Kith & Kin

Mom (Jan Skaggs) looking young, slim, and attractive. Late 1950s? As I go through the photos in this album and reproduce them here, I am so thankful she kept the album and labeled many of the photos with names and dates! Keith, Dad, and me on Dad’s Schwinn, June 1965. I remember riding the bike this way. It was always a treat to go riding with Dad—and a little scary, as I balanced on that bar. And uncomfortable too! We would ride to downtown Fredericksburg, crossing railroad tracks on the way — bumpity bumpity bump, hold on tight! I assume this is the Cleveland Airport, June 1965. No one was hijacking or blowing up planes yet, so security was quite lax. It was fun (and loud!) to watch them take off and land. L to R: Steve, Keith, Dad. My first cousin Jill Skaggs, daughter of Dad’s brother Leo and his wife, Bonnie. What a cutie! Two more first cousins, Eddie and Kathy, son and daughter of Dad’s brother Eddie and his wife, Shirley. I wish I could have known my Skaggs cousins better growi...

Dear Readers, I will vouch for the fact that each of the stories below is true based on my personal knowledge of the character of each person relating the events. Unlike most “true stories” involving the supernatural, these don’t start off with, “This happened to a friend of mine,” or, “I knew a guy once who said this happened to his cousin.” These stories are told here as accurately as possible by those who experienced them. Each story is creepier than the one before it. You might find some of the events so disturbing that you won’t want to finish reading the post. That’s up to you. I promise you, though, that these events happened as they are related here. This is not a stunt or a hoax. My only regret is that none of them happened to me. Rats. Happy Halloween! Steve Sandi Duncan: “Bunny” NOTE FROM STEVE: Sandi is my first cousin on my dad’s side, daughter of his brother Leo. My mother’s name was Bonnie, and the grandchildren all called her “Mimi Bon.” But when great...

I mentioned in an earlier post that, starting in childhood and continuing even today, I love juxtaposing the feeling of fascination with the feeling of horror. (“It’s so scary but I can’t look away and I’m getting such a rush from this!”) That’s why I’m a sucker for YouTube videos from sites such as Mr. Ballen and The Why Files with headlines such as “Who Are the Dark Watchers?” and “Ghosts of Flight 401.” Most of the time I watch these out of curiosity with a large dose of skepticism mixed in, but even when I don’t believe the stories, I’m like, “Well, thanks, you did a good job of combining fascination with horror!” But in spite of my lifelong fascination with creepiness, I’ve never experienced any sort of paranormal event myself. I’ve never spotted a cryptid looking at me through the backyard fence. I never walked by an abandoned house and saw a shadowy figure watching me from an upstairs room. I never heard a voice speaking when there was no one present. Shoot, I was rai...