Caves – Some of the
World’s Most Naturally Creepy Places
Paranormal
romance fans understand creepy. They like creepy. A little bit, anyway.
But creepy, in paranormal terms, is
something that is manufactured by ghouls, goblins, demons and spirits…and authors
with very good imaginations.
Caves, though…caves in their natural state
are the creepiest and most frightening places you can find, and you don’t need
a souped up scary movie soundtrack to enhance the sensations.
Cavers – people who like to climb down into
the bowels of the Earth – or Potholers, as they’re also called – have got
nerves of steel and a brain that is wired slightly differently from the average
human. They have to have, because caves
are not pleasant places.
Let me explain.
There’s possibly a good chance you’ve been
in one or two caves in your lifetime.
Tourist locations open to the public, where you can walk in and have a
look around at the stalactites and stalagmites, while a tour guide or
self-guided presentation tells you about how old the cave and the fossils found
inside it are.
It’s fascinating and chilly and you’re
pretty glad to get out into the sunshine at the end.
Fair summary?
These sorts of caves that have been opened
to the public are the MacDonalds version of caves. They’ve been retailed and tamed to the point
of inoffensiveness. Access to the cave
is paved over, made safe and accessible to all.
Lights are strung up and in some cases, air conditioning pumped in. The cave floor itself is swept smooth, and
paths and steps built and poured, while hand rails are constructed to ensure
you have something to cling to as you climb up and down.
If there are any pockets of offensive or
dangerous gas, noxious water, hot water, or too cold water, they’re removed or
diverted. Tourists are kept away from
unstable areas where cave-ins are possible, or the floor is simply too
difficult to walk across (until concrete paths can be poured).
The flip side to all the guiderails and
paths and lighting is that while the human tourists are being shepherded
carefully along narrowly defined routes, the impact on the natural flaura and
fauna is being kept to a minimum.
But what humans don’t see, with all that
careful shepherding, is what a cave is really
like, without its make-up on.
You might tend to think of a cave like you
see them in the movies and on TV; with conveniently flat, sandy floors, and
tunnels that run horizontally to provide access to the main chambers.
Caves
are nothing like that in reality.
They’re pitch black, unlit spaces in the earth where shifts in tectonic
plates left gaps and holes in the rock and earth. Time, water and erosion did the rest, and
what you’re left with is fantastically shaped spaces that often have no identifiable
“floor” at all, or walls, or a roof.
When you make your way through them, you begin to understand how the
continents were formed and are still shifting and shrugging every now and
again…and how truly insignificant humans are, with all their surface activity.
The toe of land at the bottom of Western
Australia (where it says Cape Leewin on the map) is riddled with caves. Some of them have been commercialized just
like I described at the beginning of this post.
Some of the caves are well known only the local pot-holers. But there are more areas deep inside the
cliffs and earth of Margaret River than have ever been discovered.
It’s that raw opening in the centre of the
earth feeling that I tried to convey in Terror
Stash. There is one scene in
particular where the three main characters face what is called a “tight
squeeze” in caving terms.
See if it creeps you out. And not a ghost in sight.
_________________
A
stash of terrorists in a tiny town? No one believes her.
American
diplomat Montana Dela Vega, posted to laid-back Western Australia, discovers a
band of known terrorists hiding deep in the bush. Laughed at by superiors, she
must find courage and her own resources to expose the ruthless zealots.
The only people who believe her wild story
are Caden Rawn, the mysterious and physically intimidating man with a
terrifying reputation, and a bloody history that dogs his every step; and Steve
Scarborough, a local police officer with an instinct for the truth and a secret
of his own.
Caden and Montana’s private investigation
entwines them in tragedy and fear, and teaches them the meaning of
friendship...and love. They must face
the cost of truth and the courage of their convictions for Montana’s terrorists
are very real and very deadly indeed—and they want Montana for themselves....
Available in print and ebook at retailers everywhere.
Tracy Cooper-Posey is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author. She writes erotic vampire romances, hot
romantic suspense, paranormal and urban fantasy romances. She has published over 50 novels since 1999,
been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma
Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four
times for Book Of The Year. She has been a national magazine editor
and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken
together. In her spare time she enjoys sewing, history, Sherlock Holmes,
science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada
with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after
meeting him on-line.
