by Vinnie Hansen
As night falls, we advance toward the 100-year-old mausoleum in the cemetery. There is no electricity. Candles and a kerosene lamp light the way.
Vinnie reading by lamplight
Here in Santa Rosa Memorial Park, I join seven other mystery writers to read our spooky stories in the echoing marble chambers.
Even though we are competing with the Giants playing in the World Series, the annual event draws a standing-room-only crowd.
No one rose from the dead around us except in our tales.
However, two nights later, at the Dead Writers Costume Party, three local Santa Cruz writers used an Ouija board to conjure up Edgar Allan Poe. Asked what he wished he’d written about, Poe replied: H-O-E-S
Three “dead” authors conjuring up a 4th one.
This delightful evening, a fundraiser for the Young Writers Program, featured H.P. Lovecraft as an animated host.
I resurrected my Emily Dickinson outfit for the evening. Before I retired as a teacher, I would wear the costume when teaching Dickinson. I’d stay in character for the entire class, in spite of questions like, “Are you a virgin?” and “What’s it like to be dead?”
I also rubbed shoulders with the lovely Beatrix Potter who brought along her hedgehog and Peter Rabbit.
Vinnie as Emily Dickinson, with “Beatrix Potter”
Among others in attendance were Kurt Vonnegut, Dashiell Hammett, Mark Twain, Djuna Barnes, Virginia Woolf, and an imposter Emily Dickinson. Authors were invited to read and I recited “my” poem:
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
If you had gone, which author would you have impersonated? Why? And which author would you have wanted to contact in the Great Beyond?
Posted by Vinnie Hansen. Vinnie is a retired English teacher and award-winning author. Her cozy noir mystery series, the Carol Sabala mysteries, is set in beautiful Santa Cruz, California.
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Hmm, I wonder what Edgar Allen Poe was referring to. I suspect it wasn’t gardening. LOL
Love those costumes at the Dead Writers Party, and oh how deliciously spooky to go to a reading at a mausoleum. *shivers*
Thanks, Vinnie, for sharing the fun!
Thanks for checking out the post, Kass! At least that Edgar Allan Poe “response” made sense. Some of the Ouija board answers were more cryptic.
I think I need to move to California! What a very cool night that must have been. Hm… I think I’d like to talk to Mary Shelley and see if she’s surprised at how her creation still lives on in our hearts today… especially around Halloween. 🙂
You would have been in luck, Shannon. Both Mary Shelley and her creation, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, were in attendance.
Too fun! I wish I could have been there for it.
For some reason it’s easy for me to imagine you in costume, Kirsten. 🙂
Hmm, what dead writer would Kirsten portray? 😀
Ouija boards are nothing to mess with. Looks like scary fun!
I played with an Ouija board when I was young, but I’ve never understood how they work. Does anyone out there know?
Thanks for dropping by, Susie.
Kirsten and I did a joint post on Ouija boards in July, 2013, Susie. Which was before you joined misterio press, Vinnie.
https://misteriopress.com/2013/07/ouija-boards-debunked-maybe/
They can be a fun party game, but they can also open the door to things better left on the “other side.”