The 11 page tome that was my research on the Briar Witch took up a fair chunk of my week, so I really didn’t have the energy or time to write a personal update since Emery’s investigation results. Sometimes personal updates are no fun; it’s more enjoyable to give you the research, or the artifacts, or the spooky stories. It’s more fun to think of Rose Red as still being here, because that’s where I’m sure Nick is, somewhere or another.

Truth is Rose Red is still here, just not in the same way. Life here in my Rose Suite has to go on, even when it gets weird. My friendships, like plants, need nurturing to grow. I knew Steve would be upset with me, you may recall I wrote about it a couple days ago. He did call me, though he wasn’t as angry as I expected. We arranged dinner out, which we did yesterday. Chill. Nice. The sort of thing completely normal friends with completely normal ties to each other do. Except the tie that binds him and me is losing our significant others in a haunted house eight years ago…

Far from normal, wouldn’t you say? (Continue reading…)

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Post tags: adam, annie, april, ellen, emery, john, joyce, music, nick, Photos, steve, sukeena

Construction on Kinkarney Castle began in 1483, but due to a number of setbacks–of both mysterious and mundane origins–hindered the completion of the castle until 1546 (coincidentally, I believe, the exact lifespan of famous Christian reformist Martin Luther). By this time the original owners (surname Lyons), who had drafted the plans and funded the initial work, had died. Records of these events are spotty at best, but suggest that the deaths occurred at different times but under strikingly similar and violent circumstances.

Some feel the Lyons brought such ends and the subsequent dark history of the castle upon themselves by insisting the original castle be constructed atop a “faerie mound,” one of the many unexplainable mounds that dot the Irish countryside, said to be inhabited by powerful supernatural spirits. Most believe that to disturb or deface a mound is to ask for trouble–sometimes, serious trouble–it is not unlike the “building atop burial ground” superstition common in America today. (Interestingly enough, there is evidence supporting a theory that Rose Red was built atop an Amerindian burial site.) One can only speculate as to the reason(s) the Lyons insisted that their home be built atop a faerie mound, but historians and folklorists feel that there must have been a desire to harness some kind of supernatural power, on part of one or both. Perhaps it was simply a blatant disregard–or outright disdain–for the beliefs of the local peoples. Whatever prompted them to make this decision, many postulate that it sealed their fates. (Continue reading…)

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Post tags: castle, john, magic, The Curse