#AtoZChallenge Reflections 2016

It's AtoZChallenge Reflections day and welcome to my blog as we all share our experiences of this year's wonderful AtoZ. I don't know about everyone else, but I really, really enjoyed this year and found even more wonderful blogs to read.

First of all I would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who visited my blog this year. I have had so much fun sharing all my choices of Fictional Phantoms with you all. I have some comments I haven't replied to yet, but I will try to get to them :).

I only have one big tip for those wanting to join the AtoZ next year and it is simply this:

Be Prepared.

I ended up doing the challenge on 2.5 blogs because my darling sister was unwell and so I had to take up the slack on one of the blogs we were sharing. If I hadn't been prepared I would have sunk. Luckily Soph and I had preplanned every single post in advance, so all I had to so was format everything ready for the go on the one blog we didn't get completely finished in advance.

I know some people like to wing it, and, if that works for you, well done, but I know that having everything planned out and mostly ready in advance left me all the time I wanted to visit other blogs. That's what I think the AtoZ is all about and I had so much fun this year, even with the blogs I only visited once.

To prove how much fun I had, I have listed many blogs below - if you missed them during April, I recommend taking a look when you have a chance. They are well worth a visit.

Blogs I tried to Visit Every Day

There were some blogs that were so good, as soon as I had visited once I had to keep going back. These are they.

• A Bench with a View - wonderful posts about Arizona
• Zalka Csenge Virág @ The Multicolored Diary - brilliant entries all about diversity in fairy tales and traditional stories.
• MopDog - Hungarian weirdness - All about Hungarian cartoons - some of these need to be seen to be believed :)
• Curling Stones for Lego People - bead making - everything you never realised you wanted to know.
• Black Boots, Long Legs - all about working with metal clay to make beads - fascinating
• Maybe It's Just Me - Movie sounds tracks - this will bring back some memories :)
• Romance Author Piper Presley (AC) - writing tips, resources and encouragement.
• Kathleen Valentine's Blog (BO) - bios of her own characters and snippets from her books - this is how you create interesting people to write about.
• Still Writing - Etymology - the history of words - very interesting and often funny :)
• Djinnia and the English Language - Blood thirsty beasties - anyone who likes the supernatural will enjoy these posts.
• The Doglady's Den - all about dogs - you couldn't guess that could you ;) ? Some lovely personal anecdotes too.
• Megan Morgan (WR) - how not to write a romance novel - with the perfect example - this is gold and so very, very funny.
• The Write Game - All about Cuba.
• Angels Bark - All about nostalgic TV - you will love some of the choices.
• The Cynical Sailor - A Nancy Drew mystery with boats and all about sailing as well. Superb.
• JazzFeathers @ The Old Shelter (HM) - All about the Jazz Age - absolutely fascinating.
• Stephen Tremp's Breakthrough Blogs - Dreams - ah the joys of the subconscious mind.
• The Immarcescible Word - Creatures from the Celestial Empire with book extracts.
• Patricia Lynne (WR) - Ficlets all about various phobias - you won't have heard of some and others you probably haven't considered them the way Patricia has.
• Yolanda Renee @ Murderous Imaginings - all about serial killers - just what every murder mystery writer needs as a reference.
• Yolanda Renee @ Defending the Pen - Alaska as it pertains to her own writing (I didn't get to visit this one every day because I was visiting the one above, but it was great when I did).
• Susan Says - 3 facts for each letter - most interesting.
• Tamara Narayan (WR) - Weird science - some of it very weird, but all very interesting :)
• Deb @ Pen In Her Hand (BO) Atwood - each day was guess the ghostly book or movie - I had such a great time :)
• THE KATY - Geeky things - what more do I need to say? :)
• Sorchia's Universe -  Things that go bump in the night - very entertaining.
• Jeremy @ Hollywood Nuts - period ads for the most bizarre things - lots of fun.
• JO ON FOOD, LIFE AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE (CU) - food with some wonderful recipes.
• Writing Wings (Roland Clarke) - if you want to look up a poison, these posts have so many to choose from and that's only one section of each post :)
• My Life in Retirement - some great books and all about Michigan.
• The Quiet Writer - British Castles and some great info as well as some lovely piccies.
• J. A. Scott - Classic TV themes - these will take you back :)
• Potpourri - Cities of the world.
• Writing Women's Fiction (WR) - some great tips and inspirational quotes for writers.
• Samantha Bryant @ Balancing Act (WR) - superheroes - some absolutely brilliant choices for all the letters.
• Stephanie Faris, Author (HM) -  unsolved mysteries - some real brain twisters in here.
• Deena's Days - the 80s - I had to love these posts, the 80s is my decade :)
• WriterlySam (Samantha Redstreake Geary) (WR) - This is simply awesome and I've taken the description from the site. EOS - Fear takes us down an unexpected road in EOS, a revolutionary Solarpunk story from author Samantha Redstreake Geary, in collaboration with artist Jenny Vyas, featuring music by Really Slow Motion, and groundbreaking graphics via designer Koke Núñez Gómez!
• The Other Side (Tim) - D&D and AD&D - more info than you can shake a stick at :)

