The House That Dripped...not exactly blood... by guest blogger Alexandra Sokoloff

The Book Tarts are thrilled to welcome guest blogger Alexandra Sokoloff  today.  She's a screenwriter turned novelist, and the author of The Harrowing and The Price.  Her latest book, The Unseen is out this month.  To learn more about Alex, visit her website www.alexandrasokoloff.com

The House That Dripped... not exactly blood...

by Alexandra Sokoloff  

When I was asked to do a guest blog for the Tarts, it was suggested that I might do a post about sex.   Alternately, I might think about talking about sex.   And failing that, there was always sex.

Well, I’m not stupid, Jenny.

But I am a little – weird.  

I’m on this – very low key! – blog tour for my new book, THE UNSEEN.   And as those of you who know me know, I write supernatural thrillers.   True to form, my take on sex today is going to be a little… paranormal.

When you write ghost stories, PLACE is hugely important - it's got to be absolutely a character in the book, just as much as the human characters are.  

And THE UNSEEN   is a haunted house story – two psychology professors take a group of psychically gifted students into a house with a history of poltergeist manifestations, to replicate a controversial experiment from the 1960’s.  I was inspired by the real-life, world famous ESP testing and poltergeist investigations that took place at the Duke University parapsychology lab, headed by Dr. J.B. Rhine.

You probably recognize those cards, which were used in laboratory tests to determine through statistical analysis whether ESP really occurs.   Two test subjects would sit at a table divided by a screen, and one subject, the sender, would flip through a deck of 25 cards, concentrating on one card at a time, while the receiver would write down her or his guesses about what that card was.

Pure chance is 20% right, so any score significantly above chance was considered to be an indicator of some psychic ability.   And if you want to try it for yourself, here's an online version of the test! 

As the daughter of scientists, I was always completely fascinated by the idea of testing something as spooky cool as ESP in a laboratory setting.   But what really hooked me about the history of the Rhine lab was that in the sixties, the researchers started doing field research of haunted houses and poltergeists.  

Poltergeists!

I know what a ghost is, kind of, but a poltergeist is such an elusive - creature.   Is it the random sexual energy of an adolescent gone wild?    Is it a particularly noisy and mischievous ghost?   Is it an otherworldly entity?   Or is it just a teenager faking spooky effects for attention?

The mystery of it has always fascinated me.  

Now, I truly believe that when you commit to a story, the universe opens up all kinds of fantastic opportunities to you.   And while I was writing THE UNSEEN, I was able to spend a whole week in an isolated Southern mansion that is notoriously haunted, and was able to model my poltergeist mansion on that very real one.

I have a posse of mystery writer friends (I should say goddesses or divas!) I hang with when I’m in Raleigh: Margaret Maron, Sarah Shaber, Diane Chamberlain, Katy Munger, Mary Kay Andrews and Brynn Bonner.   We’re more a regular lunch group than a critique group, but several times a year we go on retreat to the beach or the mountains or some generally fantastic place.   We work all day long by ourselves and then convene at night to drink wine and brainstorm on any problem that any one of us is having (and of course, compare page counts!).

And one of our favorite retreats is the Artist in Residence program at the Weymouth Center in Southern Pines, NC.  

Weymouth is an amazing place – a 9000 sq. foot mansion on 1200 acres (including several formal gardens and a 9-hole golf course) that’s really three houses melded together. It was what they called a “Yankee Playtime Plantation” in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the fox hunting lodge of coal magnate James Boyd.  James Boyd’s grandson James rebelled against the family business to become - what else? - a novelist. Boyd wrote historical novels, and his editor was the great Maxwell Perkins (“Editor of Genius”), and in the 1920’s and 30’s Weymouth became a Southern party venue for the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, and Thomas Wolfe. That literary aura pervades the house, especially the library, with all its photos and portraits of the writers who have stayed at the house.

It’s a fantastic place to write – pages just fly.  

We came down to the house on the very day that my characters were moving into THEIR haunted house.

(I’m telling you, writing is a little scary.   More than a little scary, in this case…)

Now, some of us had some truly spooky encounters in that place.   Every time I turned around there was knocking on the walls (the pipes in the kitchen), weird manifestations (a ghostly team of horses trotting by with a buggy on the road outside) and rooms that were just too creepy to go into after dark.  One night I had to go all the way back upstairs, across the upstairs hall and around to the front stairs to get to a room I wanted to go to because I was too freaked out to cross the Great Room in the dark.   And another one of us had the classic “Night Hag” visitation:  she woke up feeling that someone or something was sitting on her chest.    Brrrrr…..

