PJ -- The movie
Thir13en Ghosts (alternate title: Thirteen Ghosts) is a paranormal movie about
a ghost hunter, Cyrus Kriticos, who builds Basileus’s Machine and needs the
Black Zodiac (13 ghosts) to open the Ocularis Infernum, or The Eye of Hell.
In order to open The Eye to Hell,
Kriticos needs to catch and contain twelve ghosts before luring the thirteenth
ghost to his home. After developing traps that would contain his ghosts, he and
a team of paranormal hunters trap the following ghosts:
The
First Born Son:
The ghost of a little boy who died from being shot through the head by an
arrow. The Torso: The torso is missing his head and his legs at the
waist. The Bound Woman: The bound woman who was strangled by her
boyfriend’s tie and buried. The Withered Lover: A woman who was
partially burned in a house fire. This woman is also the wife of the planned
thirteenth ghost. The Torn Prince: This ghost has much of the skin on
the right side of his body missing, leaving bones and muscles. The Angry
Princess: A young woman who apparently dies by committing suicide. The
Pilgrimess: A woman sentenced to a slow, painful death in stocks, after
being proclaimed a witch. The Great
Child and The Dire Mother: A very large and overweight child, the result of
a rape by the tall man, was raised in a carnival as an attraction. He was his
mother’s protector, who, at three feet tall, is unable to stand up for herself.
The Hammer: A strong and muscular blacksmith who wields a large hammer. The
Jackal: The Jackal is apparently the ghost of a disheveled man wearing a
cage on his head. The Juggernaut: This ghost is that of a tall, ugly,
and muscular man.
Cyrus captured the previously
mentioned twelve ghosts and kept them in glass containment boxes in his basement.
He built his entire house out of glass with spells to contain the spirits
engraved throughout. He now needed the thirteenth ghost to activate the
machine.
The Broken Heart: The entire plan hinges on a
mortal leaping into the core of Basileus’s Machine out of pure love and
becoming the thirteenth ghost.
In order to trap this person, Cyrus, who died and
became a ghost himself during the capture of The Juggernaut, leaves his house
to his nephew. When they arrive at the house to take possession they find the
ghosts. Cyrus has an accomplice tie his nephew’s two children to the center of
the machine’s floor. Sharp rails spin randomly around the two children and the
only way to get to them is to jump through the razor sharp spheres. The nephew
manages to make the leap without dying and thus destroys Cyrus’s plan and
causes the destruction of the machine and Cyrus’s demise by the now released
twelve ghosts.
But
the whole reason for telling you this much about the movie is to tell you what
frightened me, the paranormal aspect of the film.
First,
the fact that someone designed a way to entrap ghosts and keep them contained
within a single structure is a daunting thought. The only way to see these
spirits was to don a pair of special glasses, and then you could see glimpses
of them running at you, as if the film had been broken and spliced together
incorrectly; each time they reappeared they were closer to you. Many of these
ghosts were violent, wishing nothing more than to cause a person harm.
Second,
three of the ghosts were extremely vicious. One, the torn prince, would swing a
baseball bat with intent to end his target’s life. Two, the juggernaut, had
been shot to death by the police after going insane and turning into a serial
killer. His ghost haunted the junkyard he had been raised in. His grotesque
height and appearance, coupled with his violence and insanity were a
frightening sight. And three, the jackal. The jackal was a monster during his
life that developed an uncontrollable taste for the female body; he became a
wild and cunning sexual predator. After commitment to an asylum, the doctors
locked his head in a cage and kept him in a dark basement cell.
Of
these three ghosts, The Jackal frightened me the most. The device locked around
his head, his wild long matted black hair, his exposed and rotted teeth, and
his claw-like hands coming at you in flashes were enough to cause me to draw
back into my chair whenever he tried to attack. I probably would have had
nightmares if it weren’t for the fact that I already dream vividly and
regularly and many of my nights are filled with horrors.
Whichever
of these ghosts you would find the most terrifying, remember, there might be
one out there that makes your choice seem tame. Ghosts walk with us, and not
all are nice.
