I’m thrilled to welcome my friend, author Mary Behre, to the blog on one of my favorite holidays, Halloween! Mary writes stories with humor, suspense, and a psychic love-connection. Her debut novel, Spirited, will take its bow in the spring. She’s here today discussing one of my favorite things that go bump in the night – ghosts. She’s also going to give away a wonderful “treat” to one lucky commenter – a prize pack and an advanced reader copy of Spirited. Be sure to enter the giveaway below. The winner will be announced on Monday, November 4.

Welcome, Mary.

Happy Halloween! Tara, thank you for having me as a guest today. In honor of the spookiest day of the year, I thought I’d talk a little bit about ghosts.

Ghosts are souls of people who’ve died, right?  Yeah, everyone seems to agree on that. But not everyone agrees on what ghosts can or cannot do. Since my debut novel features a ghost, I thought I’d share a little bit of knowledge here today about the different types of ghosts out there.

First up…Wraiths.

These are ghosts who, for all intent and purposes, hang around a place or an item. They haunt houses, old factories, certain streets late at night, and even old chairs.

These specters are little more than an echo effect of what happened long ago. It’s the echoes the living report seeing  when the spirit of a grandmother sits in old rocker, or a Civil War soldier walks across a specific path in a field, or even a child holds a yellow balloon.

Wraiths don’t interact with the living. They simply repeat what they’ve done before they died. In some ways, it’s like watching a movie on replay. Many ghost tours throughout the states feature wraiths.

But wraiths aren’t the only game in town.

Next up…Visitants.

Ghosts who cannot move on after they’ve died because they still have work to do are on a mission. These missions often have ghosts reaching out to whoever can hear them. Most often, psychics or mediums. The ghosts want to tell Little Barbara where Uncle Milton left his real will or Little Jamie where to find Aunt Maisey’s missing ring.

Visitants are the type of ghosts who want to accomplish something then move on. Once the mission is completed—the real will is read or the missing ring is located—the spirit departs.

Finally, we have…Poltergeists.

Thanks to the 80’s flick of the same name and numerous horror movies since, everyone knows the word Poltergeist. But most people equate the name with malevolence. That’s not necessarily true. The word Poltergeist broken down actually means “to knock” (poltern) and “spirit” (geist). Poltergeists can be mischievous and hide keys, open and close doors, and rattle pipes. Still, they aren’t typically evil. Mostly, they just make noise.

I know in lots of horror movies people get injured by ghosts but really, most ghostly encounters end with the living walking away unscathed. And when they are injured, it’s usually due to their own clumsiness.

Now it’s your turn.  Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen one? Share your ghost story here.

One lucky commenter will win a prize pack and Advanced Reader Copy of my debut novel, SPIRITED.

Author Bio:

Mary Behre could never decide story she liked more, paranormal, mystery or romance. So it only made sense that she combined all three in her books. Her debut novel, SPIRITED, is the first in the Tidewater Series. Stories with humor, suspense and a psychic love-connection. When not writing, she can be found hanging out with the most important men in her life, her family.

Amazon Pre-Order Link

http://www.amazon.com/Spirited-A-Tidewater-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00EOAS0BS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383058874&sr=8-1&keywords=spirited+mary+behre

Barnes & Noble Pre-Order Link

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/spirited-mary-behre/1116561037?ean=9780425268612

A little about SPIRITED:

She’s running from who she is…

All Jules Scott wants is to live a normal, quiet life–preferably one that doesn’t include ghosts. Jules’s ability for communicating with the dead has brought her nothing but trouble. Despite her best efforts, needy spirits always find her and draw her into their otherworldly drama. When one implicates her in a series of deadly crimes, she may need to entrust her secrets to the person least likely to believe her…

He’ll do whatever it takes to catch her.

Detective Seth English can’t get distracted from the big case he’s working on, not even by his alluring new neighbor. He doesn’t believe that Jules had anything to do with the string of robberies-turned-murders that he’s investigating, but when she keeps showing up in all the wrong places, his gut tells him she knows more than she’s letting on. To solve his case, he’ll need to expose what the sexy redhead is hiding–no matter how impossible the truth may be…

What an intriguing story – can’t wait to read this! Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win an advanced reader copy of Spirited as well as a prize pack.

Enter the giveaway here:
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