I read an article the other day that the famous Poe Toaster failed to show this year. For those unfamiliar with the tradition, every January 19 since 1949, a mysterious figure has come to the Baltimore cemetery where author/poet Edgar Allan Poe’s original headstone is and has left a bouquet of roses and a bottle of Cognac.

This year, however, he was a no show, much to the disappointment of Poe fans everywhere. As a Poe disciple myself, I hope that the Poe Toaster hasn’t stopped and was just the victim of illness, a missed alarm, or car trouble and encourage him (or her) to continue. Poe was vastly under-rated and scorned in his time and I can’t think of a better way of paying tribute to the man.

Whatever the circumstances, I raise my glass to you, Mr. Toaster. Thank you for honouring Poe in a classy yet solemn way.

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Hi all,

I updated the stories with a few new ones to end January off with.

I’ve also added a ghost tour in Schochwitz, Germany. The owner of the castle there, Lord James Welsh, contacted me with a few details. He has opened up the castle for ghost tours and there are also holiday rentals for those so inclined. Jim has told me that he suspects there are between 10 to 15 ghosts that roam the halls, the bulk of them appear to be made up of Nazi SS officers who were resident in the castle during World War II. Jim has personally seen one ghost three times and suspects it is the ghost of Heinrich Himmler, so if anyone is a WWII buff as well as a ghost hunter, this would be the place for you.

You can visit the Castle Schochwitz web page at http://www.castleschochwitz.com/. For more information on the ghost tour, please email Lord James Welsh at schochwitz@hotmail.co.uk. A link to the site can also be found on the COS ghost tours page. It’s easy to find, it’s the only ghost tour in Germany at the moment.

The Australian Ghost Hunters Society (AGHS) is starting it’s own blog for those interested in ghost hunting and the investigations the AGHS has participated in. You can find that at http://www.castleofspirits.com/aghsblog.

Keep the stories coming! Now that the whole holiday season is over with, I have more time to update the site so hopefully I’ll have more frequent updates.

That’s all for now. Thanks as always for reading and visiting COS!

Don
The Groundskeeper

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Hi all,

I’m sorry for the lack of updates lately. The last month has been a busy one so I wasn’t able to work on the site. But things have settled down and there are ten new stories so far for December with more to come.

I’d also like to take the time to wish everyone a good solstice, happy Festivus… oh yea, and a merry Christmas to you non-pagan folk. Whatever your holiday this time of year, have a good and safe one.

Don the Groundskeeper

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I hope everyone had a good Hallowe’en, I spent a quiet evening with my wife watching the 1991 version of “Dracula”, a great movie despite Keanu Reeves’ attempt at an English accent. Great as Neo, not so hot as Harker.

We finally have some art! Thank you to Katie Wilson for her skeletal horse submission, it fits the site quite well. To have a look, click on the following link: http://www.castleofspirits.com/coppermine1/thumbnails.php?album=2

I’m switching photo gallery software again, Gallery2 wasn’t doing it for me so it’s off to Coppermine. I like the Coppermine interface a lot better so looks like that’s what I’ll run with. In the meantime the old photo archives page will still be active while I transfer everything over.

New stories are coming, I’ve been too busy playing with the photo software lately.

Don – The Groundskeeper

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It’s been a busy week at the Castle. We moved to new web servers, there was a little hiccup with the story submission page and blog but that’s been resolved and we’re working as normal again.

October is becoming a banner month for stories, there’s over 20 posted this month so thank you to those that continue to submit your stories, you make the site what it is.

One thing that’s been nagging me lately is that there are some people who still consider Hallowe’en a time of evil. Historically, it’s the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain and was (put very simply) a combination of Thanksgiving and New Years that stretched on for about a week. The evil connotations seem to be propagated by religious types that don’t bother to research what they spout on about so I invite everyone to read up on the history of Hallowe’en on this site as well as others.  Get educated, people!

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Hi All,

   I’ve put up a new page for ghost tours that features a clickable map of the world to find ghost tours in your area. So far I only have the Australian and one Canadian ghost tour highlighted, more will follow as I do a little research. Please give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Don – The Groundskeeper

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I’ve created a new archive web page, it brings the archive listing into the new style and now includes the archives for past months this year. You can reach them by clicking on the Archive menu option under Ghost Stories.

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It’s finally October, that time of year when the days grow shorter, we start thinking about ghosts and goblins, and what we’ll wear to that really cool Halloween party.

I’m happy to announce that there is (finally) a new section that’s been added to the Castle. Wallpapers are now available. Just click on the Wallpaper link on the main page (under the Resources menu) or by direct link to http://www.castleofspirits.com/website/new/wallpaper/wallpaper.html.

I’ve also posted seven new stories to start off October. I’ll have more as that month goes on.

The renovations to the Castle continue. Unfortunately I’ve had a parting of ways with the web developer who was working on the site so I’m giving myself a crash course in website development. I’m working to add new pages such as the wallpaper and books section, and also to convert over the old pages into the new format… it’s slow work, but I’m getting there and I hope you will all be patient as the renovations continue.

It’s still not too late to order your Castle of Spirits: Tome of Lost Tales book and have it by Halloween. The delivery times are very conservative so if it tells you that it won’t arrive until November, please don’t be discouraged – I order books all the time to sell to family and friends and the time between ordering and actually receiving the book is about a week. You can order from http://www.castleofspirits.com/book

Happy Hauntings!

Don – The Groundskeeper

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COS: Tome of Lost Tales is now available for you Kindle and Kindle-for-iPhone users. If you want to order, head over to:

 http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Spirits-Lost-Tales/dp/B002OSXN8C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1253204241&sr=1-1

I’m also introducing a new books section. In it you’ll be able to look at available books out there about ghosts and ghost hunting or other aspects of the supernatural. I’ll have a Reviews section up soon as I’ve been asked by a couple of authors to post a review of their book.

If you know of a good book and want to submit a review yourself or have me take a look at it, feel free to email me and let me know.

The Books section can be accessed through the Resources menu on the site’s pages or go to:

 www.castleofspirits.com/website/new/books/index.html

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As the title says, we have a few more stories for September. One story comes with a creepy new picture, which as soon as I get the okay from the sender, I’ll have up in the photo gallery soon.

On the book front, COS: Tome of Lost Tales is now available on Amazon.com at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Spirits-Tales-Donald-Wilmshurst/dp/1448661323/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252516133&sr=8-1

For you Kindle and iPhone Kindle App users, the book should be available within the week for download as well, I’ll post as it becomes available.

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