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Fengdu Ghost City

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The Fengdu Ghost City in China is steeped with the paranormal and cultural afterlife as well as being a big tourist attraction. Check out how the afterlife could end up after your death for the cost of a ticked.

In the Chongqing region in China, at the lean for the Tibetan Plateau and along the Yangtze river. Far from the sea, at the heart of the country, the city for the dead is built: Fengdu Ghost City 丰都鬼城, is a sort of Chinese type of Necropolis and its said this is the place where the devil lives according to local folklore. This city dedicated to its demons and ghosts also works as an amusement park for curious tourist wanting a trip to commercialized hell as well.

Read More: Check out all our collection of ghost stories from China

The strange and peculiar nature of Fengdu Ghost City really leaves the question of: How do you really combine the experience of the eternal afterlife at the price of a ticket? Is it more of a philosophical learning experience or more like a warning of what could happen if you don’t lead your mortal life right?

The King of the Underworld: This statue leading into Fengdu Ghost City is in the Guinness world records for being the largest sculpture carved into a mountain, depicting the King of the Underworld and welcomes those visiting the city./source

People in China follows a lot of different religion, even though religion is officially banned in the country. To Chinese folk religion, Confucianism Taoism and Buddhism, the place is steeped in religious practices and perhaps this is why the way to the afterlife is so important.

Read More: Another haunted town in China is The Ghost of Khar Khot, The Black City in the Gobi Desert

The Gates of Hell to Fengdu Ghost City

On the north bank of the Yangtze river, shrouded in smog and clouds, the Ming Mountain peaks out on clear days. At the Ming Mountain, shrines, monasteries and temples have been built in honor of the underworld over centuries with cute names like “Last Glance at Home Tower,” “Nothing-to-be-Done Bridge,” “Ghost Torturing Pass”.

The place were the Fengdu Ghost city is built on today used to be an ancient burial site with its shrines and temples and an ancient town. It had to be rebuilt further and further uphill in the mountains as the water from the Three Gorges Lake kept rising. So what is this place in all its honesty?

Fengdu Ghost City is the Gate of the Hell in traditional Chinese literature and culture. The city itself is mention in the great folk tales of Chinese tradition such as in Journey to the West, Apotheosis of Heroes and Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio, all three works is a big part of Chinese literature and cultural heritage and have a direct reference to the place.

Read More: Take a look at all our ghost stories on Haunted Towns and Cities

To call the Fengdu Ghost city a proper city is perhaps a bit misleading as it mainly function as an amusement park and there is no one living there anymore. Well, except from the ghosts and the demons it is built for of course. When you are entering the city, you are passing statues of the Heibai Wuchang (黑白无常), which are two Chinese mythological deities in charge of escorting the dead to the underworld. Then you are at the mercy of the demons that exists in the underworld and your own effort on getting out of there.

To get into the city you have to get a ticket at the counter ahead and it tended to be around a 100 RMB per ticket. They used to have customers put money into a water-filled basket as they believed that the paper money would float if they were human and sink if they were ghosts.

How Old is the Fengdu Ghost City

To be called a ghost city, the place, the statues and the temples must be pretty old, right? Well, according to legend the location where the city is built certainly has an old story. Today, some of the building have been rebuilt or added on in modern times, and some of the oldest have been there since previous dynasties.

The story of Fengdu Ghost City goes back for nearly 2000 years according to the legend. It is said that the city got its reputation as a place for dead people and the king of hell during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

The Fengdu Ghost City got it name in the Eastern Han Dynasty period  (206 BC to 220 BC), when two men came to the Ming Mountain to practice Taoism and to live as recluses away from the big society. The two men, Yin Changsheng and Wang Fangping ran away because they were bored of the political life and lived their life practicing taoism at their own accord in the alleged haunted mountains. According to legend they became immortal and the legend of the strange things happening there kept piling up.

Temples of the Ghost City of Fengdu: A classical Chinese building you will find at most historic sites, here are they all built in honor of the dead though. Many of the temples and shrines are built and dedicated to deities, demons and lords of the underworld and afterlife. They are open to visitors and tourists every day.//Source: Flickr

Word soon spread of this no small feat that two men had reach the stage of immortality and people came to seek what they had found. Their two names, Wang and Yin combined means King of hell or King of the Underworld. And this was the beginning of the focus of the underworld, and the building of Fengdu Ghost City started and continues to grow today.

Read More: Another alleged haunted mountain is the story of The Accursed Mountains of Albania

The city we can see and visit today though wasn’t really built into the mountain before the Three Gorges Dam project was started in the early 1900s and built slowly over the course of the century. Because of this massive project they had to build Fengdu Ghost city higher up because of the flooding the dam caused to the area around.

The Ghosts and Demon of Fengdu Ghost City

So what do you do in a city built for ghosts? This particular place could perhaps work for just its vibrant green scenery. Perhaps the main purpose of the park is helping people learn of the old belief system of what comes next after death. One thing at the park at least is testing your living self of the trials the dead spirits can come face to face with in hell.

Ghost Statues: Examples of the ghosts statues one can see in the Fengdu Ghost City. This is the statue of the “wreath-eating ghost” (食蔓鬼). In legend, this ghost was a girl who adorned herself with flower wreaths she stole from statues of the Buddha. After she died, as punishment, she was not allowed to feast on food offerings from living people and could only feed on flower wreaths/source

Walking in the Fengdu Ghost City there are all reference to the afterlife in terms of architecture and decorations in the city. The statues all depicts ghosts and devils, representing what happens to people not leading good lives, and how Chinese people saw, and at times, still picture the afterlife. It also showcases what is considered a good moral.

Women being thrown in boiling cauldrons for their sins, children being spanked after being naughty and people being poked, stabbed, tortured and judged for their crimes is some of the attractions you can observe when visiting. Perhaps you will even be condemned yourself. In many ways, just as fun as Disney World, bring the whole family.

Pictures of punishments are big in this city, and the way the Gods tortures the wicked. The pictures hang side by side of paintings of scary demons and bureaucrats passing judgement over the sinners. The eerie pictures fills the walls, the roofs and the gardens across the whole city of ghosts.

Read More: Check out the story about the Chinese hungry ghost in the story of Ghost of Tu-Po — The Hungry Ghost

Side by side with these ancient traditions and buildings is a rather tacky theme park of a standard haunted house with people in masks, just doing their best to entertain their guests. Can it be something more in this day and age were the idea of the afterlife has become rather vague and in the long unforeseeable future? Because it didn’t start out as an amusement park. It started out as a cultural exploration of what hell is and what the afterlife will look like. In many ways, it still is.

The Three Tests to an Afterlife

In Chinese traditions Diyu is some sort of purgatory that punishes and renews spirits to prepare them for reincarnation to a new life. A similar thing is Naraka, a Buddhist concept of hell similar to Diyu. All dead must pass three tests before crossing over to the next life. And at Fengdu Ghost City you can put yourself to the test of how you would do ass you can reach Youdu from here, which is the capital of the underworld.

The first test the visitors have to overcome is crossing the “Bridge of Helplessness”. The object is a stone bridge testing good and evil people. There are demons blocking the passage, letting only the worthy pass. Those who fail are pushed to the water below. The object of the test is to cross the test in fewest steps, and of course, not to fall into the water below. In the Fengdu Ghost City it is now a fun test to do, but it actually stems from an old taoist practice to have a good fortune. This particular bridge was actually built in the Ming Dynasty between the 1300s and 1600s.

After the “Bridge of Helplessness” the dead must continue to the Ghost-Torturing Pass were they meet Yama or Yanluo Wang who is the King of Hell. He is the one passing judgement. In this area there are a lot of sculptures with demons.

The third and final test takes place at Tianzi Palace on top of the mountain where the dead stands on a special stone on one foot for three minutes. Only virtuous people will manage this while evil people will fail and go to hell. Tianzi Palace is the largest and oldest building and it is about 300 years old.

Tourists in Hell and the Ghost City Sinking

In recent years the Fengdu Ghost City has become a big tourist attraction with boats carrying tourists up the river and taken to the mountain where they can walk among the statutes relating to Diyu and Naraka that symbolizes the underworld or Hell in Chinese mythology and Buddhism. It attracts many tourist, curious foreigners as well as Chinese visitors wanting to learn about ghost culture and the afterlife.

Read More: For more Chinese culture concerning ghost and the paranormal, check out the story of Ghost Marriage — The Chinese Way to Marry the Dead

The Capital of Hell: The gate to the capital of the underworld, Youdu (right to left: 幽都). The whole underworld is called Diyu that is displayed in Fengdu Ghost City./source

After the building of Three Gorges Dam is built the Fengdu Ghost City will be an Island of itself, but parts of the city will be submerged in the water. They have also made some recent addition to the city.

In 1985 they built the Last Glance Home Tower, and according to legend, this is where the dead can have one last look back at their home and families before crossing over. Maybe one day, the Fengdu Ghost City itself will be something more of a legend than an actual place.

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Dark Tourism, listicle, Review

5 Haunted Attractions to Visit

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Perhaps this is not the greatest summer to travel, but as the borders are opening up, so do we as well move over greater distances than we have. Perhaps some of these places are even closer to you than you think? Here we have gathered some of the most haunted attractions around the world you can visit for a ticket.

