THE MILLIONAIRE'S CHRISTMAS WISH—a conversation with Chance and Marcie

In honor of the season, I'd like to introduce you to Chance Fowler and Marcie Roper from The Millionaire's Christmas Wish (available from Harlequin in ebook) and tell you a bit about their Christmas story.

Good morning Chance and Marcie.  I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.

Chance:  Thank you, Shawna.  It was nice of you to invite us.  So…what would you like to know?

My first question is for whichever of you wants to answer it.  How did the two of you meet?

Chance:  (Winks at Marcie) Do you want to take that one?

Marcie:  My pleasure.  I was minding my own business, doing a little window shopping on my way back to my car from the book store, when he came along and accosted me in broad daylight.  He grabbed me against my will then proceeded to kiss me.  I was truly shocked and also a little frightened.  I had no idea who he was or why he had forced himself on me.

Chance:  Wait a minute…in my defense that wasn't quite the way it happened.

Marcie:  (grins) My way sounds more mysterious…and more interesting.

Did he literally grab you on the street, a total stranger, and kiss you for no reason?

Marcie:  Oh, yes…that's exactly what he did.

Chance:  Well…not really…not like that.

Ah, ha!  What's the true story?

Chance:  I was being followed by another one of those tabloid photographers who were always trying to get candid pictures of me that they can exploit, things taken out of context and blown up into something they aren't.

As sole heir to the Fowler Industries fortune, an eligible bachelor leading a very high profile life including yacht racing and making the rounds of the club scene always with a beautiful woman on your arm, I can see where there would be an interest in your activities.

Chance:  Since I was on my way to one of my special projects, I had to lose the guy following me.  I was looking for a place to duck away from him…hide in plain sight, so to speak.  As soon as I rounded a corner and was out of his sight for a few seconds, I turned my reversible jacket inside out to a different color, but there wasn't any place for me to hide.  I spotted her standing in front of the store window. My intention was to put my arm around her shoulder so it would look like we were a couple window shopping together, but for some strange reason she objected.  So I did what I had to do.  The photographer ran on down the street without paying any attention to a couple kissing in front of a store window.  I tried to apologize, explain to her, but she ran off without giving me an opportunity.

Marcie:  It was later that I discovered who he was…Take-A-Chance Fowler, as the media referred to him.  Major playboy, always being photographed with different women, yacht racing, seen at all the trendy clubs.  In other words, a spoiled rich guy living off the family wealth who had never done an honest day's work in his life.

Chance:  Definitely not a very flattering assessment of someone she didn't even know.  I was determined to set her straight and change that erroneous assumption.

Take-A-Chance?  Where did that come from?

Chance:  One of those stupid tags the press pinned on me.  "Always willing to take a chance on some wild stunt."

Marcie:  I can't begin to tell you how embarrassed I was when he told me Chance was his legal first name, not some cute little nickname.  It was his mother's maiden name.  And the more I found out about the real person behind all those tabloid headlines, the more impressed I was and the more I liked him.

You mentioned your special projects.  What did you mean by that?

Chance:  I have several projects I finance and am actively, hands-on involved with, things I don't want the media to know about.  Among other things, one of the projects is a job training program for disadvantaged youth. I don't want the other people involved to find their pictures and names splashed all over the front page of some tabloid newspaper.

What type of projects?

Chance:  (flashes a sly grin) You can find out all about them in the book.

Marcie, did you encounter any unusual problems when you began dating someone of Chance's…uh…notoriety?

Marcie:  (furrows her brow in a moment of concentration) Well, there were some uncomfortable moments with his family, such as the Christmas dinner at his father's house—

Chance:  (laughs) Merely uncomfortable?  That's an understatement!

Is there more to the family story than you're saying?

Marcie:  You mean other than his father being responsible for driving a wedge between us that nearly destroyed our relationship?

