This is one of many pictures photographed by Sarah Ryan that accompanies Daisy Phillipson’s post “Breaking into a Haunted Mental Hospital in Korea” for chinch.co.uk.

Haunted Asylum

September 24, 2015 in YouTube, Paranormal

Alexie is currently writing more paranormal adventures for Mia and PEEPs, and I, The Red Pen, volunteered to put together the blog post for this week. Even though I’m still in the midst of editing Restitution, I remembered something that might be of interest: the Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital. Coming in at #7 in CNN’s “7 of the Freakiest Places on the Planet,” Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital is an abandoned structure in Gyeonggi, South Korea.

The rumors about Gonjiam revolve around the tale of a hospital in which patients began to die from unknown circumstances. These deaths resulted in the hospital’s sudden closure (mid 1980s). Some say the doctor tormented his patients, and it is those patients who remain, haunting this empty, mold-blackened, deteriorating husk of a building. Some others say it was simply a closure brought about by a bad sewage system, money problems, and the owner legging it to the United States, taking all documents pertaining to the land and building with him.

There are several videos of youtubers’ excursions into the mental hospital. The first one I’ve linked is the best in terms of capturing the eerie visuals of the place. It is short and steady - no shaky-cam à la Blair Witch - and is paired with creepy music.

The following are short excursions with commentary. In the first one, a door moves towards the end of the video. But why? Wind? The creepy spirit that – is right behind you! Okay, enough silliness. In both videos, a person decides to take a souvenir. One takes a stone piece from a game of Go, and another takes a rice paddle. Why? I like to present myself as a skeptic, but I would absolutely be afraid to bring something home with me. Just imagine what “ghostly attachment” a person would be inviting into their home.

Alexie would laugh at me saying I’m skeptical. She knows that I always lift me feet off the ground when I’m watching a scary movie, and she had to coax me out of the car when we visited a “haunted” cemetery. Have any of you visited some places of paranormal notoriety? If so, you are probably braver than me. Well, back to policing commas. Have a great weekend!

Edits and Rewrites and Bears, Oh My.

September 17, 2015 in Musings, Info

One of my favorite readers, Amanda Urquhart from Down Under – does that mean I’m Up Over? Back on topic. Amanda recently posted that she was looking forward to spring which means – yeah – I’m moving into fall, which brings on a cool word like autumnal, the wearing of sweaters and my new blue jean jacket. I also have my collection of boots lined up. I’m ready! What else is going on?

The Alexie Aaron Interview Podcast #2

September 10, 2015 in Podcast, Interview, YouTube, Q&A, Music

Aaron the WebGuy here announcing the second Alexie Aaron Interview Podcast. Just when you thought you were safe from the ramblings of the two of us.... BAM! We're back and discussing whatever the heck came to mind! There's some new news on the release schedule for Alexie's next Haunted Series novel toward the end as well.

Inspiration and Music

September 02, 2015 in Musings, Music, YouTube

This weekend, The Red Pen and I attended a Vertical Horizon concert. It took place in a Chicago club The Wire, and even though the crowd was small, the performers were big. They performed like they were playing for a house of tens of thousands.

Inspiration and Muse

August 27, 2015 in Musings, Info

The other day, my little sister asked me a question that has been asked before: Where does all this stuff come from? She was on the other end of a phone conversation and not standing next to me in my office. Had she been in my office, I would have assumed she meant the castoff bits and bobs that needed to be filed, notes, and lots and lots of papers. Where all these had accumulated from, who knows? But once my inner paranoid housekeeper was quieted, I realized she was talking about where I got my book ideas from. I had an easy answer: my imagination! Okay, but what fuels this imagination? That’s… a bit more complicated.

Updates and Weather

August 21, 2015 in Musings, Info

“Now that you’ve launched The Old House, the 16th novel of PEEPs, what are you going to do?”

Well, I’m not going to Walt Disney World. Been there. I’m actually finishing the first draft of the 17th novel. I’m a bit worried because I don’t have a title yet. I’m expecting my Cin Fin-Lathen novel Unforgiveable Cin: An Opera in Three Acts back from the editor with lots of corrections for me to do. Also, I’ve bought myself, yet again, another pair of boots.

The Old House

August 13, 2015 in Book Release, Info

We at AlexieAaron.com are proud to announce...

Binge Reading with The Beta Reader

August 06, 2015 in Guest, Binge

Hi everyone, I'm the Beta Reader, and I am writing today about a subject very dear to me. Since I am eagerly awaiting the final draft of the new Haunted Series novel The Old House, I thought I could help pass the time by recommending some other novels I enjoy. I do have a passion for reading, and while I read most every genre of book, I decided to focus my attentions on subjects akin to Alexie Aaron's works. This brief list will focus on paranormal stories, written by female authors, that feature a strong female protagonist. I've read more than fifty books just in the past two months alone, so I picked a very specific topic in order to narrow the list down a bit. And so, here are some of my favorite recent reads with the themes of Witches, Sorcery, and Magic.

I'm including links to the authors' amazon pages, so you can look over their novels and the synopses for each. Under these links, I will tell you my brief thoughts about each one.