Don't Judge My Love of Sharing Ghost Tales

In my weekly Free Friday Frights adventures I have enjoyed the combination of sharing live videos of reading my fiction or just sharing a ghostly tale from the research I have done for many of my non-fiction books on the paranormal.

 

And last Friday (Friday April 13th), while I was enjoying a couple of pints at The Winking Judge in Hamilton, as part of a quick teaser video that I had originally posted live to Facebook, I walked about the 2nd floor of this haunted bar and shared a few of the ghostly tales I had heard over the years.

I re-edited the original live video to add in a few fitting visuals as well as some haunting background music.

Here is the revised and enhanced video:

You can read more about this in a post on my Spirits Untapped blog entitled "Ghostly Tales From A Hamilton Bar," which also focuses more on the "beer" and "beer culture" aspects. (IE, if, after seeing the beer I'm holding and wanting to know what it was)

Cheers to Beers

Admittedly, I haven't been blogging here much, even though I'm proud to say that I have been blogging since my initial post on March 3, 2005.

That first post wasn't much, just a note that my friend from work, Mathew (work back then was Chapters Online, or Chapters/Indigo) had mocked me into starting a blog. It's short (so unlike me) and sweet (well I can sometimes be sweet) and called Beginnings. (I was unique, since it wasn't like many blogs, called "My First Post")

My second post, on March 9th, was a little more typical of the musings I would blog about over the years. It was called Not the TV show starring Dick. This one was about the growth of my Van Dyke beard. You know, the facial hair that everyone calls a goatee. (It is technically either referred to as a Van Dyke or a goatee and mustache. A goatee is just chin hair. A mustache is hair over the top lip. But, since laziness prevails and that affects language, most people call it a goatee. Gee, see how I like to rant about such things?)

In my first eight years of blogging I averaged between 180 and 190 blog posts per year, which was almost one every two or three days.

I haven't blogged as much since 2012. Perhaps one reason is that many of my updates end up being shared in the quicker click share of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. Another part of the reason is likely that my "blogging" efforts were directed towards the Kobo Writing Life blog as well as other writing efforts.


But I still quite enjoy blogging. Heck, I've even started other blogs that align directly specific passions.

While the KWL Blog was focused specifically on writing and publishing, and I was able to channel much passion into that, Liz and I started Spirits Untapped, a blog that focuses on the spirit and spirits that inhabit beer and bar culture.

A "Beer with Norm" - What does it say about me for this being on my bucket list?

Yes, this will be information that we have started compiling for a forthcoming book in my "series" of books on the paranormal, called SPIRITS UNTAPPED: Haunted Bars and Breweries that likely won't be out for a couple of years; but we started this the blog in May 2016 and on the blog we decided to focus on the Spirit of Beer Culture, while throwing in a few spots about haunted locations.

For example, the first post, May 7, 2016, was about The Winking Judge on Augusta Street in Hamilton. I first learned about it when writing Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers. And it has since become a local "haunt" since I moved into an apartment "above" the judge in 2014.

The Winking Judge - One of our favorite haunts

On Spirits Untapped, Liz and I blog about such things as:

• Haunted Locations (which will end up going into the book)
• Breweries
• Memorable Beers
• Interesting beer labels and artwork
• Beer festivals
• The intersection of beer and music 

. . . along with other fun intersections from beer culture as well as a map tracking the various locations we have enjoyed beers together since 2014.

I'm pretty sure that the Spirits Untapped blog will continue to grow now that I have more time for writing, and that I'll also be returning to blog more here as 2017 draws to a close and we usher in 2018.

A Haunted 5K Run in Hamilton

Almost by accident this morning, I discovered a neat way to turn a run into a historic haunted run.

It started when I left my apartment, wanting to go on a relatively short run that had a bit of a challenge to it. So I decided to head south on James St S. towards the Hamilton Mountain where there's a path and set of stairs (part of the Bruce Trail).