 Chance:  My family is synonymous with the word dysfunctional.  They're the personification of that old joke…look up the word dysfunctional in the dictionary and you find their picture.  You'll find out all about them when you read the book.

I'd ask you to explain, but I already know what you're going to say.

Marcie:  (laughs) You have to read the book!

Thank you, Marcie and Chance.

Blurb:

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS…

When millionaire Chance Fowler first kissed the pretty stranger in his arms, he'd only meant to dodge the photographer who'd tailed him. Then she ran off—but he couldn't forget her tempting taste on his lips. So he sought out the tantalizing woman who'd ignited his long-dormant desire….

Lovely Marcie Roper was the first woman to close her eyes to Chance's fortune. And though she'd captivated the jaded tycoon, Marcie yearned for what his wealth couldn't buy—a man who would say "I do" and mean it forever. Could Marcie convince Chance that love—for the right woman—would last a lifetime?

 Publisher's Excerpt:

She was certainly different from the type of women he usually encountered. Her eyes sparked with the fire of emotion and her stance declared a very appealing independence. Yes, indeed. Marcie Roper was quite different—a breath of fresh air. He recalled the way she felt in his arms, the taste of her delicious mouth. He fought the almost overwhelming desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her again.

He watched her walk away from him—for the second time since he first encountered her. She had turned out to be a very intriguing woman. He already knew about the golden flecks in her hazel eyes, her soft pliable lips, her addictive taste and how good she felt in his arms. And now he knew she was certainly a challenge—and Chance had never been one to back down from a challenge.

****

Harlequin has reissued 17 of my backlist print titles in ebook including THE MILLIONAIRE'S CHRISTMAS WISH.

THE MILLIONAIRE'S CHRISTMAS WISH, a Harlequin Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued by Harlequin in ebook and available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com.  Also available from Amazon for Kindle, Barnes & Noble for Nook, and other online vendors.  Additional information and excerpts available on my website  www.shawnadelacorte.com  Information and excerpts from my other books also available on my website. 

Turkey Trivia…Just In Time For Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again—the Thanksgiving season. This year the fourth Thursday in November falls on November 26^th, the day of celebration in the U.S.  Americans cook approximately 45 million turkeys each year for that Thanksgiving dinner.  So, in honor of the holiday, here are a dozen known and not so well known bits of trivia about turkeys.

1)  All turkeys do not taste the same.  The taste has to do with their age.  An older male is preferable to a younger male (the younger tom is stringy).  And the younger female hens are preferable to the older ones.  Hmmm…that older man and younger woman thing again.  I wonder if there's such a thing as a female cougar turkey.  :)

2)  A turkey less than 16 weeks old is called a fryer and a turkey 5 to 7 months of age is known as a roaster.

3)  Turkeys are a type of pheasant and are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere.

4)  Wild turkeys are able to fly for short durations attaining speeds up to 55mph.  Domesticated turkeys raised on farms for food are too fat and meaty to achieve flight.

5)  Benjamin Franklin argued in favor of the turkey as the national symbol of America rather than the Bald Eagle.

6)  The first turkeys to be domesticated were in Mexico and Central America.

7)  The male turkey makes the gobble sound and the female clucks.

8)  A mature turkey has about 3,500 feathers, which is a lot of plucking before it can be cooked.

9)  The most turkeys produced annually come from Minnesota and North Carolina.

10)  The skin that hangs from a turkey's neck is called a wattle.  The fleshy growth on the base of the beak is the snood.

11)  Each year 90 percent of Americans have turkey for Thanksgiving compared to 50 percent on Christmas.

12)  The most turkey consumed per capita is not eaten by Americans.  Israel holds that honor.

One thing that's marvelous about the Thanksgiving turkey dinner is all the terrific leftovers!  Anyone out there having something other than the traditional turkey for Thanksgiving dinner?

9 DANGEROUS SCIENTIFIC WORK LOCATIONS

I read an article about scientists who work on location rather than in a lab…the ones whose labs are out there, in dangerous places and situations where most of us would never go.

