It's so nice to be back in the world of the blog. And this semester I actually know how to use it :D
So my experience with fantasy has been grand. I'm a big fan. Of course, Harry Potter is my favorite fantasy series because I grew up with it. I have also read the Twilight series, but I'm not an obsessive fans. I just appreciate vampires and werewolves. Not cheesy teen love stories. Recently I've gotten into the Witch & Wizard series by James Patterson. Also recently I have fallen in love with a fantasy tv series that fits perfectly with the theme of this class: Supernatural. It follows the lives of Sam and Dean Winchester, gorgeous brothers played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. They make a life of hunting the wicked: ghosts, demons, witches, vampires, and the like. They are, I am sad to say, currently in their final season :(
Ok so I do have a local ghost story. I'm from San Jose, California originally where my entire family still lives. There you will find the well-known Winchester Mystery House. The story of Sarah Winchester is quite interesting. She was married to William Wirt Winchester, the man who invented the Winchester rifle, which was used heavily in the Civil War. When she relocated to San Jose and after the death of her husband, she was haunted by the ghosts of the men who were killed by the rifle her husband invented. She went to a psychic and was told to continuously build onto her house to keep the ghosts at bay. Her beautiful house still remains in San Jose, across the street from a mall and a movie theater and is now open to the public. There are stairs that lead to the ceiling, doors that open to solid walls, and a door that opens out to the open California air. Tourists have said they still see ghosts there, though I have personally never noticed any while visiting.
I think this is my longest post ever :) I will return later after reading some epic fantastic tales and the Clute article.
5 comments:
I've read about the Winchester house before. I was actually trying to tell the story of it the other night to someone, but I couldn't remember the family name or what they were famous for. That's really cool that you've been there--though really it would probably creep me out to visit myself!
It's not creepy! It's awesome :) I've been there at least 5 times. I try to got there every time I visit my family.
Katy's right that the Winchester Mystery House is a must-see if you're ever in San Jose. I've been only once, but I was enthralled. Here's the site.
I used the house as a setting, and Winchester herself as a character, in my story "A Diorama of the Infernal Regions, or The Devil's Ninth Question," in the Dann-Dozois Wizards anthology (Berkley, 2007).
Our tour guide told us that Winchester never actually told anyone her reasons, so the placating/housing-the-ghosts scenario is just our best guess. We do know, however, that she was into spiritualism. The seance room at the top of the house is part of the tour.
I should add that my wife was weirded out by the house. She said it was like being physically inside the mind of a deranged person.
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