Once I got to the top of the stairs, I thought it might be fun to keep moving along the upper edge of the escarpment and run out towards Century Manor. A week earlier, I took a short hike up there to do a Facebook Live video to help promote a new book (Haunted Hospitals) that includes a chapter on the beautiful old abandoned and boarded up building that used to be an insane asylum.

One of the spectacular views looking down on the city from Hamilton Mountain (ie, Niagara escarpment) on this run

When I reached Century Manor and lifted my iPhone to do a selfie (because apparently I'm a teenaged girl), I noticed that it was approximately 2.6 KM from my place to that spot.

While I'm not a math whiz, I knew that the full route would end up being approximately 5K, which is a decent short run.

Century Manor

So, considering the beautiful and picturesque landscape I'd gone through (not to mention the fun challenge of the hill and the stairs), I wondered it if might make a thematic run. A Haunted Run, I imagined.


So I mapped it out and created a "Haunted Runs in Hamilton: Winking Judge to Century Manor" route.

The Winking Judge to Century Manor & Back Route

I figured one haunted location might not be enough, and so, since I live near my favourite bar to haunt, The Winking Judge, I figured I'd add that into the route and have a fun haunted destination at both ends of the run.

Of course, after I finished, I realized that the route is pretty close to a few other haunted locations (Augusta Mansion on the mountain and Whitehern House down in the city). But I figured incorporating them into a slightly longer route might be more fun.

A Recipe for Author Collaboration

Because I do so much writing for the Kobo Writing Life blog as well as Spirits Untapped, I haven't been updating this blog as often. (I know, I know, there's always SOME excuse, isn't there?)

But I wanted to share an excerpt from a recent guest blog post that I wrote for Dundurn, the publisher of the newly released Haunted Hospitals, a book that I co-authored with Rhonda Parrish.

The article is entitled A Recipe for Author Collaboration and talks about the origin of this book project and how the proper "ingredients" need to all be lined up for a collaboration to happen.

In much the same way that fire is created from the combination of the three elements of oxygen, a fuel source and heat, the ingredients necessary for a writing project are Inspiration and Commitment and Timing.  - From "A Recipe for Author Collaboration" on Dundurn's Blog

At When Words Collide, the Calgary conference where we met and decided to collaborate, we recorded a quick Facebook Live video that was originally posted to the Haunted Hospitals Facebook page.

If you're a fan of video over text, there are a few other videos on the Facebook page as well that I recorded at two of the locations from our book (The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia and Century Manor in Hamilton, Ontario)

The Ontario Triangle

With the recent release of my latest book, Creepy Capital, I spent some time on the road doing various promotions. I started in Ottawa to launch the book, then hit Niagara Falls with a table at Niagara Falls Comic-Con, then Sudbury for Graphic-Con.

In fact, given my penchant for the paranormal, you might call the recent trips part of visiting three points of The Ontario Triangle, in a "Bermuda Triangle" sort of way. (Am I the only one who remembers the fun late 1970's "In Search Of" TV series narrated by Leonard Nimoy - "In Search of the Great Lakes Triangle"?)

That thought made me think about the content of three of my books from Dundurn. And the fact that they might represent The Paranormal Ontario Triangle.

Haunted Hamilton, Spooky Sudbury & Creepy Capital: The Paranormal Ontario Triangle

Interesting. Perhaps I should collectively call the three books The Paranormal Ontario Triangle or Mark Leslie's Paranormal Ontario Triangle.

Spring 2016 Promotional Travel - Part Two - Niagara Falls

As mentioned in yesterday's post, this is the first weekend in the past three weeks where I haven't been traveling to promote my books. It started on the last weekend in May where I visited Ottawa for the official launch of Creepy Capital: Ghost Stories of Ottawa and the National Capital Region. And you can read that post right here.

The following weekend, I participated in Niagara Falls Comic-Con, which took place Friday June 3rd through Sunday June 5th.

