Horror/Scary: September 13, 2023 Issue [#12168]
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 This week: Messages from beyond
  Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

Quote for the week:

"Walls have ears.
Doors have eyes.
Trees have voices.
Beasts tell lies.
Beware the rain.
Beware the snow.
Beware the man
You think you know."

~Catherine Fisher "Incarceron"


Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

In spite of all the knowledge humans have gathered over the centuries, death is still a mystery. What happens after we die? Is there really an afterlife? Will we see our loved ones again?

Whether you believe it is possible to contact the dead or believe in an afterlife at all, messages from beyond the grave are a great subject for horror stories.


People have tried to contact the spirit world in many different ways. A medium is a person who claims to be in contact with spirits of the dead or to be able to facilitate communication between the dead and the living. A seance is a gathering of people for the purpose of contacting the dead.

The medium might claim to be able to channel the spirit who will speak through them, or might use some device for contacting spirits. A Ouija board or spirit board is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, numbers 0-9, the words "yes," "no," "hello," and "goodbye." It uses a planchette, or small heart shaped piece of wood to deliver messages during a seance. People place their fingers on the planchette, and it moves around the board to spell out messages. Mediums might also claim to receive written messages from the spirits by automatic writing, in which they hold a pencil and the spirit guides their hand to write a message.

A message from the dead might be benevolent or malicious, and it might be difficult to distinguish between the two. A character might think he has received instructions from a dead loved one, but might be actually conversing with an evil spirit or demon. The medium or person who claims to be able to communicate with the dead might be a charlatan just out for money or might actually be a malevolent non-human entity themselves. A Ouija board or other item used to contact the spirit world might actually be a portal to that world.

Seances, Ouija boards, and other means of contacting the spirits have been used in a variety of ways in previous horror stories and movies. If you use them in your stories, try and present them in an unusual way.

Something to try: Write a horror story in which characters try to contact the dead.



Editor's Picks

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Infernal Desires Open in new Window. (GC)
All hope abandon ye who enter here
#1898946 by Tiggy Author IconMail Icon


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Hurricane Open in new Window. (18+)
I killed him on a stormy September night. Whaddya say Raven, never more?
#2177360 by Kotaro Author IconMail Icon


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A Winter Vacation Open in new Window. (18+)
Joanie needed to get away to relax... a 2017 Quill Award Nominee
#2109955 by Jim Hall Author IconMail Icon


Good Girl Open in new Window. (18+)
She hadn't been a bad girl... had she?
#2302627 by NaNoKit Author IconMail Icon


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Nightwings Open in new Window. (13+)
I am haunted by nightmares... I rarely dream.
#2301160 by Kåre เลียม Enga Author IconMail Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

Question for next time: What subjects would you like to see in future horror newsletters?

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