This week--and just in time for Halloween--I'm turning the blog over to excellent horror author Catherine Cavendish where she'll walk you through the haunted streets of Venice, a place about as far from Kansas as you could get. Here's Cat...
My latest novel – Wrath of the
Ancients – is largely set in Vienna, Austria’s imperial capital and surely
one of the most beautiful and enchanting cities in the world. Its streets teem
with culture and its proud residents are almost fiercely protective of their
enigmatic, sometimes quirky, and endlessly fascinating homes, where everyone
from Strauss to Klimt and Freud lived and worked.
Many buildings date from hundreds of years ago and undoubtedly, a number
of them guard their secrets well. Few can have such a bizarre reputation as the
former looming, sinister-looking Katzensteighaus (Cat-Trail House) at the
corner of Seitenstettengasse 6 and Rabensteig 3. There has been a building on
that site since at least the sixteenth century and to say it nourishes a
chequered past is an understatement. According to legend, a woman who had
committed adultery wanted to kill the wife of her lover by poison, but
accidentally took the potion herself and died in agony.
For her sins, she was cursed and condemned to prowl the night as a white
cat – her territory the roofs of the houses in that neighbourhood. Anyone who
caught a glimpse of her would be pursued by bad luck.
Certainly the house seems to have heaped its own share of bad luck on a
succession of owners. In 1522, during the total lunar eclipse of September 6th,
a fire erupted from unknown causes and the owners, Christoph and Dorothea
Pempfling lost their home and all their possessions. A man called Bonifaz
Wolgemut rebuilt the house but it collapsed in the earthquake of 1590.
Over the centuries, the house did, of course, change hands many times –
and was rebuilt more than once - but seems to have brought grief to anyone
brave or foolhardy enough to own and live in it. The present building dates
from 1825 and long stood out, simply because of the grimness of its façade, in
stark contrast with the buildings around it.
Its empty black windows, decayed and looming presence stretched high
above the curious passer-by who may have felt suddenly cold, sad and
despairing. Broken window panes, crumbling plaster… The Vienna Ghosthunters held
vigils there. There is no conclusive evidence to support the legend of the
White Cat ghost but clearly the place had been unoccupied for many years. Below
street level, some of the cellars have been partially bricked up, although no
one could understand why. Also, they discovered a winding vault, leading under
the road, but why it as constructed no one knows.
It is now surrounded by a seething night life – the famous bars and
restaurants of the Bermudadreieck (Bermuda Triangle) and with any luck, the
house’s morose and gloomy past is behind it. It has been completely renovated
and part of the building houses the Vienna-Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust
Studies.
It remains to be seen what new stories this extraordinary,
ordinary-looking building will write in the future.
Destiny
In Death
Egypt, 1908
Eminent archaeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus has unearthed the burial
chamber of Cleopatra. But this tomb raider’s obsession with the Queen of the
Nile has nothing to do with preserving history. Stealing sacred and priceless
relics, he murders his expedition crew, and flees—escaping the quake that
swallows the site beneath the desert sands . . .
Vienna, 1913
Young widow Adeline Ogilvy has accepted employment at the mansion of Dr.
Quintillus, transcribing the late professor’s memoirs. Within the pages of his
journals, she discovers the ravings of a madman convinced he possessed the
ability to reincarnate Cleopatra. Within the walls of his home, she is assailed
by unexplained phenomena: strange sounds, shadowy figures, and apparitions of
hieroglyphics.
Something pursued Dr. Quintillus from Egypt. Something dark, something
hungry. Something tied to the fate and future of Adeline Ogilvy . . .
Wrath Of The Ancients
Available from:
About the Author:
Following a varied career in sales,
advertising and career guidance, Catherine
Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly
and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. She was the joint winner
of the Samhain Gothic Horror Anthology Competition, with Linden Manor. Cat’s novels include the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy - Wrath of the Ancients, Waking the
Ancients and Damned by the Ancients, plus The Devil’s Serenade, The Pendle Curse, Saving Grace Devine and many more. She
lives with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat who has never forgotten
that her species used to be worshiped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why
that practice should not continue. Cat and her family divide their time between
Liverpool and a 260-year-old haunted apartment in North Wales.
You can connect with Cat here:
Thank you so much for hosting me today, Stuart!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, Cat! (It saves me from writing about finding another black hair or something equally inane). And thank you for the expert Halloween chills provided by Wrath of the Ancients. I'm about half-way through it. Everyone should snag a copy.
DeleteThank you so much, Stuart.
DeleteFascinating Cat xxxxxx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shey!
Delete