Liz and I arrived in Niagara Falls to check in to our hotel and set up the Mark Leslie table on the evening of Thursday June 2nd.


The whole weekend was fun and comic-con packed; but we also managed to do some fun exploring. (The con didn't start until the mid afternoon on Friday, and our evenings were filled with long walks, fireworks, craft beer, fun and dancing)

The listing for my appearance at Niagara Falls Comic-Con in the Falls Horror Fest section

Barnaby hanging out at the Mark Leslie table in the Falls Horror Fest section

I thought it was cool to spot these two comic characters (Morbius from Spider-Man and Vampirella) walking together

As often happens when Liz and I are exploring, we ended up at a few fun venues that we hadn't planned on, and had a blast. Two of the nights involved great live music and dancing, and one of them involved a lot of people-watching at the Casino and cavalierly throwing around $5.00. (Of which we walked away with 1 cent still in pocket from that giant investment)

The amazing Heather Glabb performing at Taps. As I tweeted, we came for the beer but stayed for the awesome music

Our blockbuster "winnings" of $0.01 at a Niagara Casino

The Eerie Elevator at Waterdown Public Library

It was a slightly rainy, windy and overcast night at Waterdown Public Library

Last night I did a talk and reading from Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores and Libraries at Waterdown Public Library. The location is included in a chapter of my book and talks about the eerie elevators there and the fact that, despite being checked for mechanical error, they often have a life of their own, opening for no reason when nobody has pushed the call button and even trapping people between the two floors.

A #horrorselfie in front of the tombstones at WPL

The elevators started acting in this manner shortly after a pair of tombstones from Waterdown founders Alexander Brown and Merren Grierson were found and placed on display at the library.

One of the many signs advertising this talk/reading

I had a blast with the staff of the library, who were all awesome. But I mean, really, how could bookish people not be amazing? The library was decorated with all kinds of great Halloween displays, appropriate spooky-themed reading for adults and kids alike, and they had wonderfully creative signs hung all over the store announcing the event, which took place on the second floor in the children's section.

Barnaby, all set up and ready for the talk and reading

I casually relayed several of the stories from my new book, as well as from Haunted Hamilton, then I read from two short chapters and wrapped up the evening with the tale of "The Legend of Prospero's Ghost" - a story about my own personal experience with this ghost at McMaster University.

The awesome Waterdown Library staff posing in front of the elevators/tomestones

The interesting thing is that, even though the library was closed and all staff and patrons were upstairs listening to me tell my tale, the elevator door to the second floor opened twice on its own. Sara, one of the staff members there, told me this took place during my talk - it's a good thing I didn't notice it myself, otherwise I might have run screaming from the building.

Sara and Kari posing with Barnaby

I am a big chicken, after all . . .

50 Shades of Hamilton

An article I wrote for Hamilton Magazine called "50 Shades of Hamilton" was just published in the magazine's fall 2013 issue.

"Hamilton is rich with history and a diverse sense of culture. It is also a city rich with ghosts. Fifty or more of them, in fact."

The article outlines the 5 different types of ghosts that haunt the Hamilton area as covered in my 2012 Dundurn book Haunted Hamilton, by breaking them down into the following categories.

• Historical Ghosts
• Truly Eerie & Creepy Ghostly Tales
• Sad & Forlorn Ghosts
• Ghosts in Public Places
• The Practical Joker Ghosts

I originally riffed on the "Fifty Shades" idea of counting the ghosts in Hamilton, on my blog last year. I didn't realize that the editor of Hamilton magazine (Marc Skulnick) was a fan of ghost stories - but when he contacted me to see if I'd put something together for the fall issue, I pitched the concept.

The article opens with the following paragraph....

"Before you think this article has anything to do with an explicit erotic relationship between a recent college graduate and a business magnate, I should remind you that one of the definitions of "shade," according to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, is simply a ghost."

The magazine spread is filled with beautiful historic pictures of the city as well as a collection of short tidbits from the book regarding haunted places.

