Creative Spirit with Screenplay
Page 37
IF I WERE YOUR MONSTER
Children's book by Scott Nicholson, art by Lee Davis
Creatures of the night teach a lesson of bravery in this full-color, illustrated bedtime story for all ages. Let vampires, ghosts, scarecrows, and mummies protect your little one from the bullies and mean people of the world. 24 screens or pages. View it at Haunted Computer or at Amazon US or Amazon UK
TOO MANY WITCHES
Children’s book by Scott Nicholson, art by Lee Davis
When Moanica Moonsweep plans a Halloween party, she needs the perfect potion of stinky stew. But when she asks her friends for advice, she ends up with one big mess and lots of hurt feelings. 28 full-color screens or pages. See it at Haunted Computer or for Kindle at Amazon US or Amazon UK
DUNCAN THE PUNKIN
Children's book by Scott Nicholson, art by Sergio Castro
A momma pumpkin must teach her young pumpkin all about the dangers of Halloween, while a mysterious creature known as Skeerdy-Cat-Crow watches over the pumpkin patch. 30 full-color pages or screens. See it at Haunted Computer or view it for Kindle at Amazon US or Amazon UK
TROUBLED (UK)
By Scott Nicholson
When twelve-year-old Freeman Mills arrives at Wendover, a group home for troubled children, it’s a chance for a fresh start. But second chances aren’t easy for Freeman, the victim of painful childhood experiments that gave him the ability to read other people’s minds.
Little does Freeman know that his transfer was made at the request of Dr. Richard Kracowski, whose research into the brain’s electrical properties is revealing new powers of the human mind. Freeman simply wants to survive, take his medicine for manic depression, and deceive his counsellors into believing he is happy. When he meets the anorexic Vicky, who may also be telepathic, he’s afraid some of his darkest secrets will be uncovered. But when the other children develop their own clairvoyant abilities, and insane spirits begin haunting the halls of Wendover, he can’t safely hide inside his own head anymore.
The author’s preferred edition of the 2005 U.S. paperback release The Home, in development as a feature film.
Learn more about the paranormal thriller Troubled or view it at Amazon UK
SOLOM (UK)
By Scott Nicholson
Katy Logan wasn’t quite sure why she left her finance career in the big city to marry religion professor Gordon Smith and move to the tiny Appalachian community of Solom.
Maybe she just wanted to get her 12-year-old daughter Jett away from the drugs and bad influences. Maybe she wanted to escape from the memories of her first husband. Or perhaps she was enchanted by the promise of an idyllic life on the farm that has been in Gordon’s family for 150 years.
But the residents of Solom know all about the man in the black hat. The Reverend Harmon Smith has come back more than century after his last missionary trip, and he has unfinished business. But first Katy and Jett must be brought into the family, and the farm must be prepared to welcome him home. Gordon has been denying his heritage, but now it’s time to choose sides. Does he protect the ones he loves, or surrender to the ancestral urge for revenge?
Author's preferred edition of the 2006 U.S. paperback The Farm.
Learn more about the supernatural thrillerSolom or view it at Amazon UK
THE GORGE (UK)
By Scott Nicholson
An experimental rafting expedition, an FBI manhunt for a delusional killer, and the worst storm in decades collide in the remote mountain wilderness...and then THEY come out.
Bowie Whitlock and a team of celebrity athletes is commissioned to test two experimental rafts in the rugged Unegama Wilderness Gorge in the remote Appalachian Mountains, considered the most dangerous whitewater rapids in the eastern United States. The expedition is tense from the start as jealousy, romance, and money are riding on the mission's success.
FBI agent Jim Castle and his partner are in the gorge looking for Ace Goodall, a deranged abortion clinic bomber. Ace, accompanied by a fragile young woman, is having visions that guide his murderous behaviour. The race is on as dark storm clouds gather, the river is swollen, and Ace hijacks the rafting expedition to make his escape. But the bloodthirsty creatures swooping down from the high cliffs have been too long without prey.
Ace has one more bomb. God is talking to him. It's raining again, and his young companion is pregnant.
