Monday, September 27, 2010

Meet Author Olivia Starke


Boo!
 I love the paranormal, and I admit I love a good ghost story. One of my favorite programs is Ghost Hunters on the SyFy channel, which is on T.V. as I’m writing this blog post.

My parents swear they lived in a haunted house years before I was born. As a kid I listened eagerly to their stories of it. If you walked upstairs, they said you’d hear someone walk downstairs and across the floor. If you walked downstairs you’d hear someone walk upstairs and across the second story floor. They had a yard gate that regardless of whether it was locked would be open each morning. One evening they arrived home with my uncle and aunt in tow and saw a bearded man walk through the home. Everyone saw the figure as they stood in the driveway. When my father and uncle went inside they found the place still locked and no one in sight.

Yes, it sounds pretty creepy right down to the fact that after my parents moved out the home burned down (as you hear haunted houses often do.)

My best friend says as a teenager she heard the family dog, with her little nails tapping away on the hardwood floor, trot into her bedroom per the dog’s usual morning routine. Of course this was days after the much loved canine family member had passed on.

I have to say that I am a diehard skeptic. Though I have a vivid imagination, I’m simply someone that has to find a plausible explanation for everything. Yet, this past winter I had an experience that leaves me scratching my head.



I was sitting in my cozy chair one night, typing away on my laptop, when I saw my Rat Terrier, Max, jump behind the arm of the sofa out of sight. I scolded him right away to leave the cats alone, fearing he wanted to bully the kitties (he’s so darn bossy.) My mother was sitting on the couch and she gave me a strange look.

“Why are you on to Max? He’s right here.” And yes, he was sound asleep at the foot of the couch, not on the floor. As I thought about it, the dog, though similar in build, had been smaller with a lighter color and different pattern of spots.

If I’d had a quick glimpse out of the corner of my eye, I’m sure I could discount it without a second thought. But I had looked up and had a clear image of the small dog’s leap and had even heard the soft thud of paws hitting carpet. I mentioned what I had seen to my mother, who humored me while engrossed in her television program. I searched all over for the yellow spotted stray that had somehow gotten into my house. Of course, I didn’t find the mystery dog.

A couple of months passed and my mother was walking down the hallway from the bathroom when she stopped at the door to my bedroom. She walked inside my room, looked around, and came back out with a strange look on her face.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I swear I saw a small dog in the doorway to your bedroom. It was sitting there staring up at me, before it ducked behind the door. I went in, but none of the animals are in your room.”

I asked her what it looked like, and she said it was a little yellow spotted dog.

How odd, because for one the door was open and I keep it closed so I don’t have four dogs and two cats fighting over my bed. Second, she’d seen the dog I’d seen—though she’d forgotten about my own encounter. And third, it was in the daylight, so she’d had a clear view of the phantom pup and not just a shadowy figure that could have been anything.

I’ve never owned a dog that looks like the one we’ve spotted, and from what I know the previous owners’ of the home didn’t have a dog. I am a complete sucker for strays, and all of my companion animals are rescues. Though I’m still not a believer I have to wonder, am I now a magnet for strays of a ghostly sort?

Oh well, at least they’ll be cheap to feed…



More







Olivia Starke is a multi-ePublished erotic romance author with six paranormal releases available at Cobblestone Press (http://www.cobblestone-press.com/.) She can be found on Facebook, as well as on her website http://www.oliviastarke.webs.com/

12 comments:

  1. I love a good ghost story. I live in a haunted house myself, and we have ghost relatives and a ghost cat!

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  2. I BELIEVE! I lived in a haunted house as a kid and used to see the old resident regularly. He was dead, but he visited and smiled at me. My mom was creeped out, but then she saw his wife a few times and believed me. lol

    My grandmother lived in a haunted house in the 1930's. In the 90's, one of my teachers resided in the same house. My mom said,"You know, your house is haunted." And my teacher said,"How did you KNOW? No one believes me! I see someone ALL the time!"

    Seems that ghost wasn't interested in moving out. lol

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  3. My grandma's house is haunted. It doesn't bother any of my family, but the inlaws who have married into the family get mighty freaked out when they see the red headed little boy hanging out upstairs.

    Yay for ghost dogs, though, can't beat the cost :) Great post!

    Stephanie Beck

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  4. Great post, Olivia. ;-) I love ghosts and ghost stories as long as they can't really get to me. A ghost dog would be great.

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  5. I love your stories, thanks for sharing :) I haven't seen the ghost pooch again.

    Sorry I'm late guys, the darn thing wouldn't let me comment earlier.

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  6. BTW, Becca, the little spotted terrier pic looks like the dog I saw :)

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  7. Wow, that is the kinda pet I need. I wouldn't have to worry about my allergies.

    As for ghosts and other things that go bumb in the night, well okay bump all the time, I have a lot I could tell you but I will tell you a short one. My family lived in an apt and we had been having alot of bad things happen, seeing apparitions, things moving and more I wont go into right now. Anyways, I was usually home with my 3 young daughters by myself at night and things were sooo bad that I was scared to have them sleep in there room so they stayed in my bed with me. It was about 1:30 am and I could see the talk dark man staring at me from the doorway and then all the windows started rattling like someone was pounding on them and you could also hear what sounded like claws scratching in the walls surrounding us. I called my husband and he and a friend came home and searched everywhere and they couldn't find anything. It had stopped before he got there. That wasn't the 1st or last time that happenned and alot worse things happenned in that home before we could leave it, we were there 4 yrs and it was a living hell!!

    -Brandy
    brandyzbooks@yahoo.com

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  8. I have never seen a real one but I used to tell great ones around the campfire until the day one of my son's friends begged me to stop. Poor little guy wet his sleeping bag that night. I think they were about eight at the time. Sad that I scare little children.

    I told my own kids we had one in our house. DD used to run past the attic door. I finally had to write them a note from the ghost telling them how glad he was that they had moved into his home and pretend I couldn't see it so they would quit freaking eveytime the house creaked.

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  9. Wow that's crazy Brandy, and that's too funny/cute Becca, That's what you get for scaring little kids (and I totally scare little kids like that it's too fun.)

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  10. The house next door to ours is the original farmhouse in this area, and has something in it that can't be explained. The previous resident had 2 daughters, and she said they kept all of the lights on every night, all night, because "the voices" were quieter that way. Once she left her door open to let me use her dryer when mine broke. The basement has a very low ceiling, so even all 5'4" of me felt closed in. As I was putting clothes into the dryer, I heard whispers from behind me, even though there wasn't anyone home. They got louder, until I finally pushed the dryer button on and ran up the stairs. I waited to get my clothes out of there until she was home. The current resident had a woman living with him for a while. When she was moving out, I asked her if it was because of the voices. She looked surprised and asked me what I knew about them, so I told her. Then she nodded, and wouldn't say anymore. But the current resident keeps all of the lights on all night also...both floors and the basement, and he lives alone. Don't know if he has any dog ghosts though...

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  11. Fiona that is creepy... I know our homes previous occupants had issues, I don't know if they saw ghosts or not but I know their were alot of domestic issues that brought in alot of bad energy...

    -Brandy

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