"The Hunted" Haunted Trail and Bonez & Booz.

Ms. B. and I were originally planning to visit friend/fellow author Richard Dansky in Durham, NC, this weekend to celebrate his birthday and drink his scotch, but since we came back from Wintergreen very much on the sniffly side, we decided not to potentially afflict anyone who might be in close quarters with us. Neither of us feels particularly terrible, so we figured we'd avail ourselves of some outdoor Halloween activities where we could effectively practice social distancing.

 

Friday night, we rode up to Ferrum, VA (the location of Ferrum College, my old alma mater), to visit their haunted trail, this year titled "The Hunt." As in previous year's, it's not all that elaborate, but the woods there are lovely as well as spooy (I haunted them frequently when I was in college, long before they became part of Ferrum Park, as they are now). There are plenty of weird sounds from deep in the woods, pitch-dark tunnels, roving monsters, and unexpected scares. Suffice it to say that, as we have in the past, Kimberly and I really enjoyed it. Plus, the wooded back roads to and from Ferrum are themselves pretty damned creepy, so the drive only added to the experience.

L: Our greeter; R: Wonder where that path leads...

A scary tunnel ahead!

I wonder who that is in the bloody fog!

Then, Saturday evening, Brugger and I decided to check out Bonez & Booz at the Virginia Museum of Natural History uptown. I had no idea how big an event this would be — several hundred people had packed the Museum's spacious parking lot, where the exhibits and vendors were set up. We immediately ran into friend Joe Keiper, the museum's executive director, and spent a little while chatting. Then Ms. B. and I went in search of beverages and vittles, which we found — the beer garden for drinks, a BBQ food truck for dinner. Both of us got BBQ quesadillas, and they were fantastic. We wandered a bit more and watched the fire dancing show, which was pretty cool. After that, we were pretty well tuckered out, so we returned home and watched Sinister, which is a favorite of ours.

I was kind of hoping our mysterious ghost (guest?) would have turned on our Halloween lights, but no such luck.

Ferrum Park's THE HUNTED — A Haunted Trail Experience

This is mainly for local folks! For the past few years, Ferrum Park has put on a haunted trail event, and Ms. B. and I have had a great time at each of them. These events are not super-elaborate, but they're set in a creepy enough location: the woods I frequently haunted when I was a student at Ferrum College (yes, a long time ago). The scare factor for the trail is reasonably intense, but I'd say it's fine for most kids. Brugger and I will be attending on one of these weekend nights, depending on our schedules.

 

THE HUNTED: A HAUNTED TRAIL EVENT

October 9–10 | 16–17 | 23–24 • 7–9 p.m.

Something has been hunting in these woods... and it isn’t looking for deer anymore. Stay quiet. Stay together. Keep moving. This time, you are the prey!

 

BUY ONLINE & SAVE!

Adults: $10 • Kids 18 & under: $5

Online tickets are not date-specific and may be used for one-time admission on any night!

 

AT THE GATE:

Adults: $15 • Kids 18 & under: $7

 

All proceeds go to support the Ferrum Park project! 

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Purchase Tickets for THE HAUNTED Here!

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A Happy, Horrific Halloween

This is the third Halloween in Martinsville for Brugger and me since we moved into my old homeplace in 2023. The past couple of years, we had a fair number of trick-or-treaters, but last night topped them all. When I was a young'un, just about every household in this neighborhood had kids, so Halloween was quite an affair. Nowadays, there aren't so many kids, but folks from all over town head into the nearby, affluent Mulberry/Forest Park neighborhoods, and many of them pass our place along their journeys. Last night, Brugger and I decided to entice trick-or-treaters by setting up chairs down by the street and lighting up the fire pit.

 

It worked. We started the fire just before sundown, and within minutes, the kids started arriving. During the breaks between arrivals, we cooked chicken/jalapeno sausages over the fire for our supper, which were pretty danged good, along with delicious adult beverages to accompany—and of course, Halloween candy for dessert.

 

As a kid, I loved dressing up and trick-or-treating for Halloween; and as an adult, I probably love Halloween even more, especially when we make the night something of an event. I find giving out treats to be intensely satisfying, and I'm happy to say that the kids were generally very polite and gracious. Almost all of them wore cool costumes, several of which were quite elaborate.

 

I think the coolest thing we experienced during the evening was when it was getting pretty late, and the trick-or-treaters were all done. We heard, far in the distance through the woods, the faint chiming of a bell, numerous screams, and what sounded like a werewolf howling. It came from well beyond any of the nearby houses, so...talk about neat and a little creepy. Tis here (you need to turn the sound up to hear the noises):

Over the past couple of weeks, I'd become a little concerned that Halloween wasn't going to be as big a deal this year because fewer houses in the area appeared to have been decorated. Happily, that wasn't the case. Best of all, we have quite a bit of candy left over—and it's the good stuff!

 

For afters, we settled in and watched Bram Stoker's Dracula, which isn't necessarily our favorite Dracula filum, but we kind of felt in the mood. And so we enjoyed it.

 

I hope your Halloween was at least as lovely.

Scary Things at Magnolia & Main Books

Hey, local Southern Virginia Folks!
Magnolia & Main Bookstore is a brand-new, indie bookstore in Ridgeway, VA, a few short miles south of Martinsville. It's been a long while since there's been a physical bookstore in the area, so it's great to see this little boutique open its doors for business. It's a small shop, to be sure, but it's warm, welcoming, and easily accessible. Proprietor Traci Morton carries books by several local authors, including a bunch of mine, and I anticipate a booksigning happening here in the foreseeable future.

If you're in the local area and you'd like autographed copies of my books, Magnolia & Main is for you. They have copies of Deathrealm: Spirits, Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Blue Devil Island, and all five of my Ameri-Scares novels for young readers — West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman, Michigan: The Dragon of Lake Superior, Ohio: Fear the Grassman!, New Hampshire: Ghosts From the Skies, and Georgia: The Haunting of Tate's Mill.

Come visit Magnolia & Main Books, 810 Main Street, Ridgeway, VA 24148.