Earlier this month, I extended an open invite to any women working in the horror genre to contribute a guest blog. One respondent was Catherine Cavendish, who features today with a piece about her new novel, The Garden Of Bewitchment. Read on...
The Garden of Bewitchment
is a demonic toy in my new novel of the same name and those who
encounter it have some unpleasant and scary experiences. They get
caught up in its devilish devices until nothing is as it appears to
be and sanity comes at a premium.
They didn’t have a choice.
YOU, on the other hand, do. It’s up to you whether you decide to
draw the curtains and curl up on a winter’s evening, with a nice
cosy book or movie – or take a walk on the wilder side and go on a
supernatural adventure of your own. As I said, it is entirely YOUR
choice…
Ah, I see you’re still here,
that must mean you have decided to play. Proceed by all means, but
remember, the devil extracts a price and he isn’t too particular
who pays…or how…and he changes the rules to suit himself.
Red Book
Here’s a nice little fortune telling game from South America. For this you will need a quiet room, a group of trusted friends, and the following equipment:
A red hardback book containing all text – no pictures or images of any kind
One or more red candles
Matches or lighter
A question
Off you all go into your quiet
room and draw the curtains. Light your candle(s) and turn off all
other sources of light.
Sit in a circle and set the
candle(s) in the centre
As leader, you start the
proceedings. Your friends will copy your actions, one by one.
Close your eyes and place the
palm of one hand on the book’s cover, ask out loud, “Red Book,
may I enter your game?”
Keeping your eyes tight shut,
open the book at a random page and place your finger somewhere on the
page. Open your eyes and read out loud the sentence your finger has
landed on. You now have your answer. Interpret it carefully before
proceeding.
If the answer is negative or
you cannot make any sense of it at all, contact has not been made and
you must start over. If the answer is positive, you may proceed by
passing the book to the next person who will follow the same
instructions. Keep going until each player has asked for and received
permission to enter the game.
Now you can ask your question.
Close your eyes, place your palm on the book’s cover and ask it out
loud.
Keep your eyes closed. Open
the book randomly as before and place your finger somewhere on the
page. Open your eyes, read the sentence your finger has landed on and
do your best to interpret it. Each player will repeat this until all
have asked their question and received the answer (whatever they have
made of it).
When all questions have been
asked/answered, close your eyes and place your palm on the book cover
once again. Ask aloud, “Red Book, may I leave the game?”
Repeat the sequence as before,
with eyes closed, open the book at a random page and place your
finger somewhere on the page. Open your eyes, read the sentence out
loud and, if positive, you may leave the game. If negative or
nonsensical, you may not leave the game and must repeat the sequence
again until your answer indicates that you may depart. Each person in
the group then repeats the sequence until each has successfully left
the game.
When all have departed, close
the book. Blow out the candles and, lastly open the curtains and turn
on the lights.
There. Nice and innocent isn’t
it? Unless you break any of the rules of course. No, I’m not
telling you. You really don’t want to know what happens then.
Ready for another one? Then
let’s play…
Candyman
Yes, I know there’s a film
of the same name. But did you know it was based on a real incident?
The murder of Ruthie Mae McCoy was carried out by someone entering
her apartment through the bathroom cabinet, in the Abbott Homes high
rises in the Chicago Projects. It would have been entirely possible
for a person to gain access this way as the adjoining apartment also
had its bathroom cabinet in the same position. You can read more
about this fascinating case online, but for now, let’s play the
game. It’s really very simple. You’ll need to be alone. In your
bathroom. In front of the mirror. Shut the door, switch off the
lights, face the mirror and say ‘Candyman’ five times.
The Candyman will appear –
and kill you with his hook. Er – right. Well, goodbye then!
Assuming you survived
(somehow), let’s play one last game:
11 Mile Road
If you have an all-consuming
desire to get something, you may choose this game but you have to
have nerves of steel and/or be a complete idiot to try it. You’ll
need a car or motorbike of some kind – and you can’t take anyone
with you. You’re well and truly on your own, mate.
To find 11 Mile Road, you need
to wait until the streets round and about you are deserted, very late
at night and drive to a back road inside a forest or dense wood (no,
not outside it. Inside.)
Drive around the empty roads
or lanes until you know you’ve found 11 Mile Road. Don’t ask me.
You’ll just know. Your instinct will tell you. Just keep alert.