One prevalent theory of hauntings is that a haunting is an imprint of a violent or strong emotion that lingers in a place like an echo or recording.   I’ve always liked that explanation.

Well, this house was imprinted, all right, but far beyond what I had expected.

Because besides the requisite spooky things… that house was downright sexy.  There’s no other way to say it.   Seriously - hot.

I had ridiculously, I mean – embarrassingly -  erotic dreams every night.  There were rooms I walked into that made my knees go completely weak.   The house, the gardens, even the golf course, just vibrated with sex.

Now, maybe that was just the imprint of creativity – the whole mansion is constantly inhabited by writers and musicians, and as we all know, creativity is a turn-on.

But also, consider the history.   As I said – Weymouth was a “Yankee Playtime Plantation”.   Rich people used that house specifically to party - in the Roaring Twenties, no less.   (Think THE GREAT GATSBY!).   God only knows how many trysts, even orgies, went on.   So could sex imprint on a place, just as violence or trauma is supposed to be able to imprint?

It makes sense to me.

That sexual dynamic surprised the hell out of me, but it completely worked with my main character’s back story - she’s a young California psychology professor who impulsively flees to North Carolina after she catches her fiancé cheating on her.  (Actually, she dreams her fiancé is cheating on her, in exactly the scenario that she catches him in later.)    So her wound is a specifically sexual one, and one of her great weaknesses is that she’s vulnerable to being sexually manipulated.  

Add to that that the most prevalent explanation of a poltergeist is that it’s hormones run amok:  that the projected sexual energy of an adolescent or young adult can randomly cause objects to move or break.

So of course I went with it.   It wasn’t anything to do with my outline, but California girl that I am, how can I not go with the obvious flow?

I think it adds a great dimension to the story, in a way I never could have anticipated, and I’m pleased to have been true to the - um, spirit - of poltergeists.

So I have two questions for the Tarts today.    First, of course, I’m always interested in hearing your ghost and psychic experiences.   Come on, I know you have them.  

But also I’d love to know – what’s the sexiest place you’ve ever been, and why?    I wouldn’t mind having a list to file away.   You never know when you might need it.

- Alex

Comments

[Nancy Martin]

Can I just say that I'm insanely jealous of your local retreat group? OMG, Alex, you're all amazing!

I took the test. I have zero ESP ability.

I love the idea that poltergeists are repressed sexual energy. No wonder the world has run amok!

I'm not telling you my sexiest place because Margie would hve a field day. But thanks for being our guest!

Here's a link to The Unseen: http://www.amazon.com/Unseen-Alexandra-Sokoloff/dp/031238470X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245501245&sr=1-1

[Karen in Ohio]

Okay, now I'm dying to stay at Weymouth! How fascinating.

The countryside of the New England coast, from New York City all the way to Maine, is sexy to me and my husband for some reason, especially in the fall, or any other time. No idea why, but your explanation of accumulated history could be one reason.

And I'm equally fascinated by the idea of a blog tour. What a great idea, promoting your book without leaving home. Or leaving, if you need to. Best of luck with The Unseen, Alex.

[Karen in Ohio]

No ESP here, either. I suspect that if someone in my family were involved the score would go up, though.

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Thanks, Nancy! Yes, I really feel like I dropped onto Olympus with that writing group. I'm totally the upstart.

Amazing authors, and amazing women.

(Oh, I get it... your sexiest place...)

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Karen, I believe you about Maine. I went there for the first time last year and OH, what a beautiful state, just staggering. My idea of Maine comes from Stephen King books so I never knew!

Yeah, the blog tour. I'm not doing it like some other people are doing it (ie there was no organization involved whatsoever) - but it does open up new audiences. Or turn them away, I guess, depending on what you post!

So you DO have a gifted one in your family, hmm?

[J.D. Rhoades]

I took the test again, and once again, I scored LOWER than random chance. I swear I have anti-ESP.

I grew up in Southern Pines, a few blocks from Weymouth. Never really thought of it as all that sexy, I must confess. Now, across the street, on the grounds of the Campbell House, was a place where we used to hang out and indulge in our favorite green leafy substances. Made out with my girlfriend there a couple of times, so I guess that counts.

Oh, the horse and buggy? That may have been real.

Best of luck with THE UNSEEN!

[judy merrill larsen]

I'm with Nancy and Dusty in my ESP ability--absolutely none. But I am pretty good at knowing when one of my teenagers is lying so that counts for something.

UNSEEN sounds amazing (and terrifying). Very cool.