And killing isn't what it used to be, because the dead no longer stay dead.
Author's preferred edition of the 2007 paperback They Hunger.
Learn more about The Gorge or view it at Amazon UK
OMNIBUS EDITIONS
You can also save with the omnibus editions
Ethereal Messenger at Amazon US or Amazon UK (contains The Red Church, Drummer Boy, and Speed Dating With The Dead)
Mystery Dance (contains Disintegration, Crime Beat, and The Skull Ring, and bonus stories and essays) at Amazon US or Amazon UK
Nicholson's Ghost Stories: Four Novels, at Amazon US or Amazon UK (featuring Drummer Boy by Scott Nicholson, Haunted by Gemma Halliday, The Body Departed by J.R. Rain, and Cades Cove by Aiden James)
Horror Movies: Three Screenplays (The Gorge, Creative Spirit, and The Skull Ring screenplays) at Amazon US or Amazon UK
Skeleton Tango (Cursed! and Ghost College with J.R. Rain) at Amazon US or Amazon UK
Ghost Box (contains The Red Church, Drummer Boy, Transparent Lovers, Burial to Follow, Forever Never Ends, and Speed Dating With The Dead) at Amazon US or Amazon UK
Are you a writer? Please check out Write Good or Die and The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success
Contact me at hauntedcomputer@yahoo.com because I’d love to know what you think—and if you are in any way dissatisfied with this product, please give me a chance to make it right. Let me know about any misspellings and formatting issues, since books in the digital age are living documents.
Thanks to Dellaster Design, David H. Burton, and Neal Hock at Hock’s Editing Services.
Return to Table of Contents
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What Walks The Halls Of Cone Manor?
The real manor that inspired CREATIVE SPIRIT
By Scott Nicholson
On a ridge overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Blowing Rock, N.C. is the estate once called Flat Top Manor, now known as the Cone Manor.
The Colonial-revivalist structure was built in the late 1800’s, and has been uninhabited for about a half a century. However, there are those who say that the manor has never been completely devoid of human activity—or perhaps, inhuman activity.
Moses Cone made a fortune as an industrialist in the Piedmont, married Bertha, and later visited the area and fell in love with it. He began buying up land around what is now the Blue Ridge Parkway outside Blowing Rock. Cone built the manor as a summer retreat.
Cone didn’t get to enjoy the manor for very long, as he died at a relatively young age. Bertha lived on for several decades, and willed the land to Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, which then deeded it to the National Parks Service. The manor is now operated as a crafts center, but some say that the previous owners haven’t entirely given up their claim.
According to one story, Moses Cone’s body was disinterred by a would-be thief. Rumor had it that Cone was buried with some jewelry, and that may have been what the thief was after. One version of the story is that Bertha herself found the body at the gravesite on the hill beyond the manor. The body was said to be propped up against the large tombstone by thieves angered by not finding any jewelry.
There’s even a hinted that Cone was moved to a different gravesite. The official line is that Cone still sleeps in eternal slumber at the site, but others say he lies elsewhere.
Some of the legends come from park rangers. One says that
For a long time, two portraits of husband and wife hung face-to-face on opposite walls. One industrious ranger moved the portrait of Bertha to an adjoining wall. The next morning, the portraits were found to have fa
llen off the wall. The strange part was they had fallen so they were leaning against each other.
This year, the portraits were moved again. So far, no mystery movements have been recorded. But, then, Halloween has yet to strike midnight.
All of the existing furniture was willed out to various relatives after Bertha’s death. In the early days of the craft center, crafters would stay overnight in the manor due to the poor condition of the roads. Some of the guests reported the sound of furniture moving around in the middle of night, even though the upstairs was empty.
One crafter supposedly stayed in the master bedroom that belonged to Moses and Bertha. He heard the door open, got out of bed, and closed it, assuming the house was out of level.. The door opens again, and he repeats the process. The third time, he props a chair against the door. He wakes in the morning to find the door open and the chair on the other side of the room.
