My third guest on Scaring Myself Silly is Jean Marie Bauhaus. Jean talks all things ghosts, horror, films that scarred her for life and the supernatural.
Jean Marie Bauhaus has had a lifelong love affair with horror, sci-fi and fairy stories. A writer of spooky and suspenseful tales, she’s the author of seven novels and counting, along with an increasing number of novellas and short stories. She’s a ginger GenXer who was born and raised in Oklahoma, but she currently makes her home in the middle of the woods deep in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas with her husband and best friend of 20 years and an ever-evolving menagerie of animals. You can find her and her fiction on Substack and visit her website to learn more about her books and where to find them.
What was your first introduction to horror?
“The Plenty Scary Movie,” a weekly show that aired late on Friday nights after the news on one of the local channels. They showed old Universal horror films and ’50s B-movies, that sort of thing. But as a pre-schooler the voice of the announcer spooked me so badly I was too scared to stick around and watch the movies.
What is your favourite ghost story of all time? The one that still gives you goosebumps?
Bloody Mary terrified me the first time I heard the story as a little girl and to this day I reach to turn the light on before I enter a dark bathroom with a mirror.
Have you ever seen a ghost? Do you know anyone who says they have?
I’ve seen… something. For a while my mom was renting out one of her guest rooms to a tenant, and during that time there was a lot of odd activity in the house. Drawers and cabinets opening on their own, TVs going on and off by themselves, foul, overpowering smells that came out of nowhere, that sort of thing. Most often, it would be hearing the pet gate on the entrance to the hallway leading to the tenant’s room open and close when nobody was there.
One night, I was standing in the kitchen, which was adjacent to the hall, when I heard a noise coming from the hall. I looked over just in time to see the fluffy tail of my mom’s dog disappear from view on the other side of the pet gate as it looked like she was heading for the tenant’s room. I figured she’d gotten herself trapped on the wrong side of the gate, and went to call her. I stood there at the entrance to the hall, calling her name, and suddenly I heard her nails tippy-tapping on the kitchen tile behind me. I turned and there she was, looking at me expectantly.
So I don’t know what it was I saw in the hallway.
Imagine you picked up a book and the only thing you know is that it has your worst fear in it. What’s the book about?
Something involving heights. Unless we’re talking existential horror, in which case it would be about growing old alone with nobody to care for you.
What’s your favourite spooky book of all time?
It’s not really horror, but I adore Jane Eyre.
In your opinion, what is the scariest film of all time?
This is highly subjective. But I saw The Exorcist when I was a kid and I’ve never had the nerve to watch it again.
Do you believe in ghosts?
That’s complicated. Growing up Evangelical, I’ve always been taught and believed that ghosts were demons, end of story. But in more recent years, I’ve learned that the ancient Hebrews and first-century Christians and Jews had a separate category for human ghosts, and there was room for ghosts in their theology. I think the ghosts-are-demons belief is based more on assumptions and traditions than on careful exegetical Bible study. So I hold space for the possibility of ghosts.
What are your favourite spooky non-fiction books or podcasts?
This is about 10 years old now, but I love The Black Tapes, a fictional documentary podcast in which the host investigates a collection of VHS tapes documenting unsolved paranormal events that all eventually tie together into a larger, overarching mystery.
Is there a scary film you’re just not brave enough to try based on the reviews or trailers alone?
Most contemporary horror films. I still read horror books, but I feel like most of today’s horror movies have taken a nihilistic turn that’s too dark and extreme for my liking.
Do you like Halloween?
I love Halloween! For me it’s largely about the nostalgia. Growing up in mid-America in the 1970s and ’80s, at least up until the Satanic Panic ruined everything, Halloweens for me largely resembled what you see in It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Why do you think people enjoy scary stories so much?
Partially because it can be fun to be frightened, but on a deeper level, I think scary stories are a great way to vicariously confront and work out our own fears and anxieties in a way that’s safe. So many horror monsters and villains serve as amplified metaphors for the more mundane horrors of life that are always lurking over the horizon.
Is there a place you visit or somewhere near to where you live that is quite spooky? Can you tell us about it?
The Ozarks are pretty spooky all by themselves. But I live about 90 minutes from the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, which is purportedly one of the most haunted hotels in America. In the late 1930s, a con-man ran a supposed cancer hospital out of the building, where he basically brought patients to die while he plied them with fake treatments and bilked them and their families out of all their savings. It’s believed at least 42 people died there during that time. I don’t claim to be sensitive to these things, but whenever I go there (they have a great pizza place on the top floor) I always feel a sense of heaviness whenever I walk through the front doors.
What’s a horror book you think more people should read?
The Death of Jane Lawrence. A gothic psychological ghost story set in an alternate history post-war England with an interesting occultic magic system. It’s not without its flaws, but it’s captivating and it gave me nightmares.
What’s something you watched as a kid that you probably shouldn’t have because it gave you nightmares?
Halloween. For some reason my parents let me watch it with them (it was the edited for television version) when I was 8. I went to bed and lay there stiff as a bored with the covers pulled over my head so Michael Myers wouldn’t see me. I didn’t sleep until my much older sister, who shared the room with me, came home and I could crawl into bed with her.
We live in the 21st century where there is a factual explanation for a lot of things. What do you think it is that makes people want to go on ghost walks, ghost hunts or to see mediums at the pub?
I think young people are fed up with the cold rationalism and materialism that came out of the Enlightenment. They’re frequently confronted with evidence that there’s more to life than the material world, and science fails to provide adequate explanations. I think they’re searching for answers and for proof that they’re not imagining things.
Do you have a regional or local monster/spirit legend where you’re from? Can you tell us about it?
I live in the Ozarks, so there are lots. I even wrote a short story about one of them here.
Find out more about horror author Jean Marie Bauhaus on:
Missed the earlier posts? Read the two previous blog posts about spooky season below:
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