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whether they involve ghosts or time warping or crop circles, I love to listen to peopleâs stories about their brushes with the unknownâŚ.this is one that happened when I was around seven years old, and recall so vividly it plays like a movie in my mind:
One morning, when my sister and I were very small, my family took us to Santa Fe to visit our uncle. We stayed in a gorgeous old adobe hacienda-style home, with my sister and I sharing a room. One early morning, our first one there, my sister (around four years old at the time) woke all of us up when she ran out of the bathroom absolutely hysterical, screaming that a man was in the bathroom. My parents, jumping to the conclusion that there mustâve been a peeping Tom in the tiny stained glass window adjacent to the toilet, scoured the area for anyone, or any sign of anyone. of course, they found nothing.
Later, when she was calmer and more intelligible, my sister told us a tall man wearing a coat and hat had appeared directly in front of her out of thin air, and sheâd had to run around him to escape the bathroom. That evening, when my parents described the incident to my uncle (an architect whose boss graciously allowed us to stay in that house), he told us that while his boss had made jokes about the place being haunted, he never wouldâve guessed it was true.
if you have a creepy story youâve been itching to tell, help us set the Halloween mood at Gilded and send it over! We want to read it for our upcoming Halloween special. Our hearts (and Google form) are open to you â¤ď¸đ
Sep 21, 2024
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Apr 26, 2024
I think ghosts are energy that lingers over time and, if itâs not cleared or amplified, it can be made manifest. Not to be metaphysicalâI see the clutter that arises out of hoarding in the same way, but thatâs a whole other can of worms. Houses, especially those steeped in history, are inherently liminal spacesâthey exist at the threshold between the past and the present, the seen and the unseen.
We were once afraid of the darkness in the open expanse of the wilderness at night, and now the darkness is contained with us within four walls. You donât know whatâs going on in those four walls until youâre inside and staying there for a while, whether itâs an overnight stay as a guest, a lease with a fixed term, or a long-term purchase.
Mark Fisherâs concept of the weird captures this unease perfectly. The weird is that which feels out of placeâan energy, an object, or a memory that doesnât belong but refuses to leave. Houses are often full of these anomalies: a creaking floorboard, a shadow in the corner of your eye, a strange layout that never quite makes sense. These small dissonances accumulate, creating an atmosphere that feels uncanny, as though the house itself is alive and aware of your presence.
The trap of the house is also deeply modern. Once you discover its unsettling secrets, you have to stay there, tethered by responsibility and the cost of leaving. The house becomes a site of entrapmentâa perfect example of Fisherâs liminal, where youâre stuck in a space that isnât quite safe but isnât immediately escapable either, with whispers and presence making themselves known to you from out of time.
If this resonates, you might enjoy my autobiographical contemporary gothic story about living in a house that used to be an old maternity hospital (pictured), where I explore these feelings and ideas. You can read it here: Haunting.
Dec 28, 2024
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my predictions and manifestations, based entirely on vibes.
out:
â American work ethic
â learning French
â situationships
â low fat versions of foods
â slur discourse
in:
â siesta
â herbed yogurt
â working hardest in the morning and leaving the evening for leisure
â writing postcards to your long-distance friends, exclusively in cursive (if you werenât taught to write in cursive, the time to learn will be now)
â big boobs (cultural Catholicism will prevail again baby)
May 3, 2024
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this is the summer of treating mosquito bites as mere affirmations of your desirability đŠ¸
May 20, 2024
so sweet and refreshing..âwatermelon haters do not interact â
Jun 20, 2024