#A ghost story for Gordon

[klein-sodor-bahn]

The lost express engine

Gordon on his way encounters an engine. At first all seems fine, but then the engine becomes more and more distressed until she suddenly races away into the next station: Bitterfeld.

Let me tell you a story about a lost engine which was even forgotten by her own sisters. Based on the story of a German pacific that met a terrible fate.

The lost express engine

Gordon loved visiting Germany. He was traveling down from Berlin. The night pitch black. Neither moon nor stars were visible. Gordon’s lamps cut through the dark like mighty blades of light. “I can’t wait to see Henry again.”, chuffed the big engine excitedly. Then from afar they heard an engine approaching behind them. Its barking chuffs were deep and powerful. “Who has to haul a train so late at night”, wondered the engine. The noise got louder and soon Gordon’s crew could recognize its shape. It was an 01, the sort which had been rebuilt in East Germany. “Hello”, called out Gordon. The engine looked over and Gordon couldn’t help but feel uneasy. “Hallo”, a female voice responded it was like a whisper. “Where are you heading?” “To Leipzig” “Oh I’m heading there as well, but in Dresden I’ll take on water and rest”, remarked Gordon. “Water”, gasped the other engine, “I… I need water”. Gordon was alarmed. “Hey, stop your engine is running out water”, his driver called over, but no response. “Hilf mir, bitte”, the Black Engine began to whimper. Gordon and his crew shouted and shouted, but the men on the footplate didn’t react. Suddenly the engine accelerated and rushed past Gordon. He gave chase. “You have to stop! You have to stop!”, the blue engine yelled desperately. On the horizon lights of a city appeared. The screeching of the brakes cuts through the air. But to Gordon’s horror he heard the other engine scream in agony: “STOP! STOP! SOMETHING IS WRONG!?!” Then Boom and a gut wrenching scream shatters the nightly silence. “Noooo”, cried Gordon. He slowly crept into the station, but there was nothing. Just silence. Gordon stops. He looks around. The rails were empty. Not even a hint of steam was in the air, beside his own. Only a cold wind that made him shiver “You saw it too, didn’t you”, whispered the engine. “We did”, his crew replied. Gordon slowly continued his journey. In Dresden he took on water, before going to rest in the sheds. Beside him snored Viktoria. She looked just like the engine Gordon had seen.

The next morning Gordon awoke to the other engines chatting and sizzling in their berths. “Good morning, Gordon”, greeted Viktoria him. A warm smile on her smoke box. “We didn’t hear you arrive” “We?”, he looked around and to his shock four other engines that looked just like Viktoria sat in the other berths of the shed. “Are. Are these your sisters?”, Gordon asked rather stunned. “Indeed they are”, chuckled Vicky. “Are you sure those are all your sisters?”, Gordon asked suspiciously. “What do you mean?”, asked the engine right next to Vicky, “Only five of our sort survived” “Oh” “Good Morning, ladies”, chortled Heinrich who had just woken up. Gordon jumped. He hadn’t noticed the massive green pacific. “Don’t be frightened, Gordon. It’s only me”, Heinrich laughed. “Only you, haha so funny scaring me like that”, Gordon scoffed. Heinrich glanced confused at Viktoria who looked equally as helpless. “What has gotten into you”, she asked confused. The other 01s stopped their conversations and looked at Gordon. Gordon with a lump in his throat recalled last night’s event. When he had finished the German engines were pale and gave each other nervous looks. “I think you might have met 01 1516”, Heinrich spoke up with a shaky voice, “I…I met her a couple of times…one time I chased after her and arrived at Bitterfeld before her…” The usually so straight forward and powerful engine stared horrified into the distance. “She…exploded right before my eyes” Gordon couldn’t believe what Heinrich had said, but he felt deep down the big engine was right. But then Gordon frowned: “Viktoria” “Ja- Err yes?” “What was her name?” “Her name? Who’s name?” “The name of engine that died at Bitterfeld”, Gordon pressed her. “I- We-“, her eyes dart to her sisters who just sit there like fish in the water, “We don’t know.” “What?!”, Gordon fumed, “She was your sister!” “That’s enough Gordon”, hissed one of Viktoria’s sisters, “Don’t meddle in our matters. You have kicked up enough dust for the day.” Gordon wanted to retort something, but kept it to himself and decided to just glare at the 01 that had spoken up. She just snorted.