Winchester Mystery House
San Jose, California

The Mystery House: Front view of the Winchester Mystery House/Ben Franske

This strange house, built upon the money, wealth and grief of the family fortune, the gun trade, this house is something else. Wind winding staircases going nowhere, doors leading to unknown destination and who know how much else secrets and hauntings the house holds.

Akershus Fortress
Oslo, Norway

By the Sea: Akershus Castle in Oslo, Norway/Pudelek (Marcin Szala)

The fortress was built in medieval times, withstanding plague, starvation from the cold winters and as a last stand during wars. It is also the location of several ghost the fortress has claimed as its own over the years. Smacked in the middle of the modern city of Oslo, it stands as a stark contrast of old and new, living and dead.

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Island of the Dolls, (La Isla de las Muñecas)
Mexico City, Mexico

Isla de las Muñecas: nearby the Xochimilco canals/Esparta Palma/wikicommons

If not for the ghost, go for the creepy decor. Allegedly a man found a dead girl and her doll. He started collecting dolls to appease the girls spirit. Now the island is full of them, hanging from trees, looking at all the tourists taking their holiday at this peculiar place. For around 200 pesos you can get a boat to take you there. On the island, there is also a bar. So, hey, holiday!

The Catacombs
Paris, France

Bones: Wall made of skulls, catacombs of Paris/Djtox/wikicommons

A final resting place for some, not so restful for others. The catacombs were created in 1786 and are 500 miles of an underground maze, built of bones of the dead. And for a ticket, you can walk them. It has been held several scary paranormal claims, and it will only probably be more of them.

The Tower
London, England

The Tower: This is a picture of the so called White Tower of the Tower of London/Dietmar Rabich, London, Tower of London, White Tower — 2016 — 4679, CC BY-SA 4.0

Yes, the tower, how many ghosts do you have captured? The fortress smacked in the busy streets of Londong have been a infamous spot for death and misery for over 900 years. It also holds some royal ghosts that never found peace, among them Anne Boleyn and Mary, Queen of Scots.

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The Lingering Presence of a Nazi Ghost at Skaugum

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In the bunkers at one of the Norwegian Royal Family’s residents, Skaugum, there is a rumor of the place being haunted. One of the ghost that haunts the place, is the former Nazi Reichskommissar from the war, Terboven.

Skaugum, Asker, Norway: 1945.

No one has flagged with the Norwegian flag in a long time since the German occupation five years earlier and only the nazi flag with the black swastika on the white disk was allowed. But it is all about to change as the allies are closing in on Berlin and the second world war is coming to an end.

High Ranking Nazi’s: Terboven (seated 2nd from right) with minister president Quisling, SS boss Himmler and von Falkenhorst in 1941. Foto: Deutsches Bundesarchiv

8th of May is approaching, the liberation day and the freeing of the nation are a couple of minutes from being announced. People are gathering in the the streets, ready to celebrate and start anew in a peace.

Read Also: Check out our entire collection of ghost stories from Norway.

But there are some the freedom is nearing its end however. The German Reichskommissar for the occupied Norwegian areas, Josef Terboven have an arrest order on his name and is one of the number one nazi officials the Norwegians are after.

Read More: Check out more ghost stories from the Second World War like The Black Cat of War

Terboven knows the war is over and that it will be showed no mercy from the allied forces, not from the people he spent five years at oppressing. He decided to end his life to avoid capture, but according to the rumours, his spirit never managed to escape.

The Reichskommissar in the Bunker

As Reichskommissar, Terboven was the one giving the orders that would send the people of the nation to the working and death camps. He was responsible for the imprisonment, executions- everything.

The Reichskommissar: Josef Terboven. Source: Riksarkivet (National Archives of Norway) @ Flickr Commons

When he took office in Norway it was he who brought death penalty back to a country that had made it unlawful. You could end up dead by leaving the country without permission, listen to illegal radio, taken with illegal newspapers and help war prisoners and refugees. He was by the end of the war, one of the most hated men in Norway.

Read Also: Check out more ghost stories involving nazis like Conn Barracks Ghosts of Nazi Soldiers and Bloody Nurses

All of this is hanging over his shoulders that day in May when people are celebrating. He sits in his bunker at Skaugum, a farm originally owned by the Royal Family outside of Oslo. He once barged in, chased the royal family away and started living there. Now, he himself is the one that is about to be chased away.

The bunker at Skaugum is only 200 meter from the main house the crown prince of Norway owns of and stays in today. There the next King and Queen of Norway lives together with their children.

On that day in 1945 Terboven realized that all hope for a German victory was out of question and hid in the bunker together with the last of the German officials left.

Wilhelm Redieß, the SS boss in the country had already killed himself by gun. “That was early, he beat me to it”, he commented on the suicide.

But Terboven would follow shortly and he had brought 50 kg of dynamite to his bunker at Skaugum and that is how he ended his days. He blew himself up to avoid being prosecuted for his crimes. At 23:30, he detonated the bomb exploded along with the body of Redieß.

The remaining crew of SS spent the rest of the dynamite the next day when Norwegian police came to burn it all down.

The Ghost in the Bunker

According to the legend, the bunker at Skaugum is also were Terboven will spend his eternity. For a long time after the war, it has been reports about activities that no one has been able to explain close to the bunker where nazi officers ended their days.

Early days of the Nazi Party: Josef Terboven rose quickly in the ranks, here with the national party: NSDAPs paramilitary street troops in 1926 in Germany. Foto: Deutsches Bundesarchiv

His Majesty The King’s Guard; the Royal Guards, a battalion of the Norwegian army are the ones guarding the Royal property and residents, including Skaugum today. And there is also from the soldiers the stories comes from.

They tell they have experience many strange things they believe to have a paranormal origin walking the empty places near the bunker at Skaugum. Strange tracks from or to the bunker is spotted for example by the forest surrounding the estate close to the fence. The soldiers have to patrol there and comes back with stories about strange sounds and apparitions, even during the day. Late at night close to the bunkers, the keep hearing the sound of voices and when they go to check it out, they find that they are alone. At least the only living thing there.

Skaugum Farm: The big farm has been the Norwegian residency for decades and even today the place is the home of the crown prince and princess. Right by the big house there is a bunker that is said to be haunted by the former Nazi officials that took over the place during the war.//Source: wikimedia

There are also placed calls from the outer guard post when no one is placed there to make them.

A common factor for all of this is that it is all happening right by the bunker Terboven blew himself up in. The royal guards working at Skaugum are of the opinion of that it is all contributed to Terboven and his ghost lingering in the bunker forever. He never got peace after his death and roams the property were the next royal heir of Norway resides.

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An Introduction to the Horror Classics

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And before you ask – no, I don’t look at Stephen King as a classic. Not yet. What I am talking about are these major players that started it all before they even knew what they were doing. They are not only scary fiction, but an examination of the human darkness before it was OK to talk about it in the open. They are sort of at a junction between classical literature and folklore. They helped to build the bridges of the mythology from our cultures and to the modern horror and scares in daily life. I only wish they could have seen how it impacted the culture, even for those not loving the horror genre. So this a small deep dive into the classics and why they are important.

Disclaimer – Oh look, it’s the affiliate ghost at out side. Yes, these links will take you to the works I’ve written about. If one chooses to purchase anything through these links, we will earn a small commission from it. The opinions are as always, our own. No let’s go!

Dracula

Let’s get the more obvious out of the picture first. But let me ask you; have you ever heard about Dracula? Do you know a lot about the work? But have you actually read it? Surprisingly many haven’t even if they have an extensive knowledge of the tale. That is how important Dracula has been for later literature and movies. And even, I would say, fashion, culture, language, and interest in the country of Romania. But all good, it is all good, we thank our Lord, Dracula for it. Although it wasn’t really the first modern vampire tale, not even the one that got the vampire genre popular, it was however the one that iconified it for future generation.

The importance of the Other – vampires are often depicted as foreigners, they are of a different race. Stoker himself was writing stuff about the invasion and threat to the British Empire. On a small funny not, he was Irish himself, as Sheridan LaFenu that wrote Carmilla. Was this perhaps something about not feeling as the rest, perhaps they themselves were feeling like an outsider? Surely we can see this is a thing that are still relevant, still as delicate and must sometimes be treated through these codes, the codes of vampires, and vampires as our self. We are them, they are us.

The Modern Version

Stoker spent seven years researching European folklore and drew from this when he wrote. It was not an instant bestseller and has meant more to the modern reader than those of Victorian times. Something that is very evident our culture.

Richard Matheson gave us a continuation of vampires as dangerous and the reason why mankind falls

Ann Rice with her books gave the vampires a heart that are very in now. And every time we think the vampire genre is played out, it continues to reinvent itself (read Let the Right one in)

Even what we consider the most silly spins on the vampire tropes (read Twilight), we can sense the important of it when looking at it as a metaphore for teenage angst for their own sexual drives and desires they feel will consume them.

Preface

Dracula comprises journal entries, letters, and telegrams written by the main characters. It begins with Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, as he travels to Transylvania. Harker plans to meet with Count Dracula, a client of his firm, in order to finalize a property transaction. When he arrives in Transylvania, the locals react with terror after he discloses his destination: Castle Dracula. Though this unsettles him slightly, he continues onward. The ominous howling of wolves rings through the air as he arrives at the castle.

