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S2 E26 Cyn Shrader Hill - Headless Ghosts and Other Strange Tales (vol 1 & 2)
12 Plays4 days ago
Tonight i am delighted to have back, Cyn Shrader Hill. Cyn is a self-published author, editor, and publisher. And she's also the founder of Elk Valley Paranormal.
Cyn has returned to talk about her new book collection the Unquiet Dead, with Vol 1 & 2 are going to be entitled Headless Ghosts and Colorful Spirits
We discussed what content would be included, in regard to the coloured spirits, then argued how to correctly spell colour (with a u)
We discussed the different versions of headless people and animals, including Ann Boleyn, and the fact that the UK has the most headless ghosts, beheading anyone?
Cyn then tried to convince me that the Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a good movie to watch.
We spoke about what to expert for the future volumes, which include, Cryptids, Vampires, and werewolves.
I then found out that Cyn doesn't know of her local cryptid, and finally we discussed up and coming events
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introducing Sin Schrader-Hill and Her Work
00:00:12
Lee Hatfield
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the latest episode of SEPA Paranormal Chronicles. My name is Lee. I'm your friendly host, and that's host and not ghost. And tonight I've got somebody who's almost been on this show as many times as what I have.
00:00:29
Lee Hatfield
Sin Schrader-Hill. s Sin is a self-published author, editor, and publisher. And she's also the founder of Elk Valley valley Paranormal. Sin, welcome up back, my darling. How are you doing?
00:00:43
Cyn Shrader Hill
Thank you so much for having me. I have missed you.
00:00:48
Lee Hatfield
I've missed you too. And why is it that your voice changes as soon as you go on air? It's like so polite and like like innocent.
00:00:53
Cyn Shrader Hill
Because.
00:00:55
Lee Hatfield
and it's And you're not.
00:00:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
i know
00:00:56
Lee Hatfield
You're not at all.
00:00:58
Cyn Shrader Hill
Well, no, it it changes during the interview. So depending on how you're talking to me, i will change my voice to match that and we'll go from there. You never know what you'll hear.
00:01:12
Cyn Shrader Hill
You never know.
00:01:12
Lee Hatfield
you one of these put Are you one of these people that you never know what's going to come out your neck your mouth next? Because I'm exactly the same. Sometimes it shocks me what comes out of my mouth.
00:01:18
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes.
00:01:21
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes, absolutely.
Discussing 'Unquiet Dead' and Book Plans
00:01:24
Lee Hatfield
So since we've been talking last for your one of your previous books, we're here tonight because... and I'll let you tell us why you're here tonight.
00:01:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
Because I've missed you.
00:01:38
Lee Hatfield
You've forgotten, haven't you? you' you've forgotten You've forgotten why you're here, haven't you?
00:01:40
Cyn Shrader Hill
No, I'm, I am celebrating an early birthday for you.
00:01:42
Lee Hatfield
Yes.
00:01:44
Cyn Shrader Hill
Happy early birthday for you and Tommy Cohen.
00:01:45
Lee Hatfield
Yes. Oh, so you're only here because you've missed me.
00:01:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
for you.
00:01:51
Lee Hatfield
You're not here to talk about a new book at all, are you?
00:01:54
Cyn Shrader Hill
No, I mean, you know, that'll come out as we go, but no, I am here for you.
00:02:00
Lee Hatfield
You suck up. You complete suck up.
00:02:03
Cyn Shrader Hill
And that's why you love me.
00:02:05
Lee Hatfield
that's That's very true. you You're my, don't know. Yeah, let's go with it. Tonight, you're my first, your bestest American.
00:02:15
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes.
00:02:18
Lee Hatfield
OK, so this new book, or books, books plural.
00:02:21
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes. Yeah, it it started as book. My friend Mark, who does the illustrations and the covers of all my books, I edit for him. He does those for me in return.
00:02:34
Cyn Shrader Hill
And that's how we work our little publishing company. Mark had just a multitude of newspaper clippings. And he said, you know, i don't have time for this, but I know you do And you take them, do whatever you want, put my name on it too. So it's going to be, the book is under both of our names and it's going to be Unquiet Dead.
00:02:59
Cyn Shrader Hill
The first one, it was Headless Ghost. And then it evolved. So Headless Ghost has become Headless Ghost and Colorful Spirits to include all of the ghosts and phantoms that you hear, like the a black shadow from so-and-so and white lady of There's so many castles that have a white lady.
00:03:26
Cyn Shrader Hill
There's the brown lady or brown woman of Rainham Hall. There's the blue lady, a blue light. you know So green lady of Thorpe Hall. All these people.
00:03:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
And... I've just mixed those in. There's headless animals, including a bear and a cow and several different things like that.
00:03:48
Cyn Shrader Hill
Cats and dogs, lots of people, lots of railroad wrecks where they're walking down the track. But it's not just that. It's just some of the oddest stories you've ever heard from seventeen hundreds eighteen hundreds and stories back in these 1800 papers that were talking about something that happened back in the 1400s 1600s different things like that so they're incredible stories and this book has evolved into at least 10.
00:04:15
Lee Hatfield
Wow.
00:04:22
Cyn Shrader Hill
so there's going to be part one and part two of headless ghost and colorful spirits this the second a version or second coming out the third book is going to be monsters and mayhem and it's going to be the vampire craze and banshees and different things like that wild men just all the crazy stuff that we've taught that actually were in newspapers it's incredible
00:04:54
Lee Hatfield
So great. So we're going to go into a little bit more detail in a minute. But the one most important question I've got for you right now, colorful, does it have a U in it?
