Aidan Sanfelippo
As the days get colder and the nights get longer, creative minds cannot help but wonder what lies just beyond the darkness. Since Halloween week is upon us, I thought I would share some Halloween appropriate places in Eau Claire that inspired me in my writing.
“One thing to keep in mind if you are planning on going to these places and others is to remain safe and respectful. Take only ideas, leave only footprints”
One thing to keep in mind if you are planning on going to these places and others is to remain safe and respectful. Take only ideas, leave only footprints. If you are planning on going to places like graveyards, be respectful of the people that lived and don’t bother anyone there. Make sure to also keep yourself safe, go in a group or with a friend. Keeping those ideas in mind, I got a group of friends together and we decided to find five inspiring places for scary stories.
Cemeteries
Cemeteries are great places for quiet contemplation when thinking about a book. As you walk, ask yourself about the lives the people led and who they might have been like. I found myself staring at gravestones trying to comprehend the names and dates that were once people. You can imagine them watching you, either in plain sight or from hiding as a member of the living enters their embassy of the dead. I purposefully didn’t include the name of the cemetery I visited because I do not want to draw you to one specific cemetery. Go to one that is open to walk around but BE RESPECTFUL. This is a place to be inspired about contemplation or where a character might feel like they are being watched.
(Picture of the Plaque in The Old Orchard Cemetery)
The Old Orchard Cemetery was one cemetery that we visited that was especially thought-provoking. This cemetery, according to its plaque, "Is the final resting place for residents of the former Eau Claire County Asylum County Home and County Poor Farm" and because of that, most of the gravestones are missing names and dates of either birth, death, or both. An especially moving sight was a gravestone without any of those, just the word “unknown” left to represent a person’s entire life. It is also the only place in this list that is supposed to be haunted according to Visit Eau Claire’s “5 Paranormal Properties for Ghost Hunters”. In the article it is called Asylum Hill. A white slab tells the full story of what happened and how they are honoring the people that died at this place. The cemetery is only about the size of a yard, but its history towers over all the other places on this list. This is a great place to find inspiration in a historical place or possible supernatural encounters.
(Picture of the culvert on The Putnam Trail)
Trails in the woods can feel isolated even with a group of friends. Cut off from society, the feeling of someone or someTHING watching your every move. Then you turn a corner, and you find a large tunnel in the earth. Even with cars driving above it, the tunnel feels immense and terrifying. As you walk through your voice will echo and you might even hear footsteps walking behind you. You know even if you turn around no one will be there. This culvert on the Putnam Trail is the place to be inspired about an ominous encounter or a story of someone walking alone only to realize they are being followed.
(Picture of The River Lights Bridge at Phoenix Park)
Bridges have always been ways of describing entrances into different worlds. The changing lights in this bridge and the water rushing underneath make it feel like you are no longer in the world you know. The boards creak and as you look down you see nothing but the rushing dark water waiting. In the darkness, the bridge is the only thing you can see other than the city just out of reach. This is the place where you can represent a character crossing over to a stranger world or to get inspiration from thinking about the unknown.
Your Own Home
(Picture of my own home)
After a long day of safely and respectfully finding ideas in Eau Claire’s inspiring places, take some time to write at home. Sit down, relax, watch a scary movie, and be in the safest place for you. Take some inspiration from turning safe spaces into scary ones, the terrifying feeling of an intruder or an unstoppable danger. So, take out your paper, write a bit, and don’t even think about what might be lurking outside of your window.
Happy Halloween, Writers!