Where to find it

Books

Luckily, this classic has been in circulation since it came out (me thinks) and it is translated into so many languages, formats and the likes. It is really to pick and choose what you like best. So for this, I have looked at the two things that decides what to go for. Price and cover.

If you care for the cheaper option, go for the Wordsworth Classic. Don’t worry. If you don’t collect the Wordsworth ones, Collins Classics also have one pretty cheap.

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If you are more of a collector you got to get to Barnes and Nobles Collectible Classics, Omnibus Edition. Its leather bound cover is just everyone’s dream for a grand library, filled with thick books that you just want to put on display. It also have a couple of other stories, including The Jewel of Seven Stars and The Lair of the White Worm. In also includes a dozen of Stoker’s short tales of the macabre, including “Dracula’s Guest,” a sidebar to his famous novel.

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Audio Books

There are a lot of Dracula audio books to listen to, and I mean, a lot. First, start off with two things, do you want to hear the full version or the short one. Because the long one is long, but then again, in an abridged version you will miss out on some details.

For the full version, I recommend the version were Alan Cumming is one of the narrators of several (there are a lot of character so be warned).

The abridged version is a bit altered, a bit cut, but I think overall they managed to keep it in the same feeling. Also, bonus point, In the abridged version, Tom Hiddelston is on of the narrators.

Listen to the full version here

Listen to the abridged version here

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Frankenstein

Sort of like Dracula, this has spun its own franchise it has no control over and a people knows a lot about it without ever having read a page of it. At least they think they know the story. I don’t know at how many accounts I’ve corrected when they call the monster for Frankenstein. Yes, I know, I’m that person, and I regret having open my mouth every time, but alas, it has become a reflex – sorry in advance.

What is it about monsters? What made a 19 year old girl write something so profoundly harrowing and deep beyond her years? We love reading about the underdog, but the underdog in fiction we always need to see evolve as a hero and come out on top. This is the way, but not the horror way. This is the only genre that can deal with the failing monster that tries to come out as a hero, but will ever remain as the villain. It is deeply uncomfortable reading the same tales if the monsters, vampires and ghosts were actual living human beings, the stories wouldn’t work because that meant we have to acknowledge something about ourselves, not everyone comes out as the hero, not all underdogs will win. The only way we accept this in horror is that is a thinly veil between us and them that makes us able to leave the moral high ground and preconceived notions at the door.

The Modern Version

Frankenstein is like made for modern area. Every bit of human enhancement, every bit of artificial intelligence, everything that makes us question what is a human, and who has the right to live and in that, what does that entail. That is a pretty powerful question I personally only think will take Frankenstein with its creature on a long journey.

Preface

Frankenstein is written in the form of a frame story that starts with Captain Robert Walton writing letters to his sister. It takes place at an unspecified time in the 18th century, as the letters’ dates are given as “17—”. In the story following the letters by Walton, the readers find that Victor Frankenstein creates a monster that brings tragedy to his life.

Where to find it

Books

If you are looking for a cheap paperback, they got it all over. Collins, Penguin, everyone. I personally collect the Collins ones because I like the size of them. Choose your favorite. If you look for a paperback, but want a more exiting cover, Barnes and Nobles got you covered with their slick Flexibound Collection. Check them out!

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If however, you are after a hardcover to look nice in your bookshelve, there are also a bunch of them. I personally like the one from Penguin Classic Hardcover Collection. If you are starting to collect minimalism hardcover books, this is the series you want. Look how cute and creepy it is!

Buy it here

Audio Books

My personal favorite it the edition narrated by Derek Jacobi. Just listen to the sample of the audio and you will see exactly what I mean.

The abridged version is also pretty cool. The director and star of the movie Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Kenneth Branagh is the one doing the narration, and knows the story in and out, and it shows, or hears… whatever. That guy must really like Frankenstein.

Listen to the full version here

Listen to the abridged version here

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

What happens when complex human beings have to hide their true selves, their other side so to speak, the one not necessarily fun one to bring to dinner parties. This is what Robert Louis Stevenson explored when he wrote the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or at least, that is what we were faced with when reading it.

The Modern Version

All psychological an character driven piece of fiction has certain elements to what makes a whole human, and how does it look if it’s split and let loose. What happens to a person too constrained, what happens to a person too careless.

Perhaps the on the nose and direct character from modern fiction must be the character of Hulk, constantly battling the darker side of himself, in a perhaps self inflicted happening because of his quest of perfection.

Preface

Gabriel John Utterson and his cousin Richard Enfield reach the door of a large house on their weekly walk. Enfield tells Utterson that months ago he saw a sinister-looking man named Edward Hyde trample a young girl after accidentally bumping into her. Enfield forced Hyde to pay £100 to avoid a scandal. Hyde brought them to this door and provided a cheque signed by a reputable gentleman (later revealed to be Doctor Henry Jekyll, a friend and client of Utterson). Utterson is disturbed because Jekyll recently changed his will to make Hyde the sole beneficiary. Utterson fears that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll. When Utterson tries to discuss Hyde with Jekyll, Jekyll tells Utterson he can be rid of Hyde when he wants and for Utterson to drop the matter. And then the investigation starts.

Where to find it

Book

This is a pretty slim book, and easy to carry around. Me personally like when the classics use old photographs, even if it isn’t hundred percent accurate. Therefore I like this Penguin Classic paperback more than the others. It also includes some bonus stories like: The other stories in this volume also testify to Stevenson’s inventiveness within the Gothic tradition: ‘Olalla’, a tale of vampirism and tainted family blood, and ‘The Body Snatcher’, a gruesome fictionalisation of the exploits of the notorious Burke and Hare.

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For the hardcover, I came upon this one right here. Have you ever seen something so beautiful! This edition only have like 100 copies, is cloth-bound book includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket, and is my librarian wet dream.

Buy it here

Audio Book

The novella is not so long that it needs it’s own abridged version. This one her is narrated by Martin Jarvis. He started out in a career in film and television, but I think he has become particularly noted for his voice acting for radio and audio books. Or perhaps I listen too much, either way:

Listen to it here

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The Turn of the Screw

The story is a masterpiece for those interested in the unreliable narrator. Or is she? I- I don’t really know, but i gets me guessing. What do we know, and what is made up in our minds. How long can we only rely on our own mind when other tell us we’re crazy. It is a question about who we can trust and how far we can go for a job. Jesus, the life of a governess was a tough one.

It is also something about the children. They are cute, innocent and one wants to look after them. But still. There is something there… an eeriness that doesn’t go away. We can’t trust them, and at times, those kids scare us profoundly.

The Modern Version

In the century following its publication, The Turn of the Screw became a cornerstone text of academics who subscribed to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive. Many critics have tried to determine the exact nature of the evil hinted at by the story. However, others have argued that the brilliance of the novella results from its ability to create an intimate sense of confusion and suspense within the reader.

No a days it lives on in the little details. The creepy children, the big house in the dark. Television embraced it for instance with shows like Dark Shadows, the second season of Haunting of Hill House and a constant source for BBC dramas. Keep them coming.

Preface

On Christmas Eve, an unnamed narrator, along with some other unnamed characters, listens to Douglas, a friend, read a manuscript written by a former governess whom Douglas claims to have known and who is now dead. The manuscript tells the story of how the young governess is hired by a man who has become responsible for his young nephew and niece after the deaths of their parents. He lives mainly in London but also has a country house, Bly. He is uninterested in raising the children and she takes on the job. And creepiness ensues.

Where to find it

Book

So, one of the lesser known collection of classics are from Arcturus Publishing. Of some of the more gothic and horror genre classics, they have these cool graphic covers that i enjoy. Other titles they do are from Edgar Allan Poe, Lovefract, The Yellow Wallpaper and many others.

Buy it here

But the beauty of hardcover is back at it again. I mean, the color, the font, the cover and the idea of a limited edition is just the thing I wish dearly for in my heart. And you know it’s legit when the publisher calls themselves Royal Classics

Buy it here

Audio Book

I Personally like this performance with Emma Thomson and Richard Armitage in the introduction. Emma Thomson is such a well read in British literature and it really shows in her work that deals with the written word of a time long forgotten.

Listen to it here

The King in Yellow

I brought this on the list here, because I know of several becoming aware of the concept of The King in Yellow through True Detective’s first season, and I just saw it. So many years behind, but in my defense, I thought is was just a boring cop-show. But then everyone was like: what the fuck is the King in Yellow? And why is so many talking about it?

The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by the American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895. It contains several weird stories easily categorized as supernatural

The Modern version

This is sort of an elusive one, that many doesn’t take the reference to. It is reference by many authors in books, movies, tv-series, but it is never really explained were it is from. Stephen King used it in Thinner, Edgar Allan Poe referenced it in The Masque of the Red Death and Lovecraft referenced it so much it became a part of the Cthulhu mythos and people often mistake Lovecraft as the sole creator.