00:05:06
Lee Hatfield
Or do you are you spelling it the American way without a Or are you spelling it the correct way with a
00:05:13
Cyn Shrader Hill
spelling it the American way because that is me. I took all the U's out. I am so sorry. However, however, there is Grey Lady of Liberty Hall in the States.
00:05:21
Lee Hatfield
That's it. um'm If it's not spelt correctly.
00:05:29
Cyn Shrader Hill
There is also Grey Lady over in the UK. I am keeping Grey Lady, G-R-E-Y, for the UK spirits. So there is that. I did i did compromise there.
00:05:42
Lee Hatfield
Okay, I'm going to let you off just this once.
Ghost Stories and Legends
00:05:45
Cyn Shrader Hill
Thank you.
00:05:45
Lee Hatfield
yeah So it's quite funny that you mentioned the Grey Lady because in my hometown of Boston, not the one your side, but the one in England, we have a big church that's got a tower.
00:06:00
Lee Hatfield
The tower is like three to four hundred feet high. And story goes that back in the day, a woman threw herself off the tower and she is called the Grey Lady.
00:06:14
Cyn Shrader Hill
What is the tower called?
00:06:14
Lee Hatfield
So
00:06:16
Cyn Shrader Hill
What is the church?
00:06:17
Lee Hatfield
the bot It's called the Boston Stump. And it's what and it it's called the the Stump because the top 30 foot of it, or whatever it was, wasn't finished.
00:06:32
Cyn Shrader Hill
Okay.
00:06:32
Lee Hatfield
But it's like a 400-foot tower.
00:06:35
Cyn Shrader Hill
Wow.
00:06:35
Lee Hatfield
And because because we're we're crazy in England, we call it the Boston Stump. So we get to get tourists coming to the town looking around for a tree stump, going like, I'm trying i'm trying to find this stump.
00:06:49
Lee Hatfield
And I just go,
00:06:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
That's it.
00:06:51
Lee Hatfield
It's up there. Yeah. So Google it afterwards, the Boston Stump.
00:06:53
Cyn Shrader Hill
That's crazy. I will.
00:06:55
Lee Hatfield
Yeah. The only reason it wasn't bombed in World War II is because the Germans used it to navigate their way home because it was like 400 feet high.
00:06:56
Cyn Shrader Hill
ice
00:07:03
Cyn Shrader Hill
Wow.
00:07:05
Lee Hatfield
They used it for navigation.
00:07:07
Cyn Shrader Hill
And it was already 400 feet high, yet unfinished.
00:07:08
Lee Hatfield
But yeah. Yeah. And they kind of missed the top 20, 30 foot or whatever it was.
00:07:14
Cyn Shrader Hill
Wow.
00:07:16
Cyn Shrader Hill
Oh my goodness.
00:07:18
Lee Hatfield
But that's...
00:07:18
Cyn Shrader Hill
You, you Brits overachievers.
00:07:20
Lee Hatfield
I know, let say so I'm from England where the history comes from.
00:07:25
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes. Yes.
00:07:27
Lee Hatfield
But why do you think it is, though, that a lot of these spirits kind of have colours to them? did you yeah you're You're a researcher.
00:07:39
Lee Hatfield
what Why do you think this is?
00:07:41
Cyn Shrader Hill
it It could be so many different things. It could be, their, basic uh aura you know it could be chakra it could be just so many different things it makes me wonder about the brown lady why why is she brown
00:08:04
Lee Hatfield
It's got nothing to do with the toilet habits.
00:08:07
Cyn Shrader Hill
i don't think so either yeah i don't think so either
00:08:07
Lee Hatfield
I'm sorry. but Okay.
00:08:11
Cyn Shrader Hill
But that's just such a strange, that one, that one kind of stands out as different. You know, there's, there's a lot of white, a lot of gray, a lot of black figures, a lot of, there's, there's a few red, lots of blue, few green.
00:08:33
Cyn Shrader Hill
So it just makes you wonder. I'm thinking, I'm thinking Aura and, Even possibly that particular area's, the location's energy.
00:08:51
Lee Hatfield
But it would make sense that it's the aura because obviously the aura can be different colours. So rather than it being something like what they're wearing or the environment, it would make perfect sense that it is the that their aura, that the colour is what people are seeing.
00:09:04
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right?
00:09:13
Lee Hatfield
So when you mentioned black, are you talking about black... like ghost or are you talking about shadow people?
00:09:23
Cyn Shrader Hill
There is one story that Mark found the other night and he sent it to me. it's actually from somewhere, uh, I believe it's Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia, which is very close to here where I live in Tennessee.
00:09:40
Cyn Shrader Hill
an hour and a half away. But he he said, read that and tell me what you think. And it's about this black ghost that rises from the mire and just kind of oozes up and is blacker than black.
00:10:00
Cyn Shrader Hill
That we think is a shadow person. The other ghosts that are, it's a black figure of such and such hall and the man in black, it's not Johnny Cash, but it is this ghost from this particular location called the man in black or woman in black, woman in black in the yard, you know, different things like that.
00:10:26
Cyn Shrader Hill
They're just spirits. But that particular one makes us think, yeah, that's a shadow person.
00:10:36
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, and and that would make sense.
00:10:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
could be the what?
