Under a Ghostly Moon (Jerry Moon Supernatural Thrillers Book 1) (36 page)

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ncarceration, experimentation or termination.

Hamilton shrugged, so far the subject had exhibited little potential threat except to the realms of good taste.  However, he glanced fondly down at the standard issue automatic that always rode in his shoulder holster.  Give him time to build a case… then he would enjoy either capturing the little freak or putting him in the ground.

Those who know the place will have realised that Moon’s Bristol is not quite the same city as the one we know so we thought that, for those who are interested in such things, we would explain its similarities and differences.

The
Hangman’s Rest
is one very important difference.  Anyone who knows Bristol city centre will have realised that where the pub is situated in our universe is the site of the twin Full Moon and the Eclipse pubs at the bottom of Stokes Croft.  The bar of the
Rest
is pretty much the bar of the Eclipse as it was in the early to mid noughties.  The ‘function room’ is the stage bar that used to be downstairs in the Full Moon.  Unfortunately the Full Moon is now a backpackers’ hotel and its days as a Goth music venue have passed.  The Fleece on the other side of the River Avon seems to have taken on that mantle.

The upper floor of the
Rest
belongs to another pub; the Stag and Hounds on Old Market.  During the noughties it had upstairs toilets and a pool room, which we’ve moved to the
Rest
because it allowed some extra places for Moon to meet his ghostly contacts.

As far as we know there wasn’t a gallows at the bottom of Stokes Croft but the Stag and Hounds was built on the site of the ancient ‘Pieds-poudre’ (or ‘
Piepowder’) courts so there may have been some capital punishment carried out near there.

What about the ghosts?  Well, Dick and Gilley and the rest of the grizzly crew at the
Rest
are mostly from our imagination.  The lady who haunts the loos is real but she belongs to the Stag and Hounds.  We have heard eye witness evidence that the Full Moon is haunted and have seen some ‘orb’ activity there ourselves on occasion.

As for the Goths and other regulars to the rest; we have done our best not to put anyone we know in the book but, observational
humour being what it is, readers living in Bristol may be reminded of people they know by the occasional quirks that are described in the book.

Moon’s building on ‘Angel Terrace’ is in the vicinity of Elton Road, which connects with Gloucester Road at the bottom of the ‘Prom’ area.  The location of Sonia’s flat is real but it’s not certain which of several buildings near Ebenezer Chapel it may be situated in.

St Andrew’s Cemetery on Bird Cage Walk exists and it does have a reputation for being haunted.  The oddly fluctuating nature of its spiritual atmosphere (welcoming by day but scary by night) is something that we have experienced at first hand and became the inspiration for the ‘Shadow Beast’.

Leigh Woods have a very bad reputation with Bristol’s itinerant community, many of whom won’t go there at night.  This was our inspiration for the ‘goblin hunt’.  It may be that there
is
some kind of supernatural haunt connected with the old hill fort there.

We hope that we handled the Clifton suspension bridge section as sensitively as we could.  It was logical to include it in the story because it’s on the way to the vampires’ home from where the main characters live.  Both of us have first hand experience of suicide in our families so last thing we wanted to do was stir up bad memories for anyone.  The place definitely has an eerie atmosphere after dark but no ghosts as far as we know so we are certain that those who have died there have found their peace.  In the long run we opted for another part of the bridge’s history; its use by criminals a way to dispose of bodies, as inspiration for Moon and Sonia’s ghostly encounter there.  When we found out that the great engineer Brunel has been spotted lingering there occasionally we felt had to include him as well.

Uri’s night club is situated where ‘Yesterdays’ use to be just off Park Street in the 1980s.  It also has some similarities to a club that used to be called ‘Religion’, which neither of us has visited but we’ve heard some
interesting
stories about it.

The Bristol Royal Infirmary is another building that features fairly prominently in the story.  We haven’t used any of the known resident spooks in this book.  Liam is aware of at least six that he’s heard of in night shift ghost story sessions.  These include a ghostly airman, a long haired woman ‘who sits on the end of patients’ beds and whose face you never see’, and the headless floating torso of a Victorian nurse.  He also encountered a friendly poltergeist one night that helpfully rolled an intravenous infusion pump towards him when he went to check it.

As far as we know there is no secret Government installation under the Bristol Downs.  However, it isn’t too wild a speculation.  There was a secret radio transmissions base in the wall of the Avon Gorge next to the Portway road and a secret RAF installation was set up in a railway tunnel between Bristol and Bath during WWII.  The ground below Bristol itself is riddled with old wine storage tunnels and other less legal diggings.

‘Dusk till Dawn Fashions’ does not exist but there is a very similar Goth clothing booth in the Bristol Corn Exchange Market.  Well worth a visit.

We are both pagans so our spirituality encompasses the existence of nature spirits and other supernatural beings.  Bristol does seem to have a fair few of these, possibly because their existence there was encouraged by the Anthrosophical Society, who had quite a presence there during the middle of the 20
th
century.

We have sensed the presence of nature spirits in quite a few places, including Bird Cage Walk, the
Downs and, surprisingly, the St James Barton Roundabout near the City Centre.  Their main requirement seems to be the presence of vegetation.

As for the ‘Dark Ones’
; Liam thinks he may have nearly fallen foul of a ‘Jenny Greenteeth’ when swimming in the Thames at Oxford.  It was a very peculiar and frightening feeling as if all his strength was being leeched away by a presence the water and he suddenly felt completely helpless and was going to drown.  Fortunately he was able to call for help.

So we suppose this answers the big question; do we believe in these things?  Yes we do.  We also sense them and interact with them – not as easily as Moon does, although we have met people who do.  Our ‘ghost sense’ is more like Sonia’s, in that we feel presences and get an idea of what they look like and say inside our minds.  If this sounds like wishful thinking, well you’re entitled to your own opinion.  It certainly makes life more interesting if you treat these things as real.

Bright blessings – and keep an eye out for ‘By the Dark of a Faerie Moon’ – coming out soon on Kindle

Liam and Beverley Moore – Summer 2013