Ah, Tumblr! How I Love Thee!

As a kinda-sorta addendum to my fangirling of Tumblr in a previous post, here's an example of what I find there and just how ridiculously inspiring it is for someone who's heavily into gothic horror and all kinds of creepy stuff:

from this Tumblr post

I mean -- how can you say no to that? HOW??? Holy shit, I love it. Whether or not it'll be the birth of a new story idea or a detail in a book, I can't say at the moment, but it's enough for me to save into a folder packed with so many gothic images I've collected through the years. 

And then there's this:

from this Tumblr post

Cemetery statues are amazing. Eeriness aside, there's also the mournful monument side of things, which are the point of the statues to begin with, and they do make one stop and contemplate. I've never been to cemeteries with statues like these in my life, my experiences being limited to more modern resting-places and mausoleums. Minimalist and clean with the occasional flower arrangements left by visiting loved ones, etc. I'd love to visit these older and more elaborate burial spots, though, and observe these statues as well as family vaults. 

And speaking of creepy stuff that inspires me, I had something borderline freaky happen to me just a couple of days ago, when I was walking from the train station to my work. It was still dark as I take the first train from Richmond to Berryessa, and I get off at my stop at around 5:40 and walk.

About two blocks from the train station -- I was, of course, walking alone but with a few cars driving past and the nearest gas station already enjoying some business -- I suddenly heard someone giggle somewhere behind me. Not close behind, no, but a bit of distance away because the giggling was soft. 

My first reaction (and it was instant) was to feel my hair stand on end before I whipped around to look behind me. I was relieved to see a person walking several paces back, about half a block away, and he was murmuring and had his head bowed, so I guessed he was on the phone. All the same, the quiet giggling absolutely caught me off-guard and freaked me out so much that it took another block and a half of walking for me to calm my heart down. 

Now that I look back at the moment, I can also say that it's given me something to chew on for one of the books I have planned (The Twilight Lover). See? I love it when something like this affects me enough to want to work it into a story.

Near-heart attack notwithstanding, of course.