Blogs I would have liked to have visited every day, but got behind

Read is the New Black - all about YA books with a personal meaning to the blogger.

melanie schulz - Ubooks - ficlets set to music on Youtube - so different and entertaining.
Michelle Wallace @ Writer~In~Transit - Showcasing Indie writers. Yay for indies :)
New Day Rising - Films
Darla M. Sands - Not Your Average Music Trivia - Great bands and then some made up band names for fun too.

Things that Go Bump in the Night - Scary things - JH didn't finish the AtoZ in the end due to personal commitments, but still a wonderful blog to visit that I highly recommend.

There were other blogs I enjoyed, but I just didn't have time to keep visiting. There were also loads I didn't get a chance to visit. If you have any recs that are a must see, please feel free to leave links in the comments.

Click here to visit the main Reflections post and see all the links to other AtoZers.

Z - Zhong Kui - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

We've finally made it, the last day of the AtoZChallenge and the letter Z, which is always a little troublesome. For Fictional Phantoms today I have a chap who is more demonic than ghostly in the incarnation I have chosen, but he had to die to get that way, so I think he counts.

Zhong Kui (Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal)

Chen Kun as Zhong Kui

Zhong Kui is a traditional folklore hero in Chinese mythology. He was made king of ghosts by the Hell King after he committed suicide.

However, in the version I have chosen Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, he's a little more demonic for other reasons.

With the once in a thousand year full moon on July 15th approaching, when beings may cross through the realms and reincarnate to a higher plane, tension is brewing in the town of Hu.

Demonic Zhong Kui

Zhang Daoxian, tasked by Heaven to prepare the town to stop it being taken by demons, has resurrected Zhong Kui. Meant to be a scholar he was framed and stripped of his qualifications and committed suicide, but Zhang Daoxian brought him back to be a demon slayer.

Zhong Kui then slipped into hell to steal the Dark Crystal, the most powerful object in the three realms thanks to demons stealing the spirits from humans to charge it.

Using heavenly objects Zhong Kui attains a demons form so that he is able to beat any demons who come his way, secure in the knowledge that he is doing what if ordained by Heaven.

Problems arise when he meets a demon he knew once before, a beautiful snow demon, whom he fell in love with three years earlier. He also starts to find out that his mission may not be as heavenly ordained as he thought.

So you've made it to the end of the AtoZChallenge, do you have any recommendations for sites that are a must see?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

Y - Sadako Yamamura & Yuki-onna - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

The second to last day of the AtoZChallenge, I hope everyone has been enjoying this years fun. Today, for the letter Y I have two female Japanese fictional phantoms for you. Both have a penchant for killing people, but for differing reasons.

