Speculative Fact #336: Haunted Houses

To help inspire and frighten you this Halloween, let us visit the haunted house. Haunted sites are not just a staple of speculative fiction (think of stories like Dreams in the Witch-House and The Rats in the Walls by HP Lovecraft), but have been with humanity for ages. It seems that as long as there have been humans, there have been scary tales and people being entertained by them.

Amityville is a notorious site in Long Island New York, but a number of areas in the city (yes, Brooklyn too) have had reports of haunting as well. The Chelsea Hotel, with its long history and famous patronage, has spawned a number of ghost stories. Too, there are a host of old bars, apartments, and sometimes even alleys where you might feel a deathly chill.

While reports of haunting draw criticism and skepticism, they have been used repeatedly as a source of inspiration. Some of the eyewitness accounts themselves are chilling or even disturbing. With some artistic embellishment and reimagining, your story could scare even the most dubious reader.

Jonathan Hernandez