Thursday, December 16, 2010

Chillin' with Martin Bartloff

Please welcome Martin Bartloff to my blog :)


House of Fear

Although you’re not really in the mood, you decide to turn on the radio or television. Turn on a couple more lights in the house ‘cause your friends just left and you find yourself all alone at home. Nobody else is there and you just have to kill a few hours before your parents or brother comes home.

You’re trying to watch TV, but your skin begins to prickle and your heart beats a few extra beats than it should. You pretend everything is just fine, however it’s not. You listen past the sound of the radio, and you hear a strange noise coming from somewhere downstairs. Your chest throbs and a cold shiver creeps up your spine.

You know you’re not completely by yourself at home because something is watching you and you’re not just imagining this. You wish you could tell somebody, but what would be the use, they’ll just think you’re a scared little kid and probably, by the time somebody gets home, you’re way too relieved to give it any more thought. You just don’t want to think about it anymore. Not ever again.

You guessed it!! I’m a firm believer of ghosts, spirits and whatever else creeps in the dark or hovers between the heavens and earth. What sets me apart from the average scaredy pants is that I could take a walk in a cemetery in the middle of the night or walk down a dark alley and neither would bother me. But, I remember coming home in the dark from a friend’s house while my mom and my brother went off to visit Grandma for a couple of hours and I would NOT go in the house. You may understand now why there are a few scenes in Torn From Normal where Andy is running out of the house.

Many of my fears and feelings as a teenager end up in my writings and my very next YA novel will entail many more clues to my childhood. I grew up living in two old houses. We moved to the second when I was nine. The house was haunted and even today, when I travel to Germany and drive by the old place, it spooks me out and I wonder what the owner might go through. Much like Andy I ran out of that house, one time even in the brought daylight.

I’d love to hear your scary-house stories and I hope I encouraged you enough to share some with me. I will stop back in through the night and share some of mine. Be aware though, when you hear the things that happen to me, you will know for certain that ghosts exist.

Martin H. Bartloff, born and raised in Werl, Germany adapted quickly when he immigrated to the United States in August of 1991. Being the youngest of five brothers, he ventured out to explore the United States after he finished trade school back home.

Martin worked hard for a few years, trying to establish dreams and goals he had since childhood. After a few years of hard work in the United States Martin opened his first own automotive business.

A decade later Martin decided he wasn’t challenged enough and turned to writing fiction novels. His debut novel, “Torn From Normal” was released in December of 2009. Martin’s next YA novel is already in the making.


Thank you so very much for sharing, Martin! :)

6 comments:

Marian Allen said...

Our house is moderately haunted by a poltergeist. He was very active when the kids lived here, but he still shows up from time to time. He opens and shuts doors upstairs and walks around, plays the radio, bangs stuff around--mostly on the upper floor, but sometimes in the attic or the basement. The kids called him Mr. Butt (Butt is a respected family name in these parts.) My youngest said she wasn't afraid of ghosts because Mr. Butt kept them away. He's good company.

Marian Allen

J.R. Turner said...

Marian, that's so much like my grandmother's house. She has a 100yr.old Victorian in Milwaukee. There's a ship captain there that appears at the foot of your bed in the back bedroom--though I've never seen him. I would though, talk to him when I stayed there when I was little. Usually stuff like, "Please don't scare me!" Lol ;)

The haunted house in DFF: Dead Friends Forever was partially based on the "haunted house" on our street. Just the other side of the alley from us, a spooky old brick house was shrouded in trees. We never saw anyone come in or go out, but there were lights on at odd times in the upper windows. Their sidewalk was never shoveled, their lawn never mowed, etc. We used to dare each other to run across the yard.

I'm sure the owners weren't too thrilled with that! :)

I love these sort of stories, though. Such great fodder for the "what if" juice!

Warmly,
Jenny:)

Jen Wylie said...

Darn I have no ghost stories coming to mind. Aliens would be another matter....

Martin Bartloff said...

I dream of an old man with a black coat and hat a lot. In my dream he is standing in the landing keeping me from running down the staircase. Usually he doesn't do anything to stop me, but I need to reach the light switch in the living room to be safe. Each time I make it there, I find the light not turning on and he's coming up behind.

Twice I woke up on the sofa in the middle of the night, in the living room and somehow during the night, the light bulb blew. Deja Vu in its creepiest form. Both times it felt as if my heart stopped rushing to the next nearest light switch. I know he is there, somewhere in the dark and I only have little time.

Christy said...

I have moments of being spooked but I don't have any real ghost stories. I've never seen a ghost, but I know several folks who have. For me, there might just be another "dimension" out there that we feel during those moments we perceive as "other worldly". But then, there's always the story of my possessed life size doll that I had when I was a very young girl. My siblings told me that the doll often directed a pair of lights onto my bedroom wall with it's eyes. Weird. I never saw it though.

My moments of being spooked:
http://christyweber.blogspot.com/search/label/spooked

Milli Thornton said...

My husband knows things like goblins and creepy etheric spiders do exist because he's been up close and personal with them. He even kept a gun under his pillow for a while when a pair of horrible goblins kept visiting him. Strangely, when they realized he could see them, they fled, never to return.

The ghostiest thing I've ever had was a knocking sound but it didn't seem malicious. I wasn't scared for the knocking, but I'm a chicken for all the rest of it. I'd rather see into the fairy realm (though I've heard you shouldn't cross a fairy either :~)