On this day in 1921, the ghost ship Carroll A. Deering was found aground on the Diamond Shoals with its sails still set.

The ship had clearly been abandoned; the life boats and navigational aids were missing. The ship was damaged, but it is not known if that occurred before its abandonment or not. It seemed the crew had left in a hurry, as food preparations were underway. But no trace of the crew has ever been found.

Check out my Weird Wednesday blog post on the Deering for more on the story and some ghost ship writing prompts, such as:

A run of bad luck. Those on board a doomed ship might have invited a curse as the result of unwise decisions, whether that be mutiny, murder, or just generally running afoul of sea superstitions. If the crew themselves were cursed, or if they carried a cursed item with them, this could explain why any ship which picked up the crew also went down itself.

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DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

 

Posts about Mysterious Deaths on the Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog:

Dyatlov Pass

The Female Stranger

Roopkund: Skeleton Lake

The Lizzie Borden case

Get the whole story and ideas to write one of your own!

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Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: The Brocken Spectre: Angel in the Clouds

Welcome on this Weird Wednesday! Today, we’re chasing our shadows.

A Brocken spectre or Brocken bow is a type of atmospheric phenomenon called a glory. A person stands in front of a light source and their shadow is thrown onto mist, fog, or clouds. When this happens, the person’s shadow is surrounded by what seems to be a halo: rainbow-colored concentric rings, caused by light refracting off water droplets in the air.

A Brocken spectre specifically is formed when a person stands in front of a light source (usually the sun) while at a great height, casting a shadow onto clouds below themselves. Not only is there a glory visible, but the shadow appears to be enormous. The size is an optical illusion caused by the person’s inability to gauge how close their shadow actually is: it seems to be quite far away, and thus looks huge compared to objects on the horizon. But in reality, the shadow is cast onto water droplets that are very close.

The phenomenon is named after the Brocken, the tallest mountain in the Harz range in Germany, which often has clouds below its summit. But the Brocken spectre can be seen from any suitably high place under the right conditions, including tall buildings and even airplanes.

To make the phenomenon even cooler, when the mist and clouds shift with the wind, the Brocken spectre often seems to dance or move. You can see a video of a Brocken spectre moving here.

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

Anointed leader. Let’s say your fictional society uses the Brocken spectre as a way of choosing political or military leaders. That is, folks march up to the top of the hill one by one, and when a candidate is seen in glory, that’s assumed to be the choice of the Mountain God or other deity. It would be spectacular to see one’s future leader illuminated in a rainbow glow. But is the phenomenon actually a divine decision or the randomness of weather? And could it possibly be faked?

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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Beyond thrilled to have my words in Metastellar today!! Check it out for free, y'all.

The Flowers You Grew in Hell Stopped Dying

~

When we met, you were a storm, and it so rarely rains in Hell. Every time your foot touched ground, flowers grew. They browned quickly, for even with the rain, there is no soil here, no sun.

I had sent floods to the fields above, the sea sowing salt. People drowned. They’d starve come winter. You would barely look at me as you proclaimed your hate, your sorrow. How could I doom them so harshly?

I don’t know them, I said.

Death, you said, you are the only one who knows them all.

~

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

 

New book review!

A Fair Trade by Ellie Thomas (M/M historical romance)

“Those slow sweet kisses drugged me, making me hazy with longing.”

Dennis, known in molly houses as Sheba, has no business falling for anyone, let alone a straight-laced lawyer who’s not even a client. Valentine is not the type of man Sheba attracts, nor the pretty type who turns Sheba’s own head. But in Valentine’s arms, Sheba finds a kind of affection he didn’t know existed.

But of course, nothing is so simple. Sheba’s just lost a friend to an awful crime, and when it turns out Sheba may be the next target, Valentine is determined to help protect him. Except the best way to catch the killer might be to put Sheba’s life on the line.

Check out A Fair Trade for a great historical read, vivid descriptions, and a fast paced plot. It’s an unexpectedly sweet romance where a man who sells love learns how to give it as a gift.

See all my book reviews

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

Vampire Haven sneak peeks!

The Vampire Haven is a 7-novella series of MM vampire erotic romance. Wholesome, romantic gay vampire smut (and also a plot).

Book 1: Have You Ever Been Kissed? A gorgeous, charming vampire looking for his happily-eternally-after falls ridiculously hard for a shy, nerdy human who’s never had a date in his life.

All excerpts from book 1 are now available on my website. (NSFW)

1. So vampires are very real (and very hot)

2. Truly, passionately, thoroughly kissed

3. The pretty little human he can’t stop thinking about

4. Do you really think you could **** to just my voice?

And sign up for my free author newsletter to get excerpts from book 2, starting today! (NSFW)

Book 2: No Secrets Left. In 1915, an anxious, psychic human and a heartbroken vampire find forbidden love aboard a doomed ocean liner.

ALT

Excerpt 1: A poor sheltered psychic has the hottest vision of his life. (NSFW) 

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: Corpse Roads and Coffin Stones

Welcome to Weird Wednesday! Today we’re wandering weird roads that go to graveyards. Sound fun? Let’s go!

Corpse roads are paths over which one carries a coffin to its final resting place. Like crossroads, corpse roads are physical places with metaphysical properties, according to folklore. Such pathways are found all over the world, but the origin of corpse roads in Great Britain is a little more political than you might expect.

Back in late medieval times, the population was growing, so people were building new churches and their associated graveyards. Some established churches insisted that new outlying churches were under their spiritual (and financial) control. Thus, they had to use the graveyards of the mother church, even though they were sometimes quite a distance away.

