Diary Friday 27th October 2017 My Love Of Horror
@arthurchappell (44998)
Preston, England
October 28, 2017 1:49pm CST
A day dominated by horror without being scary or horrifying in itself.
As my short script for a five minute horror movie has been picked up by the Preston Movie Makers for Thursday I went out shopping for a few basic props for the film, made easier and cheaper by so many discount stores selling Halloween goods.
In the evening I was among speakers at the park Preston true story telling event, this month also focussed on Horror.
We had a later start than usual as the Ham & Jam Café was in use for a lady’s retirement party, and it was lovely that the guests from that stayed to not only watch the Spark show but joined in with stories of their own too.
Stories told included tales of being dangerously cut off by the incoming tide on a beach, and in another water related tale, having to swim underwater through a flooded potholing cavern.
I told of the roots of my interest in the horror genre. While my parents wouldn’t let me stay up for late night horror movie they never noticed that my compulsion for reading included many horror novels and the classic dark tale of Edgar Allen Poe, H P Lovecraft and M R James among others. By the time I saw the old movies they seemed tame beside the reading material I was well versed in.
My own early horror writings in English lessons at junior and High School worried my teacher who found them scary which just made me write even more in that vein.
A camping trip with a youth club in which our spooky camp-fire ghost story urban legends gave one kid nightmares to the point at which he wa taken home by his parents told me how powerful the atmosphere of horror can be.
I concluded by relating my own darkest phobia, quicksand, a fear of simply being swallowed without trace, never found, searched for or remembered. Discovering that some people find quicksand a sexual fetish strikes me as extremely bizarre.
My thanks to everyone at Spark and Ham & Jam Café in Preston Lancashire for such a great night.
Arthur Chappell
5 people like this
5 responses
@crossbones27 (49722)
• Mojave, California
28 Oct 17
You make a great point most horror these days seems mildly tame with the exception of blood and guts and to me that stuff comes off over done and pretty lame, unless they make it funny. Not like the stuff you were reading back in the day.
You quicksand reference made me think of kind of my phobia of how you hear of people getting lost in the wild and no one hears of them again because they were probably starving and the animals probably ate them, bones included. That is pretty horror like.
2 people like this
@crossbones27 (49722)
• Mojave, California
28 Oct 17
@arthurchappell Indeed, not a great way to go out. I was watching about one guy who got stuck in a canyon and had no way of getting out. He was not even sure how he got down there. Weird how he could get down there but not back out. Luckily a helicopter rescued him.
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@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
28 Oct 17
@crossbones27 probably easier to go down a steep slope than get back up it - many people jump in rivers without thinking about whether they can climb back up the steep banks once they have had enough swim time - they are then at risk of drowning
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@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
28 Oct 17
@crossbones27 If lost in a big wilderness like the Australian Outback or wilds of Canada such a fate is all too possible sadly
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@sumofalltears (3988)
• United States
29 Oct 17
I like horror stories too, but the mainstream stuff is overdone and has lost its thrill. Aliens was great but they sequeled it to crap along with Predator, neither of which is standard horror. I don't really care to watch just blood and guts horror, I do need a stroyline of some sort and unfortunately those are few and far between.
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@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
30 Oct 17
@sumofalltears yes the cross over plots were rubbish
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@RasmaSandra (80736)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
28 Oct 17
Well good for you. I too am into horror and I love writing horror stories; I have done some online for Halloween. Perhaps you might like to take a look
Now with another Halloween approaching Bill Turner stood looking apprehensively at that mansion known as Devil's Manor. Fall had come to Oakdale in all ...
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@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
28 Oct 17
@RasmaSandra happy to check them out, yes
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@RasmaSandra (80736)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
28 Oct 17
@arthurchappell there are two parts to my story and there are other great Halloween stories on that site.
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@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
28 Oct 17
@RasmaSandra Really enjoyed your Devil's Manor tale
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
29 Oct 17
It's great when the thing you enjoy is well-received by others especially in that setting with unexpected guests. Interesting what you found out about how others view quicksand. It sounds bizarre to me too.I doubt that if you ever were swallowed up by something weird, that no one would look for you. We here wouldn't have any clue if some such thing happened to you, but you would certainly be remembered.
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@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
30 Oct 17
@MarshaMusselman lovely to know thank you
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