Re-Coyle—Fodder for the Horror Writer

Settling down for a good night’s sleep after a hard day, either mentally or physically, isn’t always an easy feat or an enjoyable event. Our minds are still racing at speeds that surpass the fastest movements of our body. So why is it that the two hardly ever seem to be in sync?

One answer is that we are not in total control of our bodies or minds. We think we are in control of everything, yet we actually control very little. Our minds and body work involuntarily most of the time. We breathe the air, our blood pumps to every extremity and we find ourselves contemplating ideas we never consciously think about.
What are we really in charge of when it comes to ourselves?

You take the trash outdoors because your nose picks up a foul scent and tells your brain that something needs to happen. Your brain tells your muscle system to get moving and take the trash out so the nose won’t have to keep smelling the odor. Or your ears relay a message to the brain that someone else in your household has the same odor issue and has selected your body to act upon their desires.

With all of that in mind, nodding off to sleep is usually accompanied by your thoughts of either good or bad things, either current, in the past or something in the future.
In any case, once your body gets the sleep signal from the brain, your consciousness
takes a break and the real control freak in you takes over, your subconscious brain,
which may not be so subconscious after all.

Keeping you alive is the subconscious brain’s first priority. After all, it needs you to gather food and provide shelter in order for it to survive. But once the brain has put you to sleep, it decides what and when you will dream, whether it be a happy dream or a terrifying nightmare. Only your brain can decide what treatment you will have for the night. It may decide to shake up the muscle system and make you shudder and tremble in fear of an evil beast it has concocted just for its own entertainment.

It could decide to reward you with a pleasant night time ride; winning the big lottery and enjoying a life of luxury, even if only for a brief moment in time. It’s important to remember that whichever dream you experience was not really your choice, because if it truly was under your control then no one would ever have a bad dream. No matter who you are, the real control over what you do and how you think comes from deep inside your brain. And who knows where they actually get their orders from? It could come from another time and place, even a parallel dimension housing our spiritual twin.

So what happens when you allow your subconscious brain to write for you in the darkest hours of the night? Many horror novels begin and end with a nightmare; perhaps your next nightmare will end up on the bestseller list.

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.

How much do you value your own life? To what lengths or extremes would you go to stay alive? All of us have been in circumstances where we believed our demise was imminent. What action, or better yet, non-action did you take?

Almost everyone has stepped off a curb; their mind pre-occupied with other important matters like what they are having for lunch, and heard the squealing of tires before facing the front end of a car. I bet the only reaction by the majority of people was to freeze-in-place, almost creating the certainty of death if the vehicle fails to stop.

But what about a situation where you have time to mull over and think about a response to your predicament? Say you are trapped on the second floor of a burning house. Would you open a window and jump out? Or is your fear of heights going to allow your body to be fried to a crisp?

If you deliberate very long, it’s probably too late to make a decision to save your skin. Now jumping out of a two-story window may be a quick thought for many, but what if you are on the fourth floor? Do you give up and just keep screaming or try to figure out a way to scale down the gutter or hope to grab a window ledge on a lower floor? The prospect of grabbing something to break your fall plays fairly well in the movies, but it is still a better option than having your socks on fire with no chance of escape.

Every decision to save your life from any calamity is based on balancing our multiple fears against the odds of survival. For example, riding a gutter to the ground or leaping into a nearby tree, which may save your life if you are successful, versus remaining in a burning building where the heated fumes will probably kill you within seconds.

Is deciding your method of surviving (or dieing, if you are unlucky) more terrifying then facing death? Perhaps this is the predicament your protagonist will face in your next horror novel.

On second thought, I don’t even want to get started thinking about making a decision regarding our fears. I’m afraid that would take way too long.

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.

For those of you who grew up living in a home with a basement, this article should recall some fond memories of those treks down the creaky steps into the dim and musky bowels of the house. Like many older homes, the basement was the final resting place for an odd assortment of items.

Old baseball gloves, deflated footballs still bearing the scuff marks of the street, plus an assortment of old table games like “Monopoly” and “Life,” none of which contained all of the pieces to actually play the game. Old clothes and shoes in cardboard boxes nearly covered with mold. All of these items are remnants of an earlier time in life when these things were useful.

But in addition to the stacks and piles of useless junk, there was a terror that haunted the basement of every home. Somewhere in a dark corner, an old washer and dryer waited, half-cocked on the uneven concrete floor, patiently holding their ground until a human form appeared before them.

