Today, the Midnight Society is four years old. I can hardly believe it. This started as a passion project secret society for people who are enamored with oddities and treasures, screams and scares, and an attraction to wonderfully dark things. Our vision was to create a place for creepy photos, real life ghost stories, cemetery visits, horror books, and anything we found lurking in the darkness.
You can see our first post ever here that introduced the Winchester mansion, on St. Patrick’s day in 2014.
I thought we’d celebrate in a few ways today. One is a giveaway allll the way at the end, so don’t forget to go to the end!
First off, here’s a bit more about our current members. We don’t write bios, we use obituaries.
Meet the Midnight Society
Jolene Haley, of Orange County California, died shortly after becoming a member of the Midnight Society. Cause of death has not yet been determined but bits of her body were slowly discovered one by one in the Pacific Ocean, partially devoured by an unidentified creature in the water. Her head is still missing. She had an English degree from California State University, Fullerton and a strange fondness for cheese, Mulder from the X-Files, and puppies.
She was the author of YA horror book Harrowed (The Woodsview Murders #1) and creator of several anthologies including best-seller The Dark Carnival, Halloween Night: Trick or Treat, and most recently, A Pizza My Heart pizzathology.
In her final days, she was a literary agency intern, writer, and iced coffee fanatic. When she wasn’t writing, she could be found reading and drinking coffee at her local coffee shop. Some of her favorite books were Stargirl, The Graveyard Book, any of the Goosebumps books, and the Harry Potter series.
A viewing will be held at The Midnight Society at exactly 12:00 midnight. Burial will take place immediately after in the small cemetery in the back.
Pay your respects: Blog Twitter Facebook Pinterest
Faith McKay passed away suddenly, accidentally staking herself while reenacting an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, surprising no one.
She wrote Prophecy Girl and Liberty Bound, the first two novels in the Lacuna Valley series, and has written a very successful Stolen Magic series at the time of her death.
When she wasn’t writing, she spent her time with the love of her life, Robert, playing board games and explaining to him why creepier was always better. He’d hoped that joining The Midnight Society would quench her fascination with the strange, but reports it only worsened her condition.
In lieu of flowers, please submit your own rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way to your favorite social media sites.
As promised multiple times over the years, she haunts the internet at the following locations: Twitter Facebook Blog
Kathleen Palm is missing and presumed dead. Her family discovered the front door ripped from its hinges, the living room covered in blood and chocolate chips, her water glass shattered on the floor, and a doll head lurking on her favorite spot on the couch. Her husband is on record saying that he should have believed her when she told him that evil dolls had been stalking her.
Kathy will be remembered for her belief in magic, love of weird and scary stories, and fear of the monsters in the closet. She leaves behind her two children, a husband, a large collection of Stephen King books, and drawers full of horror movies. Her favorite authors were Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Neal Shusterman, Scott Westerfeld, and Holly Black. She will be missed by all Trekkies, Whovians, and Browncoats.
Her twisted fairy tales ‘Dark Wolf’ and ‘Together’ can be found in the anthology Fairy Twisted Tales for a Horribly Ever After. She will be unable to enjoy the release of her debut book, a YA fantasy titled DOORS, in the winter of 2016, and the publication of her horror story ‘Price to Pay’ in an upcoming anthology.
Her search for ghosts, faeries, and the TARDIS has come to an end. A party will be held to celebrate her life, please bring chocolate.
If you wish to pay your respects please visit: Twitter Blog
Here lies the body of Amy Giuffrida, who even in death is channeling Buffy the Vampire Slayer and wishes to haunt The Winchester Boys. By joining The Midnight Society, she met her demise.
As a writer, Amy took chances by shining a broken flashlight into the darkest corners of her mind. As a blogger and obsessive tweeter, she shared her love of reading and writing with the world. She was the author of The Bleeding Heart. She also ran Kissed By Ink editing, an editing service for writers.
At the time of her death, Amy was working on her latest novel, Curse of Crows.
In life, she thought of herself as a perpetual 8th grader—taught this grade for many years—and could often be found talking about the latest novels to teens, encouraging them to read.
When she wasn’t writing or teaching, she could be found hanging with her family or walking her puppy Sera. Some of her favorite books were Charlotte’s Web, Looking for Alaska, It, and The Wicked Lovely series.
A wake will be held at the secret hangout of The Midnight Society on Tuesdays.
At the request of the deceased, Amy’s ashes will be spread: Twitter Pinterest Blog Pub-Hub Goodreads
Brian LeTendre crossed over while on a vision quest to connect with his spirit animal, the sloth. He died of dehydration after living in a tree branch in his backyard for thirty-three days.
He was a marginally talented writer of mediocre horror, having penned three books in the Parted Veil Series (Courting the King in Yellow, Chasing the King in Yellow, Lovecraft’s Curse and Lovecraft’s Pupil), several short stories and a webcomic about an alien mustache (Mo Stache).
Brian had been working on a new series with acclaimed horror write Jolene Haley at the time of his passing. A YA slasher The Woodsview Murder series that was to combine the perfection that was ‘80s horror and rock music into a blood-soaked masterpiece of the genre.
His legacy lives on in the form of various podcasts and blogs he created over a span of ten years, covering comics (Secret Identity), games (Co-Op Critics) and writing (See Brian Write). He talked a lot. Some stay you can still hear his voice and see his words in the ether of the internet during the witching hour, or anywhere people post pictures of sloths.
Blog Twitter Co-Op Critics Secret Identity Podcast Thrash It Out Podcast
Jenna Lehne failed to close the circle – to sever the connection, if you will – and died the way most amateur ghost hunters do….
In pieces.
Jenna liked her books like she liked her tea…cold and dark. Her greatest regret in life was never writing that fangirl letter to the true KING of horror. When she wasn’t sipping tea or twitter stalking her favourite authors, she was writing both MG and YA horror.
In lieu of flowers, send books. Preferably by Stephen King, Daniel Kraus, Rick Yancey, Kendare Blake, Rin Chupeco, or whoever else gives you the chills.
There is no funeral, only a wake. Bring snacks. Even the dead like carbs.
Miss Erica Davis, aged 6 years, two months, and three weeks, vanished while lining up for a field trip to the planetarium.
Erica is predeceased by eighteen goldfish, Mother’s favorite lamp—for which she was “very sorry”, stubby bits of crayon, her left pigtail, and a gym bag full of Pop-Tarts (unfrosted strawberry).
Erica firmly believed that obituaries were read by people who had neither Mad Libs nor lives.
In lieu of flowers, condolences in the form of unmarked nine-dollar gift cards to Blockbuster, a tank of propane, or Lunchables (ham only) may be left at the hollowed out tree trunk at the edge of the woods.
As promised multiple times over the years, she haunts the internet at the following locations: Blog Twitter and offered editing services that you can learn about here.
Colonies of bats across Canada left their bell towers with a mournful flourish the day Mary Rajotte passed from this earth.
Her Cancerian nature lent her well to the art of storytelling, and she could often be found conjuring up stories by the light of the moon.
Her love of coffee could only be rivaled by the size of her snow globe collection, which she has willed to those kindred spirits who share her sense of wanderlust.
Those who knew her well saw her as “over-imaginative”, but she wore that as a badge of honor all of her days.
For those wishing to pay their last respects, you will find her tomb strewn with time’s dead flowers, showered in stardust. Gifts of condolence in the form of stargazer lilies and stripey socks are always welcomed.
To facilitate the grieving process, we invite you to revel in the words Mary left behind at her various online haunts:
OUR TOP POSTS OF ALL TIME
I thought it would be fun to celebrate some of our favorite posts from our most demented minds. Click on the picture or the article below to read and explore our all-time favorite posts, in order of all time views.
If it’s in a word, or in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook
The Horror Movie Survival Guide for the Discerning Final Girl
Places I Want to Visit: Haunted Forests of Romania and Japan
And of course, there are many many more if you just poke around the site a little. If you’re interested in a specific category, you can click through them on the lower right of our landing page.
Also, happy St. Patrick’s day today! Have fun, be safe, and drink a ton of booooooze.
GIVEAWAY
And so it goes…today we’ll be celebrating our anniversary by giving away an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of #Murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil, set to release in August 2018. You can be one of the first to read it! Of course, we’d love if you followed us on our various social media sites by clicking the links on our bios…errr….obituaries above BUT the only thing you need to do to enter and win, is to leave a comment on this post.
Tell us in your comment one thing you’d love to see us talk about this year on our blog.
That’s it!
Open to anyone (international too). Winner will be chosen at random by asking a Ouija board. ;P
Don’t forget to leave a way for us to contact you by either giving us your Twitter username, website, etc. so we can reach you if you’ve won!
1 winner chosen this week.
Happy Happy Birthday to the Midnight Society! Please celebrate with us by leaving a comment, sharing on social media, or just doing a little dance with the ghost that haunts your neighbor’s house.
Sincerely,
The Midnight Society
(BTW, the gorgeous logo was made by the incredible Kira Butler. Check her out)