Urban Legends of Greenwoods

Greenwoods is a large expanse of protected woods on the eastern side of Deerbow City. A wonderful place if you ever visit. You can hike, walk, and run during the summer and in the winter cross country ski. Considering that this was part of the city in the 1800's the woods have grown back very nicely.

And there are stories.

In case you don't know the history of Deerbow City. It was made by the lumber and meat packing barons. Greenwoods was supposed to be their wonderfully planned community. They hired some of the top architects to plan out streets and neighborhoods. One place was built, then nothing. The lumber barons moved in to clear out the lumber. See that was the last deal. They would get the timber as the land was cleared. They wanted the wood no matter what. But that never happened. The logging started. Got stopped. Started again. There were accidents and murders. The logging companies finally stopped all together.

The stories started when the logging companies moved in. Remember I said accidents and murder. Well one of the companies, Strake and Thorson, they were starting to cut down the woods across the river from the University. One of the foremen got into a fight with one of the workers. The worker returned that night and killed the foremen. Since then people say the foreman's ghost haunts the woods.

One of the recent ones, is a bit odd. The university students go to Greenwoods a lot. One of the trails is maintained by the cross country team. The rumor is that along that path, there is a man that lives there. Apparently, a lot of the women that use that trail have met him. He must be a charmer, because the stories end with them having sex with him. The odd part about that story is that Andi, the waitress at the Rathskeller told me that she had two room mates that swear it happened to them.

There is the missing village as well. It was the only part of the development I talked about before that had been completed. It was used by Strake and Thorson to house their workers. You can find pictures of it as recently as 1965. But then it disappeared. No one has been able to find it since then.

Do you have places like this where you live?

What an Odd Person

This was really strange. Now mind you, since I was bitten. I have seen some really weird shit, but this one takes the cake.

There is this 6th or maybe 7th sense that vampires have. We can tell if another vampire is near by. We can tell if someone is not human. When ever I look at Swen I get a head ache. So when this guy walked into the Rathskeller last night. Something was up.

First, Swen stopped him. I couldn't see why. He wasn't threatening in any way. I really don't remember what he looked like, except he was dressed like Peter Cushing in a Hammer film, not out of place for the club.

Then he comes inside. He sits down at the far table, so his back is against the corner. It's at this point Steopa starts to watch him. I know something is weird, but I can't place it. I asked Steopa. "What is it?"

Steopa shrugged.

The guy sits there for a while, then Andi comes over and takes his order. She walks by us and gives me this strange look. I force myself not to watch that guy. He wasn't doing anything. So why did it bother me?

Andi gives the guy his drink. He sips it. Then I see it. His pocket watch. When I look at Swen its like I can't focus. This pocket watch makes my fangs grow. He doesn't do anything all evening, but drink his drink. Tips Andi and leaves. But that damn watch bugged me.

Why would the watch do that?

Baldman Rants

I had to cover my face talking to Baldman last night. I didn't want to laugh on camera. I didn't want to offend him.

But reptile aliens? Is he serious?

We were talking about SETI being shut down. And Baldman tells me that the real reason they shut down SETI is that they had come close to finding the actual planet where the reptilian aliens lived.

He's told me about these things before. According to him, they live among us. There are some people that believe they live underground and actually control the governments. Baldman argues that there is no way they could control the governments, because we have a small group of people that already do that.

Then he tells me that the reptiles are here to make sure we mess up the planet. They want it for who they work for. They are like corporate spies. They want us to sabotage our world. They want it hot. Because then the ones that are paying them, will come and take it over. No need for invasion. We will be too sick to fight back.

Scary right?

That wasn't what made me laugh. I asked him, how do they hide among us?

They use plastic surgery.

It was at that point I had to cover my face.

Isn't that one of the weirdest things you heard?

Father's Day

I miss my dad.

My real dad.

My dad died when I was 12. Motorcycle accident. And my whole life collapsed.

He wasn't a rich dad. He was always in some sort of trouble. Nothing that would land him in jail, although there were a few close calls. But he made sure John, my brother, and I always were taken care of. If anyone bullied us, he was down at the school the next day raising hell. If he knew the parents of the kid, he would be at their door. A few of those meetings ended up in fights.

The biggest thing I loved about him. And what I miss. Is how no matter how much we screwed up, or how much damage we did (like when we decided to help him paint the house), after we were punished. He would make us sundaes, and talk to us over vanilla and chocolate. You almost looked forward to a time out, when you knew sometime later, you would have ice cream.

He looked after us more than my mother did. She was always on him to get a better job, to work harder. He was satisfied that he had food on the table and a roof over our heads. We got our clothes at the goodwill, and we never felt poor. Until after he died and mom got weird.

I wish he could have met Steopa. I think they would have gotten along.

Happy Father's Day.

Strange Sounds

Something woke me up.

Yes, we can wake up during the day. It not a sleep like you are used to. It's more like your body shuts down, but you are still aware of things around you. So if someone was to get into our lair, we would be on the attack before they had a chance to harm us. Those scenes in the movies where the vampire sleep and they can stake them, don't happen. Steopa assured me the ones he saw, the hunters needed a team to hold the vampire down.

Anyway. I was in my stupor. Steopa beside me. I heard this noise. Like clanging. At first I thought it was someone working in the maintenance room above us. Then I realize the sound is not coming from the parking garage, but behind the wall. I fully wake up. I moved Steopa's hand off my chest and sat up.

It happened again. The sound was muffled. And it wasn't really clanging. More like something being hammered with a mallet. Steopa woke up.

"What is it," he asked.

"Don't you hear that?"

There were no sounds for a long time. He shook his head. I laid down after a while. The stupor would come. It had sounded like the noise had come from below us.