Remember the nights when your mother told you to go to the basement, remove the wet clothes from the washer and put them in the dryer? Your knees buckled from fright as she pushed you to the old creaky door that opened to the rickety basement stairs. Reassuring you that nothing was down there only made matters worse. Swallowing hard, you gingerly went down the steps knowing the creature was probably going to grab your ankle through the open steps.

The only light bulb, which was hanging on a thin wire from the ceiling, was miles away and ten feet in the air. Who knows if you could reach it before you were devoured by fanged jaws? You mother certainly didn’t care if you got eaten or not, but it was obvious that she didn’t want to risk coming down here either.

Jumping up to snag the string, the light cast shadows on the walls as it swung back and forth. Quickly, you stuff the clothes into the dryer, then turn around slowly to check and see if the creature is standing behind you, his sharp claws ready to shred the tender skin from your body. The swinging light reveals a large moving shadow coming for you and simultaneously the light bulb “pops” into oblivion, throwing you into total darkness.

Your feet are frozen to the concrete, but a noise behind the washer propels you toward the stairs, your feet pumping furiously on each wooden steps trying to avoid the clutches of the creature. Slamming the door and pushing the small locking bolt into place should be sufficient to keep whatever demon was down there in his place.

Then you remember you forgot to start the dryer! You reach for the door knob, but then pull back and head for your bedroom. You can always swear to your mother that the dryer was running. She can deal with it in the daytime, the only time she will ever go down there anyway.

The question remains: What is more frightening? The creature in the basement, or your mother sacrificing you to the underground demons of your house? Sound’s like the beginnings of a horror novel to me.

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.

Do you seem to spend a lot of time thinking you have been in a certain circumstance before? How many times have you said that you were one hundred percent positive you had been somewhere before? Of course it’s possible, but what could be the reasoning for the frequent remembrances?

Reincarnation seems to be a popular answer in many cases. It is perfectly conceivable for many to believe that they have lived here on earth before, in another time and place. But why are so many places and people so memorable, but there isn’t a single good memory of your pre-existence? Sure, you remember a hotel room, a smoky bar with a familiar bartender smiling back at you, or walking down a street you have been on before. But do you have a single clue as to your true identity, the person you were when you stood there at another time?

Is it really a past remembrance, or is it our mind playing a cruel trick on us? Certainly, your mind has forgotten plenty in your lifetime, let alone a barrage of past lives and experiences. Maybe we just like to think we have been someone else in another life to avoid the boredom and mediocrity to which we are accustomed. After all, most of us will never be more than another face in the crowd, just playing out our lives on a stage with no one watching.

Is it possible that our brain is playing us for a fool? Throwing us a curve by having us believe those split-second moments when we know we’ve seen this place before are actually events from our past? It must be a comical sight for our creator, watching us revel in our beliefs of pre-existence.

A word of caution: Be careful when you get on the bus tomorrow. Even if you are certain the person sitting next to you was someone you knew from a previous life, don’t bring it up. After all, you may have escaped their clutches in another life. They may still have a deep desire to see you suffer for something you did a long, long time ago. The next time you experience déjà vu, consider what your past life did in that very spot. Perhaps it’s something so horrific, it must be written in to your next book.

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.

Photo courtesy: Diane Finlayson

Everyone has thoughts of what they could have been or what they could have done; if only they could change past events. Traveling through time has been the topic of numerous books, articles and shows over the years. Humans are obsessed with the fascination of traveling back, or forward, to another place in time, either just to visit or to rearrange certain events to their advantage. Don’t tell me you never dreamed of having the chance to go back to younger days, to return to a time when you were young and change just one tiny thing to make your present life perfect. Throwing the winning pass in a college football game, ice skating to a gold medal, asking that certain someone out on a date, or maybe getting the answers for that all-important final exam. But therein lies the problem. Human nature will never let us be satisfied with just one little change. Because once a methodology is created, allowing time travel whenever you wish will definitely mean the certain destruction of mankind within hours. Our need for immediate gratification will have to be repeated over and over for each and every event in history while the future is rearranged to meet the personal satisfaction of every time traveler. All of us know the phrase from school, that for each and every action there is an equal and opposite action. With each change for one person’s benefit, there will be a detriment to another. And like an atomic bomb, there will be a chain reaction of events, wiping man from the face of the earth within days if not minutes. So think carefully about your plans to go back into the past and rearrange events in your favor. Because planning to return to the present time with riches beyond your wildest imagination may be nothing more than a short dream. While you twisted the events of time to your advantage and skewed the forces of nature to create your wealthy kingdom on earth, someone else planned your annihilation a second after you left. It’s a case of past imperfect, but as a writer, you can always bend reality to your will. Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.