No, that's not Patrick Dempsey on the cover - it's Rodrigo Venturelli

It's cool when something like that can eventually be converted into another piece of published writing.  And the extra exposure reminding people of my book doesn't hurt either.

Finalist for 20th Annual Hamilton Literary Awards

I was quite pleased to learn that my book Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers is a finalist for the 20th Annual Hamilton Literary Awards in the category of non-fiction.

I was also quite happy to see a new award being announced that celebrates Hamilton author Kerry Schooley. Kerry was a friend, a writer, a poet, and a central figure in the Hamilton literary community, someone who welcomed me to the local scene with open arms and always had time to assist and prop up other writers. Kerry taught and mentored many writers, wrote under the pen names John Swan (mystery) and Slim Volumes (poetry) and supported the local arts scene incredibly. Hamilton lost this literary treasure in 2010. He is, of course, still quite missed. Thus, the Kerry Schooley Award is a delightful and wonderful addition to make the 20th annual awards that much finer.

The incredibly entertaining Kerry Schooley doing a poetry reading as Slim Volumes

Also nominated in the category of Non-Fiction are Hamilton Illustrated by David Collier (Wolsak and Wynn) and Empty Cradle by Diana Walsh (Dundurn)

The winners will be announced on November 12, 2013 in the Norman and Louise Haac Studio Theatre at Theatre Aquarius (190 King William St, Hamilton, ON)

Here is the press release for the awards . . .

The awards are, as one must suspect based on the name. put on by the Hamilton Arts Council.  Here's a bit more information about them.

Connecting Artists, Creating Opportunity, Inspiring Change

Mission Statement: To communicate, advocate and mediate for the arts and the role of the arts in the community of Hamilton.

Vision Statement: The Hamilton Arts Council exists to strengthen the role of the arts and culture in the City of Hamilton by making the arts accessible and relevant to the entire community.

Values:

1. We value all members of Hamilton’s diverse creative communities.
2. We believe that the arts in Hamilton are made stronger through collaboration.
3. We hold that our Artists provide a critical creative dialogue essential to the ongoing social and economic
health of the community.

Bookstore Barnaby

I was cleaning up files on my iPhone recently and came across a few of Barnaby at some events I had done in bookstores in the past 9 or so months.

Here's one of Barnaby at the Indigo in Stoney Creek where I had done a workshop on writing horror during the March break.

Barnaby posing in a chair with Yorick - Indigo Stoney Creek, March 2013

Here's Barnaby sitting in the front row of a workshop I had done on digital self-publishing for a writer's group in Stratford (May 2013).  This time he was here to demonstrate the manner by which a writer can use a prop or some sort of consistent messaging to ensure the audience knows exactly the type of thing they're in for (my example is, when Barnaby is sitting with me at an author table, customers who approach likely have a pretty good idea what genre I write in -- or, at the very least, it makes for a handy ice-breaker......)

Barnaby sitting front and centre for a workshop

The following is a picture of Barnaby at the Indigo in Stoney Creek (October 2013)

Please don't feed the starving writer

And, of course, Barnaby at the Coles at Eastgate Mall in Hamilton (Sept 2013) - which was the very first book signing I had done for Haunted Hamilton last fall.

This poor guy waited FOREVER for the author to show up

Getting Along With Your Brother

I was raised an only child, so I don't have many of those "stop touching me" or "stop looking at me" stories from the back seat.

And, since Francine and I only have one child, I don't really have many of those "father yelling from the front seat at the children" stories to share.

So I'll do what I do best - I'll use my imagination to create some.

Saturday morning, our bunny Scotty (Mr. Scotty Nibbles III) found a new friend: Herman. (Herman is a stuffed ape that my Dad bought for me for Valentine's Day just a week before he died; so, though Herman is a bit goofy looking and gigantic -- yes, it was my Dad's idea of a joke, because when I was a child I had always wanted a monkey -- he means a lot to me) 

Scotty, who rarely sits for long, sat for half an hour beside Herman. It was so cute that I had to take a picture. Then, he started to get cozy and nest himself between Herman's legs, pulling down the ape's arms to cover himself.  It was quite adorable until Scotty started to chew on Herman's legs and pull the stuffing out of him to further pad his nest.

