Ghostly Inspirations Z is for Zapped #AtoZChallenge 2018

Welcome to my offering for The A to Z Blogging Challenge 2018. 

My theme this year is Ghostly Inspirations: 

a collection of spirits that have been prompted by my encounters with places and times. Some are spooky, some more about atmosphere. I'll be describing each inspiration and the phantom that came to my mind, and then I will share a drabble, which I hope will entertain. :)

Disclaimer: The places and experienced I have used for my inspiration are real, but my ghosts and drabbles are complete fiction, linked to nothing and no-one, alive or dead. When writing about my inspirations, I may have changed names and obfuscated specific details to 'protect the innocent' :).

~

Z is for Zapped

Inspiration:
So, we’re at the final A to Z post - wow. Well, my inspiration today comes from a holiday I spent in Scotland with my sis and friends. We were staying in a cabin near Loch Ness, and it was midge season. One of the things that gets used against such pests is the blue light zappy machine (that’s a technical definition), you know the thing that looks like a bar heater that makes a snapping sound with a flash of blue light when an insect lands on it.

Well, that got me thinking about electricity and how deadly it can be to things bigger than a midge.

Ghost:

It was pelting it down with rain the night that Rory met his end. The weather was not unusual for Fort William at that time of year and Rory, handyman and night manager at White Gate Cabins, was taking advantage of the the offseason by having his own party in the empty holiday lets.  Loud music, friends and a cornucopia of mind altering substances meant that when the power went out due to the wind, Rory acted quickly to assuage the disappointment in his companions. He was the handyman, he knew how to refix the power line to their chosen cabin and he headed outside with a head torch to fix things.


However, being drunk and high meant that Rory was not at his fix-it best. He died in an arc of electricity. Still, Rory doesn’t see why death should stop his partying.

~

Party!

Jen shrieked her laughter as she tripped up the step to the cabin.

“Shhh,” Glen shushed, but was giggling as well as he fumbled for the lock, dropping the cans of beer in his other hand as he did.

The couple stumbled into their holiday let, missing the light switch. The room lit up anyway, a bright bluish light blinding Jen. Blinking away the brilliance and shock, Jen focused on the sofa and a crackling figure slumped there.

“Party!” it yelled.

Jen blinked again at the lopsidedly grinning thing. See-through, it was see-through. Sobering quickly, Jen screamed, turned and ran.

~

Other paranormal and spooky stories by Sophie Duncan.

The Burning
Web

Book of
Darkness

Cursed

The Diablo
Ouija

In The Event
of Death

The Need In Me

Parting the Veil

When Darkness
Beckons

Night Blood

The End of
The Journey

~

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Assassin's Blood
Natasha Duncan-Drake

Curse of a Banshee
Sophie Duncan

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Ghostly Inspirations Y is for Yellow #AtoZChallenge 2018

Welcome to my offering for The A to Z Blogging Challenge 2018. 

My theme this year is Ghostly Inspirations: 

a collection of spirits that have been prompted by my encounters with places and times. Some are spooky, some more about atmosphere. I'll be describing each inspiration and the phantom that came to my mind, and then I will share a drabble, which I hope will entertain. :)

Disclaimer: The places and experienced I have used for my inspiration are real, but my ghosts and drabbles are complete fiction, linked to nothing and no-one, alive or dead. When writing about my inspirations, I may have changed names and obfuscated specific details to 'protect the innocent' :).

~

Y is for Yellow

Inspiration:
Late last year, my great uncle died and I attended his funeral with my family. The crematorium was in Hasting Cemetery, which I had never been to before. We arrived early and decided to take a walk around what was an expansive and very peaceful place. We walked along wide avenues between the group of graves with their many and varied memorials and beautiful trees. In the bright winter sunshine, the cemetery was peaceful and calming.

Up the far end, we came across a section where memorials were smaller and we realised we were in a war graves section. The poignancy of that has not left me and began to think about those who died in the Great War as it was called. Young men, barely more than boys, and the harsh fate that awaited them, whether they went over the top, or worse, if they were charged for cowardice. The unfairness of those charges as we look back with modern eyes is my inspiration for today.

Ghost:

Monty was 15 when he faked his age and joined up to go and fight in France. He had barely been 16 when it had all become too much, He had faltered in the face of the enemy and his commanding officer had shown on mercy. Shot for cowardice, he had stayed with his own body, lost, afraid, a child not knowing what to do until his family had claimed him and brought him home. His age revealed, he had been buried at home on the south coast of England, overlooking the sea, among the other soldiers, no-one mentioning the disgrace on either side.


But Monty knew.

~

Pardon

Carol strode up through the silent cemetery, the early sun on her tense shoulders as she headed directly to where she needed to be. This was not her first visit, but she hoped it would be her last as she headed into the longer grass around the small headstones of the war graves. Her eyes settled on him immediately, a boy in uniform, curled around his knees beside his marker.

Carol dropped to her knees in front of him, brandishing the proof.

“Monty, you were forgiven,” she whispered.

Monty’s gaze widened on the paper. Hope in his eyes, he faded.

~

Other paranormal and spooky stories by Sophie Duncan.

The Burning
Web

Book of
Darkness

Cursed

The Diablo
Ouija

In The Event
of Death

The Need In Me

Parting the Veil

When Darkness
Beckons

Night Blood

The End of
The Journey

~

Newsletter Subscription Form

We'll send you details of book releases, competitions and other news from our authors, BUT we WON'T spam you, or pass your details on to anyone else.

