Hi folks. I wanted to make this, the first blog entry of the New Year, all about where I draw a great deal of my inspiration: Tales and Folklore of my native Ozarks. This is a subject that has always intrigued me, since I was a very young boy. Missouri is rich in folklore, tales of hauntings, ghosts, spooky locations and strange occurrences.
Many of these tales were told and retold through generations of families that lived in the farms and rural locales throughout the Ozarks. You won’t find many of them on the internet. In fact, in quite a few cases, they were told only to locals or spread through families and close friends. Missouri Hill-folk tend to be private and suspicious of outsiders.
It is these legends that have inspired me and kept my imagination running wild since my earliest memories. My mother was a big fan of what she called “booger stories” and would often tell me tales of when she was a young girl and the haunted house where she grew up. There were other stories of when she would go with her siblings looking for haunted locations throughout the Ozarks, looking to either scare themselves or feel the thrill of experiencing them first hand. I’d almost forgotten some of those old tales until I became an author.
Those very stories have been on my mind a great deal lately. I’m planning on starting a video series documenting many of the locations that can be found throughout this area and ultimately throughout the Ozarks. Bear with me when I get it started because I’ll be recording with my cellphone. As opportunity presents, I plan to upgrade equipment but that will likely take time.
The question becomes, which location to start with? That’s the real kicker. There are so many to choose from, I’m not sure where to begin, but begin I must. Over the next few days, I’m going to be preparing for the initial video. I’m not completely certain when I will launch this new series, but it will be soon. If it develops a following, I can see this as something I could do for quite some time to come. We’ll see what the future brings.
I’d love your input on the series. You can post replies to this blog entry or contact me through Facebook. Watch my Facebook Author page for a poll that I will be posting. I want to hear what you think about possible titles for the page. I’ll post a few and you can all vote on it.
Thank you all for being so supportive of my writing. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
DA Roberts
The End is Only the Beginning
https://www.facebook.com/DARobertsAuthor/