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Post by grinch on Oct 15, 2021 14:52:32 GMT
Tom Slemen. Probably not very well known outside of certain circles but he is perhaps best known for writing the Haunted Liverpool books. A series which revolves around the strange and supposedly true goings on within Liverpool and its surrounding areas. And what strange goings on they are, ranging from ghosts, conspiracies, strange entities such as the Halloween Man and many more besides. One of my favourites is from his third volume of Tales of the Weird 3 which centres around a Wee Willie Winkie music box and the terrifying night time visitor who comes a calling because of it. As well as all that, it records some local oddities as well. Take for example, the strange tomb of James Mackenzie said to have been especially built in order to escape from the Devil himself. dwaitas.proboards.com/thread/2374/mausoleum-disguised-tardis-moreNow whether these supposedly true stories are true or not is entirely subjective. But in any case, I think such stories could make for some good story seeds. Here's a few blurbs to serve as inspiration: * The sinister “Cosmic Joker” who has a cruel and deadly sense of humour, and the joke is always on you as he flouts the laws of probability and stacks the odds against you in a terrifying way… * The sinister black gravestone in Anfield cemetery which calls out the name of those who will shortly die… * A timid man who was possessed by the spirit of an ancient king via an antique chess set. * The sinister nuisance caller who menaced an entire community by threatening to reveal everyone’s darkest secrets…who was he and how did he have such knowledge? * The bizarre child-snatching entity that entices children into washing machines – who is he? * The gifted child who could create terrifying wild animals through sheer willpower.... * Who is the sinister Green Man, and why does he visit bedrooms with deadly gifts on Halloween? * What happened to the method actor who wanted to see the fabled Fourth Wall? Those are just a few of course. So why exactly does the city attract such weirdness? Does it lie on some temporal leyline or is it the focal point on some great disturbance in reality? Maybe there's a hidden device buried deep beneath the foundations of the city which amplifies the psychic potential of its inhabitants enabling them to subconsciously warp reality?
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Post by soultaker666212 on Mar 26, 2023 6:45:28 GMT
I have been meaning to try and find these books in order so I can give them a read, they seem so interesting just need to find a good way to either read them online or physical books. Some of the blurb suggestions you have typed certainly seems very interesting as well.
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Post by grinch on Mar 26, 2023 21:21:18 GMT
I have been meaning to try and find these books in order so I can give them a read, they seem so interesting just need to find a good way to either read them online or physical books. Some of the blurb suggestions you have typed certainly seems very interesting as well. I believe they’re all self published so Amazon would most likely be your best bet. Without coming across as advertising, there is also some excellent audiobooks of a few of them read by Nigel Peevers. As I said, whether they’re true stories or not it really doesn’t matter. They’d make for good inspiration and some of the tales contained there in are really quite spooky.
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Post by soultaker666212 on Mar 27, 2023 0:51:04 GMT
I have been meaning to try and find these books in order so I can give them a read, they seem so interesting just need to find a good way to either read them online or physical books. Some of the blurb suggestions you have typed certainly seems very interesting as well. I believe they’re all self published so Amazon would most likely be your best bet. Without coming across as advertising, there is also some excellent audiobooks of a few of them read by Nigel Peevers. As I said, whether they’re true stories or not it really doesn’t matter. They’d make for good inspiration and some of the tales contained there in are really quite spooky. Thanks for that! When I do eventually get them (will get the kindle version of them anyways) I will start reading them and seeing how they can be adapted to Doctor Who and post them here. Perhaps when you mentioned Torchwood 4 in one of my other threads, they were originally based in Liverpool trying to find why the city is very strange.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 27, 2023 19:45:02 GMT
I have been meaning to try and find these books in order so I can give them a read, they seem so interesting just need to find a good way to either read them online or physical books. Some of the blurb suggestions you have typed certainly seems very interesting as well. I believe they’re all self published so Amazon would most likely be your best bet. Without coming across as advertising, there is also some excellent audiobooks of a few of them read by Nigel Peevers. As I said, whether they’re true stories or not it really doesn’t matter. They’d make for good inspiration and some of the tales contained there in are really quite spooky. I got The Pellew Street Horror & Other Strange True Tales as an ebook.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 27, 2023 19:56:10 GMT
My own notes on Liverpudlian oddities are a little scant, mainly related to ships leaving/arriving (and also disappearing entirely, c.f. the SS City of Boston), The Beatles and railways. The Mystery of Mr. Williamson's tunnels has been covered canonically (unless the whole Flux matter has been erased from history). There is Bolt Street, a part of Liverpool that seems to have a number of claimed (and very poorly documented) incidents of people dropping back in time or seeing ghostly temporal echoes.
