CRYSTAL BEACH AMUSEMENT PARK
There really was a CRYSTAL BEACH amusement park described in Haunted Lily. The park was in Ontario, Canada. As a child I loved to ride all the rides especially Arden's infamous COMET rollercoaster. The park was so beautiful, magical. My mother used to rollerskate in the grand ballroom when she was a teenager. For anyone lucky enough to have visited the park, they know of its charms.
I was able to go to Crystal Beach one last time before the park was closed. The attendence was low that day and my cousins and I rode the awesome rollercoaster about twenty times in a row. The coaster was so amazing. It was taken apart and thankfully moved to The GreatEscapeAmusement Park in Lake George, New York.
Perhaps if you ever get the chance to ride the Comet, you can say hello to Arden for me.
There are quite a few websites dedicated to the grand old park. You can actually buy videos of the park and rides. You can also buy Hall's suckers and sugar waffles online by a company that bought all the original candy-making machines from the park. About once a year I order some Halls Suckers - My favorites are peanut & cinnamon. Yummy!http://www.bellamiacandy.com/ to order wonderful Crystal Beach treats!!!
Below - Pictures of the Comet, the Skyride gondolas, and the Laff in the Dark funhouse.
Take a ride on the vintage
COMET ROLLERCOASTER
THE QUEEN MARY – LONG BEACH, CA
* Click on the picture to the right to see a great video of the entire pool area.
The pool from the sequence at the end of Haunted Lily where the ghosts enter the portal, was based on the pool on the Queen Mary ship in Long Beach, California. I spent many late nights exploring in the bowels of the ship with friends.
I was always very drawn to the Queen Mary pool. The massive room in the dark is truly a spooky place, it just gives you such a strange feeling. I had one friend that used to give the "ghost tours" on the QM back when Disney owned it. She knew all the secret passageways and we would seek out ghosts of long passed passengers and crew. Late one night while my two friends and I were exploring, we heard what sounded like big band music and party noises (laughter, etc.) coming from the ballroom. When we opened the door to the room...there was no one there. The ship is now a hotel and does give a Ghost Tour, that has a stop in the pool.
October Effigies
About the artist – Kerry Kate
In addition to designing over 100 dolls and making and painting several hundreds by hand, Kerry Kate also designs and makes a line of stuffed print dolls that are for sale and are also available for wholesale. October Effigies has been featured in several films and upcoming features like MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM, BLACK DAHLIA and Silent Ghost Cinema's THE GHOST OF SLEEP. Publications including DOLL MAGAZINE, VIAL, DARK CULTURE MAGAZINE and SPIN. Her hand painted dolls have been sold and shown in galleries all over the world.
I came upon October effigies while researching for Haunted Lily. I fell in love with Kerry Kate’s amazing, beautifully creepy, dolls. Looking through her website I found the picture of one of her dolls called, “Skull and Corset Bones”. I wrote her and asked if I could use the doll as the cover of Haunted Lily, and Kerry Kate graciously said, “Yes”. I am forever grateful.Please check out Kerry Kate at - www.October effigies.com or click on the picture.
Meet Varton Muntz
I will be honest, I have never really cared for clowns... I'm sorry, they're creepy to me.
While filming a movie about Salvador Dali in Bulgaria, my actor husband, Douglas, met an unusual man by the name of Varton. The eccentric Bulgarian actor also in the film, made quite an impression on my husband...and he never forgot the man. Doug was also struck by the beauty of the city they were filming in called Plovdiv.
When my husband told me about the actor Varton, he instantly became my frightening charred circus clown with a grudge, and Plovdiv, Bulgaria became Varton’s hometown.
As far as the fire Varton set in the circus tent, unfortunately, that is based on a true event that happened in Connecticut in 1944.
This is Edward Hughey’ s mystical “Midsummer Eve” painting. It is the picture which Angela hung in Darby’s church and later reminded him of Lily when she was a little girl dancing with spirit orbs.
ATHENS, GA – SPOOKCITY
While writing the chapter that takes place in Athens (Exit music for a film), I wrote about a house that I lived in for a time on Prince Avenue.
The old house was haunted…furniture rearranged itself…mason jars hung mid-air, and there were disembodied voices and laughter…ya know, haunted. It was the perfect house to fit the story of Natas Weaver and his doomed family...note the crows nest window above.
I try to visit the old house whenever I go back to Athens. That's me sitting on the front steps. The house has been renovated and is very different from the way it looked when I lived there. Nice to see it all gussied up.
*NEW ADDITION! I happened to be on YouTube and found that my old house at 1055 Prince Ave. is now up for sale. I cannott tell you how much different the house is from the time I lived there. It was pink and falling apart with a bunch of college kids living in it, and now it is for sale for more than a million dollars! WOW!
The irony of it is that as it is now is how I pictured it when I wrote the chapter "Exit music for a film". It is now how I pictured it as the Weaver family home. To see my favorite spookpalace.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijY3Soho4eQ&feature=related
The house is down the street from one of my favorite restaurants “THE GRIT”…which was also featured in the book. I love their Herbie's cream cheese spread and Hummus pita! And what trip to Athens would be complete without visiting Wuxtry Records and the old Oconee Cemetary, that's me, as the head of the decapitated statue below.