We will also give you 2 FREE ebooks just for signing up.

Assassin's Blood
Natasha Duncan-Drake

Curse of a Banshee
Sophie Duncan

* indicates required

Email Address * 

First Name 

Last Name 

Ghostly Inspirations X is for Xenial #AtoZChallenge 2018

Welcome to my offering for The A to Z Blogging Challenge 2018. 

My theme this year is Ghostly Inspirations: 

a collection of spirits that have been prompted by my encounters with places and times. Some are spooky, some more about atmosphere. I'll be describing each inspiration and the phantom that came to my mind, and then I will share a drabble, which I hope will entertain. :)

Disclaimer: The places and experienced I have used for my inspiration are real, but my ghosts and drabbles are complete fiction, linked to nothing and no-one, alive or dead. When writing about my inspirations, I may have changed names and obfuscated specific details to 'protect the innocent' :).

~

X is for Xenial

Inspiration:
My inspiration today is a very personal one from my childhood. I have talipes, which means  I was born with a deformed foot. When I was seven, I had two operations on my foot to straighten it as much as possible, and I have a very distinct memory of going home after one of the operations. I was in my nightdress and was carried by my father out of the hospital into a bright sunny morning in a sloping car park that looked down the hill towards the sea, which was sparkling in the sunshine. 

Ghost:

Sister Gayle lived for her job in the children’s ward at St Christopher by the Sea Hospital. Single with no children of her own, she did everything for her patients and they loved her. Yet, even though Gayle looked after her young patients, she failed to look after herself, and she ignored the bad headache that kept returning until one day it became a shooting agony for a split second and then blackness.


Sister Gayle died of a brain aneurysm and her funeral was attended by hundreds of those she had tended. Now she still tends the lonely, the frightened, any child who needs her.

~

Goodbye

Bella rested her head on her daddy’s shoulder and looked down the hill at the shiny sea below the hospital. She was fuzzy from the medicine the nurses had given her to stop her arm hurting, but the water and sun were pretty. She watched them for a while, but then turned her head and looked behind.

She smiled when she saw the nice nurse in the funny clothes standing by the exit. She had been so kind when Bella had woken after her operation, talking to her when she was scared. Bella waved her thanks. Her friend waved back.

~

Other paranormal and spooky stories by Sophie Duncan.

The Burning
Web

Book of
Darkness

Cursed

The Diablo
Ouija

In The Event
of Death

The Need In Me

Parting the Veil

When Darkness
Beckons

Night Blood

The End of
The Journey

~

Newsletter Subscription Form

We'll send you details of book releases, competitions and other news from our authors, BUT we WON'T spam you, or pass your details on to anyone else.

We will also give you 2 FREE ebooks just for signing up.

Assassin's Blood
Natasha Duncan-Drake

Curse of a Banshee
Sophie Duncan

* indicates required

Email Address * 

First Name 

Last Name 

Ghostly Inspirations W is for Waterfall #AtoZChallenge 2018

Welcome to my offering for The A to Z Blogging Challenge 2018. 

My theme this year is Ghostly Inspirations: 

a collection of spirits that have been prompted by my encounters with places and times. Some are spooky, some more about atmosphere. I'll be describing each inspiration and the phantom that came to my mind, and then I will share a drabble, which I hope will entertain. :)

Disclaimer: The places and experienced I have used for my inspiration are real, but my ghosts and drabbles are complete fiction, linked to nothing and no-one, alive or dead. When writing about my inspirations, I may have changed names and obfuscated specific details to 'protect the innocent' :).

~

W is for Waterfall

Inspiration:
I am scared of water, I never learnt to swim properly as a kid and I fell in a pond when I was 8. However, I love being close to moving water, rivers, lakes, and especially waterfalls. There are a trio of falls in Yorkshire called Aysgarth Falls. You reach them by walking through an atmospheric wood with grass mounds and deep dark groves, and the falls themselves are majestic, violent pulses of raw nature. These pounding rushes of water are my inspiration today.

Ghost:

Laurie hadn’t meant to die, but he had forgotten to respect the water. He’d been showing off to Camilla, his latest young lady, hopping onto stones a little way out in the river. He’d done it lots of times, but this time, he’d failed to note the ferocity of the water after the storms the week before. The water had been too high, the rocks were slippery and he’d skidded off the stone, right into the water. The waterfalls did not forgive such mistakes and when he had come round, he had become part of their rage.

~

Too Close

James stood at the edge of the river, the sheer power of the water drowning out the nature behind him. His ears rang with the roar and underneath it, he heard something else - a whisper.

“Closer.”

He stepped closer to the rumbling cascade, the toes of his shoes a hair’s breadth away from the foam. He was so close now, he could feel the power running through the stone up his legs. He looked down at the peat-dark water a little further out.

Something pale moved against the vicious current. James’ pulse skipped. He swallowed. Suddenly afraid, he stepped back.

~

Other paranormal and spooky stories by Sophie Duncan.

The Burning
Web

Book of
Darkness

Cursed

The Diablo
Ouija

In The Event
of Death

The Need In Me

Parting the Veil

When Darkness
Beckons

Night Blood

The End of
The Journey

~

Newsletter Subscription Form

We'll send you details of book releases, competitions and other news from our authors, BUT we WON'T spam you, or pass your details on to anyone else.

We will also give you 2 FREE ebooks just for signing up.

Assassin's Blood
Natasha Duncan-Drake

Curse of a Banshee
Sophie Duncan

* indicates required

Email Address * 

First Name 

Last Name