Maggie Thom, Multi-Award Winning Author, Speaker, Writing Coach

The House that Started it All

When I came up with the idea for The Twisted Deception Series there were a number of things that happened that kind of brought all the ideas together. But the final touch was this house that I came across. I truly wish I had taken a picture.

My husband and I had gone for a drive. We often like to go exploring and will take back roads and side roads. Anyway this one day, we saw a sign for fresh blueberries. So we thought, let’s go and buy some. We like to support local and especially small farmers. So we turned down this road. It was a narrow, rough paved road. Definitely not the worst we’d been on but it could have used a little more pavement to fill the potholes. Anyway as we are driving, I start getting this uncomfortable feeling. The area was heavily treed and because we live in a humid area, that often means a lot of moss and dampness in the undergrowth. So it can get a bit eerie just because of that. But it just kept getting stronger. Have you ever had those kind of feelings? Did you act on it, or keep going?

We kept going. Anyway after what seemed like a long time the road curved to the left and just around the corner was a sign, saying fresh blueberries. At this point, I was thinking we should just turn around, as I didn’t want to drive twenty miles to get some fruit. Anyway the sign pointed down another road. We turned, thinking it can’t be far. Well I think that road was supposed to be gravel. But there was little gravel. It was essentially a dirt road with several ruts and several large rocks sticking out of the ground. Thinking we had to be close and had come this far, we are slowly bounce our way down this road, feeling a bit like bobble heads being tossed around in the car.

We thought maybe it was some guy’s driveway but when we past two or three houses, we realized it was a road. Anyway, the road took a steep decline. Which we started to think might be fun to drive back up, as in I was questioning if we’d make it. So we stopped and  backed up to the driveway we’d just past and turned around. It was then that I realized that the valley we were headed into was lined with power towers. Not sure how we missed those on the way in but we had.

Anyway, we start bouncing our way back up this road. There is a curve ahead of us, and there perched up high is this house. Now when it was first built, I think it was probably pretty cool looking. But not so much now. We live on an island, which is essentially one big rock. We are on a mountain top after all. It is not uncommon to see large rocks filling people’s yards. Unless they have blasted and brought in dirt, many places have this as their yard. Well, this one had plenty of rock and obviously not a lot of sun. The rocks were moss covered as was the stone house. The two inches of moss and growth on the roof, looked like it might be great as either insulation or it was what was holding the house together.

The moss ranged from green to black. I don’t know if you’ve read or seen Amityville Horror but I was getting those kind of vibes. I read that book years ago and can still recall some of the images from that story. This place was definitely giving off those kind of vibes. I’m sure none of that was happening… at least I hope not.
library book floating

This is not the house that we saw but had enough similarities and not so horrorish, that I thought it was perfect for the Twisted Deception Series house.

 Anyway, it was clearly time to leave. Either my imagination was getting away from me or…

We thought maybe the place was abandoned but we saw an older couple enter and exit the house. it appeared they lived there. Because the road was so crappy, we had to go slow, so I had plenty of time to check out this place. As we drove by we noticed there was a lot of garbage in the yard, from broken toys, to furniture, to things we were unsure of. What I do know is that I did see things move that maybe shouldn’t have. So not sure what creatures had made there home there as well. Truly it would have been a great inspiration for a horror novel. I thought about writing it but that’s not my thing. It did however give me the great idea for a house for The Twisted Deception Series.

I kept some of the concept of a remote stone house, and used it as the basis for my story where a foster family was raised. Where the woman who had started it was hiding. Where there were some questions about what was really going on there. Now thirty-five years later, the woman who were raised there, know they have to return, to solve the mystery that is haunting them all.  

The Twisted Deception Series – Suspense/Thriller/Mysteries

 

The past is coming back in a way no one saw coming…

Fostered Identity
Shadowed Footsteps
Exploited Innocence
Lost Tears
Last Betrayal

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