Queer Witches: Paranormal Fantasy Recs

Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper

Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one—in part because she hasn’t been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams. But when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She’s determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago. On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov—an all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts—who is fresh off a bad breakup … with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Linden—unbeknownst to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one question stands: Is Emmy in? But most concerning of all: Why can’t she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?

Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley

Tamsin is the most powerful witch of her generation. But after committing the worst magical sin, she’s exiled by the ruling Coven and cursed with the inability to love. The only way she can get those feelings back—even for just a little while—is to steal love from others. Wren is a source—a rare kind of person who is made of magic, despite being unable to use it herself. Sources are required to train with the Coven as soon as they discover their abilities, but Wren—the only caretaker to her ailing father—has spent her life hiding her secret. When a magical plague ravages the queendom, Wren’s father falls victim. To save him, Wren proposes a bargain: if Tamsin will help her catch the dark witch responsible for creating the plague, then Wren will give Tamsin her love for her father. Of course, love bargains are a tricky thing, and these two have a long, perilous journey ahead of them—that is, if they don’t kill each other first..

Briar Girls by Rebecca Kim Wells

Lena has a secret: the touch of her skin can kill. Cursed by a witch before she was born, Lena has always lived in fear and isolation. But after a devastating mistake, she and her father are forced to flee to a village near the Silence, a mysterious forest with a reputation for luring people into the trees, never to be seen again…​ Until the night an enigmatic girl stumbles out of the Silence and into Lena’s sheltered world. Miranda comes from the Gather, a city in the forest brimming with magic. She is on a quest to wake a sleeping princess believed to hold the key to liberating the Gather from its tyrannical ruler—and she offers Lena a bargain. If Lena assists her on her journey, Miranda will help her break the curse. Mesmerized by Miranda and her promise of a new life, Lena jumps at the chance. But the deeper into the Silence she goes, the more she suspects she’s been lied to—about her family’s history, her curse, and her future. As the shadows close in, Lena must choose who to trust and decide whether it’s more important to have freedom…or power.

Walking Through Shadows by Sheri Lewis Wohl

Molly Williams is a powerful hereditary witch who manages to keep her powers under control as she tries to be normal. Most of the time, it works. An invitation from friends Winnie and Angus is just the diversion she needs right now, and she jumps at the offer to go backpacking along the Umatilla River in northeast Oregon. When a freak storm forces them to take shelter in a secluded, crumbling cabin, their trip takes an unexpected turn. The moment Molly touches a leather-bound book discovered in the floorboards, they’re transported back in time. Only with the help of the mysterious and beautiful Native American woman Aquene do they stay one step ahead of a band of witch hunters. Will Molly find the right magic to get them home before the hunters find her? Or will she risk it all to stay at Aquene’s side?

Wow

“The boy whose case inspired the portrayal of a demon-possessed child in the 1973 horror movie classic The Exorcist has been named.

The US magazine the Skeptical Inquirer named the then 14-year-old boy, previously known as Roland Doe, who underwent exorcisms in Cottage City, Maryland, and St Louis, Missouri, in 1949.

Ronald Edwin Hunkeler died last year, a month before his 86th birthday, after suffering a stroke at home in Marriottsville, Maryland.

In adult life, Hunkeler was a Nasa engineer whose work contributed to the Apollo space missions of the 1960s and who patented a technology that helped space shuttle panels withstand extreme heat.

One of his companions, a 29-year-old woman who asked not to be named, told the New York Post that Hunkeler was always on edge about his Nasa colleagues discovering that he was the inspiration for The Exorcist.

“On Halloween, we always left the house because he figured someone would come to his residence and know where he lived and never let him have peace,” she said. “He had a terrible life from worry, worry, worry,” she added.

Hunkeler eventually retired from Nasa in 2001 after working at the agency for nearly 40 years.

William Peter Blatty, who wrote the 1971 novel and the film based on the same name, first heard about Hunkeler’s apparent demonic possession when he was a senior at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

His professor, Eugene Gallager, who was also a priest at Georgetown, the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university founded in the US, told Blatty about Hunkeler’s reported possessions and subsequent exorcisms.

Born in 1935 and raised by a middle-class family in Cottage City, Hunkeler began experiencing paranormal activities at 14 when he reported hearing knocking and scratching sounds from behind his bedroom walls.

The Rev Luther Schulze, Hunkeler’s family minister, eventually wrote to the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, in North Carolina, in March 1949 and explained how “chairs moved with [Hunkeler] and one threw him out [of it.] His bed shook whenever he was in it.”