So, in no particular order, here are nine of these dangerous scientific work locations.

Mount St. Helens Before and After

1)  Inside Volcanoes

When you think of geologists your first thought is usually the study of rocks and various landforms, something basically safe and stable. But for the branch of this particular science known as volcanology, things are definitely less stable and certainly a little hotter. Having been to Mt. St. Helens, Washington, after the explosive eruption and viewing the devastation first hand, I'm very familiar with the story of David Johnston, the thirty-year-old volcanologist who was on duty at the time of the eruption and was one of the fifty-seven people who died in the eruption. Volcanologists study the intense heat and chaos inside active volcanoes, and recently a team of three researchers descended inside the Marum Volcano on Ambrym Island off the coast of Australia (pictured at top of page) to study lava flows inside. Wearing a heat-resistant suit, one of them descended 1200 feet into the volcano’s crater to capture video footage of the lava’s movement. Normally, scientists use robotic cameras mounted to small helicopters or drones to do this extremely dangerous work.

2) Tornado Country

The movie Twister gave us a good look at what storm chasers do, and those who live in the part of the U.S. referred to as Tornado Alley see the results of their work on the news when the storm conditions are present that produce tornadoes. Collecting data on storms is a tough process. Getting close to a tornado is risky on a good day, and self-proclaimed storm chasers run that risk all the time. Even with such advanced technology as Doppler radar giving us the overall picture of a severe storm, some scientists claim there is some data that can only be gathered at ground level. One of the most noted tornado researchers, Tim Samaras, routinely drove in front of tornadoes to place cameras and pressure sensors to record the velocities of objects swept up by the storm. Unfortunately, in 2013 Samaras, his son, and another storm chaser died in an Oklahoma tornado.

3) Biosafety Level 4 Labs

Laboratories that deal with germs and diseases that can be dangerous or fatal to humans are given a biosafety rating from one to four. Facilities that deal with Level 4 are where the really bad stuff happens. One of the most notable is the integrated research facility located at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The laboratory is housed in a nondescript three-story structure that looks like an office building—an airtight, pressurized environment restricted to only thirty researchers. The germs they work with include epidemic diseases like Ebola and now most likely COVID. The facility has airlocks that separate it from the outside world and anything that leads outside the building, such as light fixtures or electrical outlets, is sealed in epoxy to prevent even a single germ from escaping. Scientists are given a seven-minute showering with virus-killing chemicals before they leave.

4)  Underwater Caves

The ocean is a massive mystery to humanity, covering the majority of the Earth’s surface. Even though it's part of our planet, we seem to know more about outer space than we do the depths of our oceans. One of the most interesting areas under the ocean's surface are what are known as blue holes, underwater caves that can reach as deep as 600 feet below sea level. These caves have difficult topography. They vary in size from massive, sprawling caverns to holes barely big enough to admit a human. Diving there can be very dangerous with unpredictable currents. Despite the dangers, scientific rewards are huge with both biological and archaeological finds waiting to be discovered.

5)  Tree Canopies

Forest ecosystems are made up of distinct layers, each with its own climate and variety of plants and animals. It’s a simple task to study the layers nearest the ground, but botanists have lots of questions about what’s happening up above. And that’s where canopy research comes in. Scientists at Humboldt State University in northern California climb to the top of redwood trees that can exceed 350 feet in height, anchoring their bodies to the trunk. From that risky perch they can observe the canopy ecosystem…as long as they don't lose their balance. At the top of the trees, researchers have discovered a whole ecosystem of moss, lichens, and even whole new trees and bushes growing from dead stumps.

