Golden Hills Haunting – Do you believe in ghosts?
Do you believe in ghosts?
Let’s talk about ghosts, demons and hauntings. When I started working on Golden Hills Haunting, I decided I wanted to approach the novel from a place of knowledge and understanding. Before I put pen to paper I reached out to the Bay Area Ghost Hunters and to the Diocese of San Jose hoping someone would sit down and talk about the paranormal. I wasn’t disappointed. I had the pleasure of meeting with Loyd Auerbach, Dir. of the Office of Paranormal Investigation, President of Forever Family Foundation and I also landed two different interviews with both a local Catholic Priest and a retired Catholic Exorcist. Following those interviews, I also got in contact with several local community members who shared their personal stories with me. To say I got an education on the subject was an understatement.
As I explored the topic, I learned about the three different types of ghosts and ghost hauntings. Further, I discovered how different researches explore the supernatural. With Mr. Auerbach, he is a firm believer that there are no such thing as evil intent, but there are evil acts. This was a contrast to what the Catholic Priest and the Catholic Exorcist told me (since they believe in demons and demonic possession). However, there was common ground for both groups. Hauntings can be addressed and people and places can be cleansed, which I was relieved to learn, since a lot of what they shared with me was frightening. Even though both groups approached the paranormal differently (one scientific and one spiritually) I was surprised to learn how much they had in common, especially when it came to how they investigated cases. Both teams do extensive interviews and require as much information (proof) as the parties can provide (witnesses, photos, videos, medical reports, first-hand accounts, etc.). Also, each group wants to help people and both teams take their work seriously, and neither the Priest and Exorcist nor Mr. Auerbach will turn people away who are in need of assistance. Whether they can help afflicted is a different story. Also, and this was very important to learn, neither group charges a fee to help people.
If you are ever in a situation where you need this kind of help, you should never be charged for services.
When it comes to the different types of hauntings, I found there are three different types (there is a fourth type that I will get into later). The three main types are; Apparitions (they can be interactive and self-aware), Hauntings (imprints of a past event, like a movie or song playing on repeat), and Poltergeist (this is a living agent with psychokinesis abilities). The fourth type are your demons/evil spirits, and these are not to be messed with. There are things that I discovered about demons and possession that were quite upsetting and I’m still uncomfortable discussing (not because I’m worried about anything bad happening to me but because I learned how sick and twisted people are and what they will do to conjure such beings). With anything demonic or evil, I learned that these creatures have to be invited and even if they are removed, they can easily be invited back, and return. That’s why demons are difficult to get rid of and can take months, if not years, to remove, this is why people suffering from demonic attacks need to keep up with what the priest or exorcist instruct.
Two other items I found interesting about demons is, one, they have territories that they cover, which I thought was strange. The second thing I learned was demons are litigious, which plays into why they can be such a challenge to remove.
Going back to my opening question, do you believe in ghosts? For me, the answer is yes. Especially after talking with the people I spoke with. What we read in books and watch on TV, the internet and in movies is entertainment and should be taken with a grain of salt. When it comes to the real paranormal, there is so much more to ghosts and demons than the regular person will ever understand.
With respect to my novel Golden Hills Haunting, this book is a work of fiction, based on actual accounts from my various sources (some named some not). However, overall, this is a story about family, love, and community. Originally, I wanted to tell a fun ghost story similar to the 1982 movie Poltergeist. In the end, the novel grew into something more, shining a light on a subject that is shrouded in mystery. What ended up published is a story that is based on as much fact and realism as I could include. I wanted to craft a story that addresses the misconceptions and takes on the subject matter in an open and honest manner, while still being fun and, at times, sexy and naughty. I hope readers will enjoy the story and appreciate all the work that went into creating the novel and the characters that inhabit the book.
M.D. Neu has a new gay horror book out: Golden Hills Haunting.
After their daughter was bullied at school, Kyle and Alejandro decided to make a fresh start and move into a beautiful new cul-de-sac development. As they take up residence, the family enjoys seeing the community come to life. But when lights flicker, shadows lurk, and small objects disappear, they begin to doubt their sanity.
When Alejandro and many of their neighbors are struck down by a strange sickness that defies explanation, the family starts to question their recent life change. Feeling trapped they speak with their new neighbors, learning they aren’t alone in the haunted neighborhood.
