It is crazy to me that we are already at the end of February, but here we are with another round of spooky things and places to check out. I don’t really have a theme for this week, although there is going to be a lot of haunted type stuff in this one, mostly set in the UK. I also have a cool box set that is perfect if you have Kindle Unlimited, but rather than rattling on about it all, I should just get to the point, so let’s get spooky, people.
Haunted Location - Hampton Court Palace
If you know anything about Henry VIII, you will be well aware that he went through wives like I go through a beer buffet. The royal residence of Hampton Court Palace is allegedly home to several of his former wives, some of whom scream their way through the halls of the stately palace. Besides the ghosts of Jane Seymour and Catherine Howard, CCTV also caught a ghost that has been dubbed as Skeletor, and it truly is a creepy piece of film, which I am sure in on YouTube.
Urban Legend - The Pontianak
We head to Southeast Asia for this week’s urban legend, which is one that proves there is nothing scarier than a woman scorned. The Pontianak has a few different iterations spread across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, but the common thread is that she is a woman that may have died in childbirth, and who is a vengeful spirit targeting men in a vampiric manner. In some versions, she only comes out during a full moon, while others have her near banana plantations. Either way, men need to beware when she makes her presence known.
Creepy Cryptid - The Selkie
I know I keep going to my native Scotland in search of spooky stuff, but I can promise you that this will not be the last time it happens. Seen in the water, the selkie looks like a regular seal, but when it takes to land, it can shed its skin and take on the form of a beautiful woman or man, usually with piercing blue or green eyes. On the negative side of things, if the skin is lost or stolen, the poor selkie remains confined to land.
Video of the Week - Britain’s Most Haunted Places
Since we have focused on quite a bit of stuff in the UK this week, it only makes sense to keep it going with a video from the Ghostly Trails channel that explores some of the creepier spots across the country. If you give this one a watch, please do consider subscribing to the channel, too.
Horror Book of the Week - The Haunting of Starlight Manor Box Set
A couple of weeks back, I promised that I would try to make the books featured free, so I am turning myself into a bit of a liar here. That said, technically this one is free if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription. A 3-book set was just too good to pass up, so we have The Haunting of Starlight Manor by Vincent Valentean as the book(s) of the week.
Deadly Drabble - Nessie
If she truly existed, scientists believed they would find her under the water, lurking in the depths of Loch Ness. There was never an expectation that discovery would come on land, and at such a high price.
Jumpy, grainy, nighttime videos of the incident showed the creature emerge from the water and into the heart of the research facility. If she was looking for food, she found it.
Only one man survived the attack, but it cost him limbs, an arm and a leg that now dwell in the belly of the beast.
Nessie is real, but will she return?
Random Weirdness - 30 East Drive
If you watch ghost hunting videos on YouTube, you will almost certainly have seen investigators visit a rather normal looking home at 30 East Drive in Pontefract, England. The story of this goes all the way back to the 1960s, when a tall man reportedly stepped out of the wall, where he was challenged by a child in the house. Rather than passing through him, as you would with a ghost, the child felt resistance, as though the man were real. Since then, the home has become a popular spot for ghost hunters to visit, all hoping to catch something weird.
Well, that is another week of spooky tales in the books. I shall return next Saturday with more, so I hope to see you all then.
I love that you included the Pontianak! Pretty much everyone I know here in Indonesia has a story or a sighting. Spooky stuff! Keep the Scottish ghosts coming. There are so many scary ones! I did a couple of haunted tours down into the underground (closes, maybe?) in Edinburgh and to a haunted cemetery there, and the atmosphere stayed with me for a long, long time.
going to get your books today ❣️❣️