Sadako Yamamura (Ring)

Sadako Yamamura is the ghostly character at the centre of the Ring novels and films.

At one time she was simply a human being who had certain supernatural powers, but in all versions of the story, these powers cause events that least to her being thrown into a well and imprisoned.

In the film Ring she is killed by her own father and thrown into the well. From when she enacts her revenge.

She uses her power of nensha, which allows her to create images on film from her mind, to make a video tape. When viewed the tape will kill the viewer in seven days.

In the films this means her crawling out of the television in all her undead glory to kill those who have viewed her tape. She is a traditional vengeful ghost with dark eyes, long dark hair and white clothing.

The only way to escape death is to copy the tape and show it to another person, thus passing on the curse to them and perpetuating Sadako's revenge.

Yuki-onna (Kwaidan)

A yuki-onna is a woman of the snow - she is a yokai spirit and appears on snowy nights. She wears white (when she wears anything at all), has white, almost translucent skin, long black hair and blue lips. Her eyes are said to strike terror into the hearts of any humans that see her.

The fictional phantom I have chosen today is from the Japanese anthology horror film Kwaidan (ghost stories).

In the story The Woman of the Snow the yuki-onna finds two farmers in a fisherman's hut. She kills one immediately by freezing him to death, but the other, Monokichi, she spares, because he is so young. She leaves him alive, with a warning never to speak of her to anyone or she will return and kill him, to which he agrees.

Minokichi keeps his word and later meets a young woman called Yuki, whom he falls in love with, marries and has children with. They live happily for ten years. Until he finally breaks down and tell her about the strange encounter he had.

Of course Yuki is the yuki-onna and reveals herself, but she refrains from carrying out her threat because of their children. However, she leaves the heartbroken Minokichi with another warning; he must look after them well or she will be back.

So a vengeful ghost climbing out of the TV or a spirit that can freeze the blood in your veins - which would you rather go up against?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

X - Xavier Brown - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome to X in the AtoZChallenge. I'm very sorry, I couldn't find a Fictional Phantom for X, so I have made one up. I hope you like him - I might use him in a story one day.

Xavier Brown (My Imagination :))

Xavier Brown died after contracting smallpox at the age of seventeen, the same winter his mother died of the disease. However, unlike his mother, his cause of death was not, in fact, the pox.

After his wife's death, Xavier's father, Robert, went slightly mad. He can to believe the only way to beat a disease such as small pox was to cut out all signs of infection from the afflicted individual. Robert's attentions killed his son in a most gruesome way.

Xavier saved his sister from the same fate by coming back and killing his own father.

Now, no one in the small village of East Morton hurts their children, well, not twice at least.

It is said the children see the kindly smiling face of Xavier Brown, while parents who abuse their children see the bloody mess his father's attempts at a cure left behind. If they are lucky all he leaves them with is a small scar down their left cheek, a warning and a sign to all of what they have done. If he finds them irredeemable then all anyone ever finds is the blood.

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

W - Sam Wheat & Myrtle Warren - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome to W day on the AtoZChallenge. Today I have two tragic ghosts who were both murdered, but did not come back as vengeful demonic entities. One remained because of love, the other to annoy people.

Sam Wheat (Ghost)

So if you are my age then Ghost (1990) is THE romantic film.

In the film Sam (Patrick Swayze), a banker, has just moved to a new apartment in New York with his other half, Molly (Demi Moore). At which point we get the famous potting scene that sent requests for pottery classes into the stratosphere.

On returning to work Sam find some unusual deposits in obscure bank accounts and begins to investigate.

That night Sam is mugged and shot. After which he soon realises he is a ghost. Since the mugger tries for their apartment Sam has to stick around to save Molly.

Molly cannot see him, but he stumbles upon Ada Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), a supposedly fake medium who can actually hear him. He bullies her into helping him by singing "King Henry the 8th I am, I am" until she gives in.

Together they work to save Molly from the danger that killed Sam.