"Scotty, stop chewing on your brother!" I scolded.  I didn't take a picture of that mess.

Then, later that day, we went as a family to see Iron Man 3.  I moved Barnaby from the front seat to the back so that Francine could ride shotgun. (Yes, Barnaby, my skeleton, rides with me - not so I can get in the HOV lanes, but simply because there's no good place in the house to store him, and, since Barnaby comes with me to book signings, it's easier to have him in the car already.

Besides, it's fun to make the other motorists do a double-take, and it's a great ice-breaker when I'm at the gas station or getting in to my car in a public parking lot.  (And yes, I have a small front cover image of my book Haunted Hamilton within site -- I figure, if people are looking, they might as well see some self-promotional stuff)

Barnaby's head sometimes shifts around when I'm driving (a great side-effect to help further freak out fellow motorists), but Alexander gets angry whenever the skeleton's head shifts over to look at him.

"Dad, tell Barnaby to stop looking at me!" Alexander was yelling from the back seat. When the skeleton didn't comply (how could he, after all?), Alexander started poking him in the head until the head swiveled away from him.

I imagined Barnaby replying, "Dad, tell Alexander to stop poking me!"

"Alright," I yelled. "Knock it off, both of you. Barnaby, stop staring blankly at Alexander, you know he doesn't like that. And wipe that goofy grin off your face. And Alexander, stop punching your brother in the head."

At that point Francine did what she always does:  she shook her head and wondered why she ever married me.

Culture By The Minute

Earlier this week I appeared on a local Cable 14 program called "Culture by the Minute"

Mark Leslie and Jill Downie

Hosted by Jeremy Freiburger from CoBALT Connects, the show airs every second Monday at 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11:30pm, spotlighting Hamilton community, art, and creativity.

Mark Leslie, writer (not Mark Lefebvre or Mark Leslie Lefebvre)  ;)

 
The focus this week was on a couple of local writers (me and Jill Downie) and GritLIT, a fantastic literary festival taking place this week/weekend.  There is, as always, a stunning line-up of writers at GritLIT, and I'm delighted to take part this year in the Closing Night Cabaret on Sunday evening.  The show also did a spotlight on the awesome Bryan Prince bookstore.

Jeremy Freiburger and Mark Leslie

It was fun to, during the show, do my invisible hat-flipping technique (look Mom, no hands) where one minute I'm talking as Mark Leslie the author of Haunted Hamilton, the other minute talking about my role as Director of Self-Publishing at Kobo, and the next moment celebrating the local bookstores in our community with my Canadian Bookseller Association hat on.  It's a good thing I have such a big head.

Here's a link to the show - or you can watch the embedded video below.

I Can't Explain

I wrote a recent guest post entitled An Obsession I Can't Fully Explain for Dundurn's Defining Canada blog.

It was a nice break from all the recent work I have been doing on my forthcoming Dundurn book (Spooky Sudbury - which I'm writing with Jenny Jelen) and the editing that I'm doing for the forthcoming Atomic Fez novel I, Death to compose this post.

For the post, I tried to explain why I enjoy writing books about the paranormal and the unexplained.  My first non-fiction book, Haunted Hamilton, was released in the fall of 2012, and Spooky Sudbury comes out this fall.

Because I have recently been teaching horror writing workshops and have thus had to examine how effective horror works and techniques that can really draw out suspense, suspension of disbelief and pull the right strings when it comes to fear, I had already been doing a lot of thinking about that when Dundurn invited me to do the guest post.

Here's how the post begins:

I have always been afraid of the monster under my bed.

And I still am, despite the fact I learned there really was no monster there – or so the rational mind in the bright light of day would suggest.

