Series Inspirations

People ask, “Where did you get all those ideas?”
Here’s where a few inspirations for The Spooky Chronicles came from.

• The history for Spooky’s fictional hometown of River City isn’t fictional. “Blakeley” was the name of the former city in Baldwin County located across from Mobile, Alabama long before Mobile was ever there. It was the biggest city in the territory at that time and considered the state capital. Years before the American Civil War, it was abandoned due to a yellow fever outbreak and fell into ruin. The streets and several landmarks in the imaginary River City actually exist; you can still visit them at Blakeley State Park.
• Locations throughout River City are based on places the author has traveled to. The Landing and Boardwalk are based on the Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Florida and Kemah Boardwalk in Kemah, Texas.
• The concept for The Terminal People started out as a really lame joke: “What if the reason that all airport workers look dead is because it’s a terminal?”
• Schoolhouse Number Five is actually based on a real abandoned school: Annie Lytle Elementary (aka Public School Number Four) in Jacksonville, Florida. Much of the imagery described in the abandoned school was based on pictures taken by ghost hunters who’ve gone inside. BONUS FACT: The same night the book was completed, the real school actually caught fire and almost burned to the ground!
• Spooky and The Crooked Man were originally roleplaying characters in a superhero game that secretly taught junior high kids how to use their powers. The original story as background for the character, then rewritten twice to create the first book called The Crooked Man.