Blog

Burial Day Books is a boutique publisher of supernatural horror. Once a week we research a particular element dealing with superstition, folklore or myth and write a short piece about that element from the Gravedigger’s perspective. These elements were sometimes used somewhere in a previous horror story in history. Or, these elements could have been pulled from particular ideals, or from items that illicit fear. We may also discuss curious traditions that we feel admirers of horror, and beyond, would enjoy learning. Our blogs, while written from a fictional character ‘s perspective, are non-fictional. Overall, our blogs discuss true beliefs, phenomena, practices or customs.

LOTERIA

The Gravedigger is resting and so I took this opportunity to write to you all about a little project I

LOTERIA The Book

Coming Soon LOTERIA the book a collection of short stories by Cynthia (cina) Pelayo published by Burial Day Books

I Am Legend

When I was a young Gravedigger, I remember vampires depicted on the screen and in novels as unclean,

Chernobyl Diaries

The Undertaker and I have been quite busy as the summer months bring about increased activity. The grounds must be

Author Interview: Teresa Lo

Teresa Lo was born and raised in Coffeyville, Kansas, population of 10,000, home of the Interstate Fair and Rodeo and

Photography Blog – Prague

The Undertaker and I were away for some time on holiday in lovely Eastern Europe. We spent time in Prague,

The Origin Story

We all have a story. Not just a collection of experiences or events, but a specific moment in our past

The Body Snatcher

Read more to learn about the history of the grave robbers. Bodysnatching became so prevalent an activity because not only

Author Interview: Margarita Felices

Margarita Felices is a new paranormal writer who lives in Cardiff with her partner, three little mad dogs and works

The Cabin in the Woods

There are things that lurk in the dark that you and I will never understand. Sometimes the monotony in

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LOTERIA

Macabre Latin American fairy tales come to life in LOTERIA – 54 short stories for each of the Loteria cards!

The Gravedigger is resting and so I took this opportunity to write to you all about a little project I was working on that I would like for you all to take a look at, of course, if you have the time.

For the past year or so I have been conducting some research regarding Latin American folktales, fairytales, myths and legends. My fascination with these stories was ignited when I begun to hear friends and family of Latin American origin pass these tales orally. During this time, I thought about Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and how they collected stories for many years that were passed by word of mouth. The Grimm’s fairy tales are iconic. We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Cinderella. Therefore, I began to search archives and books in search of written accounts of the Chupacabra, La LLorona, El Lobizon, and Santa Muerte. While I found snippets of mentions here or there, I was not able to find a full-body of work on Latin American folks stories that slanted toward the paranormal or horrific, and so, I decided to write them myself. Using the Mexican board game of Loteria as the frame for my work, I wrote and wrote until I compiled 54 short stories to match up with each corresponding Loteria card.

The Chupacabra is the mythical little beast that sucks the blood of goats, and more. La Llorona is the tortured Mexican maiden who killed herself, after she murdered her children, because her lover denied her. El Lobizon is Argentina’s wolf man – a legend, or to some, a reality that existed in the Americas long before the Europeans set foot on their land. There are more short stories in this collection, dealing with ghosts and goblins, serial killers, and guilt and confusion turned to demonic possession. All of these tales originated in the Americas or were influenced by Latin American culture.

The Kindle edition is ready for download now. The print edition will be ready in a few days. This project goes beyond my writing interest, it was my love for many nights and we had many drinks together. I called up friends and told them to tell me the tales their grandparents told them. I sat in the mountain tops of Puerto Rico as my father recited his own tortured encounter with a haunting, and I looked back with admiration to the Brother’s Grimm who compiled hundreds and hundreds of tales that represented their Germany. As a horror writer, I like to think that in a way, these stories represent Latin America – its history, its passion, and its love and longing, even though these tales do slant toward the mysterious and macabre they are still tales about a people.

You can read an excerpt from the short story collection here, EL DIABLITO, for the card that represents ‘The Little Devil.’

I hope you decide to read LOTERIA, and I thank you always for your love and support.