Myrtle Warren aka Moaning Myrtle (Harry Potter)

Shirley Henderson as Myrtle

Myrtle Warren is one of the ghosts which frequents Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She is usually to be found in the first floor girl's bathroom.

A Ravenclaw Muggle-born witch she attended Hogwarts in the 1940s and was a contemporary of Thomas Riddle. She was bullied by other pupils and was a loner.

She was killed by the Basilisk released from the Chamber of Secrets by Riddle. The entrance to the Chamber is in the first floor girl's bathroom where Myrtle was crying and she witnessed him opening it so he made the Basilisk look at her, killing her.

Riddle used her death to create his first Horcrux - the diary.

Myrtle haunted Olive Hornby, the girl who had made her cry in the bathroom, but was constrained to Hogwarts by the ministry so she couldn't keep doing it. Because of her moaning, her bathroom was rarely used by anyone at Hogwarts, except for illicit purposes.

Who would you haunt if you were murdered, your murderer, or the person who caused you to be in that situation in the first place?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

V - Dr Richard B. Vannacutt & Vigo the Carpathian of Moldova - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome to my blog to share the letter V on the AtoZChallenge. My apologies this was not up at midnight - somehow I totally forgot to schedule it :). Today I have two nasty ghosts for you who were bad in life and bad in death.

Dr Richard B. Vannacutt (House on Haunted Hill)

In life Dr Richard B Vannacutt was a cutting edge doctor and a despicable human being.

He ran an asylum for the mentally incompetent and performed grotesque experiments on his patients in the name of science. In many cases he killed them, because whose going to miss a few mental patients? He even rigged his asylum with iron gates that could be activated to make sure no one could get out.

In the end his patients escaped their cells, killing almost the entire staff and setting fire to the hospital.

Rather than be defeated, Vannacutt, activated the security measures, dooming himself and the patients to death. However he was not spared in the afterlife. He haunts the asylum along with all those others he doomed to die.

Five members of staff were not their when the disaster took place and so their descendants must pay the price for them. Vannacutt is part of the Darkness which controls the whole building, waiting to kill in its rage.

Vigo the Carpathian (Ghostbusters II)

Another nasty man in life Vigo was not satisfied with death. In the 16th Century, Vigo the Carpathian was a tyrant and a powerful sorcerer. Among his other names are:

• Sorrow of Moldavia
• Vigo the Cruel
• Vigo the Torturer
• and more

He used his power to live to the unnaturally old age of 105, at which point his subjects rebelled and executed him in every way they knew how.

Unfortunately as his head died he uttered a prophecy that he would be back.

In 1989 he possesses his portrait which is now in the Manhattan Museum of Art. Vigo wants back into mortal life and to do this he needs to possess a child. He picks the son of Dana Barrett, ex-girlfriend of Peter Venkman, member of the Ghostbusters.

Thanks to the mood slime Vigo is able to channel all of the negative emotions of the people of New York, making him incredibly powerful. The city and possibly the world's only hope is the Ghostbusters.

So, who is more despicable, Vannacutt, who took an oath to first do no harm, or Vigo who tortured and killed thousands of those he conquered, just because he could?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

U - Sir George Uproar - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome to Fictional Phantoms for the letter U on the AtoZChallenge. We're almost at the end, but I still have a few good ones left for you. Today is a ghost doing his best to protect his home in the only way he knows how. I hope you enjoy my choice for today.

Sir George Uproar (The Ghosts of Motley Hall)

Sir George Uproar is the leader of a band of five ghosts who haunt Motley Hall. These ghosts have been haunting the Hall for hundreds of years, the oldest being from the Elizabethan period.

Sir George was a soldier in the nineteenth century, a General in the British army. He died by falling down the stairs, breaking his neck and ended up a ghost. He is noisy and likes to make his opinion known.

