Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Childhood Monsters

Some days I wish I had a normal monster in the closet.  I had two.  Not your typical monsters in the closet, but childhood fears.

#1 Bad Weather - this can all be explained by my other website:  www.ruminationofthunder.com.  Conquered this one, no problem.  How you ask?  Face to face with a monster tornado while at a lake in a camper.  I did an article about it a couple years ago for a local magazine: http://www.verbict.com/2010/03/08/chase-storm-chasing-why-i-do-it/

The most memorable part was the pregnant lady running into the shelter crying that it was going over the top of us.
I sat between a washer and dryer, holding on for dear life in my Dallas Cowboys poncho.  Yeah, memories.

#2 was the unsettling monster.  Unsettling because he was real.  When I was young, about the same age when I saw the tornado, there was a serial killer going around near my grandmother's neighborhood.  One family of four was slain a couple blocks away.  I stayed with my grandmother a lot during the summer.  So there were nightmares of a strangler walking in the house.  One of those crazy nightmares where you're running and all you can see are the oversized shoes and large hands of the maniac coming after you.

We were fine.  Grandma was never a target and when I grew up, I met the man.
http://fatherthunder.blogspot.com/2011/10/ive-been-alone-with-serial-killer-in-my.html

So force of nature and true boogyman.  I've made piece with one, and the other is locked away forever.

Now that you've found my inner demons, become one of my minions (linkon the right).  My novel "Hell to Pay" is available from Hellfire Publishing in book or e-book form.  My short story "The Ballad of Mercy Tyler" is available through Smashwords for free.

Alright you sadists, check out the rest of the nightmares:


8 comments:

  1. Yikes! Real monsters. Far more frightening than anything else. It's really interesting that you met a serial killer and been in a tornado. It scares me that a killer could be any seemingly ordinary man. Thanks for sharing your stories with us and for helping me promote my book.

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  2. Ohmigosh! Having a real killer in your backyard! I've stayed in the Brentwood area of L.A. twice and was thankful to be reminded *after* my stays that it was where the Simpson murder happened. Even though my stays there were way after the fact, it still freaked me out. I can't imagine how you were able to sleep while the stuff was seriously going down in your Grandmother's 'hood. Glad you were both left in peace! :-)
    Some Dark Romantic

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  3. Holy crap you WIN. A real strangler? And you MET HIM? Cripes! That's enough to give me nightmares now, much less as a kid.

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  4. Seriously? A REAL serial killer was terrorizing your neighborhood? Yeah, if that were me, I would still be terrified to this day. You are much braver than I.

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  5. ARG! Your real life monster had to be very scary. It is one thing to write about a serial killer, or see one in a film, but in real life? I think I would still be scared to be outside in the dark.

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  6. Oooooohhhhhhh... You've totally creeped me out here! GREAT story--and true, to boot. You see, *my* monster was also a serial killer, but one of my rationales for getting over that fear was that we lived in Mexico--and all those slasher films took place in the US, right? So I had nothing to worry about. 'Course, that was back in the '80s when Mexico *didn't* have serial killers (aka drug gangsters) throwing severed heads onto backlit dance floors at cool clubs. *Sigh*. The good old days :)

    Super glad to have found you via this blogfest; I'll be back for sure!

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  7. You get my vote for the scariest monster story. Yours is real.

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  8. Very scary experiences! We share dealing with a serial killer in common, though in my case, he did come after my mom (who is perfectly okay - we outran him in a car, but he killed a co-ed later that night :( ). Funny how the real bogeyman puts things in perspective!

    My (nonreal) monster: http://thewarriormuse.blogspot.com/2012/08/childhood-monster-blog-fest.html

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