My novel The Devil’s Serenade mostly takes place in an imposing Gothic
style mansion built by Victorian industrialist Nathaniel Hargest. When Maddie
Chambers inherits it from her Aunt Charlotte, she soon discovers she has
acquired far more than mere bricks and mortar. From the strange appearance of
tree roots growing in the cellar to the manifestations, noises and a nostalgic
wartime song played again and again, Maddie’s fears grow and intensify. What is
going on here – and who, or what, is seemingly hell-bent on driving her insane?
Of course, my novel is just that – fiction.
But, in real life, there have been numerous reports of houses cursed, or
possessed by demons. Sometimes these emanate from the ground on which the house
was built. Other times, the builder of the house has somehow managed to impart
his – or her – evil into the fabric of the place so that it becomes irrevocably
woven into the walls.
Sometimes the activity seems to start
spontaneously, only to stop just as abruptly. In these cases, poltergeists are
often blamed – quite often linked to the presence in the house of a girl
entering puberty. One such case has been reported by Daniel Simms, a Paranormal
Investigator from Staffordshire, England.
He writes of a twelve year old girl called
Tegan – a child of strict Catholic parents who had been taught that lying was a
sin. She and her two sisters attended their local church at least twice a week
and were devout in their beliefs.
Back in 1999, Tegan kept a diary, which she
still retains to this day. In it she reported the strange events that took
place then.
It all began one Saturday morning as the
sisters were eating their breakfast at the kitchen table. Tegan reached across
the table for the salt cellar. Before she could pick it up, it moved. By
itself. The sisters watched it, mouths wide open in disbelief. Tegan reached
for it again. This time it jerked away from her.
The girls were shocked and scared. They told
their father but he remonstrated with them, accusing them of lying to him. They
weren’t able to convince him and tried to put the whole incident behind them.
But just two nights later – Monday, May 10th
– Tegan recounted in her diary a night she would never forget.
A thunderstorm brought lightning and hail
and, when it had passed over, the air felt “strangely static” in their home. By
now it was their bedtime and the girls made their usual preparations and settled
down to sleep in the room they shared.
But sleep would not come that night. Within
minutes a scratching noise circulated around the floor. The sisters sat up in
their beds. The noise grew louder and moved closer to the girls’ beds. By now,
Tegan was crying silently, too scared to make a noise. She hugged her legs
close to her body, trying to make herself as small as possible and to keep away
from the invisible intruder.
The noise moved directly towards her,
stopping at the foot of her bed. Then silence.
She waited. Still nothing. Tegan moved to get
out of bed sideways in order to escape to the relative safety of one of her
sisters’ beds. As she did so, her bed started to shake violently, throwing her
around as if she were a rag doll. She screamed and the bed stopped shaking.
The terrified sisters told their father what
had happened and this time, seeing how scared they were, he believed them and
called in the services of the local priest. He performed an exorcism and, since
then, there have been no further instances of poltergeist activity.
But to this day, Tegan maintains her story is
true and that she still feels the fear when talking of what she went through.
Where this particular phenomenon emanated from, who can say? But, In Daniel
Simms’ opinion, there is no doubt that Tegan believes she was subjected to some
kind of supernatural force that no one has yet has managed to satisfactorily
explain.
Maddie had forgotten that cursed summer. Now
she’s about to remember…
The strains of her aunt’s favorite song echo through the house, the roots of a faraway willow creep through the cellar, a child who cannot exist skips from room to room, and Maddie discovers Charlotte kept many deadly secrets.
Gradually, the barriers in her mind fall away, and Maddie begins to recall that summer when she looked into the face of evil. Now, the long dead builder of the house has unfinished business and an ancient demon is hungry. Soon it is not only Maddie’s life that is in danger, but her soul itself, as the ghosts of her past shed their cover of darkness.
Great post as always, Cat. I think a poltergeist would be the scariest thing of all. They always seem so angry. (lovely cover for The Devil's Serenade)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sue!
DeleteCat, another great post. I have a cherished copy of 'Serenade.' x
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shey!
Delete