by Jessie Lynn McMains All houses wherein men have lived and diedAre haunted houses.—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from “Haunted Houses” Every house is a haunted house. The things which haunt them might truly be ghosts, or they may just be the ghosts of memory. They may exist independently of us, may reside in the pipes and…
Category: death
“I guess there’s just a meanness in this world” (Murder Ballads and Death Songs)
by Jessie Lynn McMains This song is about two people who go into the woods, but only one of them comes out. That’s my favorite kind of song. I have a few of those in my songbook. Rennie Sparks, The Handsome Family There’s a lot of contention about murder ballads (and other adjacent death songs:…
A Field Guide to Ghosts and Cryptids of Southeast Wisconsin
by Jessie Lynn McMains If you’re anything like me, the start of spooky season has given you the urge to seek out haunted places and creepy creatures. Actually, if you’re anything like me, you have the urge to seek out those things year-round, but I digress… Wisconsin has a wealth of ghosts and monsters. What…
Who Is This Masked Man?
Over the past year, we’ve worn a lot of masks to prevent spread of a virus, and over our lifetimes, we put on many masks of a metaphorical-kind to guide us through social situations, whether in the workplace, family gatherings, or at parties.
Ask a Mortician
Thank you so much to those folks who attended the obituary writing workshops. Great information and wonderful personal stories made it an event to remember. Part of being a funeral director is the ability to disseminate information in a way that is direct, honest and without judgement. My next workshops, offered on October 19th and…
Racine Writer-In-Residence Project 