About Two Corsets Short Of Gothic

I love the paranormal. Halloween is by far my most favorite season (yeah, it starts on Sept. 15 in my world) and my bookshelf groans under the weight of books that address paranormal encounters.  I will give at least five minutes of my time to a television show that deals with ghosts, even if it airs on The Weather Channel and will tour any historical district of a town if it promises a history of unexplained encounters.  I know the story of Vlad Tepes forward and backward and also am familiar with the story of his female counterpart, Elizabeth Bathory.  I own black nail polish and lipstick, both of which I hope to put into my regular beauty rotation someday.  I admire Amy Lee’s fashion sense.  And yet…

Nearly twenty years ago I was club hopping with some girlfriends. One of them wanted to try out a new bar which had just opened downtown that actually housed three different clubs: one was a total bro/frat guy joint, one was dance, and the last was Goth.  I, being the cosmopolitan club goer that I was, veered right into the world of black leather and Type O Negative.  I grooved on it for awhile, admiring the pancake makeup on both guys and girls, and their unabashed confidence.  But after awhile the mood began to change, tinged with more sinister and darker tones.  I realized then that Goth is a lifestyle, and it was one I would probably admire from a not too close distance.

Call me a poser if you want…I’ll even do it myself.  I love the superficial aspects: the Victorian style clothing, the architecture, the slimming black of everything, from roses to veils, and of course the literature.  I think graveyards are lovely. The dedication it takes to live the Goth lifestyle…eh, I’m just not motivated.

I’m carving out my own niche here, as a mainstreamer who likes things that other people might find creepy.  I’m also an open-minded skeptic, who, when I watch my two favorite ghost shows-Hunters and Adventures- sees the investigators first as people who drive their kids to school, pay taxes, and take out the trash. Really brave people, actually. Let me be totally clear on that point.

So, if you like “AHS”, Poe, and a good English ghost story, but have never dyed your hair pink, this may be the place for you.  Drop me your calling card and sit by the fireside in the parlor…there’s a look of a storm brewin’.