-Cynthia (cina) Pelayo

Kindle Version – Don’t have a Kindle? Read it on your PC!
Print Version – Is out now! Get it today!

http://www.loteriathebook.com/

LOTERIA The Book

Coming Soon LOTERIA the book a collection of short stories by Cynthia (cina) Pelayo published by Burial Day Books.

I Am Legend

When I was a young Gravedigger, I remember vampires depicted on the screen and in novels as unclean, unholy beings on par with demons. In recent years, vampires have taken on this quirky, sexy appeal where characters in novels, film and television interacting with the vampire are not only unafraid by their unliving associate, but often lustful for their undead friend, so much so that they yearn to be changed. Now again, superstition teaches that vampires were filthy, sick, demonics that stalked the night feeding and killing human beings. Just a few weeks ago, Bulgarian archeologists unearthed centuries-old skeletons with iron rods pinned down through their chests. This technique was performed on deceased who were likely (alcoholics and criminals) to become vampires. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/08/vampire-beliefs-skeletons-bulgaria)

Today, vampires in literature, film and television are teenage boys and girls that glitter and gush over their friends in the cafeteria in high school. Vampires are also southern royalty that were not only gifted with immortality, but coincidentally amazing looks. Remember my friends, vampirism was thought to be a sickness that brought one in-line with Satan. Lusting over a vampire in the eyes of a medieval believer, would almost be like a modern day person lusting over a serial killer thought to have cannibalized their victim at every opportunity – not necessarily arousing. Imagine if the characters in the Paranormal Activity series went out of their way to convince their violent demons to go out with them on a date, and then back home for some loving and even transformation? It doesn’t translate well there. So why then, and how then, did vampires become attractive hyper-stylized, over-sexualized beings? When did vampires become soft and fluffy and sexy friends? I don’t know exactly where it happened. We can sit here and trace the literary and cinematic evolution of the vampire for some time, but instead, I would rather discuss some of my favorite modern vampires that exemplified the true terror of vampirism. (more…)

Chernobyl Diaries

The Undertaker and I have been quite busy as the summer months bring about increased activity. The grounds must be kept watered continually, and as you can imagine, working outdoors during high temperatures tends to drain one’s energy.

Yesterday evening, we had planned an outing to the cinema to see Casablanca at this lovely movie theater nearby restored to its near 1915 condition. Unfortunately, due to being so overwhelmed with work, our dates were wrong and next weekend is indeed the weekend where they will be showing the black and white masterpiece. However, as we were already there, we opted to see another film, Chernobyl Diaries. Now, the reviews for the film have been poor and therefore, I chose to originally stay away, but as that was the next screening we decided on seeing it.

The plot for Chernobyl Diaries is quite simple: A group of friends visiting another friend in Europe decide on doing something interesting – partaking in an extreme travel tour of Chernobyl. For those unaware, in 1986 reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine experienced a failure during tests that led to several explosions. The explosions led to the immediate deaths of dozens and the evacuation of thousands. Continued deaths from radiation exposure are estimated to reach into the thousands. (more…)

Author Interview: Teresa Lo

About Teresa Lo

Teresa Lo was born and raised in Coffeyville, Kansas, population of 10,000, home of the Interstate Fair and Rodeo and the legendary Dalton Gang. Her Chinese-American family was one of three Asian families in their conservative, Midwest town, and they ran the popular China Garden restaurant, which Teresa worked at from ages twelve to eighteen.

After high school, she attended the University of Kansas, where she earned a B.A. in History. She was a graduate of the honors program, a 2007-2008 Woman of Distinction, and founder of the T.Lo Club, an organization devoted to eating cookies. During her senior year of college, she was a research intern at The Late Show with David Letterman, where she gained her first hands-on experience in television.

In 2007, she moved to Los Angeles to attend the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she majored in screenwriting. She graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts in May of 2009, and her scripts have placed in several major writing contests. Most recently, she won the Grand Prize in the 2010 Script Pipeline Screenplay Contest, and she also placed two other scripts in the finals, a rare accomplishment. That same year, her drama script The Physicist also was a finalist for the prestigious 2010 Bluecat Screenplay Contest.

