The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Back in the late 70's my family and I lived in the big, beautiful, old, yellow farm house. The house was built before the Civil War and had much history. It had been in the same family since its creation. The house its self was way out in the country in the middle of no where but was pat of a town called Kenansville NC. We fell in love with the house at first site and were happy to move in.



The house sat on a huge track of land that went on for acres and acres. It was surrounded by open fields, cow fields and great open wood. I spent much of my time walking those fields and exploring those woods. Around the edges of the fields were fruit trees of apple, peach and plumb. The yard it's self has no less then 19 pecan trees and two great oaks stood sentinel in the front yard, on either side of a long lane leading to the house. Sweet smelling flowers planted by women decades past filled the yard. In the Early hours of the morning, rabbits played around the yard. The entire place was magical. If you were to walk through the cow field way past the stream there was a section of the woods that was nothing but pine and holly trees. Growing all around these trees were a beautiful kind of wild orchid called lady slippers or Indian moccasins. There were hundreds of them and I spend many, many hours laying among them dreaming of the things that teen age girls dream of. Truthfully these fields and woods were an escape for me for many reasons and I spent much time in and among them.



The house its self was a rambling old farm house with a fireplace in each of the 4 bedrooms. The owner of the house left much of the old antique furniture in the house for our use and I had a huge old sleigh bed made of beautiful oak. The house had no central heating nor air conditioning but we made due.



A porch had been enclosed to make out living room and as a result we had two windows that were inside the house which looked into the bathroom! My mom, every crafty, painted beautiful outdoor pictures on those windows. The kitchen was big and old with much room for eating.



There was one thing about the house however that made it even more special. It was haunted form the attic to the kitchen. Some of the old locals even refused to come into our house, saying they did not want to again meet the haints that lived there. There were sever ghosts there according to the locals. An old slave woman who loved to rock on the front porch, a civil war soldier who lived there and of course the creator of the home, Mr. Holland.



Now we never saw the slave nor the soldier but Mr. Holland had not problem making his presence known. He loved to walk around the house when we were trying to sleep. He was very heavy footed! He especially loved to go up and down the stairs. We saw him on occasion but not too often. We heard him more then anything else. We were not afraid however as his presence was comforting and he seemed to approve of us being there. I suppose because we loved the house as much as he did.



We had turned the huge attic into my bedroom and I loved it up there. However one day there was a very bad storm and lightening crashed all around us. I was sitting on my bed near the window and my mom was up there with me looking out. A lightening rod ran down the side of the house next to my window. Suddenly a huge bolt of lightening struck the rod and traveled down the wire into the earth. The force of knocked my mom and I back as a big ball of electricity made its way past us. It was something that neither of us will soon forget.



After my granddad died, we moved from lovely house and back to Virginia. My mom and I were devastated at the prospect of leaving but there was not to be done. We would visit the house when we went to NC to visit my sister. No one was living in it. As the years past the house became more and more ran down until we went back for the last time. Both of the huge oak trees had long since been struck by lightening and were dead, someone had vandalized the inside of the house tearing up the walls and breaking the beautiful windows that my mom had painted. All of the fixtures were broken and the house sagged as if it was dead. The only room that was not torn apart was my old bedroom. It was as if when we moved out of the house its spirit had died. Since seeing it like that we have not been back to visit it. Perhaps it is gone now and new houses are in its stead.



My mom and I however will never forget the house that was a part of us and that we loved so very much. I hope it rests in peace.

In 1980 I lived in a small town in NC called Kenansville. It was very early Spring and I was in the 10th grade. One day at school a friend of mine who was a Senior pulled me aside and told me that a friend of ours named Caludia Grady had been killed in a car accident the night before.



Claudia, was a pretty girl and many girls were jealous of her. She had a particular walk. Sort of like a queen with a crown on her head. She walked ram rod straight and because of that girls joked about her behind her back. There was nothing wrong with the way she walked. It was just uniquely hers. I knew her but I really never ran in the same crowd as her as she was three years older then me. We did play on the same softball team however, called the Line Drivers. She was pretty good. Now as I said this was a very small town and everyone knew everyone. Claudia was the daughter of the sheriff and many said she was a bit wild. Truthfully, I believe that she just walked to her own drummer but being a sheriffs daughter must be something like being a preachers daughter and perhaps she rebelled a little against that. As far as I know, she didnt give her family any trouble.



One night, she went out on a date. I do not know if they were drinking or not but I believe that the word was that they were. She and her date got into a high speed car accident and she was thrown from the car, breaking her neck and dieing instantly. Sadly enough she had a different date the next night and having not heard about her death, went to the house to pick her up only to get the word of her demise.



We all went to her funeral and I will never forget what she wore and how she looked. I will also never forget the words of the preacher as he did her eulogy. Many of us were upset at some of the things that he said. But we were young and angry at the situation.



Over the years I have thought of Claudia often. I do not know why her death has affected me so and why I still dwell on it after 26 years. I only have one picture of her which I will post when I can find it. A psychic once told me that we were related in a past life. Perhaps we were. I suppose I wont know until I go to meet her on the other side.



Until then, she will always live on in my memory

I have an older brother named Joseph Shannon. I have never met him. In fact, I don’t even know if he still lives or ever survived being born.

My mother was adopted into a very affluent family of race horse breeders and keepers in Lexington Kentucky. She also had an adopted brother. While her adopted father loved her and cared for her, her adopted mother did not. She was not a nice person and I suppose was very unhappy with life. Truly I have no idea why she was the way she was.

When my mother was a teen she was forced into a situation by her “brother” and as a result became pregnant with my brother. She was only 15. Now mind that this was in the 50’s and things were much different then they are today. Parents had absolute control over your life and the way you did things. Children did not question their parents.

When my mom was between 7 and 8 months along her mother forced her to go to a back woods abortion clinic. I say back woods because it was not legal in that state during that time. As she was so far along she gave birth to my brother along in the bath tub. She held him and cleaned him up and touched his thick black curly hair. Kissed him and named him Joseph Shannon. The door to the bath room opened and she was told to put the baby in the box.

That was the last time she ever saw my brother. She was sent back to school like nothing ever happened and was never allowed to ask about it. When she became an adult she was going to ask her mother about it but her other died before she ever could.

My mom has always been honest with us about things and we always knew we have a brother out there somewhere.

I like to think he is alive and well but honestly, I doubt it.