Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Guest Post: Speed Dating in a haunted hotel + $10 GC Giveaway!

Speed Dating in a Haunted Hotel


By Scott Nicholson

www.hauntedcomputer.com



To enter for a $10 gift card, simply visit the page for Speed Dating with the Dead at Amazon or BN.com and hit Facebook “Like” to share with your friends, then enter your contact info below!

I’ve done much more ghost story collecting than I have ghost collecting, but my interest in spirituality naturally leads to afterlife curiosity. One of the recurring themes in my work is the exploration of the Big Question: Why are we here and what happens when we die?

I don’t really expect to bump into Aunt Mildred’s ghost and she will spill all the secrets of the universe over a cup of tea, but I do think the belief in ghosts is a fascinating social, philosophical, and psychological matter. Whether you don’t believe in anything and think we are here to consume candy and die, or whether you spend most of your day in prayer and meditation, you are probably as close to the “answer” as anyone else.

And people from all walks believe–and don’t believe–in ghosts. Some skeptics can be changed with one bizarre incident or encounter, while some curious folks can search for evidence of the afterlife for years before concluding there’s nothing out there.

As a newspaper reporter, I went on a ghost hunt at a local hotel with a group of paranormal investigators. While the old hotel was big and spooky, I was most fascinated by the personalities of the hunters, their expectations and their reactions to phenomena that I chalked up to the usual stuff of old hotels–cool drafts, distant elevator noises, and squeaky floors.

A year later, I hosted a paranormal conference at the hotel, gathering information that I used in Speed Dating with the Dead, when a paranormal conference goes haywire. In the novel, I had to accidentally invoke some demons, because “real” ghost hunting is incredibly dull. You sit in the dark all night with lots of equipment, and then spend several weeks poring through audio and video files to get a few seconds of suggestive information.

I’ve gone on several other hunts since, and even hosted another conference, and I still collect ghost stories, but I stopped short of investing in lots of gear. I do think there is potential for devices that correlate many different kinds of data, measuring time, temperature, and location with various other data (similar to the Multiple Anomaly Coordinator, or MAC Attack, the team uses in the book).

But even if you line up a bunch of coordinates and statistics and say, “This is a ghost,” what exactly have you proven? You still haven’t answered the Big Question.

The hunt continues.





Scott Nicholson is author of Speed Dating with the Dead, The Skull Ring, and 10 other novels, five story collections, four comics series, and six screenplays. A journalist and freelance editor in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, he often uses local legends in his work.

19 comments:

  1. The book sounds great! I Liked it at amazon - Joanne Schultz .
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    email in blogger profile.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I signed in to amazon and liked the post
    Jamie Brigham
    cinderella10383 @ aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I liked it. On the Amazon page and in reality. :) Shared it on facebook.
    bluefrog62@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I liked it. Looking forward to reading it.

    bacchus76 at myself dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. LIked speed dating with the dead on facebook

    vmkids3 at msn dot com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I also liked the book on amazon and shared the book on facebook. subwaygirlrita@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd love to read it! Liked the book on fb at Amazon (Cynthia Conley)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I "liked" it on Amazon!

    Kelsey O.
    kopsahl48 AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I liked at Amazon - sounds like a fun book!

    sksweeps (at) earthlink (dot) net

    ReplyDelete
  10. Liked it on fb at Amazon - Katharine Davis

    kdkdcats at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  11. The book looks interesting and really affordable. I checked out the link and liked it for you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I liked on fb at Amazon heather s

    ReplyDelete
  13. Like on FB.
    mrcheapo

    shared on FB.
    mrcheapo

    http://www.facebook.com/mrcheapo/posts/284505661578387

    hellrzr(at)juno(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I like on fb
    thank you
    tatertot374@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you for sharing your wit. I liked Speed Dating with the Dead at Amazon.

    Sort and sweet.

    TES 1283 yahoo

    ReplyDelete
  16. Fantabulous contest! Thanks! Janna Johnson jannajanna@hotmail.com Janna@FeedYourPig on GFC

    ReplyDelete
  17. liked at Amazon: Slehan
    Thanks for the contest.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I liked on amazon : flychild7 ( Christine)
    flychild7(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  19. I like the Amazon page!
    ericacarnes(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete

The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.

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