Can You Dig It? by Paige Shelton

Jenn McKinlay: I have been waiting for the latest release by the Mary Higgins Clark Award nominated author, Paige Shelton, since...well, since I devoured book two, Cold Wind, in her fabulous Alaska Wild suspense series. And now we are mere weeks from release day!!! The third in the series, Dark Night, drops on December 7th, so you have just enough time to read the previous two! Go get 'em! And now here's Paige to tell us about what inspired book three.

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Paige: I remember when I first read about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s dugout house on the banks of Plum Creek. I was a kid, so it sounded cozy and adorable. Back in the early 2000s, I took a Laura Ingalls Wilder road-trip and drove to the spot outside Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where the dugout had been . . . dug out. It was unexpected. You travel up a country road, wave at a smiling couple who sit in rocking chairs on their country home’s wide porch, and make your way to the creek and surrounding wide open prairie lands. 

I have to admit, the tiny home wasn’t exactly how I pictured it. What is though? The dugout has collapsed so there’s not much to see – no small beds or table and chairs, just collapsed earth, some interesting signs, and the creek. Still, I’m glad I took a look and would travel out of my way to see it again someday. I wouldn’t trade that trip for the world. 

When I started working on my latest Alaska book, I needed to come up with a hidden place, a home where no one could be found. Of course, living off the grid is a real thing in Alaska, and in my mind, I concluded that an underground home would REALLY be off the grid. However, though I did find some impressive underground homes in my research, they had been constructed using the finest materials, some with wonderful skylight windows over the top. These wouldn’t make good secret hideaways. The permafrost is pretty stubborn in our 49^thstate, so heavy duty excavating equipment is needed for anything fancy.  

Also, living off the grid can be more expensive than you might think, if you do it legally and want to spend some money to make a modern shelter, that is. 

But I wasn’t interested in modern. I wasn’t interested in following the rules (fictionally; of course in real life, I’m all about the rules), so I dug (pun intended) a little deeper. 

Let’s say you have someone who wants to hide in Alaska, wants to live off the grid but doesn’t want to file all the proper paperwork, could they, feasibly, find a remote place, and when the permafrost has melted some, dig out a home, or a shelter, without all the big equipment that would make it easier?

Well. I think the answer is maybe.

It seems that back around 800 BC the Norton or Dorset Paleo-Eskimo groups did build semi-subterranean houses that had been excavated partially or completely below the ground surface – and they did this to take advantage of underground geo-thermal protections during the harshest weather. 

In fact, there are many versions of this kind of house over time in all arctic regions. *The Alaskan homes were heavily insulated and had been constructed to allow some privacy and some social contact for large groups of people despite the harsh weather raging outside. And they were all built without a Home Depot in sight. They were made with cut sod, stone, and whalebone, insulated with sea mammal or reindeer skins and animal fats then covered with snow.

Their interiors possessed cold-traps and sometimes dual seasonal entrance tunnels, rear sleeping platforms, kitchen areas, and various areas for stowing food, tools and other household goods. They were large enough to include members of extended families and their sled dogs, and they were connected to their relatives and the rest of the community via passageways and tunnels. *

Another name for semi-subterranean dwellings is Pit House. Archeologists have found evidence of them having been used as winter homes throughout the world, but mostly above 32 degrees latitude (Dallas, Texas is at this latitude) – because of their thermal efficiency. Heat loss is 20% less in shelters built at least partially into the earth than those completely above ground.

I know 800 BC was a long time ago, but it’s impressive to see the ingenuity of the Alaskan natives and of many populations throughout the world who had to figure out how to live in a place that was always trying to kill them. It’s was about survival, not hiding, but I figured I could still use the idea. 

Before all the modern amenities, it was a smart way to live. 

So, could a single fictional character who is desperately in need of shelter, dig to get what they need, by themselves? We ll, I think that almost anything is possible in fiction.  

What about you, Red and Readers, could you live in a subterranean home? 

Thanks to Jenn and all the Jungle Reds for letting me stop by today! 

 

*-* I took the details from this article. The above picture is included, but I don’t think it’s actually part of a subterranean home. https://www.thoughtco.com/prehistoric-arctic-housing-169866

 

Paige Shelton has lived a whole bunch of different places, but in 2015 she and her family moved to Arizona. She loves the desert life and hopes to stay for a long time. For more information, check out her website, www.paigeshelton.com

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost! by Paige Shelton

Jenn McKinlay: I am thrilled to have my plot group buddy and frequent lunch date in the before times, the fabulous Paige Shelton, here to celebrate her latest release Cold Wind, which is fabulous and releases TODAY! Seriously, it’s such a wonderful suspense story. Go get it. Right now! 