6)  Amundsen-Scott Station

Originally built by the United States government in 1956, the Amundsen-Scott Station sits squarely on the south pole. With temperatures ranging from minus 13.6 degrees Celsius (minus 56.48 Fahrenheit) on a nice day to minus 82.8 degrees Celsius (minus 181.04 Fahrenheit) when winter is in high gear, it’s one of the most inhospitable regions on the planet. Even though blizzards and intense winds are common, astronomers spend months at the station because the six months of total darkness during winter makes Amundsen-Scott a perfect place to observe the night sky. Other researchers study the movements of the Antarctic ice sheet—the station itself moves about thirty-three feet a year as the ice drifts.

7)  Aquarius Lab

Operated by the National Oceanic and Aeronautic Administration, this deep-sea science station comes with a little twist. The human body is only capable of staying underwater for a short period at a time because decompression sickness (commonly referred to as the bends) can cause incredible damage when gas bubbles form and disrupt tissue. Some scientists have long-term research projects that need to happen in deep water, so they do it at the Aquarius Lab. This facility rests on the sea floor outside of Key Largo, Florida at a depth of 50 feet. Researchers spend up to ten days underwater at a time, studying the nearby coral reefs.

8)  Inside Hurricanes

Here’s another meteorological condition where some scientists like to get a little too close. The National Oceanic and Aeronautic Administration employs a number of flight meteorologists who take airplanes into the eyes of hurricanes to gather data on the storm’s strength and direction. They use two planes—one is a Gulfstream G-4 that has the easy job of circling the storm’s funnel, the second is a smaller propeller plane that actually penetrates the fast-moving wind to fly right to the eye of the storm. In addition to using Doppler radar on the plane’s tail, they also release a device called a dropsonde that transmits pressure and humidity data. The hurricane season of 2020 has been the most active one in the 170 years of keeping records.

9)  Outer Space

And finally…what Star Trek referred to as 'Space—The Final Frontier.' There is literally no environment as hostile to the human body as the vacuum of space. Long-term weightlessness has negative effects on muscle tone, bone density and the immune system. Exposure to radiation in low-earth orbit comes at levels ten times higher than the normal dose on the Earth’s surface. And there’s also the fact that outer space doesn’t have any of that oxygen stuff our bodies need in order to live and function. True—humans can't breathe at ocean depths without bringing oxygen with them, but the availability of more oxygen is much closer than it is in outer space. Experimentation in outer space has led to a number of fascinating discoveries in fields as diverse as astronomy and cancer medicine.

And there you have a sampling of dangerous locations some scientists refer to as their lab (minus those white lab coats, of course). 

12 Unscripted Movie Lines That Became Classics

It's a given that actors speak the dialogue written in the script, but that's not always the case. Some of our most memorable movie lines were not in the script. They were adlibbed by the actor and were so great they were kept in the movie. And many of them became classics. Here are some of those now classic lines of unscripted movie dialogue.

Casablanca (1942)

"Here's looking at you, kid."

Humphrey Bogart first said this line while teaching Ingrid Bergman how to play poker between takes. The phrase came out spontaneously during one of the Paris flashback scenes and became a recurring line in the movie, most memorably near the end.

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

"I'm walkin' here!"

Dustin Hoffman was genuinely angry when a taxi ran a red light and almost hit him and Jon Voight. Hoffman stayed in character and the line stayed in the movie.

Taxi Driver (1976)

"Are you talkin' to me?"

Robert De Niro did a brilliant job of improvising the entire scene, inspired by a single sentence in the script—Travis looks in the mirror.

Young Frankenstein (1974)

"What hump?"

For his character of Igor, Marty Feldman kept shifting the hump on his back as a joke for the other cast members. After someone noticed, the improvisation was worked into the script.

 Goodfellas (1990)

"What do you mean funny? Funny how? … Funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?"

Joe Pesci based this dialogue on an encounter he had years earlier with an actual mobster at a restaurant where Pesci worked.

Jaws (1975)

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Roy Scheider didn't have a line right after his close encounter with a Great White, so he made up this one.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

"You're an errand boy, sent by a grocery clerk."