List of Stories

The stories in the book are:

  1. “The Repairer of Reputations” – A weird story of egotism and paranoia which carries the imagery of the book’s title.
  2. “The Mask” – A dream story of art, love, and uncanny science.
  3. “In the Court of the Dragon” – A man is pursued by a sinister church organist who is after his soul.
  4. “The Yellow Sign” – An artist is troubled by a sinister churchyard watchman who resembles a coffin worm.
  5. “The Demoiselle d’Ys” – A ghost story
  6. “The Prophets’ Paradise” – A sequence of eerie prose poems that develop the style and theme of a quote from the fictional play The King in Yellow which introduces “The Mask”.
  7. “The Street of the Four Winds” – An atmospheric tale of an artist in Paris who is drawn to a neighbor’s room by a cat; the story ends with a macabre touch.
  8. “The Street of the First Shell” – A war story set in the Paris Siege of 1870.
  9. “The Street of Our Lady of the Fields” – Romantic American bohemians in Paris.
  10. “Rue Barrée” – Romantic American bohemians in Paris, with a discordant ending that playfully reflects some of the tone of the first story.

Where to find it

Book

There are many to choose from. For the paperback, Wordsworth Classics have one that is cheap, yellow and totally adequate. But my personal favorite is the graphic novel adaption, with really cool illustration by  I. N. J. Culbard it really brings new life into the old story.

Buy it here

For the Hardcover you also must chose between some cool content or a cool cover. For the best cover I think the edition from The Pushkin Press have a nice cover on it. Contains: ‘The Repairer of Reputations’, ‘The Mask’, ‘In the Court of the Dragon’, ‘The Yellow Sign’

Buy it here.

But there is also this one edition that have Lovecraft as the introduction piece from the Wildside Press that also includes some illustrations.

Buy it here

Audio Book

Horrorbabble have this great thing were they narrate lesser known horror stories. It is not often a thing that is prioritized so that little fact makes me happy. This is only one of the stories they have at audible, they have a bunch, check them out!

Listen to this and other here

Any of this seem interesting for you? How about getting into the listening train of audio books. Now, get 50% off for the next 3 months. I’ve checked and I am now firmly sure these are the one that can offer most horror titles of the audio book platforms.

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The Red Barn Murder and the Ghost in the Dreams

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The murder of Maria Marten, a case called The Red Barn Murder got a lot of media coverage in England because of the strange circumstances. The murder was allegedly solved by the appearance of the ghost of the victim, haunting people’s dreams.

‘”If you’ll meet me at the Red Barn as sure as I have life
I will take you to Ipswich Town and there make you my wife.”
This lad went home and fetched his gun, his pick-axe and his spade.
He went unto the Red Barn and there he dug her grave.With her heart so light she thought no harm, to meet her love did go
He murdered her all in the barn and he laid her body low
– The Folksong The Murder of Maria Marten

The year of 2004. The Place? at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. A skeleton, reassembled so many times and exhibited, used as a teaching aid in the West Suffolk Hospital. It is almost possible to forget that the people hanging there, next to the teacher, used to be a living human. What cruel fate it is, to always be on display. But then we can wonder, why? Why do you hang there? Is this your punishment? Did you do something? And who hangs beside you? The question is always asked.

“Who is that skeleton?”

Beside you is someone infamous. Jonathan Wild, the notorious gang leader in Britain, known as the great corrupter. The students might know his name, his crime. But who are you? Does anyone remember your name?

The Skeleton of the Murderer William Corder

The skeleton sitting in the classroom actually belongs to William Corder, a man that would end up in the infamous case of The Red Barn Murder.

Read Also: Another infamous murder trial involving ghosts is The Infamous Haunted Lizzie Borden House 

He was a boy like any other, born in 1804 to a prosperous tenant farmer in Suffolk, England. He was nicknamed Foxey at school and was a bright kid. He had his whole life in front of him and he had some dreams of becoming a journalist or a teacher as he had some talent for writing. But there was a darkness in Corder that eventually would devour him.

Corder’s father liked his brothers much better according to the rumours around town, and he was sent to London to find work, not wanting to fund his sons dreams. He was said to be a liar and a cheater, thereof the name Foxey most likely. He was also known for petty theft, like when he sold his father’s pig. Yes, his father’s pig.

In London, he fell into bad company and spent all of the money his father gave him. He was a well known ladies man and all around an untrusty fellow. But Corder’s biggest crime was the Red Barn Murder and being found out by the ghost of Maria Marten, the woman he murdered.

Maria Martens Life and Death

After a while, William was called back to the farm from his wild time in London. There he met Maria, daughter of a mole catcher in the same small village, two years older than him and the likes of William Corder didn’t immediately catch her interest.

Maria Marten: The young girl ended up being the victim in the Red Barn Murder/Wikimedia

Maria Marten was 17 years old with a taste for finer things with a curse on her head and would end up as the victim in The Red Barn Murder. There is the story about her that a fortune teller once said that she wouldn’t reach old age, but would have many lovers and riches.

Before getting involved with William Corder she was actually seeing Williams older brother, Thomas. He was the oldest and also the fathers favorite and the two got into a relationship that was doomed from the start.

Thomas Corder wanted to keep the relationship secret as she wasn’t regarded of the same status as himself, being poorer and of a family with a “low” status. The Corders were after all, prosperous farmers.

That didn’t stop him from getting involved with her though and Maria Marten fell pregnant with Thomas child. Thomas left her when she told him about her pregnancy, perhaps hoping it would convince him to go for her after all.

It did not, and she gave birth to his child alone, but the child died a couple of weeks later. Maria then got into a relationship with a Peter Mathews, a middle age man who also dropped her after giving him a son called, Thomas Henry in 1824.

Indeed she had some lovers, perhaps some riches. And indeed she wouldn’t be alive for long.

William Corder and Maria Marten’s Relationship

When William Corder came home from London, bad luck struck his family. His father died and his brothers got very ill, leaving him to manage the farm together with his mother. And this is were he got to know Maria and they got involved in a relationship. But it wasn’t a happy match from either of their families stands. She on her side was already left with a ruined reputation by a Corder. And from the Corder’s perspective, she was a fallen woman and not from a prosperous family like theirs.

The Red Barn Murder: The old barn close to their houses was the scene of the Red Barn Murder and later a tourist attraction. It is now burned down./Wikimedia

This didn’t stop them meeting, although they met in secret. Often at a red barn right by Marias house. It was called that because of the red tiles on the roof and would later be a tourist place as the location of where The Red Barn Murder happened. But the secret of their relationship was not to last for long, as Maria became pregnant again. Maria wanted William to marry her, and according to him, he said yes.

At the same time that winter, William’s brother and Maria’s ex-lover, Thomas was walking over a frozen lake. The ice cracked and Thomas went under, drowning. William was now the owner of the farm as the only son.

Between Maria being pregnant, the farm being in financial troubles and his brother dying, it seems that it put a toll on him. He put Maria in a lodging at Sudbury, a couple of miles away from home to have their baby. But this too should not live and died soon after. William buried the child in a field and there have been speculations that this was not a natural death and that he might have killed their love child as well. And these day, who could really tell?

The Red Barn Murder

Maria and William started to argue about some money that may have been stolen, they argued about the burial of the child and how it looked like William would not marrying Maria after all. At one point the pair made a plan, when William said they should elope to Ipswich. She would come dressed as a boy and they would meet in the Red Barn were they had met countless of times before.

Read Also: Maria Marten got killed by a partner, we have multiple stories telling the same. How about checking out The Ghost of La Faraona Haunting the Agua Caliente Hotel or The Prisoner of Château de Puymartin

Why would William Corder elope now? Now that he didn’t have a father or older brother to interfere? One of the problems the couple had was with Maria and her crimes. It wasn’t necessarily unlikely or weird that they would like to run away, as Maria had several charges on her for bearing illegitimate children. Criminal at that point in time.

The days before their plan was set into motion was the last time Maria Marten was seen alive. William began acting odd and a lot of questions were asked about her. Where was Maria? Wasn’t he going to Ipswich with her?

He told the people asking she had gone ahead to Ipswich, but then he changed the story, and told she had gone to Great Yarmouth and wouldn’t be able to return yet. Then he changed the story again, and he said he was meeting Maria and that they were going to marry. He said he felt unwell and traveled to Isle of Wight, writing back home that they were married and happy there. He said he was sorry that Maria couldn’t write herself as she had hurt her hand and wondered why some of her letters hadn’t made its way back home.

The Ghost of Maria Marten Haunting the Dreams

This vague and strange story didn’t sit well with her family though. The Marten family did not believe William and his excuses as to why they hadn’t seen or heard from her. But in a strange twist of fate, she would find other means to contact her family.

Maria had a young stepmother back in Polstead, Ann Marten. She was troubled by strange and scary dreams about her stepdaughter. Twice Ann Marten had woken from a terrible dream that she herself knew to be true. When she shared them with her husband they looked for Maria in their town and found her.

Read Also: Another ghost story about a ghost that allegedly help solve her own murder case, read about The Greenbrier ghost in The Ghost that Went to Court

The dreams to her stepmother told that Maria had been murdered in the Red Barn buried under the floor and not gone to Isle of Wight at all. Her husband, Maria’s father was sent to the barn and looked for his daughter, prodding the ground with a mole-spike. There he discovered the remains of his daughter, brutally murdered and discarded under the floor for a long time.