Now you’ve found it, think
carefully. This is your last chance to turn around and get the hell
out of there. Still want to continue? Right:
Don’t listen to music or
turn the radio on, don’t open your windows or doors or stop the car
- whatever you see or whatever happens - and keep your speed below 30
m.p.h.
You’re now on your eleven
mile drive and each mile is significant. Remember, whatever happens,
keep driving.
Miles one and two – you may
feel a little cold and, if so, you can switch your heater on.
Mile three – movement will
begin all around you. Ignore it and don’t take your eyes off the
road.
Mile four – voices. Ignore
them.
Mile five – the countryside
may start to change and become beautiful – a lake with moonlight
shimmering on the crystal waters, the forest becoming less dense.
It’s so tempting to stop and look. DON’T.
Mile six – the trees become
denser once more, any stars will disappear. Your headlights might
flicker, the radio may start up, and appear to talk directly to you.
Ignore anything and everything and don’t turn off the radio.
Remember, you
didn’t switch it on.
Mile seven – the voices may
seem to be coming from your own back seat. Ignore them. Don’t turn
around.
Mile eight – whatever
happens, keep driving. If your headlights dim, slow down but never,
ever stop.
Mile nine – this is when
your car may stall. If it does, do nothing except close your eyes and
keep them shut as you wait for the car to start again. When it does,
foot down, open your eyes and drive.
Mile ten – don’t look in
your mirrors and don’t turn around. This is critical.
Mile eleven – Your vehicle
will stall again. This time in front of a red light. Close your eyes.
Do not look at the red light. Ignore the voices. Ignore anything that
grabs hold of you. Ignore everything, no matter what and keep those
eyes shut. Your vehicle will restart and when it does, open your
eyes, drive on a little further until you reach a dead end. Stop.
Make your wish. But don’t
just wish it, see it, feel it, imagine you already have it. If it is
a small item, check your pocket. You can open your eyes so, if it is
a larger item, check your back seat or the trunk of your car. If your
wish is for something bigger than that or something that isn’t
material, drive back home and it will come to you very soon.
And that’s all there is to
it. Of course, there is always a price. The flashbacks you keep
having for the rest of your life and the demonic presence that comes
home with you are quite a hefty price to pay. If you’re happy with
that, I wish you good fortune.
Don’t
play the game.
In
1893, Evelyn and Claire leave their home in a Yorkshire town for life
in a rural retreat on their beloved moors. But when a strange toy
garden mysteriously appears, a chain of increasingly terrifying
events is unleashed. Neighbour Matthew Dixon befriends Evelyn, but
seems to have more than one secret to hide. Then the horror really
begins. The Garden of Bewitchment is all too real and something is
threatening the lives and sanity of the women. Evelyn no longer knows
who - or what - to believe. And time is running out.
About Catherine Cavendish
Cat first started writing when
someone thrust a pencil into her hand. Unfortunately as she could
neither read nor write properly at the time, none of her stories
actually made much sense. However as she grew up, they gradually
began to take form and, at the tender age of nine or ten, she sold
her dolls’ house, and various other toys to buy her first
typewriter – an Empire Smith Corona. She hasn’t stopped bashing
away at the keys ever since, although her keyboard of choice now
belongs to her laptop.
The
need to earn a living led to a varied career in sales, advertising
and career guidance but Cat is now the full-time author of a number
of supernatural, ghostly, haunted house and Gothic horror novels and
novellas, including The
Haunting of Henderson Close,
the Nemesis of the
Gods trilogy –
Wrath of the
Ancients, Waking the Ancients, Damned by the Ancients - The Devil’s
Serenade, Dark Avenging Angel, The Pendle Curse, Saving Grace Devine
and Linden
Manor. Her short
stories have appeared in the anthologies Haunted
Are These Houses
and Midnight in the
Graveyard.
She
lives in Southport with her long-suffering husband and black cat (who
remembers that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt and
sees no reason why that practice should not continue).
When not slaving over a hot
computer, Cat enjoys rambling around stately homes, circles of
standing stones and travelling to favourite haunts such as Vienna and
Orkney.
Following
a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine
Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal,
ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. Cat’s
novels include The
Garden of Bewitchment. The
Haunting
of Henderson Close, the
Nemesis
of the Gods trilogy
- Wrath of the Ancients, Waking the Ancients and
Damned
by the Ancients, plus
The Devil’s Serenade,
The
Pendle Curse
and Saving
Grace Devine.
Tell us three things about yourself
…and which make you cringe?