00:10:37
Lee Hatfield
But then, yeah, if you want to stay on on the same theme for a few seconds, the shadow figure, if it's blacker than black, could also be the hat man.
00:10:38
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah. Yes. Yes.
00:10:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
could be the way
00:10:52
Lee Hatfield
The hat man.
00:10:53
Cyn Shrader Hill
yeah yes yes
00:10:56
Lee Hatfield
Because there's quite a few stories about the hat man being blacker than black with the the rimmed hat.
00:11:02
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right?
00:11:03
Lee Hatfield
What's your thoughts?
00:11:04
Cyn Shrader Hill
to It could very well be. They did not mention a hat on this particular figure though. It just terrorized that area.
00:11:16
Cyn Shrader Hill
So, you know who's who's to say? Maybe someone did see it with a hat. Because they appear to different people in different ways. So possibly it did show up as a hat man to somebody.
00:11:31
Lee Hatfield
And another common one that we see is yeah the lady in white or yeah a white flowing dress.
00:11:38
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right.
00:11:39
Lee Hatfield
Could we have a place about an hour away from hos us where newly married couple he who owned a mill? And she got pulled into the machinery and killed instantly.
00:11:56
Lee Hatfield
But then she seemed to be at the window in a white dress. Now, is the white dress a wedding dress? is yeah Back in the eighteen hundreds they used to wear the big dresses with the bustles and stuff like that. So is it that kind of dress?
00:12:10
Lee Hatfield
But when you're talking about ladies in white, I think they do... tend to talk about the dress rather than aura per se.
00:12:21
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right, right. Interestingly enough, my mom fell, i guess it was about two and a half years ago or so. And at that point, she thought that was ending her life. It was a bad fall.
00:12:39
Cyn Shrader Hill
And she looked up. Now, she didn't tell me this for three days, but she looked up and she saw my grandmother who had passed in 2002.
00:12:48
Cyn Shrader Hill
Three days later, she tells me. And she said, I saw mother. And I said, you saw nanny? And she said, I did. and I said, well, tell me. And she said, she just shook her head at me.
00:13:01
Cyn Shrader Hill
And I knew it wasn't my time yet. And I said, what is what was she wearing? She was in a white dress. My grandmother never wore a white dress, ever.
00:13:13
Cyn Shrader Hill
So was that, Just what mom saw as her being a white figure and it just became a white dress?
00:13:24
Cyn Shrader Hill
Or was she in a white dress like, you know, the angelic robes or whatever? Who knows? I don't know.
00:13:35
Lee Hatfield
And that's also a good point because if an individual sees an apparition, for want of an easy word, yeah is it the actual angel that they're seeing or are they actually wearing a white dress? you did yet Because you don't see it and only that person does, it is very difficult to...
00:14:02
Lee Hatfield
kind of try to think about what it what they actually saw. And if they're not very good about describing things, or they're still quite ill when they saw it.
00:14:11
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right.
00:14:12
Lee Hatfield
If the brain can't understand what it's seeing, then it's going to make it into something that that person can understand.
00:14:23
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right. Right. And maybe not get it across as to what it actually was to somebody else. or Yeah. it's It's all, I think it's all perception.
00:14:36
Cyn Shrader Hill
And i think it's all related to your energy, how your energy interacts with something else. You know, because we, I might perceive the brown lady as a lady in white.
00:14:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
You might perceive her as a lady in in black.
00:15:00
Lee Hatfield
yeah cause yeah Yeah, because some people, and yeah I do too, if you have to go and get an eye test and you get these dots, that the numbers in all the dots, yeah some people can see certain ones and other people can't.
00:15:00
Cyn Shrader Hill
I think it's all perception.
00:15:16
Lee Hatfield
And I think I'm like red orange that I can't see. and yeah i used to have tests when I was a kid. But you may be able to see those those numbers perfectly, but you you might not be able to see the green-blue.
00:15:29
Cyn Shrader Hill
who
00:15:29
Lee Hatfield
So everybody's perspective, what I see is green, you might might see it as a different shade of green or even a different colour completely.
00:15:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right. Right. And it can change over time. So, and I'm unfortunately, I think so too.
00:15:44
Lee Hatfield
That's called old age. Old age, that is.
00:15:50
Cyn Shrader Hill
I, I, I let's call it, let's call it, uh, knowledge.
00:15:51
Lee Hatfield
so
00:15:57
Lee Hatfield
Yes, yeah. More experienced than knowledged. There we go. but That definitely works. And if if anybody calls me old, no, I'm more experienced than you.
00:16:07
Cyn Shrader Hill
yeah
00:16:08
Lee Hatfield
But it's never people that are older that call you old, is it?
00:16:10
Cyn Shrader Hill
No.
00:16:10
Lee Hatfield
They always call you you young whippersnapper or whatever it is.
00:16:15
Cyn Shrader Hill
Last night, we my husband and I were leaving a restaurant about 30 miles from here. And this fella, he was with three of his friends. so his girlfriend, it looked like, and another couple.
00:16:29
Cyn Shrader Hill
And he jumped at the door and opened it for us. And we thanked him and we walked he be baked out about five or six feet. And I said, we must really look old. he says, yeah, I think all we needed was a cane.
00:16:47
Lee Hatfield
But the thing is, though, did you get old people benefits at the restaurant? That's the...
00:16:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
We did not.