In life he led his men into battle. In death he leads the ghosts as they strive to save their home. An Uproar has lived in Motley hall since the Elizabethan era, but in 1976, the last Uproar, Sir Humphrey, was killed when an elephant crushed him. This left the hall open to being bought by unsuitable types.

With the help of Mr Gudgin, a local real estate agent, who understands the ghost's plight, Sir George and his friends haunt Motley Hall to put off potential buyers and developers. They cannot have their mouldering home destroyed or converted.

How far would you go if your home was threatened by destruction and redevelopment?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

T - The Torn Prince & Teke Teke - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome to day 20 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter T in my Fictional Phantoms series. Today is not for the faint of heart because I have two rather nasty ghosts for you. Both are less than pretty, if you catch my meaning.

The Torn Prince (Thirteen Ghosts)

Craig Olejnik as The Torn Prince

I rather enjoy a good horror movie and Thirteen Ghosts is definitely that. It's a real spine-tingler. As you can guess there are 13 ghosts in it and I have chosen the one played by one of my favourite actors Craig Olejnik.

In the film ghost hunter Cyrus Kriticos has trapped 12 ghosts in a house built specifically to be a focus of supernatural power. The only way to see them in the house is to use special glasses.

These ghosts make up the "Black Zodiac" and the one I am going to talk about is called The Torn Prince.

In life The Torn Prince was Royce Clayton, a 1950s baseball star for his high school. He was arrogant and had a very bad attitude. His superiority complex led him to drag racing, which also killed him. A good percentage of his body is torn to shreds from being dragged under his car and he carries a baseball bat to use as a weapon on the living.

He is a very unhappy ghost who still thinks he's superior.

Teke Teke (Teke Teke 1 & 2)

My second ghost today is Japanese and she is an urban legend: Teke Teke.

There are variations of the legend and today I am going to recount the fictional version in the 2009 film Teke Teke and its sequel Teke Teke 2.

Teke Teke is the ghost of a woman who committed suicide on the railway tracks after being raped. She is horrific to see because the train cut her body in half and it is only the top half that haunts the overpass over the tracks.

She walks on her hands, her long nails making the Teke Teke sound on the concrete as she moves.

If those who hear the sound look back and see her they are doomed for she is a vengeful spirit.

She can move very fast and has supernatural speed and strength and if she catches her target she cuts them in half. If her prey gets away they are still doomed because she will find them after three days and kill them.

Could you resist the urge to look back if you heard the Teke Teke sound?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

S - Slimer & Sweet William's Ghost - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Ah, the letter S, I've always been fond of it and I have two fictional phantoms for you today who aren't so bad. Hope everybody's AtoZChallenge is going well.

Slimer (Ghostbusters)

Slimer is a disgusting green blob; there is no other way to describe him.

He originally haunted the 12th floor of the Sedgewick Hotel in New York, Mostly just occasionally eating food meant for the guests. It was only Gozer's approaching arrival which caused him to make more of a nuisance of himself.

He was the first apparition apprehended by the Ghostbusters and he caused them a merry dance.

Ray was the first to find him, eating food from a hostess trolly. He them slimed Peter, hence his name, before finally being contained while in the Alhambra Ballroom. This being the first outing of the Ghostbusters they caused rather a lot of damage trying to catch him.

He was released from containment with all the other spooks when Walter Peck shut down the storage facility in the Ghostbusters' headquarters.

Slimer then became something of a pet to the Ghostbusters, because he reappears in Ghostbusters II, where he mostly interacts with Louis Tully. Slimer is the one who drives Louis to the Manhattan Museum in a stolen bus for the climax of the movie.

It has to be said that in the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters he is a lot cuter than in the movies.

Sweet William (Sweet William's Ghost)

Sweet William is a ghost in an English Ballad which has many versions and interpretations, but the main gist of it is thus.

Sweet William appears to his love, Margaret, to ask her to release him from his promise to marry her or he cannot rest in peace.