What is the strangest noise you have heard in the night?

Sir Ogden Phelps

A private vampire that I met soon after changing is Ogden. He is a strange character, even for us.

He has a lot of money. He lives in the old rich part of the town. His mansion is the real deal, not those Mcmansions. Every time I go there, I feel like I am in England. He doesn't talk much. When he does, he sounds like a school teacher.

This is what I know. I know he had been in India. He has some antiques in his house that would make the guys from Antique Roadshow have heart attacks. Most of them were from when he served in the army as a doctor. He married a Hindu woman. I have seen the photo from their wedding. They looked happy.

I don't know how he ended up in Deerbow City. I have figured out that he had a home and lands in England, but why he left there and came here? I don't know. Steopa says he was one of the first vampires he met when he took over his territory. But Odgen left Steopa alone. They didn't cross paths again until I turned, and then Ogden has been in our lives since then.

He knows magic. I am not talking about "watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat" type. I mean real magic. The kind that you can only achieve in movies with special effects.

He has a bird too.

I think he could be really dangerous. I am glad he likes Steopa and me.

Should we be cautious around him?

How We Hunt

If you think we pick our prey out at random, you are wrong. Some humans think that vampires pick only criminals to feed off of, some think only certain types of women or men. That is all rubbish.

Steopa says were are predators. And like predators, we weed out the sick and weak. But we don't have to chase anyone across the veld to figure out who would be a good meal for the night.

The main thing to keep in mind is that we Do Not Need to Kill. We need a little blood. If we are in a situation were we will need a lot of blood, then we might kill. It's not a necessary step for feeding. But mistakes can be made. So when we hunt we look for the shroud.

The shroud is an aura that covers all humans. When a vampire looks at you, they see this slight color that surrounds your body. We look for the dark colors. If the shroud is black, that person wants to die. A person with a dark shroud is less likely to fight back and less likely to talk about their experience.

Some shrouds are pretty. Young children can be surrounded in rainbows. The saddest thing to see is a child with a black shroud. Steopa and me don't touch children. We both agree that there is no need to attack a child.

So if we find someone with the right color shroud. We will follow them until they are alone. Then feed off them quickly. The entire feeding takes a couple of minutes. When we are done, the person is usually in shock. Steopa and me take their money. When the shock wears off they convince themselves that they were mugged.

It actually as routine as eating. We don't think about it too much.

Do you think you would ever be chosen to for a meal?

Mundane Parts of a Vampire Life

There are times when a vampire's life is boring.

Don't believe me? We don't have to feed every night. We don't always fight. There are long stretches of nothing. So what do we do. Same thing you do.

There is housework. I can hear you laughing. But there is. Dust is horrible. Especially where Steopa and I live. Once a week we are dusting and scraping the wax off the tables. Although less wax now that I have run the electric to our place. And we can use a vacuum. Now you can laugh. Watching Steopa vacuum is worth a giggle.

We have to go to the laundry mats. Clothes get dirty. The movies and some of the books make it seem like we only wear one outfit, but that's not true. Steopa has two wardrobes full of clothes. I am getting a collection too. In fact I care more about how I look now, than when I was alive.

How do we pay for the laundry? We take the cash off our victims. I know that sounds horrible. But the main reason is, to make it look like a mugging. We don't have to kill. We can. But most of the time, we drink, knock the person out, and take their money. I sometimes take jewelry. Steopa thinks it's a stupid idea. But there are pawn shops that never ask where you get anything.

As you can see, I am on the computer. So that is something else I have to pay for. Thank goodness for prepaid credit cards and cell phones.

One thing I had to get use to was what happens when we sleep. Which is another reason we have to use the laundry mats. We don't go to the bathroom. And some of us (Steopa) like to drink and eat some human foods. We still have to get rid of the waste. It comes off in a powder that covers the skin. When we wake up, the dust gets all over the bedding. It's not really gross. But, once a week, we have to wash our bedding.

I have also learned to mend my clothes. Bullets hurt and they leave nasty holes in shirts.

So if there is no housework, or we aren't hunting. What do we do? Visit Teodor, go to late shows at theaters, hang out at the Rathskeller. But in the late night, early morning. There is nothing to do. That is when we go home. And currently, Steopa is teaching me Russian, which is an up hill battle.

What other mundane things do you think we have to do?

Stories of the Base

Deerbow has its own Area 51. Have you heard of it? The secret underground base that was set up after WWII? If you grew up in Deerbow, you heard of it. For those of you that haven't, a little background.

There are a lot of stories about the base. Here are some of the similar parts of the stories. It was built sometime after of just at the end of WWII. They built it underground because they did not want the public to wonder why a big base was going up in Deerbow. The part of town it was in (Konakove) had a major building boom at that time. A lot of buildings went up, but stayed empty. It is said that was to hide the building of the base.

No one really knows what they did there. On story is that it was a base that had scientist from Nazi Germany working there. With the amount of Germans that lived in Konakove at the time, it would be possible to hide them there. Another theory is that is was a place where they actually sent the saucers from Rosewell. That it is really Area 51.

Is there any proof of the base? Sometimes you will get a person that says they have documents or the like that support there was something going on there. Most of them end up being forged, or unusable. There are the stories, there are so many stories.

One of the ones that I always thought was possible was the mysterious explosion in 1967. A three block area of Konakove had been blow apart. The official explanation, gas line exploded. Only seven people died. Most of the buildings that were destroyed were empty, or closed for the day. That part of the city was rebuilt in a few years. There are some people that think the base had been destroyed that night. That something they were working one backfired. What were they working on? Everything from a fighter jet to UFOs; from atomic bombs to alien energy weapons.

I love stories like that, don't you?