Who do you turn to when the authorities can’t offer any assistance or protection? How do you fight against a sinister force that is older than time? Can Kyle, Alejandro and the rest of the occupants of Golden Hills Court survive or will this nightmarish ordeal destroy them?
Excerpt
(from Chapter One)
When I decided to sit down and write our story, I wasn’t sure where to open, and I’m still not. Since things didn’t begin all bad, they kicked off slowly. Which makes finding the starting point difficult. I guess when we questioned what was happening in our neighborhood was the day Alejandro came home not feeling well. We’d been in our house for about four months, everything had been unpacked, and our new place felt like a home. Even Chloe, our daughter, had managed to make friends in the neighborhood. We’d had family and friends over and even managed to pull off a big party: our housewarming, which thinking back now should have been our first warning given what happened that day. I digress. Alejandro rarely came home from the office sick, but on that day, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him so ill.
We were lucky, of course. He was unwell, but he wasn’t as bad as some of our neighbors. By the time we got Alejandro settled in bed to rest, three different ambulances had shown up on our cul-de-sac dealing with numerous medical emergencies at various houses. By that evening, almost every home in our circle had been visited by emergency services. The media didn’t catch wind of the story for a few more days, not until the EPA showed up. Hell, everyone arrived, PG&E, San Jose Water, representatives from the housing development, the County, basically every government organization you might throw a rock at. The weeks that followed were only the beginning of our nightmare.
This new house had been our dream, one we had been working toward for years and we needed the change desperately. Our home was the second finished on our street and we were the second family to move in. Yes, we were going to be living around construction for a couple more weeks, but for this house, the daily construction would be worth it, especially at the price we paid. In this valley, these homes were an outright steal. Chloe, in theory, would be at school during the day or off with friends or at therapy. Alejandro and I both worked so we wouldn’t be around during the day when a majority of the construction commenced. Well, except for me. I still worked from home three days a week, but I could manage the noise; I had my music. The only real problem: the traffic as people were moving in and construction teams came and went. We imagined we’d be able to deal with the building and the neighborhood, but we were wrong.
The cause of the mystery illnesses. What a joke. It wasn’t a gas leak or anything in the water or the dirt. We were all looking for the wrong things. At the time, no one ever contemplated we were under attack from the supernatural or paranormal or whatever you want to call a bunch of pissed off spirits and a horde of Demons thrown in for good measure.
But is that when everything commenced?
I don’t think so.
We should have known something was off when we went to the sales center, about three months prior to our moving in. Let me start from before we moved in and go from there. Knowing how things began will help paint a full picture.
Our new neighborhood, our new home, was an infill neighborhood, one of those small groupings of houses that are built on a subdivided parcel of land. They do that a lot in San Jose, with housing being an issue. It’s funny, there wasn’t even a model home to look at. There was a portable sales office with floor plans and finishes to pick from. How we got the house didn’t matter to us; getting the house was what mattered. Chloe needed the change, especially with all she had been dealing with. So, when I found out they were building this infill community, I told Alejandro and we understood we would have to move promptly. After seeing the information, the next day we called out from work and drove to Evergreen to check the location.
The area had everything we were looking for. Chloe could walk to the school, Chaboya Middle School, and she would have to make new friends, but we understood she’d manage. Chloe was social despite the trouble she had when we first got her. There were parks and a creek, plus several trails for hiking and biking. Down Fowler Road at Ruby Avenue a quaint Evergreen Village had been established with shops, restaurants, and larger stores. We couldn’t have asked for a better neighborhood.
If we only knew.
Author Bio
M.D. Neu is an international award-winning inclusive queer Fiction Writer with a love for writing and travel. Living in the heart of Silicon Valley (San Jose, California) and growing up around technology, he’s always been fascinated with what could be. Specifically drawn to Science Fiction and Paranormal television and novels, M.D. Neu was inspired by the great Gene Roddenberry, George Lucas, Stephen King, Alice Walker, Alfred Hitchcock, Harvey Fierstein, Anne Rice, and Kim Stanley Robinson. An odd combination, but one that has influenced his writing.
Growing up in an accepting family as a gay man he always wondered why there were never stories reflecting who he was. Constantly surrounded by characters that only reflected heterosexual society, M.D. Neu decided he wanted to change that. So, he took to writing, wanting to tell good stories that reflected our diverse world.
When M.D. Neu isn’t writing, he works for a non-profit and travels with his biggest supporter and his harshest critic, Eric his husband of twenty plus years.
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