Who Ya Gonna Call?

Last week, the building where I work was visited by a couple of ghost hunters who have a Youtube channel. They did a walkthrough and pointed out several areas that they felt were haunted. For example, one of the women pointed to the freight elevator and claimed that it was haunted by a worker who had fallen down the shaft. Now, I’m no skeptic, but as someone who is terrified of elevators and who is forced, on occasion, to run the freight elevator, I did extensive research on whether or not this was actually possible, and it’s not. The elevator won’t move if any of the doors are open, and you can’t open any of the doors unless the elevator is right there. So sorry, ghostbusters—that one was just your imagination. They also claimed that a vase in a booth on the second floor was haunted—they speculated that the person who had owned the vase was super-pissed off because her possessions had been sold and left to languish in a dusty old factory, BUT…she was also thrilled to be noticed. I can’t prove that one wrong, except to say that if anything IS haunted in the building, it’s the life-sized animatronic Hallowe’en character Michael Myers who, when plugged in, swivels around in time to the movie’s music and slashes the arm carrying his knife up and down. But that’s not the scary part. Even when he’s not plugged in, his eyes follow you EVERYWHERE, and I regularly hang a pink handbag from his arm and put a Barbie tank top on him, but the next time I see him, THEY’RE GONE. And he looks even madder than when Laurie poked out his eye with a coat hanger, because he likes to be pretty in pink.

But the best part of the whole spooky ghost adventure was they claimed one of the most haunted spots was on the second floor, in a booth called Fox and Feather Vintage. And do you know why I believe THAT? Because that used to be MY booth before I moved downstairs to the main floor! And that explains why I never sold anything out of there—too many bad vibes, I guess. And the bad vibes have continued because I was talking to the vendor who rents it now and she said her sales have been terrible. Not surprising. But now that my suspicions have been confirmed, I want that booth back, if only to sell stuff like this that I found on Facebook Marketplace:

Haunted frame? Why not? In fact, my only question is why is there a brown Crayola marker next to it? Is it for scale? Or is there a more insidious reason, like that ghost lady enjoys arts and crafts? I know—arts and crafts are not necessarily insidious—depending on what exactly the ghost is drawing. And the condition–“Used-Fair”? Not “Used-Possibly Dangerous”? I really want to buy it just to find out whether or not it’s really haunted, because it seems like the person who owns it isn’t sure, like they’re hedging their bets with “possibly” haunted, instead of “goddamn right it’s haunted house down boots”.

In other news, I’ve decided to start my own press, as an extension of DarkWinter Literary Magazine. It’s going to be called DarkWinter Press. I won’t be publishing my own work, but as soon as I get it set up, I’ll be looking for some projects. First though—if anyone on here has some experience with how to format things for Kindle Direct Publishing (eg: what program to use, how to do covers and images etc.) I’d be happy to touch base. I already managed to set up my account thanks to D. Wallace Peach of Myths of the Mirror and her support, but I know there’s still a ton to learn. Regardless, I’m as excited as a ghost in a vase or Michael Myers in a Barbie t-shirt.

Also, I recently competed in The Evil Squirrel’s Nest Annual Contest of Whatever and the Squirrel has posted all the entries prior to the final judgement. You can read them here!

Also, also–Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

44 thoughts on “Who Ya Gonna Call?”

  1. Haunted workplaces are the best–because, oh, the stories! I’ve never worked in a place where a ghost-hunting team has investigated, but there was a building in Ohio, where we used to live/work, that was a part of Nate’s workplace, but not connected to it–and it was definitely haunted–and the most haunted place was: the elevator!!! And…I can’t wait for you to have your own press–that sounds exciting!

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  2. Thanks for the shout-out, Suzanne, and best of luck with DarkWinter Press! I love your energy. And I’m glad there’s no chance that you’ll fall down the elevator shaft. Good to know! Have a lovely Sunday and week ahead.

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  3. Wow, a ghost hunting team, now that’s interesting. I’m sure that the building where you work is haunted, a little bit. I haven’t hand any other weird things happen in the building where I work and I’m glad. But how utterly interesting, but that Michael Myers, thing is just creepy AF. I’m so excited for you and your own press!!

