We all know that Florida can be creepy. Any amount of time reading newspaper articles or watching the news and one can clearly see that, in some cases, Florida citizens are a crazy scary lot…present company included. I can say that, as a native, I’ve earned my stripes, badges, trophies, and scars of battling the crazy people, and more importantly, the crazier environment. There are those times, when amid the quiet and wild world beyond our normal crazy existences when the fears and scares one would normally see in a film or only read about ends up being just our daily lives. It’s moments like those when all we can say is, “welcome to Florida” and flash you a toothy smirk as a cousin twice removed spits his chew into an old soda bottle while wiping his lip on the sleeve of his mechanic’s jumpsuit…yeah it’s like that more times than its not, trust me.
Florida already does a bang-up job of creating its own level of weirdness, creepiness, and madness, but there are times when Mother Nature does one up even better and laughs at our feeble attempts to be scary for she is the true master of horror. Case in point, Florida mangroves. Anyone who has ever visited, lived near, or ventured through them can attest, they are scary in a serene calm way, in a twisted bizarre way, in a truly Floridian way.
The water is always calm, the area almost devoid of sound. Vegetation creeps in from both sides as you kayak down the waterway appearing as alien antennae or slippery eels reaching towards your tiny one-man canoe. Something quickly slips off a cypress stump, something green or black you can’t tell, but it makes a hell of a splash and creates a moment of panic, of chaos for now whatever it was, is clearly under you, in the water, in the shallow warm brackish water, waiting. If that doesn’t get the heart to racing there’s the constant fear of the horrifyingly low hanging canopies supplying you and the inside of your canoe or kayak with a parting gift, a water moccasin or other creature that just happened to get too far out on a tiny limb only to see you and your vessel as a safe landing spot. Did I mention the almost invisible spider webs that harbor giant spiders that look bigger than your hands that have spread themselves across the tiny passable expanse in their search for food? The wall of mosquitos? The heat?
Ok, honestly, it’s not that horrific. It is at times, but you get used to it after a spell. Makes for great entertainment, especially when its mentioned in a book or used in a movie. We may be a little off down here, a little crazy, a little weird, but when it comes to Florida, Mother Nature provides her own scares free of charge for those willing to roll the dice on if they return still wearing clean underwear. Welcome to Florida–don’t bring your fears, we’ll make our own! 😀
These posts will be about showcasing a random picture I find in the hopes of inspiring others to create ideas for their writing. I have found that generating a quick 1-3 sentence scenario, a blurb, a scene, or a full novel concept based on a random picture has worked wonders in opening up the floodgates to new ideas and enjoyment in the world of fiction. It is my hope that others will find these images and possibly be inspired to jump into the wild world of writing and become the author they always wanted to be.
Without further ado, our 13th entry!-
Have a creepy or fear-inducing place near you, a place you visited while on vacation? Let us know with a comment, a like, or an invisible wave and as always keep writing, keep being creative, keep exploring, and keep it up!
The Bearded Scribbler 