Month: July 2014

Haunted Houses Popular In Houston

Haunted Houses Popular In Houston

Or, Houston’s Haunted Mansion Sells

Click here for the original article or scroll down for Elizabeth Rhodes’ story.

Houston Haunted Mansion Sells For Almost Double Asking Price

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It turns out that even a scary looking, unfinished home can sell in the Houston real estate market.

A five-bedroom, 4,861 square foot mansion at 2309 Wichita Street has sold for almost double the asking price. With an initial listing price of $150,000, the so-called “haunted mansion” sold for $251,000 after approximately 25 bids.

Nick Ugarov, a real estate investor, is the proud new owner of the spooky looking mansion that sits just east of Texas 288 near Dowling Street. Ugarov was the 17th person to bid on the property.

Charles Fondow, the home’s former owner, spent 31 years renovating and expanding the property, although the project was not completed before his death in 2011. Deutsche Bank purchased the property soon after, although it was not put on the market until earlier this year.

Although unsure about his exact plans for the Riverside Terrace mansion, Ugarov knows he does not want to demolish the structure.

“I am finishing the project in [Fondow’s] memory,” Ugarov tells the Houston Press.

Let’s just hope that doesn’t mean another 31 years of unfinished haunting business.

<3 Anna

Red Plague Giveaway on GoodReads

Red Plague Giveaway on GoodReads

Or, Your Last Day To Enter To Win!

This month I am giving away five copies of my zombie romance trilogy through GoodReads. Bonus–each paperback will be signed by me!

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Link to GoodReads.

Back Cover Blurb:

The red plague has devastated the human race, turning billions of people into zombies with red eyes and an insatiable hunger for human flesh. 

The 212R virus sweeps through the population so quickly a possible cure is left to rot. Seventeen-year-old Maya Solomon may be the only survivor who knows where it is. But to reach the lab in Raleigh, North Carolina she will have to outrun the infected boy tracking her every step and cross into a city swarming with monsters.

<3 Anna

Woman Haunted By Louis XVII

Woman Haunted By Louis XVII

Or, A Poltergeist Story

You can find the original story here or scroll down for STV’s article.

Woman Haunted By Poltergeist Who Claimed To Be Prince Louis XVII

As part of its Supernatural Week, today This Morning met a woman who claimed that as a youngster she and her family were haunted by a poltergeist, who later apparently identified himself as Prince Louis XVII.

Shirley Hitchings and her family lived in fear of the ghost they nicknamed ‘Donald’, as he banged objects around their house, tore up clothes, and even made them levitate.

Today Shirley joined the show to share her supernatural experience, and how it all began years ago in 1956 when Shirley was just 15.

“A key appeared [on a bed] and then that night we were woken, and it was just horrendous mayhem. Things were flying around, things were thrown. Loud bang, bang, bang. And we all go up… dad went and thought it was the pipes and the electricity, and we that first night we just huddled together in the kitchen.

“I held onto my father and said, ‘please, make it stop, make it go away’.”

Shirley added: “This went on for three or fourth months, night after night, and we were really [scared].”

The family resorted to calling in a priest to perform several exorcisms, as well as holding séances to try to get to the bottom of the supernatural activity, but nothing worked.

“[The poltergeist] was basically laughing at us. My mum called him Donald…. And after it went on and on, we found out who he was.”

A paranormal expert helped the family get to the bottom of the activity, leaving a pen and paper in a locked room to see if the spirit would communicate with them.

“At first it was gibberish, and it was half French and half English, but it gave us a clue. And Mr Chibbett, he was the researcher, he analysed it, took it away, and it was just general things at first.

“But then as time went on and Mr Chibbett would talk to him, and he was writing one day and said, ‘please tell us who you really are’…

“We were all sitting in the kitchen and he went into the back room and there were three or four sheets of paper and he signed himself Your Royal Highness Prince Louis Capet.

“Apparently Capet isn’t a name that the French Royal Family were know by – they were know as Bourbons, so that was the first clue, and Chibbett’s ears pricked up.