On location, Marlon Brando folded up pages of the script and turned them into a paper hat, which he put on his head. He later ad-libbed some 18 minutes of dialogue for his character, Colonel Kurtz.

The Third Man (1949)

"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. They produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Only Orson Welles would have the confidence to add his own lines to a screenplay by Graham Greene.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

"Hsssssss."

Anthony Hopkins made an unexpected hissing sound right after delivering this memorable line about eating the census taker's liver with fava beans and a nice chianti. He intended it as a joke. The director kept it in the movie, along with Jodie Foster's stunned reaction.

Deliverance (1972)

"Squeal like a pig!"

The most disturbing line in the movie was improvised on set in an effort to clean up the dialogue, with the hope that Deliverance could eventually be shown on television.

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

"Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!"

Peter Sellers, who played three characters in Stanley Kubrick's Cold War satire, ad-libbed much of his dialogue. The lines were later added to the screenplay after they had been spoken.

The Shining (1980)

"Heeeeere's Johnny!"

Director Stanley Kubrick, who lived in England, didn't know the reference to Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Jack Nicholson's dark joke nearly ended up on the cutting room floor.

There are, of course, many more occasions where this has happened, producing memorable movie lines. This is merely a sampling.

The Ouija Board—Strange and Mysterious Brief History

Perhaps you've used a Ouija board, know someone who has, or merely seen them being used in movies and television shows. Also called spirit boards or talking boards, they're a flat board with letters, numbers, the words yes, no, hello, and goodbye. The Ouija board goal is to summon the spirit(s) someone wishes to communicate with. The spirit then communicates by spelling out words using the planchette (the thing you put your fingers on that the spirit moves around the board pointing to the specific letters and numbers).

While the Ouija board's origins only date back to mid 19th century America during the age of spiritualism, the concept of holding a device that points out words from an otherworldly source is ancient. Early accounts of this date back to 1100AD in China. It was considered a valid method of contacting the dead.

In the late 19th century, the average lifespan was less than fifty years. The desire to communicate with departed loved ones at a séance wasn't that uncommon. However, those events were often frustrating and expensive. Spiritual mediums were unreliable and charged a lot of money to send and receive messages from beyond. That created a market for a cheaper method of contacting the dead from the comfort of one's own home.

And the Ouija board answered that need.

It was introduced to the public in 1890 by a businessman named Elijah Bond. His original product was called a Talking Board and was supposed to answer facts about the past and predict the future. It was introduced as nothing more than a fun throwaway game, completely unrelated to ghosts or the occult. By World War I, large groups of people were convinced that the movements of the planchette had an otherworldly origin.

The first person to rename the talking board as the Ouija Board was Elijah Bond's employee, a man named William Fuld. Conflicting reports say the meaning of Ouija came from the ancient Egyptian word for good luck or it was a combination of the French Oiu and German Ja, both words meaning yes.

Some Christian denominations believe Ouija boards lead to demonic possession. The scientific community has criticized the paranormal beliefs associated with Ouija boards. But—however you feel about them, they're thought of as being spooky.

If you believe that Ouija boards really do connect with the dead, you're in good company. Many famous and successful people during the last one hundred years have used Ouija boards—English writer G.K. Chesterton, rock musician Alice Cooper, Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill, Italian president Romano Prodi, and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson.

Have you ever used an Ouija board, either seriously or as an entertainment source? 

Haunted Houses

Next in my series of Halloween season blogs, I'm delving into the history of haunted houses—sharing some real haunted houses and a few miscellaneous Halloween facts.

I remember when I was a child in West Los Angeles.  We had a very large garage and one year my mother and father fixed it up like a haunted house for my Halloween party—a winding, twisty route through all kinds of scary things.  It was a lot of fun and totally different from anything anyone else in the neighborhood did for Halloween.  Of course, back in those days scary things were not at all the same type of bloody gruesome attractions that are the main features of today's professional Halloween attractions. Rather than featuring horror images, they dwelled on ghosts and goblins.

Halloween attractions have moved far beyond the neighborhood scare as a fun encounter for the trick-or-treaters.  Today they are big business—very big business.  Operators of the large attractions spend most of the year coming up with new and better ideas for frightening attractions and implementing them.  They take pleasure in dreaming up even more diabolical ways of giving us the seasonal nightmares.

Let's talk about the history of haunted houses and some Halloween facts.  Just in the United States, there are over 1200 professional haunted houses, 300 theme parks that operate horror-themed annual Halloween events and over 3000 charity-run spooky Halloween attractions.  Haunted attractions have a long history dating back to early civilizations.

Ancient Times:

The Egyptians knew that the best way to keep body snatchers away from a pyramid was to really scare them away.  The commonly used mazes, moving walls, self-opening doors, and traps as well as snakes and insects protected treasure and the bodies of royalty.  True, they weren't charging admission and the public wasn't lined up waiting to get inside, but it is an early example of creating a setting to produce fear.

The Greeks and Romans have a folklore complete with mazes and labyrinths filled with monsters.  With theater being a vital part of their culture, we can assume they created numerous special effects devices to enhance the scare factor that would evolve into today's haunted house elements.

The Dark Ages:

This period in history saw the Christians continue the evolution toward today's haunted house attraction. During the 1300s through the 1500s, Europe had been converted from Celtic and pagan religions to the practice of Christianity.  Many of today's Halloween activities—carving pumpkins, bobbing for apples, dressing up in costumes and even trick-or-treating—were pagan practices that stayed with us.

The Renaissance:

Theater became increasingly popular and catered to society's love of horror which resulted in the development of more special effects.  Ghosts, demons, the devil, and other monsters appeared regularly in plays including those of William Shakespeare.

The 1800s:

This was a time when the general population became fascinated with ghosts and the possibility of other realms.  Self-proclaimed mediums, fortune tellers, clairvoyants, and spiritualists engaged in conjuring sessions in an attempt to communicate with the dead which became a form of entertainment for the elite.  The theme of hauntings continued in the theater and the century provided the first wax museum, the forerunner of future walk-through attractions that played on people's sense of reality.

The 1900s:

The start of the 20th century saw the increased popularity of the traveling carnival and the rise of the what was referred to as a freak show.  Dark rides also became popular amusements.  The patrons sat in a boat or on a train and were automatically moved through numerous scenes.  Amusement parks came into popularity during this time.  Those that could not afford a big roller coaster offered cheap fun houses and haunted house attractions to pull in customers.

Also during this time, many of the residential houses built during the early 1800s had become dilapidated and worn down.  Adults would tell their children that ghosts filled the neglected homes in an attempt to keep them from exploring those structures.  This further fueled the mystique of haunted houses.

The 1960s:

In 1969, Disneyland (Anaheim, California) opened its Haunted Mansion attraction.  Rather than putting a genuine decrepit-looking structure in the middle of Disneyland, they created a lavish mansion with a pristine exterior based on the appearance of the San Jose, California, Winchester House.  It was originally a walk-through attraction but was soon changed over to a ride.

The 1970s:

Non-profit organizations began to use abandoned buildings and fields to put up haunted houses to raise money for charity.

The 1980s:

This was the decade when horror movies grew in popularity and so did haunted houses.  Most amusement parks had a scary attraction of some sort.

The 1990s to present:

Haunts are everywhere—haunted hayrides, mazes, and scavenger hunts.  They've become so popular that haunts are here to stay with the industry constantly evolving with new and more terrifying attractions.

Real Haunted Houses (that have not been turned into hotels):

Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House is a 160-room Victorian mansion brimming with bizarre architectural features and a very eerie origin. With features such as secret passageways, labyrinth-like winding hallways and a seance room, this eccentric house is rumored to have been built by and for spirits themselves.