Later Gordon visited Henry who began to ponder after Gordon told him what had happened: “Odd…maybe my driver knows someone who knows that engine’s name” Gordon and Henry explained Johanna Drachenzorn the situation. The young woman had heard of the story of 01 1516. “I’ll see what I can do”, she promised. Throughout the day Gordon couldn’t help, but feel the burning glares of Viktoria’s sisters on his boiler when he met one of them. They didn’t even whistle a quick greeting. This went on until it was Gordon’s time to leave. He sat again with all five 01.5s in the same shed. But to his surprise Johanna Drachenzorn came to the shed, a piece of paper in hand. “I found her name”, she smiles. “You did what?!”, Viktoria gasped and her sisters began to whisper. “Gordon asked me”, Mrs. Drachenzorn continued, “ Do you wanna hear it?” “Yes”, Viktoria was on the verge of tears. “01 1516-2 died in 1977 due to her crew mishandling her leading to a boiler explosion. She went by the name Alix” “Alix…why did we forget her”, Viktoria wept. “It’s okay”, soothed Gordon. The other 01.5s looked down at the rails. “Maybe she can rest now”, one wondered.

This evening Gordon left for Hamburg so he could return to England the following day. And when he approached Bitterfeld he noticed a black shadow sitting on the platform. As he drew closer he recognized the engine. It was Alix softly smiling surrounded by thick clouds of steam. Henry’s driver had shown him a picture of her. So Gordon was sure it was her. “Thank you, Gordon”, she said as he raced past. But as his driver turned to look back. The German express engine was no longer there. Gordon could sense a set of buffers touching his own for a brief second. He lets out a sigh of relief as he puffs along the line. Leaving Bitterfeld behind.

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972)

[thevampcave]

Stigma (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1977)

[queenjenniferlove]

Ghost Whisperer 1.09

[mariocki]

Lalla Ward makes a brief appearance as Lady Augusta, intended bride to an ill-fated aristocrat, in A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Ash Tree (BBC, 1975)

[some-rotten-nest]

Okay, this is fully inspired by: The Ghost of Wayne Manor

But I'm going to write it anyway becuase I'm low-key in love with my interpretation of it.

---

When Dick was little and recovering from his trauma of seeing his parents be killed and becoming Robin shortly after he would always try to convince Bruce and Alfred that there was a Ghost in the house. And there was!

His name was Danny Phantom and he liked to haunt the study the most, then the library for the astrology books in there, and he played the piano! Well, he played badly, but it was funny to child Dick how he messed up the keys when he tried to play something.

He and Dick would talk during the night when they could, Danny showing himself, and Dick quickly learned of Danny Phantom as the world's first superhero! But when he tried to tell Alfred or Bruce, Danny never showed any sign on him, no flickering lights, to creaking steps, nothing!

Alfred and Bruce began thinking of this 'Danny Phantom' character as Dick's imaginary friend, no matter how much Dick said he wasn't imaginary.

One day Danny just left, and according to Dick he had 'to go rule his realm, which is a sister realm of ours, and it's called the Ghost Zone!'

Either way, years passed and now Danny Phantom was only brought up as a way to tease Dick while Dick would just roll his eyes and say he is real, he was sure of it

Then during one random day while the family had gathered, all of a sudden, the piano started playing badly enough to make Alfred frown.

Damian instantly ran to the study, assuming it was an intruder, sword in hand as Dick followed him, filled with nostalgia and childish joy. Bruce and Alfred followed out of concern.

There was nothing in the study except for the sound of the piano.

Everyone grew confused except Dick, who grinned ear-to-ear, and happily said, "Hey Danny, been a while."

The lights flickered and the curtains moved.

"oh so now you show yourself?" Dick complained, the piano stopped playing off-key songs.

"Dick, explain." Bruce demanded sternly.

Dick gave him a smug look, "what? Oh, don't worry about that, I'm just talking with my imaginary friend. Aren't I?"

Dick was tackled onto the floor shortly after as he laughed.

"Danny!" He called out, "okay, okay, I'm sorry! You're real!"

---

Or, alternatively, everyone had some kind of story about the ghost in Wayne manor.

Jason said the ghost helped him hide from Bruce and Alfred when the stole the last cookie.

Tim said the ghost would freeze his coffee solid if he worked late.

Steph said the ghost would help her find stuff she'd lost.

Barbara said the ghost would hand her stuff she couldn't reach.

Damian, no matter how much he refused to use the word ghost, said the ghost would grab him some new paint when he was running low.

Etcetera.

If anyone does anything like this please tag me want to see!

[the-golden-vanity]

Ahoy, shipmates!

Over the course of several delayed flights this weekend, I devoured a paperback copy of Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. I found it enjoyable, if not a Great Classic Work Of Literature.

My question to you now is, there's a chapter in the middle of the book where our castaway hero encounters a plague ship. It moves erratically through the water before them, with what appears to be a smiling, nodding sailor at the rail, acknowledging Arthur and his fellow castaways.

