It was another spring, the night of March 5, 1770, in Boston, which was already a hotbed of unrest against a government which many felt was oppressive. The media is fanning the flames, and when an agent of the government kills an eleven year old boy, tensions escalated. That night in Boston, a private citizen […]
A strange account of the monster rattlesnake Big Jim, who from his lair on Rattlesnake Bluff terrorized the Skillet Fork and Wabash river valleys … (or Snakes on a Plain)
Rattlesnake bluff, home of the legendary rattlesnake Big Jim is a heavily wooded bluff overlooking the Skillet Fork River, in White County, Illinois. I’d figured that much out by poring over Google Earth for some time, trying to match up the satellite images with the historical record. Or what little record I had, and I […]
On the beach at Eaton’s Neck, Long Island, Blue Oyster Cult looks to the stars & discovers the origin of storms … the meaning of Astronomy
Author’s Note I started this piece about twelve years ago, when I was living on the north shore of Long Island. I was researching the effect the landscape has on artists, and had long been a fan of Blue Oyster Cult, who once lived and worked in the same area I was then living. I […]
Journal Entry: Spring 2020 in the witch’s garden – on delayed plants, medicinal herbs, fairy garden planning and a warning to reptiles
The witch’s garden theme this year has been self sufficiency. It’s not the black plague, but hopefully it’s the worst we’ll see in our lifetimes. My plan was to put more focus on the moon garden and cottage garden, but I made the mistake of ordering those plants from Spring Hill Nurseries. Back in February, […]
A Christmas ghost story … how a memory and a dream led me to the enchantment of “The Curse of The Cat People”
The Curse of the Cat People, my favorite Christmas movie, is a Christmas ghost story where the ghost is the least frightening character of the film. Instead of horror, the aim of the film is enchantment, though it’s loaded with suspense as well. I must have been ten or eleven, it was Christmas eve and […]
Small towns and the Coronavirus: Before we become ghosts … lessons on dying learned from a country graveyard
People in rural areas, small towns in the middle of nowhere often get a false sense of security from outside horrors like the Coronavirus. I spend a lot of time in old graveyards, the ones in the middle of nowhere and forgotten by most. I live in a rural area … the nearest city is […]
