Brittany Maresh

writer

Based on a day of watching bad horror movies and reading “real life experiences” from a variety of paranormal magazines and books (research, I swear).  Don’t take this list too seriously, because “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” is my idea of research

1. Before you buy a house, do some research!  Find out what it was before it was a home. Make sure it’s not built on old Native American burial grounds or a moved cemetery, an old prison, or the site of a particularly horrible catastrophe, like a fire that killed 15 people, or that girls don’t mysteriously disappear from the home.  Find out how often the house has changed hands. If it seems to be plagued by bad luck, and people abandon it or leave it all the time, I’d be wary. It might just be that the neighbors are bad, but maybe it’s not the neighbors you need to worry about. Maybe it’s the former occupant who didn’t quite leave.
2. Make sure the house passes the “small child” test.  Get a kid, say, ages 3-8, and ask them to find all the “scary” parts of the house.  See if they notice any people that aren’t there, or identify rooms they won’t go in to.  Or you can do the mini version, the pet test – like the “small child” test, except done with a cat or dog. Are they chasing invisible things, barking at nothing?  Did your goldfish go belly-up overnight?
3. Talk to the neighbors – and I mean all of them, even the creepy house to your right.  Have they noticed anything funny about the place?  Do they think there was ever a witch there? Have they had any strange incidents in the area? Are they living in a haunted home, themselves? Where is the local haunted house?   Are you living over an abandoned silver mine? Don’t leave out the local children – with parental supervision and permission – to find out if they think the house is haunted. Do they avoid it on Halloween?  It might just be for a reason. Also remember to check up with the area paranormal agencies, to see if the place has any reports of activity. Sure, the odds are someone might have told you, but maybe not.  People don’t want to look crazy.
4. Invite a pack of young adults to test the house out – if they survive the night, you’re good. Ghosts and demons can’t resist the lure of the young adults. Alternatively, if they flee before dawn, you might want to pass on the property.
5. Do a walk-through of the house, on your own. How does it make you feel?  As in all good horror movies, sometimes you just need to trust your instincts.

I’m having a hard time writing during the day, when the sunlight streams in off the snow and everything’s making a little bit of noise to let me know it lives.

I much prefer exploring the dark when everything is a little too quiet and the light is a little more indirect.

Still, I’m rather enjoying this foray into horror.