WELCOME TO MY WORLD OF GOTHIC HORROR

 

I've lived most of my life amidst the wild beauty of rural Northwest Pennsylvania where hillsides choked with oak and hemlock create bleak tableaux that adversely affect one's psyche. Deserted farmhouses, overgrown graveyards, stark moors, and rusty oil field relics are just a few of the spooky features of this desolate land. In Warren, McKean, Potter, and Tioga Counties but two seasons exist--those of darkness or light. The absence of sunlight in this somber region causes some folks severe bouts of depression. For me, it inspires a dark creativity that found its outlet in writing Gothic horror.

The Gothic novel was the first form of literary horror. Englishman, Horace Walpole, was the originator. In 1756 he wrote The Castle of Otranto in which he mentions giant swords, bleeding statues, walking portraits, and strange noises that later writers copied. By "Gothic" we mean a type of story, usually in a pseudo-medieval setting, full of mysterious, occult, and violent incident, in a pervading atmosphere of terror and gloom.

It wasn't until the 1830's that the horror genre was widely popularized by the American, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe brought the Gothic format to the short story in his masterpiece, "The Fall of the House of Usher."  He also invented the story of psychological analysis when he wrote "The Tell-Tale Heart." His "Annabel Lee" I still consider the saddest and most beautiful poem ever. It inspired many of my early poems like the one below:

 

WHAT DO YOU DO?

 

What do you do when your whole family's strange,

And you have their sickness polluting your veins?

How do you cope with the future ahead

When you know you'll be crazy before you are dead?

 

What do you do when it starts to take over

And robs you of reason the few times you're sober?

How can you fight this congenital disease

That comes from the roots of two warped family trees?

 

What can you do to defeat the dark urges

And beat back the devil each time he emerges?

How can poor Madeline escape what will crush her

Imprisoned in a place like the vile House of Usher?

 

In 2018, I published Fear Is Forever . It includes all of my best horror stories in the same cemetery row. Recently, I released Ghosts Revisited that explores 32 haunted places in Pennsylvania and Western New York. This book is half history and half horror and enlightens and frightens at the same time! An accompanying video by Mark Polonia, titled Ghosts, is now available, too. In it, he melds eye-popping visuals and plenty of screams into the storyline. To order copies of these projects, just scroll down.

MY NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Creepy fun!

I invite you to watch my new William P. Robertson YouTube channel. View stories from my GHOSTS REVISITED series and all 3 GOTHIC POETRY SLAM videos.

MORE SCARY STUFF!

Ghosts Revisited 7 contains 22 more chilling tales from Pennsylvania and Western New York. This time, Robertson supplements his ghost stories with a history of creepy dolls, the folktale of the Lake Erie Storm Hag, and the adventures of an Indian shaman.

26 Intense Ghost Stories

Infidelity, lust, and murder define William P. Robertson's Ghosts Revisited 5. With its release, the world just got a little creepier!

SPOOKY!

William P. Robertson's latest book, Ghosts Revisited 4, includes 24 spooky ghost stories from Pennsylvania and New York State. Poltergeists, phantoms & creepy dolls abound. What's revisited will make your skin crawl!

THREE TIMES THE TERROR

In GHOSTS REVISITED 3 meet wailing babies and a faceless phantom that lurk in haunted graveyards. Plane crash specters shop at the Aliquippa Giant Eagle, too, while a Lady in White searches forever for her murdered daughter in Durand Eastman Park. Then there's the Pigman who seeks revenge on those that burned him alive near Angola, NY. Thirty-four ghost stories from Pennsylvania and Western New York are included in this creepy collection.