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    • Thanks! And that figure—he’s tucked away and you don’t see him until you’re right on him. He scares me every time—I always think at first that he’s a customer! We’ve had complaints from actual customers about him!

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  4. I worked in a 13 story building downtown for almost 10 years and it was pretty much the consensus among us that the company purchased an old Indian burial ground and put the building smack in the middle of it. The alternate theory was a cemetery and they only moved the headstones, a la Poltergeist. My personal belief was the asbestos throughout the structure simply absorbed all the angst and quiet desperation of all the employees that went through there over the decades, and then radiated it back into the air handling system to be breathed in by new employees.
    I don’t know about that frame. I think it’s the brown marker. When the last tenant of the booth left, was the word “beatlejuice” scrawled across her forehead?

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  5. An old friend of mine from California was in town a few weeks ago, and he was staying in Soho, so I met him at his hotel and then walked him down to Hook & Ladder Company 8 — the firehouse in TriBeCa that served as the headquarters for the Ghostbusters. While also a working firehouse, this place is like a museum to the Ghostbusters, with no-ghost signs and movie props and action figures staged in glass cases. And the firemen are only too happy to invite you in and share your passion for the Ghostbusters films. That’s a place that feels haunted with spirits — in the best possible way!

    Congrats on establishing DarkWinter Press! You are 100% the right person to be doing this, because you are such a passionate supporter of the horror and dark-fiction genres. So excited for you and this new venture!

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  7. The more AI continues energize research into consciousness, the more elusive the concept becomes. Is being “alive” part of the sentience landscape? Is there a quantum level factor? Does self-awareness require an organic brain? Life continues to be this mystical layer over inert matter.
    If there are atomically deep features, factors that reach beyond our understanding—to what might consider the spirit level, it’s possible that life’s shadow taints the world around it. And when life fades the shadows linger.

    EvilSquirrel’s irreverence is thoroughly refreshing.

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  8. Ooohhhh! I recently watched/heard a TV show (because I can’t really see very well) something about a couple who likes to collect cursed objects. They keep them in their home in a locked room. It looked like they had hundreds of objects. WHO DOES THIS?!!!! I’m not sure if cursed and haunted are the same thing, but a potentially haunted/cursed object wouldn’t stick around with me long enough for me to find out! Can you imagine what would happen if all of these cursed things got their energy together and decided to ESCAPE? Also, that life-sized Michael Myers that MOVES?!!!! Uhm, if it swiveled toward me, I’d show it what possessed really looked like! IT WOULD BE DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, NEVER TO BE ABLE TO MOVE AGAIN!!!!! I have a heavy purse and, by God, I know how to use it! Also, congratulations on your own publishing press! You rock! Mona

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  10. “For example, one of the women pointed to the freight elevator and claimed that it was haunted by a worker who had fallen down the shaft. […] I did extensive research on whether or not this was actually possible, and it’s not.”

    Remember when I told you about being a career Paramedic and Firefighter for 22 years? Although such accidents are exceedingly rare, I actually responded to a rescue call where there was an elevator malfunction and someone walked through an elevator door that opened prematurely, and fell into the shaft. The elevator car was one story below the open door, and the person landed on top of the elevator car. So yes, although it is extremely rare and practically unheard of, it does actually happen, though in my 22 years, I only saw one elevator accident.

    Also, the claim that someone fell into a freight elevator shaft is plausible as the safety mechanisms that prevent people from opening doors are generally more exposed, especially in older elevators. Modern elevators are much safer by comparison.

    On a related note, there are ways to open elevator doors manually, but for obvious reasons, I’ll leave that part of my fire rescue training out of public comment. 😉

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  11. I’m really excited about the new press and the allegedly haunted elevator reminds me of a story I heard decades ago about a cub reporter whose first job was writing obituaries. The first one he turned in was 2000 words and the editor told him to cut it. He turned in a 1000 word draft and the editor told him to cut it again. Next draft was 500 words. Cut it. Finally he wrote, “George Brown put his head in the shaft to see if the elevator was coming. It was. He was thirty-seven.”

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