Part of the reason I write what I do is because that monster under my bed never really left. As the morning sunlight slowly inched its way into my room, dispelling the shadows and revealing the space under my bed as monster-free, physical evidence of that monster was abolished. But no amount of sunshine or logical reasoning could ever completely remove that monster from my mind.

Go check out the full post.

A Red Banner Day

A very talented colleague recently produced this really cool animated banner which promotes my book Haunted Hamilton.

It wasn't cheap, but because he's a friend he cut me a good deal.

I think it's damn cool.

A Case of Piles

I never thought I'd be delighted to learn that I had a case of the piles.

No, not piles as in hemorrhoids, but piles as in stacks of my book in a warehouse.

The other night my son and I swung through the Costco in Ancaster and I couldn't stop myself from taking a picture of my book Haunted Hamilton sitting in a big giant stack.

There was my new non-fiction book sitting close to Rick Mercer, Lloyd Robertson, Red Green, and a crap-load of Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

#bigsmileonmyface

Of course, I had initially been a bit torn over this.

You see, I'm a huge supporter of local bookstores. As a bookseller, I want people to purchase my book at their local bookstore.  In particular, the awesome Epic Books and Bryan Prince (they both have signed copies of the book, BTW).  You can, of course, also find it at local Coles, Chapters and Indigo locations in Hamilton.  The point is that I'm a huge advocate for the importance of bookstores to a local community -- they enrich the neighbourhood they belong to, they add a special and unique cultural meeting place for book lovers.

But as an author I'm thrilled to see a giant stack of my books in a warehouse, meaning a heck of a lot more eyes are going to fall on this book. Meaning, sales are likely to be pretty solid. Meaning it's likely I'll earn out my advance and this book will actually be a profitable one for Dundurn Press.  Meaning, I won't be cast off as an author that burned through their publishing dollars without a proper return on that investment.

When I had expressed this concern to friends, many of them assured me it was okay to be delighted -- that a good majority of the folks who'd buy it from Costco likely aren't the same people who would discover it in their local bookstore.  That being in the big box outlet actually opens the book up to an entirely new demographic.

So I've decided to no longer be torn, just tickled about these great piles . . .

Fifty Shades of Hamilton

Yes, Fifty Shades of Grey has been overwhelmingly popular for several months now. Authors and publishers have been scrambling to take advantage of this huge wave of demand for, well, for literary porn and creating all kinds of interesting spins from the original books by E. L. James.  And there are more knock-offs of this popular series than you can shake a pair of sweaty handcuffs at.

So why should I not try to take advantage of the trend?

Thus, I present:  Fifty Shades of Hamilton (or 50 Shades of Hamilton if you prefer)

First, let me explain the use of the word shade and how it applies here.  One of the definitions of the word is ghost.  Thus, fifty shades = fifty ghosts.

Shade:  A disembodied spirit; a ghost.  (Synonym: apparition, phantom, spirit)

So without further adieu, here are the Fifty Shades of Hamilton that appear in my book Haunted Hamilton (complete with references to the page numbers where these appear)

