Welcome back to History Undressed, guest author, Terry Spear! She's got a new release, HIGHLAND RAKE, with a new twist and she's sharing her ghostly travels to Scotland! The pic to the left is Terry Dunnottar Castle in Scotland. Enjoy!
Highland Rake with a Ghostly Twist
Dunnottar Castle
and Brodie Castle
I was
fascinated with the idea of incorporating one…or a few…in my current book
release.
In one
castle we visited, it was said that a young lady was taken in by the laird, but
when she was found pregnant, and unwed, she vanished. Now her ghost haunts the
castle.
We didn’t
see any evidence of hauntings while we visited the seven castles in Scotland,
but when we stopped to take pictures of the Highland cows in a pasture, trees
shading them, no farmhouse nearby, a river beyond the field, tall hills behind
us, no buildings or people anywhere about, I heard the most beautiful
instrumental Celtic music. I felt carried away to a movie scene, the grass
bright green, the air chilly on that October day, the red long-haired cows
munching on grass, and the Celtic music playing in the background.
When I
reached the fence to get as close as I could to take pictures of the cows, the
music stopped. I took several pictures, then joined my lady friends, one being
Vonda Sinclair, another Highland romance writer, and said, “Did you hear the
music? Wasn’t it beautiful?”
 |
| Highland Cow |
I knew
they’d say yes. I mean, who wouldn’t who loved all things Scottish?
Neither
heard any music. I couldn’t believe it. It was real, just beyond the tall
lonely hills where not a soul lived or stirred.
So when I
wrote Highland Rake, third book in
The Highlanders series, I wanted the heroine to be able to commune with ghosts.
She has a pesky ghostly brother, and the hero’s spirited sister that tangles
with Alana’s brother. The story is filled with mystery—why her brother had
died, who had murdered her father and his men—and both the living and the dead
help to provide clues in this Highland Medieval romance.
Even in my
Highland wolf series, starting with Heart
of the Highland Wolf, the MacNeills have a ghostly cousin who lives at
Argent Castle. I just couldn’t write the werewolf tale, without having a
resident ghost! In A Howl for a
Highlander, and A Highland Werewolf
Wedding, both coming in 2013, the MacNeill ghost has his part. The Castle
Dunnottar inspired me to write: A
Highland Werewolf Wedding though. The Medieval castle overlooks the
northeast coast of Scotland in Kincardineshire and was extremely cold
that day. But when we were in the inner bailey, surrounded by thick walls, I
felt almost warm. I didn’t feel anything evil—just at home there. And so
because of that I used the castle ruins in the story.
Several
roads in Scotland have ghostly sightings also. Drivers have thought they’ve hit
a person, only to discover there is no one there. One of the days we traveled,
the fog was so thick, it was hard to see much of anything. I could imagine a
ghost blending in with the mist.
Scotland
just seems the perfect place for spirits to thrive.
Having had
a love of all things ghostly since I was a child, but never having experienced
such a thing back then, I always felt the ghost stories fun-filled fantasy. I
later encountered ghostly apparitions. One was in the Palo Duro Canyon, Texas,
where Indian ponies raced across the cliffs, and as I was curled up in a
sleeping bag alongside my fellow Army ROTC cadets, I believed we would be
trampled to death. Except the ponies were already dead—corralled by the US
Cavalry and herded off the cliff’s edge to prevent the Indian tribes that had
gathered to fight from remounting their ponies and fighting again.
I didn’t
believe that I had had a ghostly experience then. I never do. It happened. I
heard them, their hooves pounding the ground, their neighing and whinnying, and
snorts. The only thing I realized I didn’t sense was the vibration through the
ground that I would have felt as they stampeded toward us. They moved away and
faded into the night. And no one but me had heard them.
Yet, when I
went to write about the real ponies years later, and was doing research about
them, for years believing they were wild mustangs, I discovered many over the
years had heard the ghostly horses.
I’ve had
other experiences too, only in one, my son, daughter, and mother witnessed it
too. You know, it’s really great when others have seen or heard the same thing
you have!
So what
about you? Ready to witness ghosts in Scotland? Or have you already? Or
somewhere else that you’ve been?
Dougald MacNeill takes
Lady Alana Cameron to his laird brother James's Craigly Castle when he finds
her roaming the heather on the MacNeill lands. But who has sent her there and
why? Her uncle, laird of the Cameron clan, and warring with the MacNeill for
years, has made a marriage arrangement with another clan and now that is even
at stake.
Having witnessed her
father's death, and even believing he had returned her home when all along he
had been dead, Alana discovers she has the gift, or curse, of seeing the newly
departed and sometimes those who should have long ago passed over. Her own
deceased brother continues to plague her, the rake, and now another, who
is very much of the flesh, Dougald MacNeill, has her thinking marrying a rake
might just have its benefits. Dougald's sister, who is one fiesty ghost, has
offered to help Alana keep Dougald in line if he thinks of even straying.
But who sent Alana
on a fool's errand in the first place to remove her from the Cameron's lands
and set her squarely in Dougald's care, and who really killed her father and
her brother, and what has it all to do with Alana? Will she and Dougald learn
the truth before it is too late?
Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality."
About the Author
USA Today
bestselling and an award-winning author of urban fantasy and medieval romantic
suspense, Terry Spear also writes true stories for adult and young adult
audiences. She’s a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and has
an MBA from Monmouth University. She also creates award-winning teddy bears,
Wilde & Woolly Bears, that are personalized that have found homes all over
the world. When she’s not writing or making bears, she’s teaching online
writing courses or gardening. Her family has roots in the Highlands of Scotland
where her love of all things Scottish came into being. Originally from
California, she’s lived in eight states and now resides in the heart of Texas.
She is the author of the Heart of
the Wolf series and the Heart of the Jaguar series, plus numerous other
paranormal romance and historical romance novels. For more information, please
visit
www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter,
@TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear .
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