However, as the ship approaches, the stench of death washes over our hero and his companions, and as it passes under their stern, they can see that all aboard the ship are dead of some terrible, unknown disease, and that the smile and nod they perceived were the rictus of death and the movement of a seagull feasting on the dead sailor's flesh.

This is my first time reading this book, and yet there's something viscerally, intensely familiar about this imagery. I feel like I've read this somewhere else before. Perhaps it was in a graphic novel, because my mental image of this scene appears in a sort of comic-book style.

Does anyone have any ideas where I might have encountered this before? Any help would be appreciated.

@clove-pinks @benjhawkins @ltwilliammowett @saranilssonbooks

[aforgottenthing]

Do you think Lawrence took up smoking after the bathroom trap?

[skittzdaskittle]

I've been cooking this for a couple months X'D (day 7)

This took me way too long to finish but it's done

It was also good practice for doing crossed arms, something i didn't want to touch with a 10ft pole

I'm sure you could deduce what the common link(s) between them is/are XD

In order:

Johnny Ghost

Cellbit

Hlvrai Gordon Freeman

Alexander Hamilton

Smg3

Jonathan Sims head arc-

Ivor

Jeremy (most likely)

Also, it's a bit hard to tell (which is the point), but Jeremy has a face prosthetic

I've decided I'm not gonna do day six, don't have the motivation for it, I'm also gonna do something different for day 11 because, eh

The thing I'll do instead will definitely be in line with cringetober though

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 286: Live From Monster Fest 2024

Description:

Scott and Forrest are joined by Chris Cullari and Ed Voccola, the hosts of Scared All The Time, for a live show at Monster Fest 2. Featuring live listener stories and EVPs collected live on-site from the Sallie House DR60!

Reference Links:

Monster Fest 2024 from Small Town Monsters

Small Town Monsters website, SmallTownMonsters.com

DoubleTree by Hilton Downtown Canton hotel

La Porte Little Theater Club

Scared All the Time Podcast

The Hatman Project

Witch Way from Here Podcast

Black Cat Tales & Tours

Cave of the Winds - Manitou Springs

Bloody Mary's Tours - New Orleans

Astonishing Legends Episode with Jim Hunt

P.E.E.P. Podcast with Niki Morock

Location:

The DoubleTree by Hilton Canton Downtown Hotel, where Monster Fest is held for the second year in a row.

From the Astonishing Legends Network:

Find us on YouTube!

Click this text to find all Astonishing Legends episodes and more on our Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/Astonishinglegends

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Click HERE or go to patreon.com/astonishinglegends to become one of our Patreon members and receive exclusive offerings, like our bonus Astonishing Junk Drawer episodes (posted every weekend the main show is dark) commercial-free episodes, and more!

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CREDITS:

Episode 286: Live From Monster Fest 2024. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess. Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Special Guests, India, Corinne, Dan and Kate. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2024 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[fattomatoz]

• Lost hearts (1973) Dir. Lawrence Gordon Clark

[cantsayidont]

August-September 1951. Commissioner Gordon is stalked by Sheik Hanson, a man he'd captured as a rookie policeman (Gordon describes him as "an American, who fancied himself a desert cutthroat," hence the turban and scimitar) who has recently escaped from prison. Writer David Vern uses this as an opportunity to reveal some background about the commissioner, including the biographical details shown in the splash page montage. (Although signed by Bob Kane, the art is by Dick Sprang and Charles Paris.)

The Hanson situation also leads Batman to impersonate Gordon (with Gordon's permission), and thus to meet Gordon's family:

The Gordons are a good deal more affluent than they're depicted in modern stories — note that his wife is wearing a fur wrap! Since roughly the late '70s, Jim Gordon has been depicted as more and more lower middle class, presumably in an effort to make him more relatable. (Although his wife isn't named here, her name was later said to be Thelma, not Barbara.)

This story shows the Gordons with only one child: a son, Tony Gordon. Tony's age is a little unclear: He lives with his parents and Sprang draws him to look like he's about Robin's age, but the story says he was a baby when his father arrested Sheik Hanson, which based on the splash page's chronology would probably have been in the late 1920s, making Tony somewhere between 21 and 25. There's no mention of a daughter; Barbara Gordon didn't appear until 1967. However, Tony Gordon did pop up again after Babs was introduced, described as her older brother. He died in 1979, in a story in the Batgirl strip in DETECTIVE COMICS.

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972)

[thevampcave]

Stigma (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1977)

[queenjenniferlove]

Ghost Whisperer 1.01

[mariocki]

A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (BBC, 1974)

"In what other parish church in the advowson of the good Abbot Thomas shall we find Bartholomew, Jude, Simon and Matthias all together in one window?"

"Not the 'good' Abbot Thomas, Peter. That was never suggested, not even by himself."