Three Locations That Are Ripe for Suspense

Have you ever driven past a building or location or even heard about a place that made you wonder what kind of stories it would tell if it could? Those are the types of places I use as settings in my stories. Id' like to share three places that must be full of secrets. Places where I've used fiction to fill in the blanks. 

1. The Arizona Desert- While my husband and I were on a hot air balloon ride over the desert

outside of Phoenix, I noticed rough looking travel trailers speckling the sand. I tend to prefer a

spa or at the very least a hotel when I’m vacationing, so the idea of camping in the middle of a hot,

barren area didn’t appeal to me at all. When I asked the air balloon pilot what those people

were thinking, he said that lots of people park their campers in the desert to live off the grid. If

they register with the Bureau of Land Management, the cost of using the land is almost nothing.

Of course, there aren’t places to hook up utilities in the middle of nowhere, but if a person really

didn’t want to be found, that might be a small price to pay. Seeing the remoteness of the living

conditions made me wonder- how often are these places policed? Is it possible to just park

somewhere hundreds of miles from the city and hide? What would someone who chose to use

the desert be hiding from? Lots of questions. Maybe I should write a book to answer them.

2. Central State Hospital- Milledgeville, GA Though its original name was the Georgia State

Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum, Central State Hospital sounds much kinder. In the beginning,

treatment at the hospital seemed effective and humane, but by the 1960s, the hospital’s

population swelled over maximum capacity and conditions and treatment of the patients

declined. People who had come for help were being subjected to horrible forms of ‘treatment.’

A cemetery on the grounds boasts 25,000 grave markers that don’t give patient’s names-just

their numbers. The buildings are now abandoned, and the photos tell a story about people who

were struggling and looking for relief. Instead, many of them never left after the doors closed

behind them. This place plays a significant role in one of the books I wrote a few years back.

Hopefully, one day it will be published, and I can share it with you all.

3. Six Flags- New Orleans, LA This used to be a hotbed of activity before Hurricane Katrina struck.

Now, this amusement park is in a state of decay. Places like this leave room for

dangerous situations and lots of places to hide. The New Orleans Six Flags offers a creepy setting

that most readers would have an easy time visualizing as most of us have been to amusement

parks and have a point of reference. I’m excited to set a story here in the near future.

Can you think of anywhere in your area that has a dark past or looks creepy enough to have one? Leave a comment below for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.