00:16:51
Lee Hatfield
that's the that's
00:16:53
Cyn Shrader Hill
No, no percentage off, nothing. So I guess we just looked haggard.
00:16:57
Lee Hatfield
see You failed there. Yeah, sort of like, oh, they must have had a really rough paper round. It's like...
00:17:04
Cyn Shrader Hill
Bye.
00:17:06
Lee Hatfield
So how many, you said that the first two books are going to be Headless Ghosts, which we'll talk about in a minute, but your colourful, spilt incorrectly spirits.
00:17:18
Lee Hatfield
out How many stories incorporate thee the colourful spirits? Have you got a rough idea? Because I know yeah i know you've not you've not finished it yet.
00:17:30
Cyn Shrader Hill
as the the colorful ghosts themselves, how many? it's It's only a fraction of the headless. they're both Both of the those two books together are about 600 pages.
00:17:46
Cyn Shrader Hill
And the colorful spirits in there probably make up 10 to 15%.
00:17:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
And the rest is headless. So i just, I wanted a little something besides headless. And I thought colorful would interject kind of nicely through there and, you know,
00:18:14
Cyn Shrader Hill
be a little different and instead of just having ghost stories regular ghost stories because that's coming up later anyway there's also going to be poltergeist book there's going to be haunted objects there's going to be animal ghosts by themselves let's see, there was a, oh, spiritualism.
00:18:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
So talking about all the mediumships and the seances over the years and spiritualism as it grew and just, you know, how, how some were caught in, you know, they would have hands coming about the room. Well, it was caught how they were doing it and different things like that. So it's been fun. It's been kind of amazing.
00:19:00
Cyn Shrader Hill
in what they actually printed in the newspaper.
00:19:05
Lee Hatfield
And it's it's funny because just before you you mentioned that segment, I was going to say to you, well, yeah you say that you've got the 10 books coming out.
00:19:17
Lee Hatfield
So could you tell us what are some of the other subjects? So your telepathy might be spot on tonight for sure.
00:19:23
Cyn Shrader Hill
I'm on. I'm on. Yes.
00:19:24
Lee Hatfield
You're on it. You're on it. You're on it, aren't you?
00:19:27
Lee Hatfield
So... Yeah, as a kid, I think everybody, yeah doesn't matter where you live, always heard stories about the headless horseman or yeah the stereot stereotypical person that's been like executed by the guillotine carrying the head in the hands.
00:19:49
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes.
00:19:49
Lee Hatfield
So how did these all come about? Where did you start with regard to that?
00:19:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
You know, i unfortunately i have developed a habit.
Researching Headless Ghosts and Book Content
00:20:03
Cyn Shrader Hill
I'll just tell you right now I'm, I'm hooked on newspapers.com.
00:20:05
Lee Hatfield
What, killing people? cut Like cutting the heads off or not like?
00:20:09
Cyn Shrader Hill
No newspapers.com. I have, I have a membership now. And it fills my life with hours and hours and hours of just searching for headless ghost stories.
00:20:23
Cyn Shrader Hill
And you would be surprised how many there are. Just, it's incredible. And how many different kinds. There's a few headless nuns out there.
00:20:35
Cyn Shrader Hill
There's a a few headless knights out there. nights out there and lots of course Anne Boleyn and her father even ride around with their heads and in headless carriages or the headless horse carriages driven by headless men so it's just it's incredible how many of them are out there
00:21:06
Lee Hatfield
Now, you mentioned Anne Boleyn, and yeah for people my side of the pond when I was there, yeah headless horsemen and headless ghosts were pretty much the norm.
00:21:21
Lee Hatfield
yeah There's a lot of lot of ghosts that were allegedly spotted that did not have heads because the guillotine was quite quite a popular pastime, shall we say, back at back in the day.
00:21:29
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right. Yeah.
00:21:35
Lee Hatfield
yeah And even in France and places like that, yeah the guillotine was, yeah what should we do tonight, sin? Well, let's go downtown. they do it They're doing an execution using the guillotine. Oh, cool. That'd be great. yep So you can kind of understand why there's a lot of stories about headless ghosts.
00:21:58
Lee Hatfield
But you mentioned, yeah, people in the carriage that were headless, but then you mentioned the guys that were guiding the horses headless as well. Now, it seems strange to me that, okay, the people in the carriage may have been like guillotined, but it doesn't make sense that the people guiding the horses were as well.
00:22:14
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah. Why? Or the horses.
00:22:19
Lee Hatfield
So yeah.
00:22:20
Cyn Shrader Hill
Or the horses themselves. Why are they headless?
00:22:22
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:22:24
Cyn Shrader Hill
there's an As far as the Headless Horseman, there's variations of that story all over the world. So I happened to find that clipping, which I was fortunate to find. And it tells about just the different versions of that headless rider.
00:22:44
Cyn Shrader Hill
Some don't even ride horses. You know, it's just, it's it's been entertaining and very educational. But, you know, why? there's There's one story about a headless cow that has escaped a slaughterhouse. However, the head runs in front of the cow and the body runs behind it a few feet.
00:23:14
Lee Hatfield
not in Florida, is it?
00:23:15
Cyn Shrader Hill
That's that What is it?
00:23:17
Lee Hatfield
so It's not in Florida, is it? Because right strange things happen there.
00:23:21
Cyn Shrader Hill
It's in Pennsylvania. There's there's a lot of, and I've i've've i've poked at my husband about this because he's from Pennsylvania. What are you Pennsylvania people doing up there?