Schulze also explained how the family’s floors were “scarred from the sliding of heavy furniture” and how “a picture of Christ on the wall shook” whenever Hunkeler was nearby.

The family eventually sought the help of William Bowdern, a Jesuit who conducted more than 20 exorcism rituals on Hunkeler in the span of three months. Writing in his diary on 10 March 1949, Bowdern noted how Hunkeler entered a trance-like state as 14 witnesses watched during one of his exorcisms.

Born in 1935 and raised by a middle-class family in Cottage City, Hunkeler began experiencing paranormal activities at 14 when he reported hearing knocking and scratching sounds from behind his bedroom walls.

The Rev Luther Schulze, Hunkeler’s family minister, eventually wrote to the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, in North Carolina, in March 1949 and explained how “chairs moved with [Hunkeler] and one threw him out [of it.] His bed shook whenever he was in it.”

Schulze also explained how the family’s floors were “scarred from the sliding of heavy furniture” and how “a picture of Christ on the wall shook” whenever Hunkeler was nearby.

The family eventually sought the help of William Bowdern, a Jesuit who conducted more than 20 exorcism rituals on Hunkeler in the span of three months. Writing in his diary on 10 March 1949, Bowdern noted how Hunkeler entered a trance-like state as 14 witnesses watched during one of his exorcisms.

There was a “scratching which beat out a rhythm of marching soldiers. Second class relic of St Margaret Mary was thrown on the floor. The safety pin was opened but no human hand had touched the relic. R started up in fright when the relic was thrown down,” Bowdern wrote…”

Honestly, I feel really bad for him having to live in secrecy and worry most of his life.

Ghost Photo: Tulip Staircase Ghost

This picture was taken by Ralph Hardy, in 1966, a Canadian tourist who intended to photograph the “Tulip Staircase” in the Queen’s House section of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Upon development, however, the photo revealed the ghostly figure climbing the stairs, holding the railing with both hands. Many experts, including some from Kodak, could not find any evidence of tampering. Other figures have been seen on occasion in the vicinity of the staircase, and unexplained footsteps have also been heard.

Wicked Good Books Salem, Massachusetts

With so many reported hauntings around the town of Salem it will come as no surprise that it also sports a haunted book store. Wicked Good Books is commonly cited as one of Salem’s most haunted places and it holds some alluring mysteries, which could be connected.

Recent renovations, which were undertaken when the store was purchased by a new owner, uncovered some troubling things. Hidden tunnel systems underneath the store were discovered, which lead to Derby Square. These were apparently used to smuggle goods and humans many years ago. What is most troubling is that there were human remains found within the tunnels and there are rumors that two fugitive slaves may still be entombed down there.

This terrifying discovery was able to shed a little light onto why paranormal events, such as poltergeist activity, were happening within Wicked Good Books.

Why is the vampire so captiviating? In folklore and mythology they are grotesque, soul starving, blood thirsty reanimated corpses. They have changed tremendously through the centuries from succubi to just short of divine beings of beauty and social hierarchy; they are like avatars of true will.

As time has passed they have become more human and less monstrous. In the old days there was no divide between werewolf, vampire, and demon, just another servant, spawn or equal to Satan. They were cursed beings that existed solely to do the ‘Devil’s Work’ through violence and deception.

At one point they had powers of flight, shape-shifting and mental suggestion; along with enhanced senses, physical prowess and immortality. Today, vampires are still misunderstood - feared and hated - by both magical and religious communities.

(Source: Pinterest, artist unknown)

The spirit of vampires are equal to little gods. They are not bound by time nor region, appearance nor dogma. They are eternal and ever evolving and while popular media portrays them as cursed and spiritually weak, those that walk in the Shadows are privy to feelings of Pleasure and Power.

In popular culture vampires gorge on blood, in real life (communities and magical circles) it is the energetic essence of the life force of human, planet and spirit they Cycle and Feed upon. Magically, they take what they desire, doing more then just simply living on need and that is what makes them seem Sinister. In and of themselves they are not so much Sinister as they are aligned with their Will and Instinct. They are not controlled by compulsions rather they are dignified in their acquisition of Pleasure, albeit with consent.

Gurdon Man

Legend has it the ghost of a man struck and killed by a train is the source of a mysterious light in Gurdon, Arkansas. While there are countless photos and videos of the Gurdon Light itself, is this the only photo of the ghostly figure behind the legend?

According to one source, a paranormal investigation team snapped the photo after a psychic in the group sensed something was following them. The man who took the picture describes the image as a “blue, energy-shaped like a man crossing the tracks.”

What do you think?