Mind's Eye - Inspiration

Hi all,

I decided to do a short write up on where I find inspiration for the creepy things I write. What makes my mind see darkness in regular places, what is it that makes me pen stories of the unusual and oft macabre?

Now for the most part, I find inspiration by reading other stories and looking at weird things on the internet and occasionally, when time permits, going on a bit of an exploration trip around my town.

Honestly, the town I work at has a dark and sordid history and that is why I find it so interesting. It has it origins in mining way back when, but even before that the very start of this town is rotted in death and misery. See, in December of 1880 around 6000 men got together to fight for independence of the Transvaal. No fight for independence ever is pretty.

After that there was a lot of mining on the various farms and the gold rush brought with it more people, more death. The town also was used as a concentration camp during the Anglo Boer war. It has a rich history of various christian denominations vying for the attention of the populace and some reports of satanism every few years. Honestly, I am pretty sure that for every church, regardless of denomination, there is at least one reported haunting in this town.

I love this town with all its stories. The most recent being a colleague at work claiming he is haunted by a suicide victim who took his life on a hill behind my colleagues house. There is the story about a man involved in satanism who murdered his parents and allegedly stuff his father's brains into the bullet casings he fired at the cops. There is another of a school which used to be the site of public executions and to this day people claim seeing the ghosts of those hanged there back when. There are stories of one haunted house where a girl committed suicide by lighting herself on fire. One of my friends from primary schooled lived in that exact house and honestly, I do recall some really creepy things happening there when I went to visit as a kid.

So many creepy places to see and stories to hear and that is why I am working on an entire horror anthology set in this creepy ass town. 

Here follows some photos of my most recent adventure to what is surely a haunted as balls abandoned mining hostel.

So yes, inspiration is plentiful in a town that has a dark history. Creepiness is right around the corner.

If you have any creepy places you would like to share with me, please do so. Maybe we can explore some together one day?

-Vengi

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