ceebeegee | Scary Ghost Stories

I'm in the middle of a writing project of sorts right now. I met with Dave a few weeks ago to discuss how TTC is going to do Xmas Carol this season, and we also came up with another project, a fundraiser, Scary Stories Along the Waterfront. I have to write this one as well, and I've been doing a ton of research. It's harder to write a good ghost story than you think. Dave and the Hoboken Historical Museum (a co-sponsor) are fine with my using actual ghost stories, but the several books I have (DC ghosts, NYC ghosts, and Scottish ghosts) feature accounts of actual ghosts, not necessarily ghost stories. With an actual ghost, the thrill is imagining that it really happened, whereas with an openly acknowledged imaginary ghost, you have to have an actual story, with buildup and a twist and all. These are not easy!

The DC ghost book has some great stories, like the Three Sisters--3 Indian princesses along the Potomac tried to cross during a storm, were swept away, and cursed the river that nobody could ever cross it at that point again. After the curse, there appeared three little islands in the river and believe it or not, no one has ever been able to cross it there. The best example is the Three Sisters Bridge, which started construction and was halted by 1) Congress and the DC Council withdrawing funding, and 2) a hurricane, which swept away what little had been built. Great story, but what makes it great is the added bit about the bridge--even Congress couldn't break the curse! I'm trying to make the stories New York/New Jersey specific.

The NYC ghost book is pretty sucktastic. I bought it awhile ago, thinking it would be as good as the DC one--it ain't! The writing is pretty cringe-inducing--I've tried to get some ideas by reading it, but it's not that helpful. I have been able to use some particularly vivid details from the DC book to whip up a couple of stories--not great ones but they a'ight. They need work.

However the Scottish book may well be my saviour. This is an old book that my dad has when I was a kid and I read it to pieces. I found it later on Amazon. Some GREAT stories there, with murdered pedlars and Earl Beardie playing dice with the Devil and crazy Janet Dalrymple grinning insanely over the bloody corpse of her husband (inspiration for the opera Lucia di Lammermoor) and all. Trust the Celts to get the other worldly stuff right.