Maria was shot as well as stabbed multiple times to death. They brought her to The Cock Inn and, decomposed as she was, her sister Nancy identified her from the clothes, the hair and a gap in her teeth. Around Maria’s neck they found a green handkerchief. According to the witnesses it belonged to William Corder. Was she also strangled? Was she even dead before he buried her in the grain storage bin her father found her in?

The Trial of The Red Barn Murder

Back in Ealing were William had fled, he knew nothing of the mysterious dreams and the discovery of Maria under the barn. Time went by and William needed a wife. He put an ad in The Times and asked for a wife. He picked Mary Moore and they set up a young ladies school in Ealing, West London. He was moving forward in his life. But Maria wasn’t forgotten yet.

Boiling some eggs at home the police came knocking at his door and apprehended him. First he denied that he knew of this Maria Marten, but the evidence was there and he was brought back to Suffolk.

And the press was on this, coming from all across the country to behold the spectacle of his trial and the strange circumstances around it. The case of The Red Barn Murder even got a play on stage before Corder even came to trial, which they actually sold tickets to.

The Red Barn Murder Frenzie: The execution of William Corder, the Red Barn Murderer was a popular event and thousands of people attended/Wikimedia

Forensic pathology was not as advanced yet and it was impossible to determined what of the things that killed Maria. That is why he was charged with nine different murder charges, where shooting, strangling, stabbing and burying alive was a couple of them.

“By that powerful engine of the press,” he said, “I have been described…as the most depraved of human monsters,” he said of the media coverage.

Corder’s defense was articulate, but improbable, claiming Maria herself had taken her own life, but he was found guilty on the circumstantial and medical evidence, and sentenced to hang.

It was the Chief Baron Alexander that was the judged, and he added that his dead body was to be dissected and anatomized, almost like a second punishment.

The Execution of William Corder

The execution was a great play and melodrama itself, and several thousands of spectators had tickets to the show of William Corder’s last moments. During his last days the prison chaplain had tried to get a confession from William who had denied all of the charges against him. Finally, William Cordery admitted to killing MAria by accident during one of their many quarrels. What he denied was stabbing her. Perhaps it was the mole-spike her father looked for her with that made those wounds?

Hanged: The Execution of The Red Barn Murder/Wellcome Library no. 43542i

In any case, he took the punishment for all of her injuries. His last words were:  “I am guilty; my sentence is just; I deserve my fate; and, may God have mercy on my soul.” He was left hanging for an hour, most likely in agony before he died.

After his death he was transported to Shire Hall were he was left for science as the sentence was. But many of the things done to his body after death was highly unscientific. For one,his skin was removed, tanned and used as a book cover that described his crimes and live. Like the most bizarre biography.

What happened that day? Was Maria’s mother psychic? She was only around a year older than Maria, and had not exhibited similar dreams before. Perhaps it’s a bit odd that her dreams started just after news of Williams marriage to Mary Moore. And there were also some rumors that linked her as a lover with William.

What happened skeleton hanging in the lecture hall? Truth be told, it isn’t even William. At least, not all of it. After his hanging, he was chopped up, his body dissected in front of anatomy students, perhaps even used as an experiment with galvanism.

The Red Barn Murder Frenzie

Perhaps the most gruesome thing was that none of the people involved were left in peace after their death, as the story about the Red Barn Murder was a sensational tale and people flocked to the location as well as tried to get a hold of some sort of suveniers from the case.

After the execution, William Corden’s ear was sold, his skull was taken by Dr John Kilner who collected The Red Barn Murder memorabilia. Even pieces of the rope he was hanged in was cut up and sold for a guinea. Perhaps the disturbance of the dead came back to haunt the living that looked at their death as some sort of amusing spectacle?

After many strange and tragic events that happened after The Red Barn Murder enthusiast Dr John Kilner took the skull for himself to his collection, he believed that the skull was cursed and gave it to ta friend. But bad fortune kept plaguing the two men and in the end they decided to pay for a Christian burial to lift the curse of the skull of the murderer William Corder.

Maria also kept being disturbed after The Red Barn Murder. A lock of her hair was sold at two guineas and Polstead with her cottage, the Red Barn and her grave became a tourist attraction and people started chipping away at it so it completely disappeared. The grave as well as the Barn, planks, roof tiles and all sold as macabre souvenirs.

After 2004, the skeleton of William Corder, or at leas what was left of him was removed from the classroom and finally put to rest six feet under.

But the rumors still lingers about the ghost of Maria haunting her stepmother’s dreams, about what really happened that night of The Red Barn Murder. But maybe it is time William got some peace, having served over 200 years for his crimes.

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References

What really happened with the notorious murder at the Red Barn in Polstead? | Great British Life

Murder in the Red Barn—Maria Marten’s Tragic Love Story – Owlcation
William Corder, the Red Barn Killer – HeadStuff
The Red Barn Murder Revisited! – Norfolk Tales, Myths & More!

pop-culture

The Horror Summer Movie List

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Who said the Halloween feeling needed to be kept to the fall? There is something especially scary with the summer. The fact that creepy and horrendous stuff can happen on a bright, sunny day, on the beach and in the hot air, scares more than dark nights. And let us not forget about the deep, deep sea were the light never shines.

Midsommar

Released: 2019

Director: Ari Aster

Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, Will Poulter

Love, love, love, love it! Although not as scary as the typical summer slasher films, this movie is just excellent in every aspect. It is hard to make the internal fright scary on the big screen, but when it’s done right, it is the most scary thing ever.

Synopsis: The grieving Dani have problems dealing with the death of her parents and sister, leaving Christian, the only one she feels close to. He has planned a trip to Sweden with his anthropologist friends for the summer and Dani tags along. And what they think is some drug loving, hippy Swedes has a much darker side to it, even during the midsommar period when the sun never sets.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Released: 1997

Director: Jim Gillespie

Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Johnny Galecki, Bridgette Wilson

This have been on antother list, but this movie is just the perfect example of the summer horror slasher movie flicks we used to get during the slow, hot, humid times. When school was out and you were too young to care about getting a job, caring about politics and the likes. Or am I the only one getting nostalgic about it? It also spun some crazy sequels and a…. well, a sidequel? I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) and I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. And rumours that Amazon is producing a series on the franchise have been spread on the web. Anyway, for a revisit to the urban legend inspired roller coaster of 90’s nostalgia, check it out.

Synopsis: On the Fourth of July 1996 a group of friends drive to the beach. While driving along a coastal byway, they accidentally hit a pedestrian. The group decides to dump the body in the water and never discuss what happened. But a year later something is attacking them, one by one, and they are soon forced to face their actions.

Us

us

Released: 2019

Director: Jordan Peele

Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker

Another instant classic from Jordan Peele, Us, takes a vacation at the beach and spins it into this crazy slasher, comedy, thriller, supernatural, apocalyptic roller coaster. All basking in the summer sun and hot nights by the beach.

Synopsis: In 1986, a young girl named Adelaide goes on vacation with her parents to Santa Cruz. At the boardwalk, she wanders off and enters a funhouse, where she encounters a doppelgänger of herself in the hall of mirrors. Years later she goes on a holiday with her husband and children. She is haunted by the memory, but it is seemingly just a normal summer vacation. That is until the family of doppelgangers turns up at their door in red clothing.

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Piranha

Released: Original released in 1978, but a franchise of movies have been released throughout the years.

Director: Joe Dante (1978)

Starring: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy (The 1978)

What is it about the summer horror flicks that just seems to break all the rules. The lines are blurred, the clothes are off, and the blood is gushing. And why do we just love watching pretty and shallow people die horrendous deaths? With boobs and blood being equally important, this movie is truly for the hot days when your brain need to just rest.

Synopsis: The film tells the story of a river being infested by lethal, genetically altered piranha, threatening the lives of the local inhabitants and the visitors to a nearby summer resort. And really. That is the basic plot of the rest of the franchise as well. And boobs. So much boobs.

Jaws

Released: 1975

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

No list without the master summer horror flick. This is one of those movies that will always stand the test of time, and will appear on any horror summer list. Read also our Summer Horror Reading List.

Synopsis: In the film, a man-eating great white shark attacks beach goers at a summer resort town, killing them, and killing tourism. This is prompting police chief Martin Brody to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter on his boat. But when on the water, they are no longer protected by the safe havens of dry land. They are in shark territory now.

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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Released: 1974

Director: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen

If you have seen this, like a thousand times, the summer is a good time to watch it another thousand times. If you still haven’t seen this horror classic, what are you waiting for? This is the summer to do so.

Synopsis: The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned in several countries, and numerous theaters stopped showing the film in response to complaints about its violence. It continues the story of Leatherface and his family with several sequels, prequels and remakes.

It Follows

Released: 2014

Director: David Robert Mitchell

Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi

The premise of the movie is more dream like than summer like. But the movie upholds some of the great summer vibes of beaches, summer dresses, bored days and a backyard pool.

Synopsis: The film follows a teenage girl named Jay, who is pursued by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter. Like a transmitted haunting, she can only rid herself of by giving it to someone else. And it seems like nothing is able to stop it completely.