Don’t even start by saying that you are not scared of the dark. The old saying, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” rings true. It’s not just the children who moan and cry for their parents to leave a light burning in their room at bedtime; it’s the big, burly man who pulls his covers up over his head so nothing will get him. Everyone knows that once all the lights go out at night, bizarre and evil creature, of all types roam up and down our hallways.

We have all heard the creaky groans of an old wooden floor or rickety staircase pierce the silence of the night air. Our imagination always runs wild and wide open, expecting the worst to happen. We envision horrible and grotesque demons in our minds, creeping slowly toward our bedroom door. The murky shadows of the night camouflage their distorted outlines and scaly skins.

Disfigured heads, with bulging, bug-like eyes appear in the hall and peer through the crack in the door, just to have a glimpse at us while we sleep. Why is it coming for me? Does having my light on really keep them at bay? Would any respectable demon actually run and hide just because your Disney World lamp with the Mickey Mouse and Goofy figures is burning with multiple, one hundred-watt bulbs?

I don’t think it really matters if you sleep with your lights on or off. If something is out there and it wants in bad enough, it will make it to your doorstep. But once you close your eyes and go to sleep, your bright light will only help the dastardly beast illuminate his way through your house and into your personal nightmare. In fact, the light could serve as a beckoning beacon, encouraging any demon to come and see just who is afraid of the dark.

I dare you to leave the light on tonight and see what kind of creature ventures into your room. It very well could be the beginning of your next horror tale.

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.

There is nothing like a beautiful sunny day at the beach. The warm rays caress your skin as your feet glide through the soft, silky sand. Out in the water, surfers and wind-sailors gingerly balance on the tips of rolling waves without a fear. Could there be a better way to spend a weekend than relaxing at the beach?

As you walk along the water's edge, the waves lap at your toes. Glancing over your shoulder, you notice the waves have removed all evidence of your existence, washing away your footprints as if you were never there. Walking past the last of a huddled crowd of sun worshippers, you notice the serene, but vacant, end of the beach bordered by a large rocky seawall. Curious as to why no one would desire to be situated at such a secluded spot, you continue to walk.

The crashing waves grow bigger and darker as they reach farther up the sand in their attempts to capture your feet. The air has become heavy with a salty mist and breathing becomes more difficult, yet the rocky walls beckon you to keep coming. The noise of the crowd fades to a faint tone as the mounding waves slap at the seawall, attempting to drag it back into the sea, rock by rock. The hair on your neck bristles as the immense size of the rocky seawall looms in front of you, and you realize that you are truly alone.

Looking out to the water you watch a small one-man sailboat leap wildly out of the waves then vanish under the surface. Muffled screams for help shooting across the surface force you to enter the churning water. The waves are angry and cold as they quickly swell around you, clenching you tight. Without warning the water has surrounded you, twisting and pulling your body out to the deep and murky unknown. Waves attempt to dash your hope for survival, pushing and pulling in all directions.

Panic-stricken, you thrash about with flailing arms and legs as your heart bangs wildly against your chest. Water flows into your nose, seeking the path to your lungs and certain death. An empty sailboat, helplessly carried by a thousand watery hands, brushes by you before it is unmercifully thrown into the rocky seawall. Your screams are suffocated by a constant flow of water.

Somehow you escape the tentacles of the deep that have been clawing at your legs, dragging you down into their light-forsaken home. Your feet beat rapidly against the hard wet sand as you run as fast as you can. The waves howl at your heels for you to return, but you have felt the cold, slimy touch of the beast, reaching out from the deep waters, just waiting to devour you.

The loud music is a relief as the crowd grows near. Only then can you glance, fearfully, over your shoulder, at the peaceful end of the beach bordered by the rocky seawall. But now you know what the others know. There is an invisible beast, quietly beckoning you to come back to the lovely serene end of the beach, quietly waiting for you to enter its home in the deep water.

Will you be the writer brave enough to confront this beast—and its story—in the pages of a novel?