Sexiest place? Well one would have to be New Orleans.

[Karen in Ohio]

It's not that we have a gifted one in the family, it's just that we have intuitions about one another. Don't all families have that?

Dusty, I'm reading Safe and Sound right now. You're creeping me out, dude! Good book, though.

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

But Dusty, you know that the Campbell House was once the other half of the Weymouth House, right? When two Boyd brothers inherited it they split the house in half and took the Campbell House across the street (by mule!! The mind boggles!).

So really, all those makeout sessions? Totally inspired by the Weymouth house. You just didn't know it.

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Judy, agreed, New Orleans is one of the sexiest places on earth. That and Paris. Well, London, too, but that's a lot because of the men.

I don't know if knowing when people are lying is psychic, but it sure comes in handy.

[billie]

Alex, I couldn't wait to read your take on Weymouth, as it is one of my favorite places to work.

The night-time sitting on chest thing is well documented among writers who have stayed (or left in the middle of the night completely freaked out) there.

My personal theory is that James Boyd's brother is the one doing the sitting. He knew of Katherine Boyd (James' wife) before James met her, and invited James to go with him to a big party in order to meet Katherine. But James ended up meeting her too and they fell in love and married. The brother ended up spending time at Weymouth, with his brother the wife he had wanted for himself, and I think he stays there in a ghostly form sort of hanging on to the fantasy that HE is the master of the mansion now.

If one is not afraid, he can actually be very flirtatious and helpful. I have found things I needed (a hairband, pen, etc.) but didn't have, sitting on the dresser of my bedroom on several occasions.

Anyway, fun to read your experience of the place! I'll be there in October... :)

[Karen in Ohio]

I had to drop in one more time with this: Italy is a darn sexy place, too.

Off to the farmers' market!

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Billie, is that a true story about James Boyd's brother and Katherine? Or are you speculating (what brother doesn't pine for his brother's wife, anyway, right?)

Either way, I love it! That whole brothers splitting the house thing... the mind just HAS to run wild.

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Italy, yes. Well, travel is sexy, in general.

[J.D. Rhoades]

Alex, I'm ashamed to say that I did not know that story about the Campbell House. Fascinating.

[xena]

Soooo....welcome Alex! Weymouth sounds like a wiener place! We must have a field trip!
Having danced all over the world I'm having a tough time selecting one place so I'm having to wander through the memory banks of boyfriends to recall what we did and where. It's a nice travelogue.
After further research it seems the sexiest places involved water, mountains and sunshine or being underneath something like a waterfall in Venezuela or back to back Steinway pianos in Spain.
Just saying.

[Lisa Daily]

Alex,

Thanks so much for blogging with us today -- great topic!

Okay, I took the ESP test, and sadly, I cannot add clairvoyance to my list of skills.

As for sexiest places, my all time favorite is the top of the island on Capri, Italy.

Lisa

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Xena, I have always found underneath a piano to be an amazingly sexy place. On top, too.

Steinways, especially.

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Lisa, it's great to be here!

Hmm, no ESP in this whole group yet? I'm beginnning to think that test is bogus.

[J.D. Rhoades]

I have always found underneath a piano to be an amazingly sexy place. On top, too.

"Forte! Forte! Accelerando!"

[billie]

Alex, yes, it's true! I did some research and uncovered that much of the story - the speculation that he's ghosting about there is mine though.

I need to take the ESP test but have to hit the feed store before it closes. :)

[karen from mentor]

Deep woods for me Alex, standing in lush moss, doing yoga. Trees just drip sex, expecially in the spring with all the sap rising.
Actually I met a really luscious man that way....

I absolutely believe in ESP and think that it's not SUPERNATURAL, just a natural ability that we all have, just most of us ignore it.

I really enjoyed The Unseen. I was concerned that it would be too scary ala Jack Kilborn...but it was great. Suspenseful, smart, sexy, beautifully written...and a great satisfying ending. What else could you ask for...and when does the movie come out????

Get some rest missy!
Hugs!
Karen

[karen from mentor]

P.S.
I might be biased... LOL... I have a post on my blog page titled "Alexandra Sokoloff, Goddess"

but it really is a great book! Run, don't walk, go buy it.

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Dusty - laughing and blushing out loud.

Billie, it just makes total sense to me with the rest of the history of the house. It must be so.

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Karen, so glad you liked the book, thank you!

No, you'll never have to worry about in-your-face horror with my books - I don't like it and I don't write it. No gore, either. I like the "what's behind the door?" kind of spooky.