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Tourist Trap

Released: 1979

Director: David Schmoeller

Starring: Chuck Connors, Jocelyn Jones, Jon Van Ness, Robin Sherwood, Tanya Roberts, Dawn Jeffory, Keith McDermott

A group of friends on the road, the desert wind and the heated sun that goes along with it. Compile it with a crazy killing tourist attraction and we got ourselves a horror summer flick.

Synopsis: The film follows a group of young people who stumble upon a roadside museum housing mannequins that wield supernatural powers.

Friday the 13th

Released: 1980

Director: Sean S. Cunningham

Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon

There is nothing new about making a franchise of successful slasher movies, but Friday the 13th really goes all inn. It is around twelve movies, it got its own TV series, its been written books and made video games. This is sort of like the

Synopsis: The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be “cursed” and is the setting for a series of mass murders.

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Best Horror Summer Books For the Beach

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Ah the long summer days. At the beach, in the woods. Far away or close at home. Summer season is reading season and some horror books is just what we need to contrast the floral pattern people thinking about flowers and picking shells. Give us the blood, the gore and the eerily feeling of cold ghosts not even the sun can shine away.

This is a list of something new, and something classic. One can pick and choose now a days, and even the format. If you rather listen to the audio book version, this is included here as well!

Affiliation disclaimer. We are using affiliated links in these posts. that means if you purchase something through these links, we earn a small commission from it. And with that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff!

Jaws

By Peter Benchley

Published 1974

It amazes me just how many that have watched this movie, but never read the book, or rather, didn’t know it was a book. So in that regard, this will be on every horror summer list until everyone have reached enlightenment. The interesting thing about this book is actually what happened to the writer of it. Benchley felt so responsible giving the shark its bad rep that he has no became one of its protector. He said in an article for the National Geographic published in 2000, Benchley writes “considering the knowledge accumulated about sharks in the last 25 years, I couldn’t possibly write Jaws today … not in good conscience anyway. Back then, it was generally accepted that great whites were anthropophagus (they ate people) by choice. Now we know that almost every attack on a human is an accident: The shark mistakes the human for its normal prey.”

Synopsis: Peter Benchley’s Jaws first appeared in 1974. As well as Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation, the novel has sold over twenty million copies around the world, creating a legend that refuses to die – it’s never safe to go back in the water . . .

It was just another day in the life of a small Atlantic resort until the terror from the deep came to prey on unwary holiday makers. The first sign of trouble – a warning of what was to come – took the form of a young woman’s body, or what was left of it, washed up on the long, white stretch of beach . . .

A summer of terror has begun . . .

Buy the book here

Listen to it here

Sharp Objects

By Gillian Flynn

Publication date 27 Feb 2015

It is not everything of Gillian Flynn that I like, but I like, I really like. Sharp Objects is such a messed up book, and the description of the more gory stuff is gut wrenching.

Synopsis: Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

Buy the book here

Listen to it here

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Lovecraft Country

By Matt Ruff

Published February 16th 2016

This is on the list because it is of one of the most anticipated series right now, and people better get to reading this before it comes out. Use this summer to it!

Synopsis: Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, twenty-two year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George – publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide – and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite – heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors – they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.

At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn – led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb – which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his – and the whole Turner clan’s – destruction.

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Anna Dressed in Blood

By Kendare Blake

Published October 17th 2011

Needed to put in one of these enjoyable YA horror. It is set in the summer months of a small town, and it is a classic kind of bored high school students going to a haunted house on a dare. Plus, it has ghost hunters in it. Love it!

Synopsis: Cas Lowood is no ordinary guy – he hunts dead people.

People like Anna. Anna Dressed in Blood. A beautiful, murderous ghost entangled in curses and rage. Cas knows he must destroy her, but as her tragic past is revealed, he starts to understand why Anna has killed everyone who’s ever dared to enter her spooky home.

Everyone, that is, except Cas…

Buy the book here

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The Ritual

 By Adam Nevill

Published May 28th 2011

This really took off after the movie came out as well and is one of the many examples lately of why you shouldn’t go to Scandinavia for the summer.

Synopsis: In Adam Nevill’s The Ritual, four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. No longer young men, they have little left in common and tensions rise as they struggle to connect. Frustrated and tired they take a shortcut that turns their hike into a nightmare that could cost them their lives.

Lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, they stumble across an isolated old house. Inside, they find the macabre remains of old rites and pagan sacrifices; ancient artefacts and unidentifiable bones. A place of dark ritual and home to a bestial presence that is still present in the ancient forest, and now they’re the prey.

As the four friends struggle toward salvation they discover that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees . . .

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Listen to it here

The Troop

By Nick Cutter

Published February 25th 2014

Did you plan on camping in the wilderness for the summer? Don’t bring this then – or do – if you plan on having no sleep and full on paranoia attack.

Synopsis: Once every year, Scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a weekend camping trip–a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story around a roaring bonfire. But when an unexpected intruder stumbles upon their campsite–shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry–Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror. The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. A horror that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival with no escape from the elements, the infected…or one another. 

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The Elementals

By Michael McDowell

Published October 1st 1981

To proper celebrate summer season, we need to have a proper southern gothic on our reading list. And why not start with one of the now classics? A treat for horror fans out there.

Synopsis: After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait. Something that has terrified Dauphin Savage and Luker McCray since they were boys and which still haunts their nightmares. Something horrific that may be responsible for several terrible and unexplained deaths years earlier – and is now ready to kill again . . . A haunted house story unlike any other, Michael McDowell’s The Elementals (1981) was one of the finest novels to come out of the horror publishing explosion of the 1970s and ’80s. Though best known for his screenplays for Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, McDowell is now being rediscovered as one of the best modern horror writers and a master of Southern Gothic literature.

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The Summer I Died

By Ryan C. Thomas.

Published January 1st 2006

A classic tale, college, beer, summer, murders.

Synopsis: When Roger Huntington comes home from college for the summer and is met by his best friend, Tooth, he knows they’re going to have a good time. A summer full of beer, comic books, movies, laughs, and maybe even girls. The sun is high and the sky is clear as Roger and Tooth set out to shoot beer cans at Bobcat Mountain. Just two friends catching up on lost time, two friends thinking about their futures . . . two friends suddenly thrust into the middle of a nightmare. Forced to fight for their lives against a sadistic killer with an arsenal of razor sharp blades and a hungry dog by his side. If they are to survive, they must decide: are heroes born, or are they made? Or is something more powerful happening to them? And more importantly, how do you survive when all roads lead to death?

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The Ruins

By Scott Smith

Published July 18th 2006

The age old question. Should tourist go places or should they stay at home. Would the world be a richer place without tourists? The horror genre would at least be poorer as this is one of the many examples of horror when tourists steps on something ancient on foreign land they don’t understand.

Synopsis: Trapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine.Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation-sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site . . . and the terrifying presence that lurks there.

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Ju-On: Origins – a Look at the Truth Behind “the Grudge”

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The legendary horror franchise that is “Ju-On” is back, Japanese style. Please America, don’t try to make any more remakes. Enough. But is the franchise really strong enough to carry a full fledged miniseries?

Me when someone announces an origin installment of anything. Source: IMDB

Netflix Japan tries to do just this in the first-ever horror of Netflix Japan Original, “JU-ON: Origins”. We once again visits the cursed house, seeing lots of unkempt long hair and listens to the sound of a growling cat. Usually when I see a franchise installment marked “origins”, I go NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, as most of them is just. Well, just plain lazy. But here, I have to give it to them, props for making this, but not for the reasons you might think. Written by Written by Hiroshi Takahashi and Takashige Ichise, the well known story gets a new lens to be seen through.

Haruka Honjo (Yuina Kuroshima) is a rookie actress. She hears the sounds of footsteps at night in her house. When she learns of psychic researcher Yasuo Odajima (YosiYosi Arakawa) from a TV variety program, she seeks counseling from him about her problem. She teams up with a paranormal investigator to find out the truth is. Also, there are a lot of parallel stories to follow.

Classic Ju-On, Confusing the Audiences Since the Birth of the Franchise

The atmosphere is what driving the story, mentions of the Chernobyl disaster, the fashion trends together with a moody music. It is more an exploration of the psychological drives of the characters and their story more than the scares. If there is one thing that I was left with, it was that I liked it, it just didn’t scare me. Perhaps that is because I compared it to how I felt as a younger viewer in the early 2000 watching the original. Or it could simply be that the scares they did put into it, relied more on very dramatic screaming, blood and many weird and wonky film effects.

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There are some nods to the fans of the franchise, like the cats and the their screams, working like an image of the human grief, and anger the character feels. The narratives and plot is overlapping, going in circles and bites itself in the back, just as the rest of the installments. But as a six episode long series, not a movie, does this work? Jury is out!

The very polite man: e-eee-eeetoooo Source IMDB

The characters are in the first episode all over the place, with a lot to keep tabs on in what seems to be unrelated people. And they continue to be confusing to follow, at times frustratingly so throughout the series. If you want complete closure and all questions answered, you will be truly disappointed. It takes a while until the characters really cross paths except all being connected to the house. And the only connecting device they have in the start are the same news feed through the news on retro TV’s and in passing.