00:23:33
Cyn Shrader Hill
Why? are you Have you got headless spooks and headless all this?
00:23:34
Lee Hatfield
don't don't don't Don't ask, sin. don't Don't ask what they get up to at nighttime.
00:23:41
Cyn Shrader Hill
Oh, maybe not.
00:23:44
Lee Hatfield
Yeah. So I know that you can't really tell us a lot of the things because if you did, there'd be no point in buying your book. But have there been a couple of stories that you've decided that you're not going to put in the book that you can tell us about?
00:24:00
Cyn Shrader Hill
There's been a couple yes that were just to me over the top racial. And it was back in the day where they could print anything because life of some people were not respected as being as important as theirs was.
00:24:27
Cyn Shrader Hill
And it I didn't, I thought, no, I'm not, I'm not going to put that in there. And there's been, one or two where it was something completely different where, and I might end up doing a comedy book out of it where these headless spooks ended up being something, human.
00:24:53
Cyn Shrader Hill
where they were dressing up as headless things and scaring the bejeebies out of people.
00:24:57
Lee Hatfield
Scooby-Doo. s Scooby-Doo. It's like... yeah That's what it is.
00:25:03
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah.
00:25:04
Lee Hatfield
it yeah Back in the day, Scooby-Doo pulled the mask off and it's like...
00:25:08
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah. This has happened so much. and And when they would find out some of the hauntings, there was there was a one man that was paying his patrons, oh, if you can spend the night in in the upstairs apartment, I will pay you blah, blah. blah blah bla But you have to spend the entire night. You have to go up without a light, without a weapon,
00:25:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
And just yourself. And so they would go up. Someone would lead them up because they couldn't see in the dark. and take them into this room, lock them in.
00:25:50
Cyn Shrader Hill
And the the man himself that was going to pay them is the one doing it. he had He had levers and things downstairs. Have you ever seen the ghost in Mr. Chicken?
00:26:05
Lee Hatfield
I'm sorry. though what that the goat
00:26:07
Cyn Shrader Hill
have you Have you ever seen Ghost and
00:26:08
Lee Hatfield
The ghost in Mr. Chicken. Is that that some perverted... Oh, and. and I thought you said in
00:26:13
Cyn Shrader Hill
and... and Mr. Chicken. it's it's a You remember Barney Fife from Mayberry?
00:26:20
Lee Hatfield
No. No. i'm I'm from England, remember? We didn't have TV.
00:26:24
Cyn Shrader Hill
Oh, no.
00:26:24
Lee Hatfield
with
00:26:25
Cyn Shrader Hill
yeah What was his real name?
00:26:25
Lee Hatfield
It's still black and white in the eighty s
00:26:27
Cyn Shrader Hill
What was his real name? Anyway, he played Barney. He was the actor that played Barney Fife on Mayberry RFD. And he he was always, i can't think of his name. Anyway, he was he was always so physical in in everything. you could You could tell what he was feeling and he would you know just be shivering all over from far fright. Well, he was the lead actor in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.
00:26:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
And he was a newspaper newspaper reporter who agreed to stay overnight in this haunted house. well the haunted house was being haunted by all these levers and different things and it was hilarious that's that's what this reminded me of you've got to watch that show it's a movie you've got to watch it
00:27:16
Lee Hatfield
you've got a You've got a really weird upbringing. You seriously have. Some of the weird shows you watch.
00:27:21
Cyn Shrader Hill
i i cannot tell you how many times i watched that as a kid the the bleeding The bleeding portrait and the eyes that watched you.
00:27:27
Lee Hatfield
That explains so much.
00:27:33
Cyn Shrader Hill
and
00:27:34
Lee Hatfield
Oh, yeah. So well with the paintings, you've normally got two two holes cut out and then the eyes move back to scooby-d di back to Scooby-Doo again.
00:27:38
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes. Yes. Yes. See, they got it from the ghost of Mr. Chicken. Yes.
00:27:47
Lee Hatfield
I will take your word for that. so So when you see these stories and yeah you start reading about them, are many of them really graphic or is it a case of it's a ghost with no head and as simple as that? Or is there any kind of trauma evident in a lot of these stories?
00:28:16
Cyn Shrader Hill
I found that if they know what happened to the person, they go into graphic detail about what happened and how it happened and on what day it happened and how they fell and where their head landed and, you know, just just incredible detail.
00:28:35
Cyn Shrader Hill
If they don't know, they're just going to say a headless form showed up. and has been terrorizing the community ever since and they're trying to lay the ghost so it's it's been funny
00:28:53
Lee Hatfield
Because yeah and yeah I want to go back to the the reason why they're headless, because obviously I mentioned about the guillotine and stuff like that. But yeah back in the 1600s, when you'd got like Salem and stuff like that, a lot of people were hung.
00:29:09
Lee Hatfield
So I wonder if there's a connection, if you like, between a ghost or a spirit being headless and the fact that they were hung or they had their head cut off and that kind of thing.
00:29:26
Lee Hatfield
But then, and as I've mentioned, it doesn't explain the animals. It doesn't explain yeah other people that are connected.
00:29:32
Cyn Shrader Hill
no
00:29:36
Cyn Shrader Hill
no
00:29:37
Lee Hatfield
So as's yeah i I've got that whizzing around my head right right now, and it's like, how can this be? But it's weird how...