1) The Dark Lady of Customs House (page 25)
2) & 3) Two little boys - Customs House (page 30)
4) Young woman - Customs House (page 30)
5) Fifteen men (unidentified because they were transients) buried alive in tunnel between Customs House & railway tracks (page 30)
6) Mary Stuart McNab - Dundurn Castle (page 36)
7) Sophia McNab as the wedding guest - Dundurn Castle (page 37)
8) 11 men hung for treason - Dundurn Castle (page 38)
9) The woman with blazing red hair - Bellevue Mansion (page 44)
10) The man and little girl of the front lawn - Bellevue Mansion (page 44)
11) Ghostly soliders moving quietly through Battlefield Park - (page 51)
12) Sara Gage - Battlefield House Museum - (page 52)
13) William Black - The Hermitage Ruins - (page 61)
14) The mysterious two figures of the Hermitage Ruins - (page 62)
15) Alma Dick Lauder - The Hermitage Ruins - (page 66)
16) Strange little girl of Auchmar House - (page 73)
17) Woman in the basement of Auchmar House - (page 73)
18) John Heslop - Woodend - (page 78)
19) Spectral orbs of Burkholder Cemetery - (page 80)
20) Wife of Thomas McQueston's brother -  (page 84)
21) The man in grey - Whitehern - (page 85)
22) Jane Riley - Mount Albion Falls - (page 87)
23) The ghostly figure of 1897 - Mount Albion Falls - (page 88)
24) The banging & crashing ghosts - Dundas District School - (page 100)
25) Russell the prankster custodian - Dundas District School - (page 101)
26) Two angry spirits of the Hamilton Armoury Museum - (page 108)
27) Victor the regimental cat - Hamilton Armouries - (page 109)
28) The ghost horse - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
29) Ghostly barks of a drill sergeant - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
30) Spiked helmet ghost - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
31) Semi-transparent soliders on the balcony - Hamilton Armouries - (page 110)
32) Waterdown Wraith - (page 113)
33) The haunted elevator of Waterdown library - (page 116)
34) Prospero's Ghost - McMaster - (page 119)
35) Disappearing spirit of the basement - McMaster / Keg Mansion - (page 120)
36) Lillian's maid - McMaster / Keg Mansion - (page 122)
37) Phantom footsteps of children - McMaster / Keg Mansion - (page 122)
38) Shadows and voices heard in Downtown Centre basement - McMaster - (page 122)
39) Anthony B. Percy of Wallingford Hall - McMaster - (page 123)
40) Victorian "homeless" ghost of the Tivoli - Tivoli Theatre - (page 130)
41) Spirit of the 1920's Woman - Tivoli Theatre - (page 131)
42) Loren Liberman's doberman & the locked doors - Tivoli Theatre (page 132)
43) Distressed spirit of the boy near Caesar statue - Tivoli Theatre - (page 133)
44) Gus's ghost of 1920 - (page 137)
45) The Tombstone Ghost - (page 145) - read entire chapter online
46) The Westdale Ghost - (page 147)
47) Harvey the friendly ghost - Haunted Pubs - (page 153)
48) The Top-hat ghost of the Winking Judge - Haunted Pubs (page 155)
49) Another ghost of a cat - Haunted Pubs - (page155)
50) Ghost in the Green Overalls - Haunted Pubs - (page 159)

How is THAT for attempting to hitch my ride to a trend . . . ? 

In any case, if you want to learn more about these 50 shades (and a few others that didn't make it to the list -- because, hey, I had to round the number down to the correct figure, didn't I?), check out my book Haunted Hamilton:  The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers.

Scared In Studio

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being in studio on Barry Shainbaum's FaithFM radio show Perspectives.  It was a one hour show in which we talked about how I'm afraid of everything, how that fear of my own shadow led to the writing of horror and, of course, my new book Haunted Hamilton.

Yorick, of course, joined me in studio.  :)

Mark and Yorick - Photo courtesy of Barry Shainbaum

The show is broadcast to folks in the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Brantford area, but it was also broadcast via a live web stream.

It was a fun hour and you can listen to it via podcast by right-clicking here or going to the online radio show archive.

Mark, Yorick and Barry

Haunted Hamilton on Bookends

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time at Stephanie Lechniak's fantastic The Haunted Shop in Niagara on the Lake where Justine Lewkowicz of Bookends interviewed me about some of the tales from Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers.

One unexplainable thing happened repeatedly, causing both interviews to have to repeat multiple takes on the introduction -- the camera mysteriously blurred as the conversation began. It seemed as if we were never going to get through the interview, which is why, when the discussion between Stephanie and I take place, you see us both pretty close to laughing.

Here is a link to the blog post and 11 minute video, which includes Justine chatting with both Stephanie and I in the wonderful must-see shop in Canada's most haunted town.