FIFTH EVIL EXPERIMENT of the COFFIN HOP ~~ MANIFESTING

Welcome to Day 5 of the COFFIN HOP!


When I was in my late teens I read a book called Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Being 19, I remember hating the book, but I became interesting in energy and perseverance and manifestation.

I meditated a little and used certain energy practices to help with my school work and blossoming career.

I also tried an experiment back then: I thought of something I wanted to manifest. I though of this thing many times a day and consciously focused on this item. It was a blue feather.


I don't remember why I chose the blue feather or if it held any special meaning back then.

I just remember the intense focus. I could see the feather as clear as a bell--the details of the soft downy sides and the Tiffany blue color.

Although I should have focused on something I needed or wanted, the blue feather probably seemed slightly magical and unusual.

By the end of the day I probably thought of that feather 100 times. I was very disappointed--no signs of a blue feather.

I went to sleep and woke the next morning to the sound of the paper being delivered on the front porch.  Reaching down to get it I noticed a small blue feather on the concrete next to the welcome mat. I picked up the feather and stared at it for a good long time. I kept it in my jewelry box for years. It unfortunately vanished about the time I moved into my new home.

Was this a coincidence? Probably. Or maybe not... I can't discount anything anymore. It could be one of those situations where you start thinking of something, for instance a white Acura because you are thinking of buying one, and for the next week the only car you notice is a white Acura.

I may have seen that blue feather the day before on the porch and made the experiment work in reverse...but there is no way I'll ever know. SO I am going to do it again starting now: I am going to think of something but I want YOU to tell me what to think of. I will choose from your suggestions and think of that thing for 24 hours and then see what happens. I hope you will try the Manifestation Experiment too. Then tell me what happens.

**Scroll down for Day 1 and the Candle and Mirror Experiment, Day 2 for Evil Writing, and Day 3 for Weakening the Veil.  

 

Fears of the Famous--What Haunts the Horror Gods

Oh, how I love to get into a horror book--REALLY into it...so much so that I'll sit a bit more still than I normally would, because if I move whatever is waiting around for a victim will know I'm there...

...and I have to wait a bit to go to the rest room because God knows what is waiting for me behind the shower curtain...

...and I definitely will NOT look out the window because there will be a man standing about halfway up my walkway just waiting for me to peek out--and he'll be smiling--and as soon as I notice him he will finish his walk to my front door...

Yeeesshh.

I can scare myself more than almost any horror writer can. But I worship the few that can get under my skin.

I know it does not seem so from what I just wrote, but I am actually pretty hard to scare. I recently saw the movie Insidious in my sister's basement that was recently converted into a very cool movie viewing room, complete with old fashioned popcorn maker, comfy sofas, and a 75 inch drop down screen and projector. Next to me on the couch was my sister's stepson, all six foot three, 200 pounds of him, recently recruited to play college football on full scholarship. The lights were down and he remarked he was not very fond of the dark corner behind him, and I felt him move an almost imperceptible fraction of an inch closer to me.

He was not very good about tension in the film either. If he thought something was going to happen he would say, Ohhh, here we go....this is gonna be baaaaddd.... while curling into a bit of a ball and not quite fully looking at the screen. There was no mistaking our narrowing proximity on the couch, and when the music crescendoed and the monster appeared and we were startled, he screamed like Kim Kardashian at a shoe sale.

Exact moment of the woman scream.

Happily he is a good sport and laughed even though he was teased for the rest of the night. Apparently horror is not for him. Some are more easily scared than others.

So this got me thinking...do horror writers get scared of what they write?

Was Stephen King as scared writing about as I was scared reading about the dead boy with glowing eyes scratching patiently at the window, floating and asking let me iiinnn during Salem's Lot? What about the "other Mother" that Neil Gaiman wrote about in Coraline, with her sewn-on black button eyes. Did it creep him out for a while?

Stephen King admitted to being afraid of "Spider, snakes...and my mother-in-law," when he recently spoke at the University of Massachusetts, and Neil Gaiman doesn't seem to admit to being afraid of anything, except possibly repeating the sins of his parents on his own kids. (Have no fear, I am referring to an incident where he hoists his screaming son over his shoulder to bring him to sleep after refusing.) And he might also be afraid of falling...

Tim Burton of Edward Scissorhands fame admits to having a fear of chimps--interesting, since he directed a remake of Planet of the Apes. He said, 

“You don’t know whether chimps are going to kill you or kiss you. They’re very open on some levels and much more evil in a certain way.” I also remember him saying it is not the horror movies that scare him, but real life. I can relate.

Anne Rice, who brought vamps into vogue with Interview with a Vampire, admits to fearing the dark:   "I'm kind of scared of the dark. .... I've never seen a ghost. I've never seen an angel. I've never seen a vision of any kind. And I think I'm a little bit scared that I might."


Joe Hill, author of the shivery ghost story Heart Shaped Box says he is afraid of technology:

“AutoCorrect. AutoCorrect is the first phase in the war between the machines and mankind. I assume at some point in the near future, the President will send a text to Hu Jintao reading ‘Looking forward to our talks in Beijing soon’ and his iPhone will change the message to read ‘Looking forward to our tanks in Beijing soon.’ This will be followed by 30 minutes of frantic text messages, all over the planet, reading ‘omfg the world is ending amf!! @ least I dont have 2 go 2 work 2day lol!!’ Millions will die, but will still be unable to get out of their cellular-phone contracts. This is the stuff that keeps me up at 3 a.m.” (From Time Entertainment)

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, claims to fear nothing, just like Goosebumps writer R.L. Stine.

Lucky.

I imagine:

- Edgar Allan Poe was afraid of being alone, and of course being buried alive.

- Bram Stoker had a desperate fear of intimacy.

- H.P. Lovecraft was forced to eat squid as a child.

- George A. Romero spent far too much time with his older relatives.

- and Tom Cruise may be afraid of being weak or ordinary. (I know he has nothing to do with horror but he kind of scares me...)

And just so you know--I am scared of only a few things, but I won't tell you what they are because I don't want to pay for it for the rest of my life...okay--I'll tell you one.  I am a germaphobe...not for myself...for my kid. Oh, and I'm a little scared of flying...and dark, open water...

Now I would love to know what scares YOU.