Explore More with Amelia #2: Winter 2022

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a peaceful Winter Solstice! This has been a year of intense change and transition, and ultimately stabilization. I'm excited to enter a new year with a fresh start and new opportunities for career, personal, and spiritual growth. I look forward to being a better and more present friend, colleague, and partner to the wonderful people in my life that I'm so grateful for. I'm up to date with my writing projects and goals, and it seems the world is once again my oyster, so to speak. 

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and remember the Highland Park parade shooting that took place on July 4. One of my publishers, as well as friends and fellow poets, are in Highland Park, and this event was devastating. My loved ones were safe, but I know people whose loved ones were not. This, among the many violent acts that took place this year in the U.S., was a senseless tragedy and the victims and survivors, along with their harrowing stories, will never be forgotten.

Wishing safety, love, hope, and all good things for each of you this holiday season and in the coming year. Thank you and Happy Hauntings!

~Amelia

Explore More...

Haunted Maryland! It’s been ten years since the first edition release of Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State! I grew up as a nerdy kid in the suburb of Bel Air, avoiding being one of the "cool" kids by snooping around the abandoned, haunted locales around Harford County and beyond. My late-night expeditions with friends took me all over Maryland, and I grew to see my home state in a new way. Even though I've been in Chicago for almost 15 years now, I appreciate and adore my hometown adventures above all. I imagine I'm a little out of touch with what's hip these days on Maryland's paranormal scene, but some of my favorite locations will always be: Ellicott City's Hell House, Jericho Covered Bridge in Kingsville, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, the Pry House Field Hospital Museum in Sharpsburg, and Perryman's Spesutia Cemetery. For my fellow Marylanders and Maryland lovers out there, what's your favorite haunted place in the state?

New Logo: Amelia's DragonGoddess Boutique!

Amelia's DragonGoddess Boutique has a new logo, designed by Jonathan, and we're looking forward to introducing a new item for our upcoming two-year anniversary! We got one of our best compliments yet, at the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference in October, from Sara B., who said of our solid perfume, "I bought this last year and need to get more. This is the best-smelling stuff I've ever had!" Our new Abramelin Consecrating Solid Perfume and Anointing Balm (see our Featured Item below) has divine fall and winter vibes. Use our holiday sale coupon code DGB30 for 30% off your order of handcrafted solid perfumes, incenses, and dragon meditation kits through December 31! Order by December 17 for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

Featured Book: Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State

Second edition from Haunted Road Media, 2015

$14.99 Paperback on Amazon/Barnes & Noble
$4.99 Kindle

Amazon and Kindle Best Seller in: Ghosts & Hauntings, South Atlantic U.S. Regional Travel, Supernaturalism

View the Maryland Ghosts Book Trailer!

Join author and storyteller Amelia Cotter as she presents a chilling collection of personal paranormal encounters gathered from across Maryland—in some of its most legendary haunted locations, private homes, hidden, and sometimes unexpected places.

From classic haunted houses to UFO sightings and mysterious creatures, these true stories, powerfully told in the words of those who experienced them, are sure to entertain and engage paranormal enthusiasts in Maryland and beyond.

Awaiting you in Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State…

• An amazing apparition photo caught in the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House in Waldorf, featured on My Ghost Story

• The restless spirits of Hood College's German House in Frederick

• Incredible investigation findings from Jericho Covered Bridge near Kingsville

• Visitors from another planet on Lottsford Vista Road in Mitchellville

• The shadow figures and strange folks that once lurked at Ellicott City's Hell House

…and much more!

Featured Item: Abramelin Consecrating Solid Perfume and Anointing Balm

Abramelin Consecrating Solid Perfume and Anointing Balm … $18.00

Each attractively packaged kit comes with one fragrance tin and corresponding affirmation card. Use our holiday sale coupon code DGB30 for 30% off your order from our online Store through December 31!

Fragrance: Herbaceous, penetrating, warm, and spicy-sweet with a honeyed finish.

Ingredients: Organic Beeswax, Organic Olive Oil, Myrrh Essential Oil, Galangal Essential Oil, Cannabis Essential Oil, and Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil.

Upcoming Appearances

Holiday Ghost Stories at Malliway Brothers, Chicago

December 23, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.

Tales from the Tour

Winter 2023

Dead of Winter Conference at Mineral Springs in Alton, Illinois

February 11, 2023

Haunted America Conference at Lewis and Clark College in Alton, Illinois

June 23-24, 2023

Haiku #16 and #17: "her empty chair" and "a wolf tree's"

Fall Poetry Series: Happy Halloween! Part of the apparitions project involved sharing poetry and photography from other talented writers and artists, in celebration of the book's publication and this incredible year of poetry. I promised another short poetry series this fall, which has encompassed the poems I've shared in my non-poetry books, including This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost, Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State, and Where the Party Never Ended: Ghosts of the Old Baraboo Inn. Alas, Breakfast with Bigfoot lacks a dedicated poem, but makes up for it in poop jokes. This week, we'll close with the haiku featured at the beginning of Maryland Ghosts and Where the Party Never Ended, titled "her empty chair" and "a wolf tree's," respectively:

her empty chair…
still telling
old ghost stories

--

a wolf tree’s

twisting branches—

             choosing joy

"her empty chair" and "a wolf tree's," copyright 2022 Amelia Cotter ("her empty chair" first published in Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State and "a wolf tree's first published in Where the Party Never Ended: Ghosts of the Old Baraboo Inn)

Guest Post: The End of Something, by Louise Masino-Cotter

Fall Poetry Series: This is my 100th blog post! And to celebrate, I'm letting my mom do all of the work. Part of the apparitions project involved sharing poetry and photography from other talented writers and artists, in celebration of the book's publication and this incredible year of poetry. I promised another short poetry series this fall, which encompasses the poems I've shared in my non-poetry books, including This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost, Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State, and Where the Party Never Ended: Ghosts of the Old Baraboo Inn. Alas, Breakfast with Bigfoot lacks a dedicated poem, but makes up for it in poop jokes. This week, we'll take it all the way back to This House again, which features the beautiful poem, "The End of Something," written in 1981 by my mom, Louise Masino-Cotter:

It is not there, do you hear it?
The pulse does not die at the sound of it.

The heart does not crush at the weight of it.
Hands have quieted over the table top.

They are still and pleased with having nothing to do.

It is this end that they have prayed for.

Winter has shut itself off so suddenly; so has love.

Even the sun shows no mercy today.

"The End of Something," copyright 2022 Louise-Masino Cotter (previously published in This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost)