),
the university is well-known for its
collection of rare books on the occult, including one of the few
existing copies of the Necromonicon by Abdul Alhazred, as well as
Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von
Junzt, the Coultes des Goules, Der Vermis Mysteriis, A Treatise on
Certaine Prodigies Super-Naturall (of which the only other known
existing copy was owned by Drexl Von Dorff of Land’s End Island,
Georgia), and a fragment of the Book of Eibon. Recently this collection
was moved to the basement of the library after a break-in which resulted
in the death of the attempted thief and severe mental and psychological
traumas affecting the security force discovering him.
There are many prominent families in Arkham, whose geneaological trees
are filled with names of relatives whose existence the current members
are not allowed to talk about or even mention.
To prevent her location in Colfax Harbor being discovered, Lisa Chambers
drives to Arkham to use a pay phone when she wishes to call her aunt in
Georgia.
2. Dunwich
Dunwich has always been associated with dark and eldritch happenings.
Many of its people appear strange in appearance, batrician, even
serpentine. There are tales of the captains of the clipper ships which
sailed to the South Seas and beyond, bringing back odd creatures which
adapted well to the dark and brooding atmosphere they found in Dunwich’s
rugged, inhospitable climate. Indeed, even now, there are some areas
where even the townsfolk will not venture at night, blasted heaths and
abandoned houses which they say aren’t safe to enter without a weapon,
and even then that may not be of any help.
3. Colfax Harbor
A small town near Dunwich and Arkham in Massachusetts, Colfax Harbor is
the home of the so-called “sane” Whateleys as well as other citizens
attempting to escape their unhealthy heritages by moving there. It’s a
small community, attempting to carry on the task of living mundane
lives, in order to live down the reputation of the larger towns from
which it was settled. The one indication of Colfax Harbor’s existence to
passersby is the Sunset Motel, located on the highway running from
Boston northward.
It is at this hotel, owned by Marian Whateley, that Lisa Chambers stops
when she attempts to run away from the memories of the events occurring
on Land End’s Island.
4. Land’s End Island
An unnamed land projection already marked by mysterious stories and
superstitious whispers, further enhanced by its mist-enshrouded shores
and the bleak moss-draped terrain, the island is accessible from the
Georgia Mainland only by a single bridge which bears a “No Trespassing”
sign. Native tribes abandoned the area because of a shadow in the water,
believed to be a being imprisoned beneath the waves, a thing sometimes
briefly shaking off its slumbers and clawing its way to the surface,
only to be dragged downward again by its chains.
In the early years of the first century of settlement, Henrich Wilhelm
von Dorff, a man accused of wizardry in his native Austria, purchased
the land from the Yamacraw, the tribe claiming ownership. Later, the new
owner disappeared, and the Yamacraw declared he was killed after making
an unholy pact with that undersea being. Some say the latest owner of
Land’s End is the child of that underwater creature. Drexl von Dorff
chooses neither to deny nor substantiate the rumors but even now, only
the master of Land’s End Island dares swim unafraid in the waters
pounded against its shores.
There is a manor house on the island, now in ruins after a fire, and an
village, abandoned after the inhabitants, descended from the serfs von
Dorff brought with him from Austria, fled. Also located on the island is
a Stonehenge-like creation called the Ring of Stones, inside which it
is believed various esoteric rituals were carried out by the owner. The
Ring was partially destroyed during an electrical storm.
5. Bloody Marsh
In 1742, close to the time Land’s End Island was purchased by Heinrich
Wilhelm von Dorff, the British settlements at Fort Frederica on nearby
St. Simons Island were attacked by Spanish forces. Thinking they were
safe from attack because they had the marsh on one side and a forest on
the other, the Spanish were fired upon by British troops hiding in the
trees.
Two hundred Spanish were killed within a short time, the marsh running
red with the blood of the dead and dying. Panic-stricken Spaniards,
refusing to listen to their commander who attempted to rally them, ran
futilely into the woods in an attempt to avoid musket-file, only to run
directly into the waiting enemy. It is said creatures rose from the
depth to devour many of the bodies.
Thank you Toni for giving us such a haunting tour of Dark World!
You can
add A Bit of the Dark World here on Goodreads.
What did you think of Toni's picks for spooky places?
On our last Paranormal Road Trip we visited
Horry County, South Carolina with Jay Wilburn. Next time we will be visiting
York, Maine with J.E. Taylor.
Join us for another spine-tingling Paranormal Road Trip...
if you dare!
