True #Ghost Story ~ #paranormal #haunting #StephenKing #SalemsLot

It's my favorite time of year, and I'm dedicating my blog this month to Halloween-related posts!  I am fascinated by all things spooky, and stories about actual hauntings are particularly eerie.  While I write about ghosts, I’ve never actually seen one, much to my dismay.  But our good friends have had quite a history with a ghost they've dubbed "Granny Griffin".  Granny Griffin happens to reside on the very farm Stephen King depicts in his novel ‘Salem’s Lot, although he changed the name in the book to Griffen farm.  The farm is located in the Maine town of Durham, where King grew up.  His best friend, Randy, lived on the 200-acre dairy farm, which dates back to the 1860s.

This isn't the actual farm, 
but it gives off that spooky vibe

In the early 1970s, Carlene Griffin was unable to care for the farm and had to walk away from it.  Our friends' parents, Mr. and Mrs. W., bought it, with all its furniture, treasures, and apparent ghosts.  As a child, our friend found photos from the Civil War while exploring the attic!  The first news of the ghost came when Mrs. W. was approached by a medium in town, who insisted she had a message from the other side that needed to be delivered.  The medium wrote a note from Granny Griffin to her daughter Carlene, telling her not to worry about the fight they’d had before she died.  Mrs. W. was charged with delivering the note to Carlene, who was still living on the property in a renovated hen house.

My friend saw the ghost of Granny Griffin on several occasions, the first being one night when he was about 13.  A figure appeared in the doorway of his bedroom, wearing a long house coat.  He assumed it was his mother, but when he asked what she wanted, she did not answer.  As she turned away, her gray bun was clearly visible.  In the morning, Mrs. W. denied checking up on her son during the night—and he realized he had never, ever seen her wear her hair in a bun.

The father, Mr. W., remained skeptical.  Until the night he heard footsteps and rose to check the house.  He saw someone descending the stairs and followed the figure down the steps and into the kitchen, where she disappeared.  When he returned to the bedroom, Mrs. W awoke to ask what was wrong.  Mr. W. replied, “We’ll talk about it in the morning.  But let’s just say I believe you now.” 

This fascinates me as both a fan of all things spooky and an author of ghost stories mixed with romance (my two favorite genres, combined).  The ghost in SILVER LAKE has a message to share as well…and despite their painful past, Rain and Jason are forced to reunite to help the desperate spirit.  The ghost in GULL HARBOR is a bit angrier…but she has her reasons, and Claire is determined to figure them out—and Max is determined to keep Claire safe.  My latest release, HAUNTED SOULS, involves a mystery surrounding a child ghost who follows an unsuspecting mother and her toddler home from a haunted colonial jail.  October is a great month to celebrate the paranormal, so if you enjoy some spooky suspense that will send a shiver down your spine, along with some steamy romance to heat things back up, click on one of the above links!  

This is a photo I took of the Old Jail in Barnstable Village
on Cape Cod, which inspired the ghost story in
Haunted Souls.  It's the oldest wooden jail house in
the country, and reputedly haunted.
Anyone else see something in the upper window?