Writing the Dead-- ONLINE class through the Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN)

 

Hollywood Cemetery at Night: Full Moon Tours

 

Meandering Among the Markers: Writing & Reflection Workshops

 

Coming August 5, 2025

 

My book now has its own landing page!

Haunted Virginia Cemeteries: Dare to Visit the Restless Dead?

The Richmond Newsletter (September 1936).

   At the corner of East Franklin and 21st Streets in Richmond lies the old Jewish cemetery—quiet by day, but by night, locals say, it stirs with eerie life. According to The Richmond Newsletter (September 1936 edition), neighbors whispered of midnight figures in long black robes slipping through the locked cemetery gate, of strange happenings that chilled the blood. 

   Mary, who lived beside the graveyard, admitted she often lay awake, fearing the ghosts said to roam the streets after dark. 

   Skeptics may scoff, but for those who’ve seen shadows move where no living soul should walk, there’s no doubt: something haunts this forgotten corner of the city. 

A Pilgrimage to Chatham: Mummiforms, Mortuary History, and a Packard Hearse

Last week, I took a deeply meaningful trip—three hours out and three hours back—to Chatham, Virginia, to visit a place that’s long held a top spot on my must-see list: the Simpson Funeral Museum.

 

Nestled in the very heart of town, this remarkable museum sits on the original site of Chatham’s first funeral home, established in the late 1800s. To walk through those doors is to step into the history of a profession that quietly shapes every community, every generation.

 

The centerpiece of this visit? Repository: Mummiforms—an extraordinary exhibit by Funetorium showcasing the largest collection of Fisk metallic burial cases ever brought together in one place. These cast iron, air-tight, anthropoid coffins—also known as “mummiforms” due to their distinctive shape were originally patented in the 1840s by Almond D. Fisk. They were designed to preserve the body longer, prevent the spread of disease, and allow loved ones to view the deceased through a glass plate set over the face. Their elegant, almost sarcophagus-like forms made them both functional and symbolically powerful.

What makes Repository: Mummiforms so significant is that it brought together more Fisk coffins than have been seen together since they were produced at the foundry over 170 years ago. For anyone passionate about early American funeral history, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, utterly surreal to be surrounded by such rare and storied artifacts. 

For context, President Zachary Taylor, who died in 1850, was famously reinterred in a Fisk metallic coffin during a controversial exhumation in the 1990s adding presidential intrigue to an already fascinating legacy.

But the museum offered much more than just the Fisk exhibit. The Simpson Funeral Museum is a trove of mortuary treasures, from award-winning antique hearses (including an immaculate Packard by Henney, which had me beaming—my dad was a devoted Studebaker man, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Packards) to antique coffins, presidential-style caskets, and burial vaults that tell the story of how the American funeral evolved.

The museum also boasts a stunning collection of regalia, including mourning attire, funeral flags, and memorabilia from fraternal orders and funeral directors’ associations.

It was a privilege to witness this tribute in person.

And just when I thought the day couldn’t get any more surreal, someone recognized me—“Hey, you’re one of the writers from American Cemetery & Cremation! You wrote that Poe book, right?” It was a fleeting moment, but in the best way possible, I had my little mortuary nerd celebrity encounter.

For those who live and breathe the history, culture, and craft of funeral service, a visit to the Simpson Funeral Museum isn’t just educational—it’s deeply personal. A pilgrimage, really. One I won’t forget.

Anne Spencer Exhibit and Rare Book School at the University of Virginia

Friday an amazing day at the University of Virginia with the Anne Spencer Exhibit and Rare Book School!

The lectures were fascinating, and I had the joy of meeting Shaun, Anne Spencer’s granddaughter. I also caught up with my former professor, Alison Booth — and I hardly recognized the school grounds!

Anne Spencer was an American poet and civil rights activist, a powerful voice of the Harlem Renaissance, and the second African American author included in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Her Lynchburg home was a vital gathering place for luminaries like Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr.

A librarian, writer, and activist, Spencer’s story reminds us of the lasting power of words and the importance of creating spaces for dialogue, creativity, and resistance. For those passionate about literary history, her papers are preserved at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia — a treasure trove of her writing, correspondence, and personal history.

If you ever find yourself near Lynchburg, don't miss the Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum — a beautifully preserved testament to her life and legacy. And, as a cemetery historian, I encourage you to visit her grave that is nearby. She is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia, alongside her husband Edward and their family. Their son, Chauncey Edward Spencer — one of the pioneering aviators who helped pave the way for the Tuskegee Airmen — rests there as well. The Spencers' grave is marked by a slant stone. Ms. Spencer's epitaph reads Anne Spencer- Poet, a quiet tribute to a remarkable life and legacy. 

Feeling inspired and grateful to have spent the day immersed in her world. 

📰 Ghosts, Gravestones, and the Stories in Between 👻

I spent the last year walking among Virginia’s oldest cemeteries—listening to whispers from history, flipping through old newspapers, and collecting ghost stories that won’t let go. Now I’ve gathered them all in one haunted volume.I’ve always believed cemeteries have stories to tell—some carved into stone, others hidden in whispers and weathered newspaper clippings. After years of wandering Virginia’s most fascinating, unsettling, and sacred burial grounds, I’m thrilled (and slightly spooked) to share this This isn’t just a ghost story collection. It’s a journey through forgotten headlines, folklore, and sacred spaces across the Commonwealth—retelling ghostly encounters that are as much about memory as they are about mystery.

You’ll meet:

• 
  A president who still whistles in the cemetery
• Spirits tied to a bathtub murder that made national headlines in 1909
• A house built from Union soldiers’ tombstones (!?)
• A haunted pet cemetery
• A gravestone struck by lightning—three times
  
• Civil War ghosts still visiting their brothers’ graves

Many of these stories come directly from newspaper archives and local oral traditions. Some are tragic. Some are bizarre. And some—like the 1902 ghost that startled a man cutting through a cemetery at night—are almost comically eerie.

In the book, I take you along for the ride. We start in Central Virginia and circle the entire state—from the eerie elegance of Arlington National Cemetery to Appalachian cemeteries rich in folk art and mining tragedy.
I even share a few of my own experiences staying in haunted inns and walking the Appalachian Trail with a slightly racing heart.

So, what’s this book really about?
Yes, it’s about ghosts. But it’s also about:
What we remember—and what we forget
The rituals of mourning and place
How folklore helps preserve history
And why some stories demand to be retold

🪦 Until then…
I’ll be posting ghost story snippets, behind-the-scenes cemetery pics, and weird Virginia trivia right here in your inbox over the coming months.