Hunter Shea Quotes

Buried and burned. Never find them. Never. Buried and buried.

~ Hunter Shea

It's this place. Whatever darkness came to the island, it's here to stay. Stick around long enough and it gets inside your skin, into your cells, like an infection.

~ Hunter Shea

Jessica's hand flew to her mouth. If she had any doubt, the next entry settled it. She read on, cool beads of sweat trickling down the back of her neck, hardly daring to breathe as the black heart of Ormsby Island came closer and closer into focus.

~ Hunter Shea

I have a new nickname for Dottie. She's now the Crazy Whisperer.

~ Hunter Shea

It was one thing to talk about ghosts, quite another to have them messing around with things in the physical world.

~ Hunter Shea

Which grave are we in? she said. The oldest. She felt Eddie's puzzlement. That can't be possible. He looks like he was just buried. There must be something at work in the chemistry of the island that's preserving his body. It's like the incorruptibles, bodies that weren't preserved in any special way that don't decay. Catholic saints like Bernadette and Padre Pio are said not to have decomposed even though they died a long, long time ago. Environmental factors can cause a kind of mummification. Jessica said, or thought, This is bizarre. I'm getting a lesson on mummification while in the coffin of a dead man.

~ Hunter Shea

You told us this place was haunted. How haunted is it?Paul cast a quick glance at the house. I'm not sure. When they found the bodies twenty years ago, the place became off-limits. That was horror enough. There were whispers of strange stuff going on before then, but no one is alive who could verify a thing. Somehow, an urban legend grew about the whole island. Don't go near haunted Ormsby Island. They say a reporter went out alone one night just after the mass murder had been discovered and never came back. Since anyone who had committed the murders was either dead or gone at that point, it had to be the island itself that offed the reporter. Mitch, Ormsby Island isn't even on most maps of Charleston Harbor. Locals will turn away the moment you even say its name.

~ Hunter Shea

Yeah, I get it. I'll be cool as a well digger's ass. He jumped when the front door slammed shut, the harsh bang echoing around the trees. Mitch shook his head. That well digger must be working in a hot spring.

~ Hunter Shea

Before they knew it, Ormsby Island would become a paranormal attraction like Waverly Hills or Houghton Mansion or the Whaley House. The place would be crawling with people anxious to catch a ghost on camera or audio.

~ Hunter Shea

Does it have a bed? Liz asked doing her best to prop him up.A couple of old army cots that probably have more mildew than a politician has bullshit.

~ Hunter Shea

Galton was a world renowned anthropologist back in the nineteenth century, though he was a big overshadowed by his cousin, Charles Darwin.

~ Hunter Shea

She cursed under her breath. Eddie watched the EBs react, the younger ones recoiling with silent gasps. Better watch your language. There are children present. I think you're freaking them out. Sure, I'm the one freaking them out.

~ Hunter Shea

The air in the room was so cold, the exposed flesh of his face felt like ice. I'll be the first person to get frostbite in a house sleeping several feet from a roaring fire.

~ Hunter Shea

Getting out of tight jams was his specialty.

~ Hunter Shea

When people did stupid things around him, that was usually the last thing they did.

~ Hunter Shea

You want to lay yourself out like an appetizer, go ahead.

~ Hunter Shea

Back in the 1800's, Ormsby Island was one of South Carolina's crown jewels. The island was owned by Maxwell Ormsby, a very wealthy man who liked to entertain everyone from heads of state to artists and authors and anyone who knew how to make money in business. An invitation to the island was a declaration that you were someone on the move. Once a year, Ormsby opened the island up to the public and hosted a huge fair. It was the social event of the year in these parts. My family still talks about the days when my great grandmother would take the family out to enjoy the festivities. It must have been some party.

~ Hunter Shea