00:29:49
Lee Hatfield
depending on your culture, you will have headless horsemen or headless ghosts. Yeah, I know back in the day they used to be carrying the head yeah under their arm kind of thing.
00:30:04
Lee Hatfield
But did you find that one particular country or one particular like religion, for example, was more paramount than others?
00:30:15
Cyn Shrader Hill
You Brits have the most headless ghosts.
00:30:18
Lee Hatfield
and know you's i know it I knew you'd say that. Thanks. Yeah, it cheers.
00:30:24
Cyn Shrader Hill
You And for good reason. for good reason.
00:30:29
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, could we use to do it as a hobby?
00:30:31
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes, yes.
00:30:31
Lee Hatfield
Yeah. yeah
00:30:32
Cyn Shrader Hill
Let's take a picnic and watch the, you know, beheading.
00:30:36
Lee Hatfield
Absolutely.
00:30:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
And well, you know, that's unfortunately what used to happen here for lynchings. People used to make picnic lunches and go to the churchyard and watch hangings and stuff.
00:30:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
It's just, we've gone, we've gone from That being every day, and and everybody's used to it, to, oh my God, they actually did that back then?
00:31:03
Cyn Shrader Hill
So, i don't know. And it seems like we've got more headless people because of train wrecks. And walking the tracks, and being run over by a train, and things like that.
00:31:20
Lee Hatfield
I've been there, done that. Not that I laid in front of a train, but I have been to so i i have been to somebody that did lay in front of a train.
00:31:30
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah.
00:31:31
Lee Hatfield
And the head rolled down the track. And when went to walking towards it, the eyes were still open and it's looking at you. And it's sort like, hmm. And there's there's only so many ways how you can pick up a head.
00:31:45
Lee Hatfield
because you have you have to put it in the body bag, but this' like you can't pick it up like a bowling ball because that's just not professional.
00:31:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
You're being serious.
00:31:53
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:31:56
Cyn Shrader Hill
I thought you were telling me another story that had happened.
00:31:56
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:31:59
Lee Hatfield
No.
00:32:00
Cyn Shrader Hill
You were actually being serious from when you were paramedic.
00:32:00
Lee Hatfield
No. No.
00:32:03
Lee Hatfield
Yes. Correct.
00:32:04
Cyn Shrader Hill
Holy moly.
00:32:06
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:32:07
Cyn Shrader Hill
Wow.
00:32:08
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, and it it was literally the the train wheels went straight across the shoulders and quite straight across the hips. So yeah, all four quarters were in different directions, but the head kind of went down the train track.
00:32:20
Cyn Shrader Hill
Wow.
00:32:24
Lee Hatfield
And it's like, yeah, you have to keep your head when all around you are losing theirs.
00:32:25
Cyn Shrader Hill
Wow.
00:32:29
Cyn Shrader Hill
yeah wrong
00:32:31
Lee Hatfield
Literally, literally. so The fact that you've got these these books and you're very close to having them published.
Publishing Timeline and Vampire Tales
00:32:42
Lee Hatfield
You mentioned off camera, but I'd like to ask you again, when are you hoping to get these out?
00:32:48
Cyn Shrader Hill
I'm hoping to get the first two, part one and two, Headless Ghosts and Colorful Spirits. And again, the series is called Unquiet Dead. So these first two books, I hope to be self-published by the end of July.
00:33:04
Cyn Shrader Hill
Monsters and Mayhem, I would love to have out by October.
00:33:10
Lee Hatfield
you do realize that you are like you are allowed to like put your feet up and rest. yeah Both of us are not spring chickens anymore, unfortunately.
00:33:20
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah, but I like to think I am.
00:33:24
Lee Hatfield
A spring chicken. OK. Now you see, we're going back to the chickens, aren't we?
00:33:25
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah.
00:33:27
Lee Hatfield
again Let's get off the chicken subject.
00:33:28
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes.
00:33:29
Lee Hatfield
So what kind of things can we expect from the monsters books then?
00:33:37
Cyn Shrader Hill
lots of vampire stories. There was, Rhode Island actually went through a vampire epidemic at one point.
00:33:48
Cyn Shrader Hill
And their most famous vampire was named Mercy Brown. She was a young girl that I believe, like most of the others, had tuberculosis.
00:34:01
Cyn Shrader Hill
And so... for for whatever reason, they thought TB was vampirism. And some of them were dug up after ba being buried.
00:34:17
Cyn Shrader Hill
Their hearts removed, burned. they if If they were lucky, they wouldn't go after the family. But some of them went after family members that were still alive.
00:34:34
Cyn Shrader Hill
to go ahead and just get rid of them so uh it's it's of course there's there's also some vampire stories from overseas uh the romanian area and yes yes yes
00:34:49
Lee Hatfield
Well, yeah, Transylvania is extremely popular. But it's quite funny because yeah folklore says in England that Dracula arrived in a small like seaside town called Whitby, which is about five hours north of London.
00:35:11
Lee Hatfield
And rumour has it is that his grave is in the graveyard. So you have to walk up these steps and they've got a nice little abbey that you can see in the summer.
00:35:23
Lee Hatfield
And there's a sign on the church door that please do not go hunting for Dracula's grave in the cemetery because he's not real.
00:35:39
Lee Hatfield
And it's so funny how people people will go there to try to find Dracula's grave. but And they they will pick a grave and go, oh, that's it. No, that's some poor sucker that died like a few hundred years ago.
00:35:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
Right.
