It’s race against the clock. A storm is a coming and it’s always a possibility that the electricity goes out here on the plains. Not unusual for August either.
Rain, Thunderstorms, and the County Fair. That’s what August has always been about for me.
And being the County Fair, my daughters and I had an interesting conversation on the way home…through the fog-filled eight mile drive home across muddy gravel roads. Has there ever been a story about a County Fair ghost? See, my girls love Phantom of the Opera so they began this crazy story (they are 8 & 4) about the Phantom of the Fair and then through a barrage of giggling the story quickly became “the Phantom Pig of the Fair.”
But still it made me wonder if there were any real ghost legends or fictional paranormal stories about fairs or carnivals. I could recall Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes” and the 1932 movie, “Freaks” (which isn’t a paranormal but is as scary as heck.) Nothing else comes to mind. Anyone out there know of a paranormal fair story?
A quick search online didn’t turn up any ghost stories related to fairs or carnivals either. I did find an Angel sighting. (I’m agreeing with the Moth camp).
Personally, I think either a fair or a carnival would be a perfect setting for a good ghost story. In one of my early drafts of Half Moon Rising I had a “hazing” scene where a teenage werewolf was dared to sneak into a cheap carnival haunted house and shift without getting caught. It didn’t make it to the final drafts, but I still think it would make a cool scene.
Well, the storm is in the next county. Time to wrap it up. Have a great weekend and see you at the fair!
~Margo
P.S. The storm came through, but only a few end rows of our crops got flattened by the winds. Thank goodness for small favors :)
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4 comments:
Traveling carnivals and such do have a bit of a creepy factor surrounding them. I could easily imagine ghosts of patrons killed on poorly constructed/maintained rides or candy apple choking victims. But maybe that's just me : )
Great post! Hope the storms don't do too much damage.
Some of those traveling carnivals seem like death traps in transit. I can easily see some poor souls being trapped in the fun house trailer.
I'll be looking at things with a different eye next time we make it to the fair (they're still a ways off here in the south).
There's a Supernatural episode with a killer clown that may have involved a carnival. And of course there is the Magnificent Zoltar from the Tom Hanks movie "Big". We are skipping the county fair this year due to the paranormal heat index...
Jody W.
I think we got some of those storms too, Margo.
I once read a short story called "Night in Funland" that took place at a traveling carnival, but I think it was more horror than paranormal. It was about a father who took his little girl and put her on a ferris wheel alone (the little girl insisted). Then the girl disappeared from the ride as the father watched teh wheel go round and round. [shudder]
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