• Margaret first insists that he maintain his promise and marry her, but he explains he is dead. 
• Then she insists that he kiss her, but her tells her one kiss would be fatal to her. 
• Then she asks him to tell her about the afterlife, which he does. 
• Finally he explains how his promise to wed her is a hellhound chasing him that will destroy him if she will not grant him release.

In the end, of course, Margaret released Sweet William from his promise, although in some cases she then dies on his grave.

Would you adopt a ghost as a pet if they were like Slimer?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

R - Ellen Rimbauer - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome AtoZers and all other visitors, I hope your week is going well and you are ready for another fictional phantom. Today I have gone with a creations of the wonderful Stephen King, so beware, this is a scary one. Enjoy!

Ellen Rimbauer (Rose Red)

Ellen and Sukeena

Rose Red is Stephen King's first written for television mini-series, rather than being an adaptation of one of his books, and it is up there are my favourite, right along side 'Salem's Lot.

The antagonist in Rose Red is actually Rose Red itself: the house. However, the power behind Rose Red is Ellen Rimbauer.

She started off as a perfectly normal young wife of an older philandering man. Doing her duty she produced two children for him and turned a blind eye to his womanising and he gave her Rose Red.

Ellen when she is annoyed.

After suffering a nearly deadly fever on their honeymoon, from an unspecified sexually transmitted disease given to her by her husband, Ellen became very close with her maid Sukeena. Sukeena would help Ellen in her future enterprises.

Back in the US Ellen consulted a medium who told her as long as she continued to build Rose Red, she would never die.

It was after that the house began to eat people, although it had killed before during its initial construction.

Men it tended to simply kill, her unfaithful husband being one of them, and women, including April, Ellen's six year old daughter, just vanished.

Ellen herself vanished into the house with Sukeena never to be seen again, but she is still building it with all the women she has taken. She can look beautiful to those she is trying to temp to join her, but she is really a decayed thing obsessed with her house. A ghost in a shell who became a monster with horrific supernatural powers.

If someone told you that as long as you kept building your house you would never die and money wasn't an object, would you do it?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

Q - Peter Quint & Queen of Spades - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome to my Fictional Phantoms, day 17 and to the letter Q. Now I had trouble thinking of Qs to begin with, but then found two phantoms, one whom many of you will know, the other, I suspect fewer with know about. I hadn't heard of her until I went searching :).

Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw)

Peter Wyngarde in The Innocents

Peter Quint is a character from Henry James' novel The Turn of the Screw. In it he is very simply the root of all evil.

Peter Quint was a servant of the master of Bly, a large country house. However, in life he thought himself above his station and was a corrupting force. He is handsome but dastardly.

He was having a sexual relationship with the governess, Miss Jessel, of Flora and Miles, the niece and nephew of the owner of Bly. He also took control of the house when the master was away.

Quint and Jessel both died, but they are far from gone. Quint still has much influence over Miles, even though the boy denies it over and over. However, Quint was the reason Miles was expelled from school and Quint continues to use the boy, even as the new governess tries to protect him.

Quint will never let Miles go, with tragic consequences.

Queen of Spades (Pushkin)

The Queen is actually a Countess who is 87 years old. She knows the secret of the winning cards, three cards which when bet upon will allow the person making the bet to win a fortune.

Hermann, an officer in the engineers in the Imperial Russian Army, learns of the secret and threatens the old lady with a pistol to make her tell him the truth. She dies of fright.

At her funeral Hermann see the countess open her eyes and later her ghost appears to him. She tells him the three cards: Three, seven, ace. Then she orders him to play once each night and then to marry her young ward.

Hermann does so and on the first and second night he wins, but on the third he find he has bet on the Queen of Spades and loses everything. The Queen looks almost exactly like the Countess and winks at him, at which point he runs in terror and goes mad. All he will ever say from then on is: "Three, Seven, Ace. Three, Seven, Queen."

The Countess got her own back and saved her ward from a loveless marriage.

