Teresa is today’s hostess of 50-Word Thursday. I would encourage anyone who likes to write short fiction or poetry (up to 250 words) give it a try. Teresa and Kristian are co-hosts and alternate Thursdays.
Rules:
- Find the muse within the photo or line provided and follow where it leads. It can be a story, anecdote, poem. Anything!
- Story must be between 50 and 250 words, in 50 word increments.
- Link back to this post with the tag 50WordThurs so that everyone can find it, or post your response in the comments below.
-
HAVE FUN!
This week’s prompt was a photo or the following line:
“Maybe I needed to learn to stay more alert when
traveling in a foreign country”
– Lisa Bullard, Turn Left at the Cow.
I chose to write a story using the above line, but I tweaked it just a teensy bit, which you will see in the story. (hoping a wee bit of poetic license is permitted!)
Ivy could hardly wait to embark on her adventure to see the most haunted sites of Canada. Long an amateur ghost-hunter, she’d traveled the United States to well-known sites. It was time to see what international ectoplasm looked like.
Her tour would start in Ontario and include Keg Mansion and Fairmont Chateau; then she’d take the snow train to Alberta, staying at Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Banff, rumored to be one of the most haunted. The Fairmont, built in 1888, was reported to have, “numerous terrifying ghost sightings, including a murdered family in room 873, [and] a bride who died falling down the hotel’s marble staircase.*” After that, the train would take her to the final destination, the Craigdarroch Castle, Victoria, B.C.; after which she would fly back home.
Ivy had tried to get friends and family to go with her, but none were “into” ghosts and most felt they were hoaxes designed to draw in money-spenders. Ivy wouldn’t admit it, but she wondered how many of her sightings were conjured by her own imagination.
The Keg and the Chateau were uneventful; not even any rattling chains. She boarded the snow train and dozed to the clacking of the rails. As the train passed through a tunnel, Ivy was gripped with terror when rough hands ran over her body. Red eyes materialized and a voice made of sheer ice whispered,
“Maybe [you] needed to learn to stay more alert when traveling in a foreign country.”
*Please note that the photo and info about the haunted places were taken from here.
Tao Talk 
Wonderful! Poetic license is always allowed :)
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Yay! Glad you liked the story. I wanted there to be a buildup where it seemed like the ghost would get her at the castle, but….
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Great story.
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Thank you, Sadje. Were you surprised?
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A unexpected surprise showing up of the spirits. Would make the best scary scene in a movie.
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Maybe I need to write a book and become Stephanie King? :)
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Maybe, or even better. 👍😊
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<3 You are a kind person, Sadje. Thank you for that.
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Thanks, and you’re welcome 😉
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:)
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I enjoy a bit of suspense and thriller. Poor Ivy.
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Well it certainly cleared her doubts….
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Great story. Craigdarroch Castle is pretty close to my house. :)
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Really??? Have you ever gone there? What’s the scoop!
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Yes, I have. They have some great stories but my MS brain doesn’t remember them very well. The people that work there dress in period costume and play the roles of the servants in the house. Some of them claim to have had strange experiences and sightings. There are a lot of good ghost stories around Victoria, a woman who wanders the Victoria Golf Club course, and lots in the Ross Bay cemetery. If that’s your thing you should plan a visit!
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Thank you so much for responding back about it. Do they actually have people staying in the hotel, or is it more like a museum? No, I’m not into ghosts. When I saw the prompt the story popped into my head, as these stories sometimes do. From the picture, it looks an awful lot like that place where they filmed The Shining.
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No, it’s strictly a tourist spot. My husband saw Roger Moore there once!! :)
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So 007 was a ghost hunter as well. Cool ;)
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