So how to get the dearly departed to their final destination? Unless you had money for transportation, you and a few friends had to carry the coffin. Thus, paths sprung up between far flung churches and central cemeteries. These paths were called corpse roads, funeral roads, coffin walks, lych ways (lych or lich is a Germanic word for corpse), and other similar names. Eventually, the outlying churches did break away and make their own cemeteries, so corpse roads ceased to be used, though some are still preserved today as footpaths.

Often, corpse roads were as straight as possible through rough terrain, because, well, coffins are pretty heavy. In fact, sometimes large stones along the way were used as places to rest the dearly deceased for a while. These are called “coffin stones.”

But there may have been other reasons for straight roads and resting stones. 

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

The long and winding road. Not all stories about a corpse road have to be creepy. You could have a family drama that takes place in one scene: the hours-long journey over a corpse road. Let the reader glean the family’s backstory: its loves, arguments, history, and future. All crystalized around the death of someone central to the family, and the difficult march where they share the burden of carrying the coffin.

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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On this day in 1945, a group of five US Navy Planes known as Flight 19 vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. Such accidents unfortunately do happen. So why is Flight 19 so famous? Because after the disappearance, people made up a bunch of stuff about space aliens. No, really.

Flight 19 was led by US Navy Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor. The other aviators were his student pilots for the exercise, and their crews. They took off around 2 pm from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

In 1945, there was no GPS, so pilots found their way by various means, including dead reckoning using elapsed time, compasses, and simply looking out the window. Unfortunately for aviators in the Florida area, there are a lot of little islands down there that look alike.

Lt. Taylor was having a very confusing flight. The training exercise involved flying east to the Bahamas, then north for a while, then southwest to complete the triangle and return to Florida. But when Taylor reached the Bahamas by flying east, he somehow thought he was 200 miles to the southwest, over the Florida Keys. So then he tried to take the flight further east to where he expected the mainland to be. But of course, east from the Bahamas will lead you out to open ocean, and that’s where Flight 19 ended up.

No one knows how Taylor made the bizarre error and why he stuck to his strange belief of being over the Keys in the face of mounting contrary evidence. It’s possible his compass may have been broken, and he may not have had a watch to help with dead reckoning. But when the mainland of Florida did not appear below, he should have believed what his eyes were telling him. In fact, it’s such an inconceivable mistake that writers made up aliens to explain it.

The radio tower, who in 1945 also could not tell exactly where Flight 19 was, tried to guide him, but it didn’t help. Some of the student pilots were heard on the radio urging Taylor to fly west, showing they were not confused about where they were and presumably had working compasses. But no one deserted the group and saved themselves, possibly because that would be going against military discipline.

Check out the blog post for the whole story and writing prompts, such as:

“The ocean doesn’t look as it should.” This fake quote has a lot of possibilities. One way to go would be to have something Very Seriously Wrong with the ocean: for example, it’s red, it’s boiling, or it’s not the ocean anymore but some strange landscape. Or you could have things gradually get creepy, slowly building dread. For example, what if every once in a while, the waves run backwards, like you’re watching a video rewind? Or if the water looks normal, but it seems thicker, moving more like honey?

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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Farkaskoldus: a wolf-vampire hybrid

In Greek folklore, a Farkaskoldus is a wronged person, often a shepherd, who has been abused and killed. They rise again, motivated by revenge, as a wolf that feeds on blood. Will their rage be satisfied once they’ve gotten their vengeance, or will they turn to hunting the innocent? That’s up to you.

Loup-Garou, Indiana version 

The Loup-Garou is a creature from French and Cajun folklore, but in Indiana, there’s a version with a fun twist. This Loup-Garou becomes a werewolf (or were-animal of some sort) by night because of a curse, which lasts 101 days. The only way to be released is to wait out the cursed sentence, or for someone to draw blood from the werewolf while they are in wolf form. If that happens, the wolf becomes a person again, so long as the former wolf and their savior do not mention what happened until the 101 days have passed. Otherwise, the curse returns on them both.

Vilkacis: an astral werewolf

In Latvia, tales are told of a werewolf who is not a whole person, but just the person’s dark side, which escapes, Mr. Hyde-style, and roams the wilderness while the person sleeps. Plus, supposedly, if you catch a Vikacis in a circle of rose petals, you can make it hunt buried treasure for you.

Have fun exploring your wolfish side (so long as it doesn’t wander the countryside without you)! 

You can also read about some unusual vampires, rare cryptids, and weird ghosts who might make good characters. Plus more creature feature posts with writing prompts!

Source: Maberry, J., & Kramer, D. F. (2009). They bite: Endless cravings of supernatural predators. Kensington Publishing Corp.  
 

This article was first published on my writing blog

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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On this day in 1816 Keats published On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer. The poem gave a name to a kind of deathbed vision called “A Peak in Darien.”

People who are dying or who have gone through near-death experiences (NDE’s) often report deathbed visions, in which they see apparitions of family members or friends who have passed on. A “Peak in Darien” experience refers specifically to seeing the apparition of someone who has died, but whose death is unknown to the experiencer. It describes gazing into the afterlife and inexplicably seeing someone that you believe to still be alive, only to find out later that the person has indeed died.

Sometimes, the news of this death is a surprise to everyone in the room with the dying person, and sometimes the news of the death is known, but has been kept from the dying person as a type of mercy.

Check out my Weird Wednesday blog post for the whole story, and some writing prompts, such as:

Rumors of my demise. Obviously, the fact that someone has died but no one knows about it yet would be very unsettling. As mentioned, it might be the case that the news has been kept from the person on their deathbed because it would upset them and they are already in poor health. Or it could be the case that no one in the room knows of the death because it hasn’t been announced yet, and thus everyone is distressed later when they find out. You could have a group of characters off doing something dangerous, like mountain climbing, and at the news that one of them has died, their friends and family must attempt to rescue the rest.

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ The Vampire Haven erotic romance series ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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