Her produced film credit Angel’s Bread, short directed by Lea Dizon and produced by Pia Chikiamco and Mahsa Moayeri, won the Silver Lei Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Honolulu Film Festival 2010. In October of 2009, she was a participant of the NAMIC Fall Writer’s Workshop, a competitive writing workshop that accepts twenty members. Her short story Guilt, a murder mystery, was published in the Comma, Splice Literary Journal in 2006, and she has contributed to Examiner.com, Yahoo.com, The Hollywood Reporter, USC’s SCA website, and The University Daily Kansan. In 2011, Bart Enigma Books released her first collection of short stories Realities and later The Other Side.

Currently, she is a cast member on the film and television review website, Just Seen It, and in 2012, she released her first YA horror novel, Hell’s Game.

About Hell’s Game
On Halloween night in Deer Creek, Kansas, Jake Victor, Ashley and Ashton Gemini, and Kristin Grace convince Ronnie Smalls to meet them at the town cemetery, which local folklore has always rumored to be the Gateway to Hell. Their intention was only to scare him, but soon the wicked prank becomes actual horror as the group learns the Gateway is all too real. After demons snatch Ronnie and drag him to Hell, the terrified foursome vow to keep what they had seen a secret.

Two years later, the group receives a mysterious letter, an invite to play a high-stakes game in Hell. If they win, they release Ronnie’s soul as well as their own from eternal damnation. If they lose, they are stuck in Hell forever. Choosing to play, they face nightmare after nightmare as each level escalates in intensity and forces them to face the seven deadly sins.

Inspired by the legends of the Gateway to Hell in Stull, Kansas, Hell’s Game explores the cruelty that teenagers can inflict upon each other as well as the horrors that exist amongst mankind. It is a dark, action-packed young adult novel that will both scare its readers and make them question the true meaning of evil. (more…)

Photography Blog – Prague

Greetings dear friends,

The Undertaker and I were away for some time on holiday in lovely Eastern Europe. We spent time in Prague, Czech Republic, Krakow, Poland and in Vienna, Austria. It was a whirlwind trip sleeping in overnight train cars suspicious of those around us, walking the cobbled stone streets of old towns home to lore and legends, and of course eating and drinking in old castles and cafes once frequented by kings and queens, saints and legendary writers.

There is so much to see and do in Prague, I just wish we could have spent even longer exploring this beautiful city. Prague was actually recommended to us by some friends who went there on a stag do. Apparently, their bachelor party involved several wild activities and even involved the services of a sex worker. In case you did not know, in prague escortdirectory.com and other similar websites that allow clients to get in touch with escorts are hugely popular. Our holiday was much tamer though.

Anyway, it was a lovely trip and while no photograph, or series of photographs, can truly capture the experience, we put together a small selection of stunning pictures for you to enjoy.

-Gravedigger

The Prague Astronomical Clock, known also as the Prague Orloj, is a medieval clock and the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one that still works. The clock was installed in 1410. At every hour on the hour in Prague’s Old Town square Death rings his bell. The clock is composed of three parts, the astronomical dial that represents the position of the sun and the moon, the “Walk of the Apostles” as sculptures of the apostles appear from doors to greet the audience, and the figure of a skeleton that represents Death.

The Charles Bridge in Prague was started in 1357. It crosses the Vlatava River and was once the only means of getting from Prague Castle to the Old Town in Prague. The bridge is surrounded by three towers and is decorated by 30 statues, most of which were sculpted in the baroque style.

Statues darkened with time line the Charles Bridge.

Prague Castle is the largest standing castle in the world spanning 7 football fields.

A statue at the gates of the Prague Castle.

(more…)

The Origin Story

We all have a story. Not just a collection of experiences or events, but a specific moment in our past that set into motion who we are today. Perhaps you could say my origin story was the day my father took me outside, shovel in hand, and led me to my first burial. It was humid outside. Several yards away a caravan of black cars pulled up beside a freshly dug plot. Men and women with pale, worn, tear-streaked faces surrounded a coffin. A priest said words. People nodded. A child cried, an anguished pained cry and my father told me to snap out of it…to dig. That another plot needed to be prepared. There would always be another plot to prepare. The dirt stained my fingernails and that black stain has never washed away.