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Post by grinch on Mar 28, 2023 15:13:48 GMT
I believe they’re all self published so Amazon would most likely be your best bet. Without coming across as advertising, there is also some excellent audiobooks of a few of them read by Nigel Peevers. As I said, whether they’re true stories or not it really doesn’t matter. They’d make for good inspiration and some of the tales contained there in are really quite spooky. I got The Pellew Street Horror & Other Strange True Tales as an ebook.
That’s one I’ve yet to get around to reading. Admittedly, they’re not the most well written books out there and are quite clumsy in places but I think the “real stories” written therein are among some of the most imaginative I’ve ever read.
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Post by grinch on Mar 28, 2023 15:31:32 GMT
I believe they’re all self published so Amazon would most likely be your best bet. Without coming across as advertising, there is also some excellent audiobooks of a few of them read by Nigel Peevers. As I said, whether they’re true stories or not it really doesn’t matter. They’d make for good inspiration and some of the tales contained there in are really quite spooky. Thanks for that! When I do eventually get them (will get the kindle version of them anyways) I will start reading them and seeing how they can be adapted to Doctor Who and post them here. Perhaps when you mentioned Torchwood 4 in one of my other threads, they were originally based in Liverpool trying to find why the city is very strange. That’s an interesting idea regarding Torchwood Four. Perhaps they are even the reason Liverpool seems to be a hotbed of strange/paranormal/alien activity? In an event which resulted in their disappearance and which Torchwood has hushed up.
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Post by grinch on Mar 28, 2023 15:33:31 GMT
My own notes on Liverpudlian oddities are a little scant, mainly related to ships leaving/arriving (and also disappearing entirely, c.f. the SS City of Boston), The Beatles and railways. The Mystery of Mr. Williamson's tunnels has been covered canonically (unless the whole Flux matter has been erased from history). There is Bolt Street, a part of Liverpool that seems to have a number of claimed (and very poorly documented) incidents of people dropping back in time or seeing ghostly temporal echoes.
Considering Liverpool was well known for having a great number of Irish immigrants settle there, perhaps we could even tie it in with the Stingy Jack idea we discussed in a previous thread? He may have even been in Torchwood Four’s custody before escaping or more interestingly, was deliberately set free. He might even know what exactly caused that branch’s disappearance and why Liverpool is so strange.
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Post by soultaker666212 on Mar 28, 2023 16:21:31 GMT
A good idea as well is to take a look at Tom Slemen's articles for the WirralGlobe specifically his Haunted Wirral here www.wirralglobe.co.uk/author/profile/81189.Tom_Slemen/the one I have managed to read was The Abomination on a Cellar Wall which is an interesting one and can be adapted for Doctor Who as well. Might be interesting to read these as well for inspiration (Based on title I do see one about a UFO!)
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Post by grinch on Mar 28, 2023 16:35:24 GMT
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Post by grinch on Mar 28, 2023 18:52:35 GMT
Here’s a few more blurbs I’ve pulled from the back of a few Haunted Liverpool books. All of which could make for some excellent adventure seeds.
