5/1/26
My 18-year old and I are heading out into the woods overnight tonight, specifically to a local area known as Rehmeyer’s Hollow — site of an infamous late-1920s occult murder, host of veritable hundreds of Central Pennsylvania ghost stories, and the real-life inspiration for my own fictional LeHorn’s Hollow.
Making at least one trip to the hollow is a right of passage for generations of teenagers in York County. Lord knows I went there many times from age 16 up till about 30. It was a fun, secluded, remote place to go with your girl or your buddies (or both) on a Friday night and smoke a little weed and listen to Van Halen or Prince or Pink Floyd on cassette. It’s also a popular destination for amatuer and professional ghost hunters alike.
The actual hollow itself (and the old farmhouse of the powow warlock and murder victim from which the place gets its name) is a very small patch of private property. A friend of mine from high school and her husband live directly across from it, in fact, and have to contend with more than their fair share of teenagers and streamers and ghost hunters and other thrillseekers tromping onto their property. But much of what people these days consider the “Hollow” extends far, far beyond those original property lines, and is part of Spring Valley County Park. Both are patrolled by local law enforcement.
As I told my kid’s mother — he’s going to go explore there whether we’re cool with it or not. And we both did the same thing at his age. I’d rather he go with his old man as a guide the first time, so I can show him where to park so he and his buddies don’t get hassled by the cops when they’re parked and listening to Pink Floyd (which is still a thing with Zoomers), and what is private property and what is public access land, and where the actual paranormal hot spots are. (Personally, having conducted several Walking Tours there over the last two years, I think whatever presence once occupied those woods is now dissipated).
Anyway… if you don’t hear from me tomorrow, then we either got eaten by a Satyr or sentient darkness, or we found a doorway into the Labyrinth and are currently on a level of reality where the Beatles officially added Billy Preston as a fifth member and went on to record many albums through the 1970s and 1980s, and are currently leading a protest rally in 2026.
~
Women In Horror Year: Day 27
The Horror Aesthetic: Essays from the Dark Corners of the Genre by L Marie Wood
Hardcover - Paperback - eBook - Audiobook
Many creatures lurk in the dark, weaving on top of one another, roiling together like waves on the night sea. The darkness forms in layers to encompass the land, fill the corners, and obscure angles. Untold mysteries lie just beyond reach told in many tongues, many inflections, many rhythms.
The stories are many. Innumerable. Legion.
The Horror Aesthetic: Essays from the Dark Corners of the Genre shares perspectives from the darkest corners of the horror genre, providing study and nuance to the mythos, antagonists, and storytelling we love. This is a book that celebrates the craft of writing horror, explores the oral traditions that gave life to the written words of the gothic and the tortured, shines a light on what has been left in the obscurity of the dark. From the classroom to the far corners that only shadows reach, The Horror Aesthetic: Essays from the Dark Corners of the Genre examines the horror genre in rich context, contemplative zest, and dark humor.
It's the horror research you never knew you needed until now.
Horror Fiction history and craft geek that I am, this is a book that I love — a collection of various essays about Horror Fiction — the genre’s history, the history of the people who write it, the nuts and bolts of the craft, and the folklore and oral traditions that they drew from. Lisa (because I feel funny calling my friend “L” here) provides thoughtful, smart, deep-dive essays and research into everything from vampires, zombies, the state of the genre, publishing, the act of writing itself, and much much more, all from (as she says in the Introduction) “the perspective of a female African American horror writer”. A gem of a nonfiction collection that I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in what we do for a living and why we do it. The Horror Aesthetic: Essays from the Dark Corners of the Genre is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook from Mocha Memoirs Press.