The Amityville House

In 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were found slain in this home; eldest son Ronald DeFeo Jr. was later convicted of murdering his parents and siblings. A year later, the Lutz family moved in but quickly moved out after reports of unexplained paranormal activity—strange odors, unexplained cold drafts and an apparition that took the form of a demonic pig-like creature.

The White House (yes, the residence of the President of the United States)

For years there have been reports that the White House is a hotbed of haunted activity. Visitors, staff, and even White House residents have reported seeing the ghosts of Abraham Lincoln, Abigail Adams, and Andrew Jackson, to name a few. FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, and Winston Churchill are among those who claimed to have seen the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. More recently, the Obamas claim to have repeatedly heard strange sounds and felt a sensation of someone gnawing at their feet in the middle of the night.

The Joshua Ward House (George Corwin House)

Once home to wealthy sea captain Joshua Ward, the Joshua Ward House was built in 1784. However, its haunted history comes from the fact that it was built over the original cellar where George Corwin's house once stood. Corwin was the High Sheriff during the Salem Witch Trials and he took great delight in torturing confessions from accused witches and warlocks. For many years, Corwin's remains were housed in the basement, though they eventually were moved to a nearby cemetery. Rumor has it that Corwin's spirit still haunts the house along with that of Giles Corey, the only accused he was unable to force into confessing. He finally crushed Corey to death one large stone as a time.

The LaLaurie House

One of the spookiest homes in the French Quarter, the LaLaurie Mansion was home to Dr. Louis and Delphine LaLaurie, a socially prominent family in the early 1830s. Rumor has it that Delphine treated her slaves brutally, chaining the cook to the stove, chasing another slave girl with a whip and causing her to jump to her death, and torturing and mutilating many others in a secret attic room. The house, which was owned by actor Nicolas Cage from 2007 to 2009, has been haunted by screams of agony coming from the apparitions of Delphine's slaves ever since.

Franklin Castle

Built in 1865 for the Tiedemann family, Franklin Castle makes a spooky first impression with its sandstone exterior, round corner tower and gargoyle embellishments. Those who have been inside the mansion, which is known locally as the most haunted house in Ohio, claim to have witnessed an eerie woman in black staring out the tower window, small children crying, and strange happenings like doors flying off hinges and spinning lights. The possible cause? Four of the Tiedemann children died in the home, and owner Hannes Tiedemann was rumored to have killed his 13-year-old niece in a hidden passage and his mistress in the tower.

The Whaley House

Now a museum run by the Save Our Heritage Organization, San Diego's Whaley House was designated an official Haunted House by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the 1960s due to frequently heard heavy footsteps of the ghost of "Yankee Jim" Robinson, who was hung on the property in 1852 before the house was built. Other ghostly sightings include owners Thomas and Anna Whaley (Anna was reportedly seen by Regis Philbin), and even the family dog.

Halloween Frightening and Fun Facts:

Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the U.S., annual revenue exceeded only by Christmas.

Approximately 100 countries celebrate Halloween.

Over 7 billion dollars are spent annually on candy, costumes and activities in just the U.S.

Approximately 90% of all households with children will participate in some sort of Halloween activity.

Over 80% of all professional haunted attractions in the U.S. are operated by a charity or help to benefit a charity of some sort.

This year, Halloween of 2020, will be quite different from previous years. With the coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic, staying home and social distancing when out along with wearing masks has had its impact on Halloween as well as all our daily activities.

Beware Of America's Creepiest Roads!

They've been called urban legends, ghost stories, creepy encounters.  But they all have one thing in common—unexplained happenings on dark roads in the dead of night.  If you'll pardon the use of the word dead.

Or maybe it's more appropriate than you realize.  :)

Since October is the month of things that go bump in the night as well as Halloween, it's the perfect time of year to explore these creepy lanes and the unexplained happenings.  Here's a sampling of some of these haunted places.