* A strange green mirror which rejuvenates those who look into it. * A crooked candle which makes terrifying predictions – and it cannot be extinguished. * The bizarre case of the ghost of Sherlock Holmes. * A mysterious stranger with astounding powers who calls himself the Messiah of the Hobos. * Mr Medusa, the Victorian bogeyman-like figure who could kill a person or render them insane with his satanic stare…who was he and where did he come from? * The horrifying story of the weird blue flame which comes in the night to kill children… * The astounding but enigmatic story of a Liverpool mortgage broker who found himself in a land of giants… * A creepy cannibalistic entity who lives behind the walls of a house off Liverpool’s Oxford Street.. * The sinister thing which resurrects people from history – including Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI… * The unearthly figures from a tapestry who abduct people…
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Post by soultaker666212 on Mar 28, 2023 19:01:18 GMT
Grinch at the current moment I am actually in the process of collecting every one of Tom Slemen's Haunted Wirral articles online, the one you posted I believe is actually the second one he ever posted which did prompt me to start investigating more of them.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 28, 2023 19:41:59 GMT
My own notes on Liverpudlian oddities are a little scant, mainly related to ships leaving/arriving (and also disappearing entirely, c.f. the SS City of Boston), The Beatles and railways. The Mystery of Mr. Williamson's tunnels has been covered canonically (unless the whole Flux matter has been erased from history). There is Bolt Street, a part of Liverpool that seems to have a number of claimed (and very poorly documented) incidents of people dropping back in time or seeing ghostly temporal echoes.
Considering Liverpool was well known for having a great number of Irish immigrants settle there, perhaps we could even tie it in with the Stingy Jack idea we discussed in a previous thread? He may have even been in Torchwood Four’s custody before escaping or more interestingly, was deliberately set free. He might even know what exactly caused that branch’s disappearance and why Liverpool is so strange. Or other aspects of Irish fokelore.
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Post by soultaker666212 on Mar 28, 2023 19:51:21 GMT
* The unearthly figures from a tapestry who abduct people… Yeah sure those people are "abducted" alright, more like sent in the past by a stone angelic figure instead
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 28, 2023 20:03:32 GMT
* The unearthly figures from a tapestry who abduct people… Yeah sure those people are "abducted" alright, more like sent in the past by a stone angelic figure instead If an Angel can inhabit a video image could one possess a tapestry?
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Post by soultaker666212 on Mar 28, 2023 20:07:31 GMT
Yeah sure those people are "abducted" alright, more like sent in the past by a stone angelic figure instead If an Angel can inhabit a video image could one possess a tapestry?Remember, ANY image of an angel can become itself an angel, it worked with paintings as seen in the ending of the Class spin off, so its reasonable to assume a tapestry of one would become an angel.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 28, 2023 20:22:44 GMT
I did omit a couple of curiosities from my Ideas and Notes file.
One is something that could be dropped into a post-WW2 scenario. Or indeed a campaign like Time Hunter.
The full article was originally published in the BBC History magazine, also available from History Extra here. What else might Customs officers have stumbled over? Or, on a slightly tangent, might have a desperate group of PCs hitch a ride with one of 'Nylon Sid' Paley's fast smuggling boats (generally ex-wartime torpedo boats, some armed) from Tangier to Europe in the fifties. And get mixed up with 'Lucky' Luciano and the nascent French Connection in the process.....
Another is a quote I saved is from Hard Time, one of the excellent time travel stories of Jodi Taylor. Now there's an idea.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Mar 28, 2023 20:24:17 GMT
If an Angel can inhabit a video image could one possess a tapestry? Remember, ANY image of an angel can become itself an angel, it worked with paintings as seen in the ending of the Class spin off, so its reasonable to assume a tapestry of one would become an angel. Perhaps, to restrict the problem a bit, it's only certain images, of high quality perhaps, that can be used.
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Post by soultaker666212 on Mar 28, 2023 20:34:01 GMT
Remember, ANY image of an angel can become itself an angel, it worked with paintings as seen in the ending of the Class spin off, so its reasonable to assume a tapestry of one would become an angel. Perhaps, to restrict the problem a bit, it's only certain images, of high quality perhaps, that can be used.Or you could not restrict it, but do the old classic have two angels face each other, such as place any of the tapestries or even a mirror at the tapestry to prevent it like usual.
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