Comic book heroes and villains have origin stories as famous as their superpowers. Also known as a pourquoi story, the origin story is a narrative that explains why something is the way it is. Many myths, legends and folk tales have famous origin stories, such as ones that explain the origin of the universe, why snakes have no legs, why the raven is a black bird, or why a tiger has stripes. Many cultures have various origin stories. (more…)

The Body Snatcher

Resurrectionist men very rarely attempt to disinter the guests at Burial Day Cemetery. However, every now and again a brave graverobber is found mucking about our lawn, but never has one been successful at accomplishing their task.

The practice of grave robbing or body snatching is perhaps as old as the practice of human burial. Accounts of removing a corpse from its grave for the purpose of dissection, anatomical research or for theft of artifacts buried on or with the person continue to be reported to this day.

In Great Britain and Scotland medical schools were once supplied with cadavers by their local governments, and these local governments obtained these corpses through execution – as they were the bodies of executed criminals and of these there were quite a lot. In 1688, there were only 50 offenses that were punishable by death, but by the end of the 1700’s that number grew to 220. So, what were once considered lesser crimes, such as mild battery or some acts of petty thievery, were now punishable by death. However, by 1823 the Judgment of Death Act lessened what crimes garnered the death penalty. This is very important friends. Think about it, the government gave medical schools the bodies of criminals to use to train future doctors. The supply of these bodies rose drastically when mild crimes sent hundreds and hundreds of people to the gallows, but after the Bloody Code was repealed only a handful of bodies were available, as less people were being executed. The demand of bodies by medical schools increased with their expansions, but with so few available bodies for training something had to be done and fast. (more…)

Author Interview: Margarita Felices

Margarita Felices talks about writing and her novel Judgment of Souls 3: The Kiss at Dawn

ABOUT MARGARITA FELICES

Margarita Felices is a new paranormal writer who lives in Cardiff with her partner, three little mad dogs and works in television broadcasting. Inspiration for a lot of her writing comes from the remnants of the Victorian era in her hometown. When not writing, she strolls the rambling streets of Cardiff, taking pictures and researching settings and characters.

ABOUT JUDGMENT OF SOULS

JUDGEMENT OF SOULS 3: The Kiss at Dawn is the first of a Gothic horror trilogy where Rachel, a vampire, is thrust into a search for an ancient book with the potential to alter the existence of the world. On her search, where murder erupts, she becomes conflicted whether to side with her own kind or a mortal. (more…)

The Cabin in the Woods

cabin in woods poster

There are things that lurk in the dark that you and I will never understand. Sometimes the monotony in our lives leads us to believe that the routine of it all cannot possibly mean that there is something out there larger, but I believe there is.

There were times when I fought with logic and reason but there were also many nights when I lay in bed and out there, in the cemetery I could hear the wind that sounded more like whispers, and look out over the tombstones to see shadows that seemed to be more than just shadows. The Undertaker of course, does not believe in any of these things. One night, when I descended to the morgue to bring him tea I could have sworn that I saw…something. When I dropped the tea cup and saucer the Undertaker stepped into the hall, looked at the disaster at my feet, shook his head and retreated back to his client. “For a Gravedigger you shouldn’t be so spooked by this place,” he grumbled before demanding I clean the mess and get him another tea.

The next day the Undertaker took me to the cinema to see a film titled The Cabin in the Woods. The premise seemed pretty formulaic; five chaps escape their mundane lives for a weekend of revelry in the woods with drinks and debauchery. During the whirl of ale-enabled silliness, a secret is uncovered, a Latin incantation is uttered, monsters emerge from the woods…and well…there is much, much, much more than that because all is not what it seems.

The true horror movie genre sometimes falls victim to dank monotony, just like we all may fall into routine in our lives, but I assure you this film and yes, even your life is so much more than schedule and routine.

Please do see this film. It was a true delight.

-Gravedigger

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