Thursday, February 23, 2012

Demon Church

Ry had a conference at Stanford so we trekked across Nevada (I'm thinking it would be way more convenient for me if we could just relocate the whole state) to visit his family for a few days. It was great fun, and best of all, my father-in-law took me exploring around the abandoned part of Fort Ord to scout for a good location for a fight scene in the sequel to my book.

We found the perfect spot.

 Where better for a demon fight than an abandoned church? Isn't my f-i-l a great photographer? This church is being eaten by a giant eucalyptus tree that groans eerily every time there's a small gust of wind. I love it because not only does it have a great look, but it's got amazing auditory and olfactory details as well. It's going to be a great scene to write!

We decided to go inside and check it out. After all the front door was open.





After clawing our way through the ivy we peeked inside. It was perfect. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Well, maybe. There was all sorts of crazy scrawled and spraypainted on the walls. The obligatory 666 was there, but also some more original crazy. After double checking that the serial killing cultists were really gone we explored some more.

There was a makeshift altar made from a door and some scraps of wood next to a charred spot on the floor that was clearly the remnants of a large fire. Creeptacular. And to think I was going to go exploring this place by myself. All the back rooms were also carpeted in newspaper like the cultists didn't want to track the blood of their latest sacrifrice on the nice floor.





I love the beams, and the golden light from the colored glass. Unlike most of the windows in this part of Fort Ord, many of the golden panes are still intact. This shot was taken from the choir loft. The rickety stairs were still solid enough to get us up there to explore. I am so in love with this church!

My other favorite part of Fort Ord was the aces and acres of oak trees draped in Spanish moss. The trees were bunched tightly together and the moss was swaying in the breeze. I imagine it would be very spooky at night.


Well that's all for now. I've got to get to work researching for my newest WIP. If you like these pictures you can check out more of my f-i-l's stuff at samsgallery.com. A lot of my scenes are inspired by his images of California's central coast.




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