As an author, I do a lot of research, but as a very curious person, I do much more. The Supernatural has always intrigued me, so it’s not surprising that it creeps into my books – whether I want it to or not! My latest book, Lost in Wonderland includes a character called Shilo who has a very staunch belief in monsters. He’s convinced himself they are very real, so much so that he’s spent most of his life in a mental hospital, whiling away the days being fearful of a monster that he’s convinced took his mother and talking things through with a very understanding imaginary friend.
Now, I’m not saying that I’m a Shilo, but I deliberately created him to represent a significant part of my personality – the believer.

 
I grew up on stories of ghosts and monsters, and I was reading about these creatures long before the internet gave us unlimited access to every witness, urban legend, blurry photo and conspiracy article. I adored the thought that these things existed in our world – as long as the existed outside my line of sight that is! I always found it fascinating that every culture has a legend to do with a vampire, a sea creature, a Bigfoot and even demons. Most dating back to when these countries had no communication with one another and probably didn’t even know of each other’s existence. And it seems everyone I’ve spoken to has ghost stories of some sort that they can tell. I live a ten-minute drive from the famous British castle where Charles Dickens saw the ghost that inspired the Phantom in his book, Bleak House.

 
I don’t know about you, but I have a very open mind about the supernatural; though, not so open that my brain drops out! My analytical side flares up with everything I read – that cold breeze that made you shiver could well be just poor quality window fittings and that lake monster you took a holiday selfie with might well be just an oozing pile of trash floating out to sea. I think we have to wonder, in this day and age with the technology we have at our everyday disposal, why we’re not brimming with irrefutable evidence of the supernatural. Maybe, like me, most of the human race like the idea of it, just don’t want to know for sure that it exists – I mean how would it affect the world if a pack of werewolves were discovered hiding out in a US national park? Worse, that it had been covered up?

 
I’d love to hear your stories of supernatural events and experiences, so please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this blog, I’d love to read them.

Filed under: Nicky's Posts - My ramblings... Tagged: believing in the supernatural, bleak house, Ghosts