Karen
--
This happened years ago, after The Exorcist (the book) was released and
just before the movie version came out. I was home alone, watching a late-night
talk show. I had gone into the kitchen to fix a glass of iced tea when I heard
a sound from the TV speaker that raised the hair on the back of my neck. It’s
one of the few times in my life that happened to me. It’s a strange feeling.
I rushed back into the front room and
stood in front of the television. The guest that night was William Peter Blatty,
author of The Exorcist, and he had brought along a recording of a
genuine (allegedly) exorcism that had taken place in Italy. The sound I’d heard
from the kitchen was supposedly the voice of a young boy. However, he did not
sound like a child; it sounded like the voice of a huge beast. I could hear the
priests’ voices in the background, and by their tenor, could tell they were
yelling. Yet their voices were small compared to the bellowing of the possessed
boy. It was, for that time period, quite shocking and creepy. All these years
later, it still stands out in my mind as one of the scariest things I’d ever
heard.
I had reason to be a bit jumpy in the
house I lived in at that time. My dog, Blackie, would at times behave as if he
were seeing something nobody else could see. Toward the end of the long
hallway, for instance, there was a linen closet that made Blackie nervous. Many
times, he stood and barked at the closed door as if there were an intruder
hiding inside. If you opened the door, he would run. There never was anyone
inside. At least, not that we could see!
One night I was reading in bed with
Blackie resting near my feet. I noticed he was looking at the open door that
led to the dark front room. I laid my book aside to observe him. He cocked his
head and turned it slowly as if watching someone in the other room move about.
I merely found it interesting at this point. That changed suddenly when there
was a noise from the front room. It sounded exactly as if someone had picked up
the big ceramic ashtray off the coffee table and then set it firmly back down.
Blackie stood up on his little short legs and began barking, hackles raised and
eyes glued to the dark doorway. I jumped up and grabbed a bottle beside my bed
that was used to hold spare change, a hefty item with a long neck that would
make a formidable weapon.
When I flicked on the front room lights,
I expected to find an intruder skulking about. Instead, it was empty. No one
was there.
I never figured out what made the
noise or got my dog so wound up. The entire time I lived in that particular
house, nothing supernatural caused me any harm. But there were occasions when
it felt as if I was not alone although I was; there were a few more instances
of unexplained noises; and Blackie never did like passing the hallway closet.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Wodke
Hawkinson is the name under which Karen Wodke and PJ Hawkinson produce their
co-authored works. They have published four novels, including Tangerine,
Betrayed, Zeke, and Sue, three volumes of short stories, plus several
short story singles. Their books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
and Smashwords. You can learn more about their work by visiting their website
at wodke-hawkinson.com.
===========================================
OCTOBER 26th GIVEAWAY:
OCTOBER 26TH GIVEAWAY OFFICIALLY CLOSED! WE HAVE OUR THREE WINNERS! THANK YOU!
Today's giveaway is courtesy of the formidable writing team of Wodke Hawkinson! There are bad boys and then there's ZEKE! Yikes!
THREE PRINT COPIES of ZEKE are up for grabs! If you like sexual obsession on the freaky side, this'll keep you up all night and insisting on background checks on all future dates!
Good luck to all!
===========================================
ZEKE
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Zeke
is a dark novel of sexual obsession, psychological manipulation, and looming
peril.
Sue Cox is a naive college student who falls for the exciting new clerk at the
local used bookstore. Captivated by Zeke’s brooding good looks and menacing but
irresistible charisma, Sue capitulates to his will, leaving her wide open for
exploitation. Zeke begins to exert subtle control and entices her to leave town
with him. As they travel, his behavior grows more deviant and increasingly
volatile.
After Sue’s car is found deserted in an outlying cemetery, the police dismiss
her parents’ concerns since it appears Sue left willingly. The Coxes
immediately hire William Falstaff, a small-town private investigator. He begins
his inquiry with only two objectives. First, to verify that Sue’s departure is
voluntary. And second, to provide her family with information on her whereabouts.
A simple case. However, he soon finds himself locked into a chase to save Sue’s
life. Will he find her in time or will she become another victim of a cunning
sociopath?
Approx. 102,000 words. Advisory: Zeke contains sexual situations and violence.
The sequel to Zeke is now available: SUE by Wodke Hawkinson
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