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Paige Shelton: Some people aren’t tuned into the spectral world. I’m not one of those people. I haven’t ever seen a ghost – maybe at the corner of my vision, but nothing full-bodied. However, I do sense them; maybe it’s their essence taking up space behind me or next to me. The hair on my arms might stand on end, I might hear sounds a little differently. It’s nothing big, but in small but noticeable ways I can sense a disturbance around me. 

 

On the other hand, my husband Charlie doesn’t notice them. At all. He has an intuition that makes him a little psychic sometimes, but he cannot tell if there are ghosts in the room. Doesn’t even feel a chill. 

         

Back in the days when we could travel, he and I ventured north for a research trip for my Alaska Wild mysteries. I was the only one who could feel the ghosts in our forty-ninth state. They showed themselves in some familiar ways but also with something new and different. Though the entire trip was unforgettable, the ghosts and I had a connection like I’ve never felt before.

We were in Juneau when I first sensed them. There’s a tram that takes visitors up to the mountain top, where you’re greeted with hiking paths, gift shops, places to eat. The view out and over the inlet whereupon Juneau is situated is breathtaking. As we hiked the trails and looked around, the hair on my arms was standing straight up, indicating clearly, to me at least, that we weren’t alone. I recognized it for what I thought it was, but didn’t think about it much, until we stopped at a restaurant. The woman who greeted us started leading us toward one table, but then she slowed down. She sent us a confused look, and then took us a different direction. She handed us our menus, stating that she had a feeling that we needed to sit in Jessie’s section. We simply told her thank you, and then we thoroughly enjoyed Jessie. 

 

After we were done, we took the tram back down the mountainside. Our plan was to head back to the hotel, but we changed our minds and took a drive instead, deciding to stop at a mining museum. As we approached the entrance to an old mine, I was overcome by the ghosts all around. I felt the chill, the air move, the flashes in the corner of my vision. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck was at full attention. All cylinders were firing. 

 

“Feel that?” I said to Charlie.

“Feel what?” he said. 

“The ghosts?” 

“No, not at all. It’s cloudy outside. It’s a little eerie.” 

“It’s more than that.” 

         

He didn’t argue. 

 

We heard voices. A few seconds later, two people came around a curve in a hiking path. 

         

“Hi!” I said, surprised.  

 

The couple stopped. One of them was Jessie, our waitress from the restaurant. 

 

We all greeted each other, noting how uncanny it was that we’d all ended up in the same spot, and at the restaurant the excursion hadn’t been anyone’s plan. But we just laughed it off. As they turned to continue on, however, Jessie rubbed her arms and said, “How about all these ghosts out here? They’re something, aren’t they?”

 

It took me a second to recompose myself. “Yes, they are.” 

 

“What do you think they want?” 

 

I shrugged. “I wish I knew.”

 

Jessie laughed. “Maybe they just want us to know they’re here.” 

 

Maybe.

 

I have no idea what the spirits were trying to tell me, or us, or why it was important for Jessie and I to sense them together, but whatever the reason, it was certainly one of my more spooky ghostly encounters. It doesn’t do much good to dwell on those experiences, but those moments stayed fresh in my mind for a long time.

The rest of our visit in Juneau as well as in Gustavus was infused otherworldly sensations and coincidences. We kept running into another couple – at a diner, at the Mendenhall glacier, and on the ferry to Gustavus. Stuff like that happens though, so I didn’t give it much thought, but even out on Glacier Bay, I sensed the ghosts. My husband kept wondering what in the world – this one or the other one – was going on. I did too. 

Maybe Alaska is just a perfect place for ghosts. There’s a lot of wide openness. Many people go to Alaska to find or lose themselves, others just get lost, swallowed up by the unfriendly terrain and weather. Maybe it’s a place where ghosts get trapped, or maybe they feel comfortable there. It’s a real mystery to me. I might never understand it, but I will also never, ever forget it.

Thanks for letting me stop by today, and happy holidays! 

Jenn: I love this post so much! I've definitely had some encounters in my life that were "otherly". So, Reds and Readers, any ghostly encounters to share? 

Paige Shelton is the New York Times Bestselling author of the Farmers' Market, Country Cooking School, Dangerous Type, and Scottish Bookshop mysteries. She also pens the Alaska Wild mystery-suspense novels, Thin Ice, book and Cold Wind, featuring thriller writer Beth Rivers. Paige has lived in lots of places but currently resides in Arizona. Find out more at www.paigeshelton.com