00:35:52
Lee Hatfield
It's got nothing to do with Dracula. But, yeah, people go people go looking for Dracula's grave.
00:35:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
Oh,
00:35:58
Cyn Shrader Hill
that's a great sign.
00:35:58
Lee Hatfield
But, yeah, yeah it's fab absolutely – I think I might have a picture of it somewhere. I'll have to see if I can dig it out. wi But because of that, Whitby celebrates Halloween in a really fantastic way. So a lot of people turn up in Victorian costume like Dracula used to wear.
00:36:20
Lee Hatfield
And there will be wooden casks propped up in the bars where you can literally go into it and like have your picture taken. And we turned up on Halloween once.
00:36:32
Lee Hatfield
We knew it was Halloween, but we didn't realize this was happening. And to see all the Gothic people walking around dressed as vampires, it was fabulous.
00:36:41
Cyn Shrader Hill
Wow. I bet it was.
00:36:44
Lee Hatfield
Absolutely fabulous. Yeah.
00:36:45
Cyn Shrader Hill
I bet it was.
00:36:45
Lee Hatfield
but But talking about vampires, do you have i know one of the biggest places for vampires in the US is New Orleans.
00:36:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yeah. Yeah. and And a lot of that is to do with voodoo, I think, too. There's a crossover there.
00:37:03
Lee Hatfield
Yeah.
00:37:03
Cyn Shrader Hill
Vampirism and voodoo.
00:37:03
Lee Hatfield
and
00:37:06
Cyn Shrader Hill
the I don't know why
00:37:14
Cyn Shrader Hill
just vampirism itself would be there by itself. But then why would it be in Rhode Island either? so
00:37:23
Lee Hatfield
Well, went out for some milk, got lost, to you the normal thing.
00:37:27
Cyn Shrader Hill
I don't know.
00:37:28
Lee Hatfield
But I'm trying to think of the guy's name. Somebody, Saint Germain, is apparently a well-known vampire in Orleans.
00:37:39
Lee Hatfield
And there's stories about him and that he's been been there for quite a few hundreds of years.
00:37:43
Cyn Shrader Hill
and i've
00:37:47
Cyn Shrader Hill
And I've probably got some of those stories. I've just refused to read them right now because I'm working on this particular You know, section. Some I kind of knew about, I'd heard about, but I'd not heard about that particular person.
00:38:06
Cyn Shrader Hill
There's, there's, I've also come across, werewolves are going to be in that book as well. So there's those stories and people that actually had extra hair on their bodies were considered werewolves and they would be traveling way you know, they would be traveling with the circuses.
00:38:25
Lee Hatfield
That's not me. lot of
00:38:29
Cyn Shrader Hill
There was a circus train wreck here in Tennessee years and years and years ago. and the two, I think it was two, wild men escaped and were never caught again and then for years later they were seen occasionally and never trapped again but you know stories you hear about things like that it's been fun
00:39:00
Lee Hatfield
Are you going to go down the cryptid route at
Future Projects: Cryptids and UFOs
00:39:03
Lee Hatfield
all?
00:39:03
Cyn Shrader Hill
yes yes that was uh that was my the ninth book i think and then when i said that mark says well you've got to get do ufos yeah yeah i do
00:39:19
Lee Hatfield
So, so you literally covering every aspect of the paranormal.
00:39:23
Cyn Shrader Hill
i'm yeah yeah and learning as i go because i don't know i mean i don't i don't know all there is to know certainly about hauntings but i'm more familiar you know with being able to talk about some of them.
00:39:43
Cyn Shrader Hill
Cryptids and UFOs, I just you know, barely know just a little bit. So I'm kind of interested in getting into that. There were all kinds of articles of UFOs that have been seen over the years. And he found an an article the other day that was dinosaurs in the sky.
00:40:05
Cyn Shrader Hill
but What? What? What kind of dinosaurs? What are we talking about now?
00:40:12
Lee Hatfield
What does your husband drink?
00:40:16
Cyn Shrader Hill
he He just ignores me.
00:40:21
Lee Hatfield
But it's funny you mentioned that because I got interviewed on another podcast and she likes talking about the paranormal. And it was like, have you seen the UFO? Nope, don't think so.
00:40:32
Lee Hatfield
Have you seen the cryptid? Nope, don't think so. And it's sort like, yeah, so yeah i specialize, yeah i use the term loosely, in ghosts and spirits. But yeah, I live in a city, so we're not going to be able to see much in the in the sky due to light pollution.
00:40:49
Cyn Shrader Hill
be
00:40:49
Lee Hatfield
so And we don't always go into the wards late at night because, again, we're in the city. But it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah the start of this conversation is not going down too well because I keep answering no.
00:41:04
Cyn Shrader Hill
yeah Interestingly enough, five miles from where we live is cryptid that has been seen since the 1970s called the Flintville Monster.
00:41:16
Cyn Shrader Hill
And it's a Bigfoot type cryptid. I've never seen it. I had never heard of it until I started talking to podcasters that would ask me, well, where did you say you're from?
00:41:32
Cyn Shrader Hill
Well, I live in Flintville, Tennessee, the home of the Flintville monster. What?
00:41:40
Cyn Shrader Hill
What? And then to find out I'm five miles from where it was originally seen. So there's that.
00:41:50
Lee Hatfield
So, Sin, got a question for you.
00:41:52
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes. Okay, Lee.
