Wednesday, October 13, 2010

More news from the shifter world!


Hi and welcome to your Wednesday fix of Shapeshifter Seductions! Rebecca here with your news of shape shifters in the real world. Today, we have a story of a woman who admits to being a cobra, a ranch in Utah that claims to be the skinwalker trail, and a remake of an old werewolf movie!


It’s been a busy week! I gave up on trying to make my website both functional and attractive on my one and have been checking out a few website design people. I also ended up expanding a story I though was just about ready to be submitted. One of the secondary characters decided he wanted a bigger part. I was hesitant at first- why mess with a good thing?- but caved. I kind of like the direction he wants to take it. The third story of my short story trilogy is not going to be a short story, or not as short as the first two, at least. Fun, fun, fun!


So on to the snake woman! In the tiny African nation of Ghana, a snake did appear in front of a village church. The parishioners, fearful of their safety, chased the snake off. When the snake disappeared down a drainage tunnel, the frightened villagers poured boiling water down it. What should appear? A woman who had just been burned by boiling water!

When asked, the woman admitted she was the snake. The pastor’s wife called the police because she was afraid the woman would be killed by her husband’s flock and they took her into custody, not that it stopped an angry mob from forming outside the jail, though. The police declared that the woman was insane, a claim some doubt because no snake could be found, boiled or otherwise. I can’t say as I blame them, but considering how many people have been turning up dead in Africa lately that can be tied to black magic, I can’t really blame the cops for trying to defuse the situation, either.


So you’d like to meet a shape shifter yourself, up close and personal? No need to go traipsing all the way to Africa, my loyal readers! In Uintah County, Utah, there is just such a place. The Skinwalker Ranch is a well-known hotbed for the super- and preternatural. You name it, someone has seen it there. Supposedly, the Utes of that area say that Navajo skinwalkers have made the area a cross roads of supernatural evil. There has even been a quasi-scientific study done on the place. You can pick up your own copy of the book, if actually traveling to BFE Utah doesn’t sound like your cup of tea. Or you and read this… interesting… article by the authors of the book.

Why do I even care, you may ask? Because I grew up not more than 100 miles away from Uintah County, Utah. I, in fact, grew up in Uinta County, Wyoming, and I absolutely saw things as a kid that made me think there was something out there in the night. If you need a little help luring your significant other into a trip the the wilds of the Rocky Mountains, you can always try billing it a ski vacation, one that even a bookworm could love!


If you’d like a break from reading interesting paranormal stuff (not that you would, but if you did) Nickelodeon is releasing a remake of an old 1973 horror, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. In the original, a young boy goes on a camping trip with his father. The father gets attacked by a werewolf, and the kid spends the rest of the film trying to convince people that his father is now a werewolf. I have never seen this flick, but it does sound very interesting.

The new version is appropriately kid friendly, as one would expect from Nickelodeon, but probably won’t be as warm and fuzzy as a Disney made-for-TV movie. Other than the name, this one looks like it’s almost totally new. I’m still going to be tuning in, though, because it’s got a grieving widower who just inherited a mansion in Romania and whose kids turn into werewolves. ‘Nuff said for me. It’s airing Saturday, October 23rd at 8/7 central.


That’s about it for this week’s shape shifter news. Have a safe and festive rest-of-the week!

Rebecca

RebeccaLGillan.com

6 comments:

Pat C. said...

The skinwalkers story got me thinking ... what if a witch (maybe the same one who caused all those weather problems) had a spell go awry and cursed all the clothes in people's closets? You put on a leather jacket, a wool sweater, or alligator boots and suddenly you've got four legs and a tail. Those wearing cotton or synthetics would be okay, but the rest ... ? "I don't know what happened, Agent Mulder. My wife put on her leopard-fur coat and the next thing I knew she was eating our poodle."

Serena Shay said...

Oooh, creepy and weird! A snake goes down, boiling water in and a burned woman comes up. Now if we add a reptile loving hero at the cop shop...we've got ourselves a romance in the making! ;)

LOL, Pat, that would make for a fabulous story!! write it - write it!! ;)

Savanna Kougar said...

Wow, a snake woman. I hadn't heard that story. However, there are stories about wolfs being killed, especially in Britain and France, and they find a man's dead body instead of the wolf.

Yeah, I've heard a lot about Skin Walker ranch, from journalists like George Knapp, who wrote a book with another author... including one of the owners and his family meeting a friendly Dior Wolf... now that would have been cool, except said wolf tried to eat one of their calves. They pumped round after round into the wolf, who was barely affected... they followed his footsteps until they suddenly disappeared.

Rebecca, boy, do you have a lot of good paranormal stuff for your books!!! Sending good writing vibes to you.

THAT PIC IS TOO GOOD... the kilt chihuahua.

Savanna Kougar said...

Serena, great story idea... snake shifter finds true love.

Savanna Kougar said...

Pat, as Serena says ~ write it - write it!! ;) I already want to read it.

Rebecca Gillan said...

Na, I just read the news incessantly. The ones that end up in one of my stories don't get posted. The rest, I share because I can see the potential for a story or just think it's funny. I write fantasy, so most of the paranormal stuff doesn't fit unless it also has a mythological angle.

Pat- OMG, that's a good one!