History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Poetry in Doorways in the Gloom

| November 28, 2023

There’s a part of me that never really left her goth phase, and sometimes, that comes out in my poetry. I included twelve of my dark poems in Doorways in the Gloom. They range from somewhat tongue-in-cheek on ghosts and death (like “15 Ghosts” or “Definitely Not Haunted”) to dark fantasy (“The Briar Princess”) to something […]

Some Newer Spooky Reads

| October 10, 2023

If you’re looking for something spooky to read for Halloween (or leading up to it), here’s a few of my recent dark publications. My drabbles, “The Problem with Schematics” and “Litany,” appeared in the Dark Stars anthology, which is a collection of dark sci-fi drabbles from Shacklebound Books. One involves a ship that should not […]

A Few Recent Horror Publications

| March 16, 2023

If you’re looking for something spooky to read, here’s a few of my recent horror and dark publications. “The Divergence in the Woods” is a creepy flash fiction tale of two young women looking for their missing father in the woods. You can find it in Trees. “Chrysopoeia” is a microfiction story of exposing a […]

Spooky Writing Advice!

| October 31, 2022

Happy Halloween! If you’re wanting to learn more about writing spooky stories, there are a ton of resources available online. I really like this recent article on tips for writing spooky stories geared toward a very general audience!

Fun for Friday: Eerie Pictures

| October 14, 2022

It’s the spooky season, so today’s image writing prompts are also on the eerie side. The first image is a black and white image of leafless trees in a faint mist, with a two-track path beginning in the right hand foreground and extending into the distance. There may be a shrouded figure in the distance, […]

Horror Video Games with Good Story

| December 1, 2021

If you’re looking for a spooky horror video game to play, check out this list of 15 horror games with good story. I’m not a huge video gamer, but of course I’m familiar with Resident Evil and Silent Hill, both of which have specific titles on this list. I’ve also heard good stuff about Alan […]

Fun for Friday: Haunted Images

| October 15, 2021

It wouldn’t be October without some spooky image prompts, now would it? The first image is of a person wearing a hooded coat and carrying a backpack standing on a tree-lined road that leads to a large, old house, with a full moon overhead. It’s a nighttime scene in blueish shades. The second image (deleted) […]

Game to Watch For: Phantom Ink

| October 13, 2021

In looking for cool spooky games, I came across Phantom Ink, which was originally called Ghost Writer when it was funded on Kickstarter. It’s meant to be a party game with elements of Mysterium and Decrypto. Players divide into two teams and portray either a ghost or a medium, with the ghosts sending cryptic partial […]

Fun for Friday: Scary Story Prompts

| October 4, 2019

With it being October, it’s time for some spooky story prompts. As a warning, if you scare easily, you might want to skip these links. Here, you can find 101 terrifying horror story prompts in a general list, and here, you can find 101 MORE terrifying horror story prompts in various categories, some of which […]

Fun for Friday: More Spooky Writing Prompts!

| October 27, 2017

Since my last batch of spooky writing prompts had quite a few on the darker side of things, I decided to lighten it up this week with 7 Quick Halloween Writing Prompts that are designed for younger writers. This batch has plenty with a good Halloween theme, and they only need to be dark and […]