Scott Foard(left), radio host of The Darklands and Jen Browne(right), Director of the Center for Literary Arts, after Foard's presentation on local lore.
Scott Foard came to FSU after Jen Browne organized for him to have an event during the famous Appalachian Festival. Foard produces a radio program called The Darklands which is going into it's second season on the local Frostburg station WFWM 91.9 September 26th and every Monday after at 9pm until October 31st. The Darklands specializes in eerie and suspenseful stories and during his program Foard was asking that we email him or use the facebook page dedicated to the radio show to tell him any scary, eerie, or even funny stories that he can also share on his show.
The program, The Hollers and Darklands: Reviving and Writing Spooky Stories in Appalacia, started off with Foard explaining a bit about himself while the air raid siren went off in the background as if it was setting the mood for him and the rest of his talk. He told several stories one from his childhood where he experience a spirit living out it's final acts, lighting a cigar, sitting in a chair, and shooting it's self in the head. He told the story that he had been told of a coon hunt with an extra member and of a haunted railway car that never had a successful even after an interesting group of people used it. It was around this point in the program that he began to talk about what he believes is happening or could be happening when we are interacting with the eerie and unknown. Foard explained that, "It's like nature turned itself negative or something opened into another world." This interesting concept of explaining why these beings appear and why we can see them would suggest that they happen in very specific moments and that it could be nature itself making it happen while also suggesting that there is a very thin barrier between this universe and another that can be crossed by us and those who have left us.
He continued telling the stories that he knew of, including of the Civil War battlefield in Fredericksburg, Virginia where you could see lantern lights of the wife of a fallen soldier forever searching for her husband. According to the locals, she never finds him. Using this moment as an example, he brings up another point, "Maybe it is a moment trapped in time...Maybe we are breaking down the barrier into another universe." Seeing a woman every night searching for her dead husband would suggest a moment trapped in time, but what if we were seeing it real time. He suggests that we are looking at something that is happening real time in another universe. Just that one moment, but in another universe it is their reality. This woman is searching right now and she will always be searching in that reality. He continues by bringing up the Johnstown Flood as well as well known lore like the Loch Ness Monster or Mothman, before he begins to again ask for stories then explains how Frankenstein came to be.
He tells the story of how Mary Shelly, stuck inside with two poets and a doctor, was invited to join her companions and write a scary story. That story turned out to be her famous science fiction novel, Frankenstein. He encourages that if you want to write or you have started writing to just do it. Write what is on your mind because anyone can tell a story. He ends his encouragement with this line, "For those of you who think your writing does not matter, remember Mary Shelly because you could write the next great story."
The Darklands, Foard's radio show also has a facebook page there was also talk of making the show a podcast as well. If you ever have a chance, check out the show on the radio or submit a story of your own, Scott Foard would love to add more local stories to his program.
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