The Woman In Black

The Woman In Black by Susan Hill. If you’ve never read the book you won’t be disappointed in this English ghost story. My vintage copy (with illustrations) came from Etsy. Yes! I recommend.

Vintage

You imagined yourself

Victorian

Settling 

Into the arms

Of the ancient house

The low light

Tall ceilings

Crystal chandeliers

Dust 

Particles 

Of the past

Attached to you 

Like

Molecular 

Time travel

Until one day 

There you were -

On the other side

(C) 2024 Jan Darrow 

Photo: Pixabay

Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗🌷💗🌷💗

Abandoned Hunting Lodge - Scotland

I just had to share this. If you have seen my many posts you know that I am totally taken by abandoned buildings. I love mysteries and moody places. I found this on YouTube - Abandoned Hunting Lodge - Scotland. Just looking at the photo below I thought..is there anything more haunting and beautiful than this scenery? I’m drawn to it - the narrow road that leads as far as the eye can see, the silver river that twists and turns, and the painted grey sky.  The vistas are stunning and magical. The video takes you inside the hunting lodge for interest, but in this instance the outside scenery far surpasses what was left behind.

Amélie

I’m absolutely recommending Amélie for Valentine’s Day. If you haven’t seen it..you should! I know..it’s not my usual mystery/ghost selection - it’s something a little closer to the heart. Love!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

love

is mysterious

it arrives on a day

like no other

even when 

you’re not ready

even when 

you thought 

it would never come

(C) Jan Darrow 2024

Photo:Pixabay

The War Room

The War Room

On a venerable road north of town a Victorian house sat empty for two decades. Wild grape vines and roses covered the front porch. Queen Anne’s Lace covered the drive. Tall grass stretched around to the back and rolled out behind.

Inside, oak mantels slept under a blanket of dust. A walnut banister curved up to the second floor where closets in bedrooms held secrets and relics from the past.

And up there, at the end of a hall, was a room where soldiers stood in rows with cannons, bayonets, and drums. Battles were fought. And a young boy ate oatmeal in the morning and took baths in the evenings while the sun slid behind the tall pines.

His mother read to him at night.

But on a mild spring day he took to his bed, and from that he never recovered.

In the years beyond there were no more children, and his mother filled her stale afternoons in the room with the soldiers and cannons until she was dry as an Egyptian tomb. How often she folded the sheets back on an empty bed.

As time went on the house bore a river of all things past and it lived to repeat them over and over. What eerie sounds it learned to make until one day when the gravel road gave way to bulldozers and men in trucks. The sound of the distant highway grew nearer.

The war room took notice.

And before one wall came down cannons fired from the second story window at the equipment below and blew pieces of metal into the sky. Again, and again the sounds came like none the workers had ever heard. That was of course before they drove away.

That night the boy, the soldiers, and the mother looked out into the autumn sky.

For now, the house had won. 

The War Room is from The Blue Hour: Flash Fiction (available on Amazon)