Shades of Death Road in Warren Co., NJ:  Yes, Shades of Death Road is the real name of the street, but no one is sure exactly how the name came about.  Over the decades many murders have happened along this stretch of road, each its own ghastly tale, which certainly explains why so many different ghosts haunt the area.

The San Antonio Ghost Track:  If you put your car in neutral on the tracks, the car will move by itself off the tracks.  And if you cover the bumper in baby power, you'll find child-sized palm prints.  However, be careful if you decide to try it out.  There have been reports of bandits waiting in hiding for people to start their paranormal test.

The Georgia Ghost Roads:  Travelers late at night along Railroad Bed Road and Old Ghost Road (Robertson Road) see a faint orange light flashing in the distance.  As they drive closer to it, a man will appear who is digging a ditch…or perhaps a grave.  He turns and walks toward the car, but disappears before he gets there.

Buckout Road in Harrison, NY:  The shocking murders committed by Issac Buckhout are believed responsible for the area's many reports of notorious activities such as farms burning, vandalism in a local historic cemetery, and people who claimed to have been attacked by flesh-eating monsters because they parked in front of a specific red house and honked their car horn three times.

Meshack Road in Tompinsville, KY:  This is supposedly the original location of the oft repeated story of the young woman in the prom dress who is walking along the road and given a ride by a young man.  He gives her his coat to keep warm.  The next day he returns to the house where he took her in order to retrieve his coat.  The woman living there told him her daughter had died several years ago…on prom night.

Milford Road in Oxford, Ohio:  The story of star-crossed lovers.  The boy and girl were in love but the girl's father hated the boy.  The boy would flash his motorcycle headlight three times and if he saw her porch light flash three times in return he knew it was safe to go there.  One night he's killed on the road, but the flashing lights continue to haunt the area.

Mona Lisa Drive in New Orleans:  A philanthropist donated a collection of statuary to the city with one stipulation.  The statue commissioned to commemorate the death of his only daughter, Mona, be placed in a special location in the park by itself.  One night a car chase ended with a car crashing into the statue and shattering it.  After that, rumors began to circulate that Mona lurked in the park where the statue had been, haunting innocent and unsuspecting visitors.

Archer Road in Justice, IL:  Resurrection Cemetery is the site of a story similar to the Meshack Road haunting.  A young man met a pretty blond at a dance.  At the end of the evening, he drove her home.  When they reached the cemetery, she asked him to stop.  She got out of the car, walked toward the gate, and disappeared.  He went to the house where she said she lived and the woman told him her daughter had been dead for five years.

Spook Hill in Burkittsville, MD:  In addition to the ghostly reputation courtesy of the 1990s horror movie, The Blair Witch Project, an unexplained recurring happening here is similar to the Railroad Crossing in San Antonio.  When driving up Spook Hill, if you stop and put the car in neutral it won't roll back downhill.  It will continue uphill as if being pushed.  The local ghostly tale claims it's Civil War soldiers who think they're pushing one of their cannons up the hill.

Clinton Road in New Jersey:  If you find yourself on this haunted road, be sure to toss a coin into the river at the Old Boy Bridge. The ghost of a boy who drowned will throw it back. There have also been reported sightings of UFOs, mutated circus animals, and mysterious glowing eyes.

Highway 666:  This highway was originally named because it was the 6^th spur off of US Highway 66 (now mostly replaced by Interstate 40) through Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Travelers on this haunted highway, known as the Devil's Highway, have reported speeding ghost cars, packs of devil dogs, and a flaming demonic semi-truck that drives directly at the spooked travelers. Many people attribute these sightings to a biblical association between the numbers 666 and Satan. In 2003, the highway number was changed to Highway 491. There are still a few places where you can see the Highway 666 sign labeled as old next to the Highway 491 sign labeled as new.

Do you have any ghostly tales or spooky happenings where you live?