I have always 'enjoyed' the shivers of a good ghost story at Christmas. The dark nights, the creak of the stairs, flickering lightbulbs, well perhaps not the lightbulbs but you get the general idea. The primitive chill at the thought of the unknown close at hand. You will see my short stories have a leaning towards such stuff.
This time last year I was wrestling with the final draft of "Legionaries of The Boar" getting it ready for launch on Amazon. I had no inkling it would lead to "Sword of The Boar" and now "Centurion of The Boar" which is currently being written.
This year is drawing to a close with the sort of book close to my heart. It is "The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions" by Tony Clunn. I finished it off last night. Tony Clunn is an ex British Army Major who has done significant work during the 1980s and early 90s to establish beyond reasonable doubt the site of the destruction of General Varus and his three legions in the Teutoberg Forest in AD 9. (Teutoberg is in northern Germany close to Osnabruck.)
Later, the Emperor Augustus was prone to say in moments of stress, "Varus, give me back my legions." - so they say.
For those not familiar with the story, a German auxiliary officer named Arminius helped lure Varus as he returned to winter quarters into an area where the normal Roman tactics of war were negated. Over a period of three or four days the German tribes routed them and cut them to pieces in forests and on narrow strips of ground between the Teutoberg Hills and a great swamp. Very few made it out.
What caught my imagination though was Clunn's comments about the lingering aura of the place; the senses of sadness and sorrow it evoked. He wrote at the end of one poignant passage:
"For those who sense such things, the noise still rises across the centuries, from the mists of a time long gone by."
What better way to get the 'shivers' than from something based on fact?
(As I write this Centurion Velio Pinneius finds himself in a somewhat a sticky position too. Hopefully he will do better than Varus!)
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
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