The violence is the worst. So graphic, so grotesque. Always coming as a surprise in the most mundane situations, lasting for so long, reminding us that humans really is the worst. Also, in addition to that, it truly have some of the more bizarre scene I’ve witnessed in a long time. Bento in prison scene I’m looking at you.

Based on a True Story

A lot of marketing for the series have been, a “based on a true story” spin. It is not uncommon for horror movies to go this route. But is this it? What is the true story?

The legend of Ju-On is based on the legend of the Onry from Japanese folklore. A vengeful ghost, most often a woman killed by the hands of her husband or another man in close relation. And although the legend may be old stories, the news stories connecting the characters in the TV, sure reminds us about some real stories.

Read Also

Onryō — the Vengeful Japanese Spirit

In many cultures, ghosts are put in different categories. Such is the case with Onryō (怨霊 onryō,) It basically means “vengeful spirit” or “wrathful spirit” in Japanese and is a mythological spirit of vengeance from Japanese folklore. They also have ghosts, called yurei, but these differ in the will of the ghost. As opposed to…

But a clever thing they did was to subtly, or nor so subtly, actually, show real cases of murders. Poorly disguised with cover up names they always makes references to real cases when the characters are sitting, watching the news. And they do that, a lot. For instances this one case her:

In the second episode they show a news footage of the body of a girl in cement. It is 17 year old Sakura found that were held captured by three peers for a month. Something that surely reminds us of the real case of Junko Furuta back in 1977.

They also mentions the Matsumoto sarin attack in 1994 that killed eight and injured 500, perpetuated by a doomsday cult that would attack the year after in the  Tokyo subway sarin attack, with the desire to kick start their apocalypse and World War 3. Mindless violence.

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This is just some of the cases they referenced. Some actually happened in the years they are telling the stories in, from 1988 to 1997. Like for instance, they show what seems to be the Kobe Child Murders where a severed head in school 1997. And the perpetrator, a 14 year old boy, was responsible for several murders.

In my opinion this is a clever way of showing the audience a more sinister truth, lurking under this low crime country, filled with politeness and pride. There is this taboo of domestic abuse, parental neglect, misogyny, rape and intense violence that seeps through the cracks of the society.

A Social Commentary on Violence

And this is were I think the series stays strongest. Not in the jump scares, but in the social commentary. It is like a well written essay were it keeps punching away criticism of being over the top. “Oh, you think this gruesome murder of pregnant women was bad? BOOM, have a look at this actual true murder case”. It is truly were the heart of the series is, and always have. Now, the showrunners are just confident enough to rely mostly on it.

It is a lesson on violence repeating itself. Of how quickly domestic violence goes away, it is just inherited to others, creating this cycle of violence and a want for revenge in death as the characters had no way of protecting themselves in life. And so the abused becomes the abuser, and the cycle continues.

And no, I wasn’t as scared as in 2004 when Sarah Michelle Gellar introduced me to the franchise, or later when I watched the original Japanese version. But I still liked it, standing on its on. It begs the question, can men and women ever live peacefully together, as well as feeling free?

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Horror Reading List We Look Forward To

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Are you tired of sitting inside, watching I Know What You Did Last Summer again and again to get a piece of horror, but still a summer feeling? Get some books and head to the beach, your back yard, the woods or the mountains, the parks or your favourite cafe. Horror in a book format can follow you everywhere.

Want to get some new horror books on your bookshelves but don’t know were to start? Look no further. This is a list of horror books being published this summer and that we are really looking forward to. Check it out to get some inspiration to what darkness you want to bring to the beach!

Affiliate disclosure: These titles are found on book depository which moonmausoleum are affiliated with. Any purchased made through these links, we earn a small commission from. And with that said, let’s get into the good stuff!

The Institute

By Stephen King

Publication date 14 Jul 2020

The King of horror is back, giving Maine a creepy reputation as always! This summer will give us a chilling tale from the woods and a tale of kids with scary abilities. A classic from King then!

Synopsis: Deep in the woods of Maine, there is a dark state facility where kids, abducted from across the United States, are incarcerated. In the Institute they are subjected to a series of tests and procedures meant to combine their exceptional gifts – telepathy, telekinesis – for concentrated effect.

Luke Ellis is the latest recruit. He’s just a regular 12-year-old, except he’s not just smart, he’s super-smart. And he has another gift which the Institute wants to use…

Far away in a small town in South Carolina, former cop Tim Jamieson has taken a job working for the local sheriff. He’s basically just walking the beat. But he’s about to take on the biggest case of his career.

Back in the Institute’s downtrodden playground and corridors where posters advertise ‘just another day in paradise’, Luke, his friend Kalisha and the other kids are in no doubt that they are prisoners, not guests. And there is no hope of escape.

But great events can turn on small hinges and Luke is about to team up with a new, even younger recruit, Avery Dixon, whose ability to read minds is off the scale. While the Institute may want to harness their powers for covert ends, the combined intelligence of Luke and Avery is beyond anything that even those who run the experiments – even the infamous Mrs Sigsby – suspect.

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The Glass Hotel

By Emily St John Mandel

Publication date 06 Aug 2020

If this book is anything like the beautiful sci-fi Station 11, we are in for a treat. Emily St. John Madel truly has a way of poetic ways into genre writing, lifting the genre books to the heights were they deserve to be. Is she continues like this, I call for that she will contribute to change how we look at genre literature.

Synopsis: Vincent is the beautiful bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star glass-and-cedar palace on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. New York financier Jonathan Alkaitis owns the hotel. When he passes Vincent his card with a tip, it’s the beginning of their life together. That same day, a hooded figure scrawls a note on the windowed wall of the hotel: ‘Why don’t you swallow broken glass.’ Leon Prevant, a shipping executive for a company called Neptune-Avramidis, sees the note from the hotel bar and is shaken to his core. Thirteen years later Vincent mysteriously disappears from the deck of a Neptune-Avramidis ship.

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The Only Good Indians

By Stephen Graham Jones

Publication date 21 Jul 2020

Sometimes books comes in a time were it seems fitting. Looking at how the situation of the world is today, this is one of those books we hope will reflect something deep from our time and the way we live today. Horror is good at that.

Synopsis: Ten years ago, four young men shot some elk then went on with their lives. It happens every year; it’s been happening forever; it’s the way it’s always been. But this time it’s different.

Ten years after that fateful hunt, these men are being stalked themselves. Soaked with a powerful gothic atmosphere, the endless expanses of the landscape press down on these men – and their children – as the ferocious spirit comes for them one at a time.

The Only Good Indians, charts Nature’s revenge on a lost generation that maybe never had a chance. Cleaved to their heritage, these parents, husbands, sons and Indians, men live on the fringes of a society that has rejected them, refusing to challenge their exile to limbo.

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Anno Dracula 1999: Daikaiju

 By Kim Newman

Publication date 28 Jul 2020

This look so promising, and we desperately need something from an alternative reality now. It is just as ridiculous and cool as it needs to be. This is definitely going on my summer beach reading list.

Synopsis: The new novel in the acclaimed alternate history vampire series from Kim Newman.
“Compulsory reading… glorious” Neil Gaiman on Anno Dracula It is the eve of the new millennium, and the vampire princess Christina Light is throwing a party in Daikaiju Plaza – a building in the shape of a giant mechanical dragon – in Tokyo, attended by the leaders of the worlds of technology, finance, culture and innovation. After a century overshadowed by the malign presence of Dracula, Christina decrees the inauguration of an Age of Light. The world is connected as never before by technology, and conquests have been made in cyberspace that mark out new nations of the living and the undead. But the party is crashed by less enlightened souls, intent on ensuring that the brave new world dies before it can come to fruition. The distinguished guests are held hostage by cyberpunk terrorists, yakuza assassins and Transylvanian mercenaries. Vampire schoolgirl Nezumi – sword-wielding agent of the Diogenes Club – finds herself alone, pitted against the world’s deadliest creatures. Thrown out of the party, she must fight her way back up through a building that seems designed to destroy her in a thousand ways. Can Nezumi survive past midnight? Can the hopes of a shining world?

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The Year of the Witching

By Alexis Henderson

Publication date 09 Jul 2020

The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Village in this stunning feminist debut . . .

This is the line that got me exited. If this lives up to the hype, this is the book I’ve been waited on all my life that I never knew I needed. But anything feminism horror, I stand behind. Now, let it also be super scary.

Synopsis: Born on the fringes of Bethel, Immanuelle does her best to obey the Church and follow Holy Protocol. For it was in Bethel that the first Prophet pursued and killed four powerful witches, and so cleansed the land.

And then a chance encounter lures her into the Darkwood that surrounds Bethel.

It is a forbidden place, haunted by the spirits of the witches who bestow an extraordinary gift on Immanuelle. The diary of her dead mother . . .

Fascinated by and fearful of the secrets the diary reveals, Immanuelle begins to understand why her mother once consorted with witches. And as the truth about the Prophets, the Church and their history is revealed, so Immanuelle understands what must be done. For the real threat to Bethel is its own darkness.

Bethel must change. And that change will begin with her . . .

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The Wayward Girls

By Amanda Mason

Publication date 06 Aug 2020

It looks sort of the perfect cross of back to the small time during summer holiday and look back to our childhood were it was always summer type of book. A new debut writer is always scary taking a risk on, but anything with the word wayward in it knows what’s up in the horror genre.