One woman who didn’t believe in ghosts pooh-poohed the stories and dared to stay overnight by herself. When she got out of a hot shower, she saw a hand print in the steam on the mirror. That was her last day in the manor.
The Cones were fond of piano music, and the soft sounds of piano notes are sometimes heard wafting in the stillness of night.
The kitchen door was traditionally kept closed at Bertha’s insistence. Some crafters showed up early one morning and were moving some heavy items in via the back way. They heard the heavy door slide closed behind them. They tried to discover who had played the trick on them, but the house was empty.
A law enforcement ranger was staying in a nearby ranger house about a decade ago, and the newly-installed alarm system at Cone Manor went off. The ranger circled the house to investigate. He saw no signings of breaking and entering. when he turned around after unlocking the door, he saw a young girl standing on the stairs.
She turned around and looked at him, then ran up the stairs. The ranger chased her, and couldn’t figure out how she outran him. She went into the left room at the top of the stairs and slammed the door.
After a long struggle, the ranger finally got the door open. The room was empty.
Whether the Cones still walk the manor that bears their name, or whether the legends are due to overactive imaginations, the stories linger. And so, perhaps, do the spirits of the Cones.
See my video of the manor at Youtube (and, yes, it’s usually that foggy!)
THE END
Table of Contents
Novels
Liquid Fear
Chronic Fear
Disintegration
The Red Church
Speed Dating with the Dead
The Skull Ring
Drummer Boy
The Harvest
As I Die Lying
Burial to Follow
Cursed (with J.R. Rain)
Bad Blood (with J.R. Rain & H.T. Night)
Ghost College (with J.R. Rain)
The Vampire Club (with J.R. Rain)
October Girls
Crime Beat
Transparent Lovers
Collections
Curtains
Flowers
Ashes
The First
Zombie Bits
Head Cases
Gateway Drug
These Things Happened
Children’s Books
If I Were Your Monster (with Lee Davis)
Too Many Witches (with Lee Davis)
Duncan the Punkin (with Sergio Castro)
Screenplays
The Skull Ring: The Screenplay
Creative Spirit: The Screenplay
The Gorge: The Screenplay
Writing
Write Good or Die
The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success
Omnibus editions
Ethereal Messenger
Mystery Dance
Nicholson's Ghost Stories (with Gemma Halliday, J.R. Rain, and Aiden James)
Horror Movies: Three Screenplays
Ghost Box: Six Supernatural Novels
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 1
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 2
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 3
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4
Table of Contents
VIEW U.K. KINDLE BOOKS BY SCOTT NICHOLSON:
Novels
Troubled
Solom
The Gorge
Disintegration
The Red Church
Speed Dating with the Dead
The Skull Ring
Drummer Boy
The Harvest
As I Die Lying
Burial to Follow
Cursed (with J.R. Rain)
Ghost College (with J.R. Rain)
The Vampire Club (with J.R. Rain)
Bad Blood (with J.R. Rain & H.T. Night)
October Girls
Crime Beat
Transparent Lovers
Liquid Fear
Chronic Fear
Collections
Curtains
Flowers
Ashes
The First
Zombie Bits
Head Cases
Gateway Drug
These Things Happened
Children’s Books
If I Were Your Monster (with Lee Davis)
Duncan the Punkin (with Sergio Castro)
Too Many Witches (with Lee Davis)
Writing
Write Good or Die
The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success
Screenplays
The Skull Ring: The Screenplay
Creative Spirit: The Screenplay
The Gorge: The Screenplay
Omnibus editions
Ethereal Messenger
Mystery Dance
Nicholson's Ghost Stories (with Gemma Halliday, J.R. Rain, and Aiden James)
Horror Movies: Three Screenplays
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 1
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 2
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 3
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 4
Scott Nicholson Library, Vol. 5
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Creative Spirit
Scott’s screenplay adaptation of the book
Other books
Article on the real manor
Links to Scott’s Kindle books at Amazon US
Links to Scott’s Kindle books on Amazon UK
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Movie script
Title Page
Creative Spirit
Other books
the real manor
Kindle books at Amazon US
Kindle books on Amazon UK