00:41:55
Lee Hatfield
What's the Flintwood monster?
00:41:58
Cyn Shrader Hill
The Flintville monster is such as a big foot. However, It's more aggressive. Like when it was first seen in the 1970s, it was coming after a little boy that was playing in the field.
00:42:14
Cyn Shrader Hill
His mom happened to look out the window and see this thing coming for her child. She got to her son and brought him into the house before the thing could get him.
00:42:26
Cyn Shrader Hill
But that was the first sighting. Since then, he has been seen... Now, yes, there is moonshine around this area, so there could be that involved.
00:42:38
Cyn Shrader Hill
I don't know. I've never seen him. But several people have. My friend Bob Dahl. Have you met Bob?
00:42:48
Lee Hatfield
i I know of Bob. I've not spoke to him.
00:42:51
Cyn Shrader Hill
You need to speak to Bob because he actually put together the Flinfo Monster 50 years later.
00:42:59
Lee Hatfield
OK.
00:43:00
Cyn Shrader Hill
a documentary. He's fabulous. He's great.
00:43:04
Lee Hatfield
i well I will reach out to Bob Dole.
00:43:07
Cyn Shrader Hill
You should. He's about 20 minutes from me. we We keep talking about getting together and going to look for ghosts and cryptids, but we haven't done that yet.
00:43:19
Cyn Shrader Hill
He will be at GoblinCon with me. he's gonna i think he's actually going to be the emcee of the speakers and stuff. So I'll get in a C-bomb.
00:43:30
Lee Hatfield
So let let's put a plug in then when's GoblinCon and where
00:43:35
Cyn Shrader Hill
Goblin Con is is in Hopkinsville in August. And I believe it's around the 22nd of August.
00:43:47
Cyn Shrader Hill
It's going to be a Saturday and a Sunday. And lots of speakers. I'm not a speaker this year. I wish I was. But I will be a vendor up there. Mark.
00:43:58
Cyn Shrader Hill
my my partner in publishing and writing and all that good stuff will be right next to me at the table next to me doing readings for anyone interested in that kind of thing.
00:44:11
Cyn Shrader Hill
He's fabulous. And he'll also have some of his books there and artwork. So it's going be fun.
00:44:17
Lee Hatfield
Cool. So yeah, sounds like it. So apart from all these books that we that you're going to be writing, and all 10 of them are going to be out before Christmas.
00:44:27
Cyn Shrader Hill
No, no.
00:44:28
Lee Hatfield
And
00:44:30
Cyn Shrader Hill
Possibly three.
00:44:34
Lee Hatfield
there's 24 hours in a day. What excuse have you got? Come on.
00:44:38
Cyn Shrader Hill
I'm also editing Eric Freeman Sims books. So I've got to do those before GoblinCon.
00:44:44
Lee Hatfield
I can wait just a little bit.
Current Projects and Upcoming Events
00:44:47
Lee Hatfield
Okay, so apart from the books and apart from GobletCon, what's next on the agenda for SYNC?
00:44:56
Cyn Shrader Hill
let's see Really, just trying to get as much done as I can with books and because I know I've got several of Mark's to do as well.
00:45:13
Cyn Shrader Hill
you know, just trying to get it get my life in order so I can get these things done and get to GoblinCon because there's other places I would like to go. And we're planning next year on going to Waverly to, yeah, so that'll be fun.
00:45:25
Lee Hatfield
Oh, is that for an investigation or?
00:45:28
Cyn Shrader Hill
And yes. yes So that will be interesting. mark's Mark's going to be leading it because he wants to do an investigation that centers around spiritualism.
00:45:44
Cyn Shrader Hill
He, being a psychic medium and into the old school spiritualism, he can bring a little bit to the table differently.
00:45:55
Cyn Shrader Hill
So we're going to be table tipping. and that kind of thing at Waverly to see how that goes.
00:45:59
Lee Hatfield
Oh,
00:46:02
Lee Hatfield
that sounds fun.
00:46:04
Cyn Shrader Hill
Yes. Yes.
00:46:05
Lee Hatfield
OK, my darling, all good things come to an end, unfortunately.
00:46:08
Cyn Shrader Hill
No, no.
00:46:09
Lee Hatfield
No, let's stay and talk for hours.
00:46:12
Cyn Shrader Hill
We could do it.
00:46:13
Lee Hatfield
Yeah, we can. let's Let's just quickly call Tommy Cullen. We'll get him on and we'll have a chat, all three of us.
00:46:19
Cyn Shrader Hill
Please do. Okay.
00:46:20
Lee Hatfield
that We'll do that one of these days. We'll get all three of us on. And then you'll need a translator when me and Tommy start talking together.
00:46:28
Cyn Shrader Hill
probably probably Please.
00:46:29
Lee Hatfield
Sin, it's been an absolute pleasure. I wish you all the best with your your books that you're writing and will be writing. Have fun at GobletCon. gup Goblet? Goblin. Even GoblinCon.
00:46:42
Lee Hatfield
I called it Goblet. Oh, my God. I'm not even going to take that out. But for now, my darling, it's been an absolute pleasure to see you again. As always, love you lots. You take care. And no doubt we'll be speaking soon.
00:46:54
Lee Hatfield
I can guarantee it.
00:46:56
Cyn Shrader Hill
Thank you so much. It was wonderful.
00:46:58
Lee Hatfield
You take care. Bye-bye.
00:47:00
Cyn Shrader Hill
Bye.