“He was the Dauphin, the second son he said of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI that lost their heads.”

Shirley continued: “He said he died escaping here coming across the English Channel, the boat went down, he was with an Austrian count, who was the first cousin of his mother who was instructed to get him out of France.”

All of this was divulged in the spirit’s letters, and asked why he would have turned up in Shirley’s family’s home, she said: “All he would say is I looked like his sister and we never got any more, we didn’t know why he was there, he would never say.”

Obviously skeptics were suspicious of this story, but over the years the family invited a number of paranormal experts as well as members of the media into their home to verify the stories, with one reporter sleeping in the same room as Shirley – who had her hands and feet tied – to experience the sensation of the spirit’s interactions with her.

<3 Anna

Last Day Elixir Is Free

Last Day Elixir Is Free

Or, Today Is Your Last Chance To Try The First Book In The Red Plague Trilogy For $0.00

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Like YA zombie romance? Not sure if you do? Download the ebook Elixir (Red Plague #1) and find out! Free today on Amazon.

Back Cover Blurb:

The red plague has devastated the human race, turning billions of people into zombies with red eyes and an insatiable hunger for human flesh. 

The 212R virus sweeps through the population so quickly a possible cure is left to rot. Seventeen-year-old Maya Solomon may be the only survivor who knows where it is. But to reach the lab in Raleigh, North Carolina she will have to outrun the infected boy tracking her every step and cross into a city swarming with monsters.

<3 Anna

Want To Buy A Haunted House?

Want To Buy A Haunted House?

Or, Check Out This Illinois Home

Click HERE to read the original article or scroll down

Haunted House On Sale For A Song

If you’ve always dreamed of owning a mansion but don’t have the funds required to make it a reality, then this property on the market in Illinois could be just the ticket.

The Hiram B Scutt Mansion, former home of the Civil War veteran and barbed wire tycoon who gave it its name, is up for sale for just $159,900 (£95,000).

Built in 1882, the three-storey, red-brick building in Joliet covers 4,960 square-feet and is on the United States’ National Register of Historic Places.

But as the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, that’s probably because it is – the sprawling residence is also said to be haunted, Patch.com reported.

The house was bought by real estate broker Brian Kearney in 2004. Two years later football players from the University of St Francis rented out the building and threw a party.

But during the festivities a 19-year-old man called Steven Jenkins was shot dead.

Within a year of the murder, local historian and John Wilkes Booth impersonator Seth Magosky bought the large house –he planned to open the P Seth Magosky Museum of Victorian Life & Joliet History.

But less than six months later he died suddenly at the age of 39.

And some people believe the two men – as well as the original Scutt inhabitants – live on in the house.

In 2010, Edward Shanahan, a spiritual observer, psychic reader and paranormal host wrote a blog post for Chicago Now in which he described the mansion as a ”paranormal gem”.

He wrote: “The years that have past, has seen many human tragedies within its four walls, from sudden deaths to a murder in the past that have left their emotional energy in the place.”

However, real estate agent Marcia C Cronin told Patch.com that an energy reader had said the mansion is not haunted.

So, it looks like the jury’s out. Either way, it’s a bargain.

<3 Anna

 

Happy Day! Elixir is Free :D

Happy Day! Elixir is Free :D

Or, Here’s Your Chance To Jump Into A Zombie Trilogy!

Starting today (and going on until July 14) Elixir: Red Plague #1 is free at Amazon. My YA zombie romance is short, sweet, and scary. Check it out!

I can’t wait to hear what you think.

P.S. Don’t forget the complete trilogy, signed by me and in paperback format, is a GoodReads giveaway this month.

 

Elixir1800x2700

Cover Blurb:

The red plague has devastated the human race, turning billions of people into zombies with red eyes and an insatiable hunger for human flesh. 

The 212R virus sweeps through the population so quickly a possible cure is left to rot. Seventeen-year-old Maya Solomon may be the only survivor who knows where it is. But to reach the lab in Raleigh, North Carolina she will have to outrun the infected boy tracking her every step and cross into a city swarming with monsters.

<3 Anna

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