Synopsis: Their dangerous game became all too real . . .

THEN
1976. Loo and her sister Bee live in a run-down cottage in the middle of nowhere, with their artistic parents and wild siblings. Their mother, Cathy, had hoped to escape to a simpler life; instead the family find themselves isolated and shunned by their neighbours. At the height of the stifling summer, unexplained noises and occurences in the house begin to disturb the family, until they intrude on every waking moment . . .

NOW
Loo, now Lucy, is called back to her childhood home. A group of strangers are looking to discover the truth about the house and the people who lived there.

But is Lucy ready to confront what really happened all those years ago?

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Huaka’i Pō – The Night Marchers of Hawaii

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When the moon peak out after the long and sunny days in Hawaii, there are things to beware in the dark like the Huaka’i Pō. The Hawaiian Night Marchers is legend told for a long time, and will continue to be so.

In sunny Hawaii, the island of Oahu is hot, palms swaying in the wind soaking up the sun during the day. Along the streets, people from all over the streets are walking side by side and no one thinks of these modern marches of the modern people. But there are other types of marches that are still held in high esteem by the locals.

The day time Hawaii is a light place, a sunny place. That is during the day. Then the night comes and darkness prevails. You know, the nights are long, even though they are hot and the ghost walks among us, just as any other place.

A majority of Hawaii residents can tell about a supernatural or at least creepy encounter in their life. But these encounters are not only creepy, they are holy. One of the most popular legend to tell is of the Hawaiian Night Marchers, or the Huaka’i Pō.

Huaka’i Pō The Warriors of the Afterlife

The Hawaiian Night Marchers come in groups as they mark their presence by blowing a conch shell, beating their pahu drums, pounding out a rhythm, keeping everyone in the march in line as they chant an oli, giving everyone around a heads up. Make way, a march is on the way.

Pahu Drum: The Night Marchers comes to the sound of drums.

The locals on the Hawaiian islands claim they are the spirit of warriors coming home from, or more ominous, to a battle. Why are they doing this? What war are they still fighting?

Some claim the Night Marchers are the ancestors reclaiming of lost territory, spirits of warriors from a battle gone wrong or spirits avenging their death. And considering the Hawaiian history, the Hawaiian Night Marchers might consider the battle still ongoing.

The spirits of the Huaka’i Pō are the proud Hawaiian warriors, bound to protect their ali’i in life, and the afterlife. They are also said to be spirits, either going somewhere or welcoming new warriors to their beating band.

More than mere ghosts, the Huaka’i Pō reminds more of the wild hunt from European pagan mythology and folklore.

Marching Through the Night

Although some accounts of the the Hawaiian Night Marchers legend have been reported during the day, most Huaka’i Pō is marching through the night. They are recognized with their torches held high and chanting the same olis over and over again.

Perhaps they at first glance just looks like a group of living human beings are doing a traditional march, but when one looks more closely, one can see their feet are a couple of inches above ground. Local accounts tell that the only remains that the Hawaiian Night Marchers ever marched there, is the mysterious footprints in the soil or sand just after passing.

Pathways for the Huaka’i Pō: Along the highway, deep in the jungle, it doesn’t matter, the the Hawaiian Night Marchers will find their way// Photo by Kehn Hermano on Pexels.com

The Night Marches has been documented by white settlers as far back in 1883 by Captain Cook’s arrival on the islands. Hawaiian language was only a spoken one, so this is one of the first written account. But of course, the marches have been going on, long before any white settler put their foot on the islands. And the stories the locals know about, is the ones that have been passed down for generations.

The reports from Captain Cook though, tells of a mighty phantom army, led by spirit of King Kamehameha, marching angrily over the Big Island of Hawaii. In these account, the night marchers were written down as ‘oi’o.

The Hawaiian Night Marchers to Honor the Ancestors

Over the years the marchers have become somewhat of a boogeyman tale for children. But this is not the origin story of them. The Huaka’i Pō are originally holy processions, a manifestation of Hawaiian gods. The Hawaiian also had a strict caste system were the ali’i (chief) passed, commoners was not to look at them. Consequence of disobeying this rule was death.

Hawaiian storyteller and author that has taken a deep dive into the Hawaiian ghost lore as well as the legends of the Night Marchers, Lopaka Kapanui had this to say to OluKai:

“The night marchers’ job wasn’t to terrorize people. It was simply to protect the most sacred, high-ranking chiefs (depending on kapu status, the Chiefs marched in front or behind the procession). The night marchers showed mercy by traveling at night to spare people from harm.”

Warriors of Hawaii: Night Marchers of Hawaiian legend is not only ghosts and lingering people of people that have died, but have said to also be ancient warriors or manifestations of the Hawaiian gods. /Flickr/Jai Mansson

It is not all cozy history though, as the Hawaiian Night Marchers have been blamed for many accidents of the road. Especially along he Oahu’s Pali Highway after dark, an established pathway for the marches, and there have been reports about car accidents elsewhere as well. Perhaps a note city planners should keep in mind. Listen to the old lores of the land. In any case, just to be safe: Do not travel alone on these paths at night.

Read Also: More ghost stories about Haunted Roads across the world

How to Show the Huaka’i Pō Respect

But what to do when you are out and about and suddenly the drums and chanting of the marchers are heard. How to act when you are in presence of warrior souls?

According to the warnings you must never interrupt these marchers, they have been going on long before your time, and will continue to do so, long after you’re gone. This is a custom that have been in place, even when the Hawaiian Night Marchers was done by the ancient living warriors. It was so sacred, their mission that they could not be interrupted. This is also a theory as to why the Huaka’i Pō are known to travel at night as well, because they disturb less people then.

If you can’t get out in the way before the marchers are right by you, there are some things to keep in mind: You can’t meet anyone’s eye or look at them. Unless some of your relatives are one of the spirits and acknowledged you, you are most likely dead. It is considered a bad omen and bad luck for you, your friends or family.

A foul scent of decay comes before anything else, before anything is seen. the Hawaiian Night Marchers blow their conch shells and beat their drum to announce their arrival. So what to do? Especially if there is a marching path, right through your house?

To ward off the Huaka’i Pō, Hawaiian people plants Ti plants around their home, to keep them away. But if you don’t have time to cultivate plants? It is advised that the best thing is to run and get the hell out of there. But if it’s too late it is advised to crouch down and play dead. Remember, don’t look at anyone. The Night Marchers already have their destination, don’t let it be to you.

Protection from the Night Marchers: The Ti plant of Hawaii is said to have protective abilities on the Hawaiian Night Marchers. Among a lot of ethnic groups in Austronesia it is regarded as sacred and they believe they can hold souls and thus are useful in healing “soul loss” illnesses and in exorcising against malevolent spirits, their use in ritual attire and ornamentation, and their use as boundary markers. Red and green cultivars also commonly represented dualistic aspects of culture and religion and are used differently in rituals. Red ti plants commonly symbolize blood, war, and the ties between the living and the dead; while green ti plants commonly symbolize peace and healing. / source

Where the Hawaiian Night Marchers have been Observed

There are stories about the Huaka’i Pō marching on most Hawaiian islands, but reports tell mostly about places on Oahu. These are some specific locations were it is said that the Night Marchers have a pathway:

La Perouse Bay (Maui) – The Hawaiian name for this bay is Keoneʻōʻio. It has a a lava landscape that according to legends are and have been visited by night marchers.

Kamehameha Schools Campus (Oahu) – In Kapalama on Oahu. This school is over a hundred years and is said to have been visited by the Huaka’i Pō many times.

Kualoa Ranch (Oahu)– It is said to be housing the remains of hundreds of Hawaiian chiefs and the night marchers have been spotted here several times. This is also a place that the car accidents happening have been because of the Huaka’i Pō.

La’ie (Oahu) – Historically this was a city of refuge. A place where criminals were held were they didn’t get harmed and could get out free after a certain time of service.

Oahu’s Highway (Oahu)– once there was a site for a famous Kamehameha battle. Now there are many road accidents attributed to the Huaka’i Pō that are marching through this area.

Kaunakakai town (Molokai) – a sacred temple site of the Ili’ili’opae Heiau is nearby on this small and tranquil island.

When to see the marching of Huaka’i Pō

Although there are no specific days set that limits the night marchers, there are some days of the calendar that seems more important than other for the Huaka’i Pō. That includes:

Po Kane – Nights of the Hawaiian God Kane, the first of the Gods that created the universe. This day falls on the 27th day of the moon cycle of Kaulana Mahina or the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. This is the main day were they say the Huaka’i Pō is about.

Po Akua – 14th night of the new moon has also been a date were they say the Huaka’i Pō is especially active. This is a night were the spirits of chiefs, warriors and aumakua (guardian spirits) march between sunset and sunrise.

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Sources

  1. https://www.to-hawaii.com/legends/night-marchers.php
  2. https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/27171113/exploring-the-legend-of-the-night-marchers/
  3. https://olukai.com/blogs/news/legends-hawaiis-night-marchers
  4. https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/hawaii/articles/huakai-po-the-legend-of-the-hawaiian-night-marchers/