Illustration #11, Episode 10: Psychic

Ahh! Sorry this is much later than anticipated, I was ready to post last week, but I realized right as I was about to post, that I had skipped this story and went right to the following story, Me, My Demon, and My Demon’s Yellow Eyes. So I opted to skip posting last week, illustrate this episode and post it this week. Which thankfully puts me a week ahead drawing wise!

/end rant — on with the show…

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“I enthusiastically took a cocktail napkin (navy blue with white starfish) and dug in. I actually, Mmmm’d, then asked, “What kind of a ghost story do you have for me?”
“I don’t know if you’ll think I’m mad,” she said.
“I’m not here to judge. Actually, I am hoping that you don’t think I’m a weirdo for wanting to hear your ghost story,” I replied.
“In all honesty, I’m relieved that you’re here, any insight you might be able to offer would be so appreciated,” she said then sipped her tea.
“I’ll do my best,” I replied then shoved an Oreo in my mouth. Sweet heaven above, why had these ever fallen out of my life?
Beth took a moment, then said, “This house is haunted, or maybe I should say, I am haunted.”

— Liz Sower, Creator of Ghosts in the Burbs

You can read the full story on the Ghosts in the Burbs blog.

Illustration #10, Episode 09: Bunkmates

This is one of my favorite episodes!

“Tom grabbed our coffees off the table to throw the empty cups away. I put Kat’s bottle in the stroller then glanced up at Tom’s back as he walked to the garbage can. I notice something sticking out over the back pocket of his jeans. It was a red handle.

It took me a moment, and then I knew without a doubt what it was. I quickly looked away and felt goosebumps cover my body. Tom was back at the table before I could react.”

— Liz Sower, Creator of Ghosts in the Burbs

You can read the full story on the blog.

Illustration #4, Episode 03: The Dump Swap

“I commented on her kitchen and took note of a sailor’s valentine perched on the countertop behind her. Inside a hexagonal wooden shadow box were gorgeously arranged shells, stones, and sea glass. The valentines were created by sailors in the eighteen hundreds and brought home to their sweethearts after travelling at sea for years at a time (i.e. killing off all the whales for oil).

This valentine held blue shells, green sea glass and stark white stones in a perfect wave-like pattern. A whale bone at the design’s center held one word, until, written in scrimshaw. We travelled to Nantucket every summer and I’d pined over the sailor’s valentines in the Whaling Museum. Such romantic gestures, so filled with longing and homesickness. This one was the most intricate, the most beautiful I’d ever seen.

“That is stunning,” I said, motioning to the valentine.
“Isn’t it?” Pam replied, “It’s the reason I asked you to come.”

— Liz Sower, Creator of Ghosts in the Burbs

You can read the full story here.

Illustration #3, Episode 2: Ouija, I Hardly Know Ya?

“Yeah, five of us used the board. We each put a hand on the planchette and started asking the classic Ouija Board questions, like, ‘Are there any spirits here with us?’ and ‘Can you give us a sign of your presence.’”

“Did anything happen?”

“The planchette moved to ‘yes’ twice and everyone swore they weren’t moving it. Then someone had the idea to ask a question that could be answered with numbers. Gary asked the spirit to tell us his house number. It was a good question actually because none of us knew the answer off the top of our heads, and I’ll be damned if the planchette didn’t spell out 1 – 9 – 9. His fucking house number!”

— Liz Sower, Creator of Ghosts in the Burbs

Click here to read the full story.

Illustration #1, About Ghosts in the Burbs

“Inspiration came on a grey October morning. I walked past the community message board on my way into the Wellesley Free Library where I work as a children’s librarian. An image of a flier popped into my mind: Ghost Stories Wanted.
That’s it! I thought, a text bubble popping up over my head. Instead of watching some guy in night vision say “I swear to God, dude, that door just opened by itself,” I would find people – neighbors! – to tell me, in person, “I swear to God, I saw this [insert terrifying oogly boogly thing] in my house.”
I created a little sign and pinned it to the library’s community message board. I promised free coffee and muffins in exchange for a scary tale. My husband thought I’d get calls from, what he termed “hippy dippy dreamcatcher people” who wanted free Quebrada pastries.”

— Liz Sower, writer & creator of Ghosts in the Burbs

Click here to read About Ghosts in the Burbs

Ghosts in the Burbs Illustrations

Hey there! It’s been a while. I’m going to start publishing my Ghosts in the Burb illustrations on my blog weekly, rather than dumping them all into a gallery on my page, because my layout doesn’t allow for copy to be written about each illustration I’ve done. I have been trying to do these illustrations weekly, but it’s kind of turned into a bi-weekly project..

Anyways, for those who don’t know what Ghosts in the Burb is …

Ghosts in the Burbs is a Podcast & blog that is hosted and created by Liz Sower, who interviews her neighbors in order to get their ghosts stories. My illustrations are based off excerpts of the podcast, which I’ll be posting in chronological order. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this podcast, it follows a time line, so if you’re interested in giving it a listen, please start from the very beginning!

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Hiya! I hope quarantine is treating you well and you’re staying safe and healthy out there! Living locked down has been difficult for all of us - we’re experiencing such an odd time in history right now. Everyone’s at home, businesses and bars are closed and we’re all just trying to keep sane.

I’m coming up on my one month anniversary of working from home. And I’ve really been struggling with “not being creative enough” or “not making enough content” during this time. It’s really been bothering me. So today I’ve decided that I’m going to take a photo a day. I’ve always wanted to do a 365 project. But whenever I would start one, I’d always only make it to March and then tucker out. So while being locked down I’m going to take an image a day. See how long I can keep this going, haha.

While I was enjoying my morning coffee, I put on Ghosts in the Burbs, which is a podcast about the haunted town of Wellesley, MA. It’s one of my favorite podcasts, and abruptly last fall the host, ended her journey. Obviously it was really upsetting to see it end.

But! Luckily Ghosts in the Burbs came back when I (we) needed it the most. Liz Sower, the podcast’s host, starting dropping new episodes right as coronavirus started to hit the US hard. I have these spooky tails to keep me company every Friday. I hadn’t listened to last weeks episode, so it was the first podcast I listened to this morning on my long lists of regularly scheduled pods.

Stay spooky!