The Priest, the Witch & the Poltergeist was based on a true story, but it was going to be a print book, so I didn’t have to think about what a poltergeist really sounded like.
Let me explain the true story part.
In 1850 in the rural town of Cideville, France, strange noises began to erupt in the parsonage where a priest lived with his housekeeper and two boys. The priest was certain the noises were caused by a local male witch and shepherd who had muttered some kind of threat to the boys at a local auction. The priest forced the witch to apologize to the boys. The noises got worse. He brought in another priest and performed an exorcism. The noises got worse — and notorious: a marquis from Paris came to Cideville to talk to the now-famous poltergeist. The priest, driven somewhat mad, attacked the witch, beating him half to death. You want a hex? cried the witch. I’m suing you for assault. What followed in the spring is the only known witch trial where a witch was the plaintiff.
When the print version of The Priest, the Witch & the Poltergeist was published some years ago it received very good reviews but didn’t sell much. Then audiobooks came along and grew hugely popular. Anybody can read a story aloud for Audible.com. Booktrack Inc. put together a wonderful audiobook narrated by actor Jeremy Domingo. But even they couldn’t construct a poltergeist.
The strangest true story, plus sound. www.audible.com
What sounds would you use? How would you change them? In the original, true story the priest ordered locals to nail the walls of his parsonage because the marquis told him the poltergeist was afraid of nails. What would that sound like? I got my husband and daughters to bang blocks against the walls of our home until they were exhausted and a pair of candles on the dining room table snuffed out. It wasn’t good enough. Mainly because I had to figure out: What was this poltergeist trying to say?
I’ll tell you next time what it decided to say to me.