I just finished Dean Koontz’s latest release, Relentless, and, as usual, was reluctant to come to the end of the story and leave the characters I had grown to love behind.

The Beast of Bladenboro, or the Beast of Bolivia, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of animals in 1954. Recently, reports of pets and livestock being killed in a two hundred-mile range, has incited people to start wondering if the monster they dealt with, in 1954, might be back.

I became intrigued, and then delighted, by what I was reading. I began to look at my accepted concepts and notions from a slightly different angle, and I saw glimmers of hope in places where such things didn’t seem possible. My mind opened up a bit more.

The story of how Wizard Clip, West Virginia got its name is a fascinating one centering on mysterious and paranormal events that took place in 1790.

Many believe Jesse was taken to hell for his wild ways by the stranger on the dark horse. The hoof prints made by Jesse’s frightened horse remain imprinted in the ground to this day, over two hundred years later.

Being a water naiad myself, I find water cryptids to be especially fascinating. One water creature that has some especially interesting theories to back up its existence, is called the Bunyip.

While working at the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, Missouri, years ago, I found the story of Dr. Joseph McDowell of St. Louis to be quite fascinating. His daughter died as a young girl, and he had her body pickled and stored in a cask in the cave.

Unfortunately, beauty does not guarantee prevention against ghosts and spirits appearing, and more often tends to be a magnet of the paranormal.

Some believe seeing one’s own, or a family member’s, doppelganger, is a portent of illness, bad luck, or even death.

In the churchyard, ancient yew trees line the path leading up to the church. One of the trees is extremely old and twisted with a dark red liquid flowing from a gash in the trunk. The liquid is the color and consistency of blood. I read one report that indicated the substance cannot be identified.