Something Wicked Returns: Ann Aguirre, Horde Guest Post & Giveaway (INT)

Hello, nocturnal librarians!
With only a few more Wicked posts planned here at The Nocturnal Library, I must once again point out how thrilled I am with your response and how very grateful for every visit, comment and giveaway entry, on my blog and on the blogs of my wonderful co-hosts. You guys are the best readers in the entire Universe, and because you are, I have a special treat for you today.

The one and only Ms. Ann Aguirre wrote a true and terrifying post and decided to share it right here on The Nocturnal Library. I'll leave you to Ann now, which is a nice way of saying: "Please excuse me, I must run and hide."

I will preface this post by saying; I don’t care if you believe me. You can think I’m making all of this up for Halloween, if that makes you feel better. I’m not. I don’t talk about my supernatural experiences because people tend to react one of two ways. A) They decide you’re crazy and whisper about you. B) They become weirdly fascinated and ask all kinds of intrusive personal questions about my habits, hygiene, and religious practices. Since I’m not looking for attention, I keep this stuff quiet. Usually. But since Maja is awesome, I’m willing to unseal the vault this once.

And so, to the scary shit.

Spooky Facts You Probably Don’t Know About Me

• A psychic once told me I'm a lightning rod for the paranormal. She’s not wrong. I can tell when I walk into a building whether something otherworldly lives there.

• Some buildings have a definite energy. Sometimes it’s warm and welcoming; you can tell tons of happy families have lived there. And sometimes it’s very dark. This is a recent example.

• My husband and I were house- hunting here in Mexico. We had seen a number of properties and this place was huge, almost like an estate. It was at the bottom of a cul de sac, steep stairs leading down past the gate. The land was picturesque, but the moment I stepped into the house, I felt physically ill, and the longer I stayed, the worse it got. Nausea, stomach pain—I almost couldn’t complete the tour. By the time we got to the pool house, I was doubled over. I gasped to Andres, “Something terrible happened here. We have to go.”

• The real estate agent was kind of freaked, but we took off. Andres listens to me, even when I sound crazy. I felt better as I started climbing the steps toward the gate. We got in the car and drove five minutes; I was completely fine.

• I've seen dead people. Dean Koontz is right; they don't speak. At least the ones I've seen haven't. Maybe they just don’t talk to me?

• I don’t claim to be an expert, so I’d listen if someone said they had a conversation with a spirit. It’s possible that what I saw are known as recordings (energy without will or sentience), just reenacting a moment in time but incapable of interaction. They didn’t seem aware of me; that’s for sure.

• I grew up in a haunted house.

• God, this is such a long story. From my earliest memory, I had an imaginary friend named Henry. He was grown-up man and he loved children. He wasn’t so fond of the adults who lived in the house, however. Here are some short examples of his pranks: opening the front door in the middle of the night, hiding scissors in the freezer, touching the back of your neck, taking my homework. When he did the latter, I would tell him, “Give it back, I don’t have time to play.” Then I would close my eyes, count to ten, and the pages would be back on my desk.

• We had a repeating event between 2 and 3am. Thump upstairs, like a body falling. Sound a baby crying. Then footsteps running. Back door opens and closes. Car door opens, car engine starts, door slams, car drives away. You hear all of this but you see nothing. Ever. It was fucking creepy. Many people witnessed this pattern over the years, including a minister who ran away.

• Henry grew hostile, the older I got. It was… alarming. When I was eight or so, we remodeled the kitchen and found an old picture behind the cabinets. It was of a stern-looking man from the 20s or 30s, posing by an old-fashioned car. The photo was black and white. On the back, it said, “Henry” and a date, which I’ve since forgotten. We all marveled at it, and my parents decided maybe my imaginary friend was a ghost. The picture, we left on the coffee table overnight. In the morning, it was gone.

• After the house was remodeled extensively, the recording stopped. No more crying babies in the night. Related? I don’t know.

• The woman who lived there before us had a nervous breakdown due to the presence in the house. My parents made a call to her husband, after the sale, and discovered she was in a mental clinic in Florida. Apparently, she had the front door opening constantly when she was home alone overnight, so she started jamming a butcher knife beside it, to wedge it closed. And in the morning, she’d find it sticking in the wall. I think I might have a breakdown, too.

• It's not safe for me to touch a Ouija board.

• When I call, bad things come.

• Once when I called a spirit and asked for proof of its presence, every crystal candle holder in the room shattered simultaneously.

• I’ve seen a room fill with cold fog—to the point that visibility was completely obscured.

• A man in the room, who wasn’t Jewish, spoke Hebrew.

• The TV show Sightings did a study on me.

• By this point, things had gotten so bad that I needed help. The show staff checked the place out and wanted to go forward, but I was afraid of how my (bible belt) community would react if they saw me on a show about ghosts and demons. So I veered away from the public eye. And I moved.

At the time of this writing, I have no involvement with the paranormal. I have kids at home, and I’ve learned my lesson about fiddling with this sort of thing. Other people can do what they want, but I know it’s dangerous.

All these stories are true. And they aren’t even my scariest ones. Happy Halloween.

Ann Aguirre is a USA Today bestselling author with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. She likes books, emo music, and action movies. She writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens.

Is it safe to come out of hiding now?!

It better be! I have a few more things to say. First, HAPPY BOOK RELEASE DAY, ANN! (Okay, I'll stop shouting now.) Second, go read Horde, you guys, it's a-freaking-mazing!

You can enter to win a copy right here at The Nocturnal Library. This giveaway is international, anywhere The Book Depository ships. All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter and keep your fingers crossed. Good luck!

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