Do you think there could be ghosts out there that are pure evil? How about ghosts that return to right wrongs done them in their life?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

P - Pam Ashbury & Pocong - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Welcome to my blog today for the letter P in the AtoZChallenge and my theme of Fictional Phantoms. I have two dangerous ghosts for you today, one from Western tv and one from the Asian film industry. I hope you enjoy their creepiness.

Pam Ashbury (Rose Red)

Now Pam (Emily Deschanel) does not start off as a ghost. She is a touch-know, a psychic who can read things about an object or person just by touching them.

She is part of a group put together by Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis) to investigate the house, Rose Red, in the excellent TV mini-series of the same name, written by Stephen King. The house is not only haunted, but inside it people disappear. Unfortunately for Pam, Rose Red like to eat it's guests and it is not long before she ends up one of the permanent residents.

Once taken by the house she is used by it to lure other members of the party to their doom. Quite timid and a little uptight when alive, dead she is happy to play the tempter and the bait.

Come back for R to meet another resident of Rose Red.

Pocong (The Real Pocong)

Now I have to admit I have not seen any of the films that contain a Pocong, but they are too interesting to pass up. If you would like to know more about a particular film, The Real Pocong is one and I have linked to a full explanation of the film.

A Pocong is an Indonesian/Malaysian ghost which is caused by not properly dealing with the dead. This ghost is the soul of the dead person which has become trapped in their shroud.

A traditional shroud (kain kafan) is used to wrap the deceased and tied over the head, under the feet and on the neck. If the ties are not correctly released after 40 days the soul is trapped and will reanimate the body to come after those who have not looked after it correctly. Because the shroud is knotted under the feet, the ghost cannot walk correctly and therefore hops.

The Pocong seems to be especially popular in the Indonesian horror industry.

Would you come back to haunt people if your body was not treated correctly after death, or does that seem like too much hard work? Would you visit a haunted house with a reputation for disappearing people?

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My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

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Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

O - Obi-Wan Kenobi - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016

Have we really already reached O? Welcome once again to my blog and Fictional Phantoms as we make our way through the alphabet. Today's ghost isn't that scary unless you like to wear black a lot and have a need to rule the galaxy.

[Edit: apologies to all expecting visits back from me for today and Sat - I will get to them, but I've not been feeling well today. A headache has made concentrated screen work rather difficult. I will get back to you as soon as I can. Promise.]

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)

I admit it, when Obi-wan died in Star Wars, I was shocked and devastated as a child. Even though I actually saw Empire before I ever saw Star Wars.

I was only eight when I first saw Empire (my parents had no idea is was a sequel when they took us to see it) and I may have failed to comprehend some of the details. Tauntauns and flying lightsabers I got, force ghosts I kind of didn't understand.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi knight and mentor of Luke Skywalker is awesome. Yes he made some mistakes along the way, but I think we can agree, the Jedi order was mostly the cause of those.

I love the fact that Obi-Wan just pops up every now and then through the original trilogy and imparts advice that he knows is going to be ignored. I can imagine him standing there watching everything while invisible, rolling his eyes.

The fact he glows and is slightly see through, I always thought was terrible awesome.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possible imagine."

That quote always makes me wonder if the force ghosts aren't running around in the background fixing things without anyone knowing about it. Kind of a supernatural police force. I mean if Jedi become so all powerful when they die, what about Sith lords and other Dark Siders? Not all of them are going to have been redeemed like Vader. Someone has to be keeping them in check.

For some reason I now have the most absurd mental image of Yoda and The Emperor playing ping pong to see who gets to go and bother the living next. Nope, I can't explain my brain either :).

Do you think we'll get Ewan McGregor showing up as a glowy ghost in the new films at any point?

~*~

My Other Blogs

I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

Wittegen Press | Fantasy Boys XXX (AC)

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

Sophie's Thoughts and Fumbles

~*~

Other People's Blogs

Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.