Brian Douglas Coyle, a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He is currently the Community Development Investment Manager at BB&T, the eleventh largest bank in the country. Brian is the author of Soul Riders and the 2008 release The Devil’s Sanctuary.

By Brian Coyle

Everyone wants to live forever, or at least most of us do. Who hasn’t dreamed about celebrating their 100th birthday or had thoughts about immortality? But whenever you think about death, that tiny little creature called fear raises its ugly head. Nobody wants to die, not even if we get to pick the time and place. And there is an inherent terror in all of us about what waits for us on the other side. That is, if you believe in the other side. Even if you don’t believe, it could be there, waiting in the abyss for you to arrive. Heaven, Hell, Limbo, or whatever lies in the afterlife, it probably isn’t a “one size fits all” kind of destination.

In any case, believer or not, you don’t have any control over whether anything out there, beyond the grasp of earthly life, exists or not. You’ll just have to wait and see what happens, like everyone else, one at a time; just you and you alone. And unless you plan to end your own life, no one really knows for certain the exact moment of their demise.

So could life expectancy be predetermined by a higher form? One who has already created your own personal tombstone which awaits you? No one in this world will ever know, unless someone or something comes back and tells us. There may be warning signs from those in the world beyond staring us in the face at this very moment. Those ghostly souls might be desperately trying to get our attention because our final breath is approaching, but we are too busy worrying about other things to notice. If we could write a book about our final days and final breaths, I wonder what details it would contain.

By Brian Coyle

Everyone has grown up with stories from their youth about the demons in their bedroom. The boogie man in the closet, the werewolf howling outside your window, the vampire creeping along the edge of your bed, ready to pounce and suck the very life from you as you sleep. The slightest shadow on the wall or creak from an old wooden floor sends chills up your back as you pull the covers over your head, hoping to hide from certain death.

With so many recollections from millions of people, maybe the fears are warranted.
Who is to say that the demons don’t really exist? If millions have seen them, heard them or even felt their bony touch, can we actually rationalize them away? Why would so many swear that they are real if they aren’t? If several of your friends confirmed a demon sighting, wouldn’t you believe it? Then why ignore the millions of stories that exist today?

You don’t have to search very long to find a true story about demons. Every bookstore and library, and especially the sea of online websites, can produce more than you can ever read, not to mention your own place of worship. Have you ever attended a church service where they did not reference demons, either directly or indirectly? So if everyone around you is telling you they exist, how can you deny that they are in your house right now, plotting how to best drain the blood from your body?

Go ahead. Tonight when it is darkest, turn off all the lights. Take a seat and be silent. Just listen and watch. I’ll bet that eventually you’ll discover that demons are in your house. Maybe it’s just one, or maybe there are lots of them, waiting to get your full attention. Some may be perfect for a short story, while others are grand enough to haunt a 500-page novel. Which kind is under your bed?

By Brian Coyle

Most of us have been to a funeral, either at graveside or in a church. The experience is never pleasant and probably ranks a step below a visit to the dentist. Even though you are among a group of people, many of whom are family and friends, there is a feeling of isolation and fear. While standing in line, anxiety grows deep within you, realizing that it very easily could have been you in that coffin, laid out for the passing crowd to view. This is surely the basic fear behind E.A. Poe’s story, “The Premature Burial,” and it could be the impetus for other horror stories.

Imagine the scene: The line moves forward and suddenly your breathing deepens as beads of sweat start to sprout from your brow. Clothes which fit perfectly earlier in the day seem to be tightening like an elastic band around your chest, making it harder and harder to breathe. Glancing around to see if anyone has detected your predicament, you amazingly discover that no one even notices you, let alone that you are gasping for air.

Eventually, it’s your turn in line to pass by the deceased and your skin doesn’t have a spot on it without a bump or a bead of sweat. Stopping at the side of the coffin, you hesitate; it’s difficult to look down for fear of making eye contact with the dead. Taking a deep breath, you finally place a trembling hand gingerly on the side of the coffin to steady yourself. Quickly you glance down as fear rushes to your head, taking over all your thoughts.

Envisioning yourself in the coffin, you picture yourself being rudely shoved into the fiery inferno called cremation. You can feel the flames dancing across your crackling skin as the stench of burning hair fills your nostrils. Your muscles won’t respond to your cries for help as the heat from the flames intensifies and covers your entire body. Can you feel the pain or not? Only time will tell, but what a—dare I say it?—delightful proposition for a horror novel!