About David Allen Voyles
Some of the tales in David Allen Voyles’ first collection of original horror stories The Thirteenth Day of Christmas and Other Tales of Yuletide Horror were those he told while conducting tours for his ghost tour company Dark Ride Tours in Asheville, NC. Playing the role of gravedigger/storyteller Virgil Nightshade, Voyles entertained guests as they were transported to various spooky sites in a 1972 Cadillac hearse converted for that purpose.
Having taught literature for thirty years, Voyles is no stranger to weird tales and horror fiction in general. His love for authors such as Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Shirley Jackson as well as a lifetime obsession with Halloween insured that it was just a matter of time before he tried his hand at publishing his own tales of terror. Horror fans can expect new horror story collections to be released in 2020.
About David Allen Voyles
About David Allen Voyles
Some of the tales in David Allen Voyles’ first collection of original horror stories The Thirteenth Day of Christmas and Other Tales of Yuletide Horror were those he told while conducting tours for his ghost tour company Dark Ride Tours in Asheville, NC. Playing the role of gravedigger/storyteller Virgil Nightshade, Voyles entertained guests as they were transported to various spooky sites in a 1972 Cadillac hearse converted for that purpose.
Having taught literature for thirty years, Voyles is no stranger to weird tales and horror fiction in general. In addition to publishing his stories in various anthologies, he is also the creator of the horror podcast, Dark Corners with David Allen Voyles, a program in which he narrates many of his tales of horror. Dark Corners can be found on most podcast apps including Spotify. You can read more about the content for all the seasons of Dark Corners on the page dedicated to the podcast on this website.
Dark Ride Tours
For three years David Allen Voyles hosted Dark Ride Tours, a family-owned and operated ghost tour business featuring a 1972 Cadillac hearse. Coming up with original stories to tell as Virgil Nightshade served to inspire several of the tales in his first collection of ghost stories, The Thirteenth Day of Christmas and Other Tales of Yuletide Horror.
Now tell the truth. Who wouldn’t love to hear spooky ghost stories told in a hearse?
Horror, Hearses & Bears...Oh My! Getting to Know Author, David Allen Voyles
(Excerpts from Gestalt Media Interview 12/11/2019)
Who is David Allen Voyles? Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a retired high school English teacher with a lifetime love of Halloween and all things spooky. I often wrote stories and poems with my students, but never tried to publish anything until after retiring. If anyone reading this has ever taught in public school, they’ll understand why. My wife and I have a long tradition of throwing “over-the-top” Halloween parties, and by “over-the-top” I mean extreme decorations with as much immersion and guest participation as possible. My son is incredibly talented and creative, and with his technical skills it’s now the norm to have mind-blowing animated figures and scenes that accompany stories I write for the occasion.
The photo (upper right) shows a crypt scene for our 2019 Halloween party with a projection of a ghoul who appears in the wall above the corpse. The video shows the Grim Reaper materializing in our graveyard.
Rumor has it that you drive an interesting car. Tell us a bit about that.
Oh, yes. Lenore. Our family’s fascination with Halloween is responsible for us owning a 1972 Cadillac hearse. I named her Lenore after the character for whom Poe’s sorrowful narrator mourns in “The Raven.” About five years ago the theme of that Halloween party—yes, our parties have a different theme each year—was “ghost tour.”
We had scenes everywhere, inside and outside, and even took our guests on a walk on a haunted trail through the woods on a neighboring friend’s property. That year, hosting in my usual role as Mr. Dark (one of my all-time favorite characters from one of my all-time favorite books, Something Wicked This Way Comes) I told scary stories about the scenes as I escorted them about the Hellton Hotel. (Even our home assumes a new name to accompany its Halloween persona.) Our guests really seemed to like it.
The next night as my son and I discussed the success of that party while grilling hamburgers, I said, “You know, regardless of how old people get, they love to hear ghost stories. But what would be REALLY great, is if you could actually take people to real, haunted sites and tell them stories…in a hearse!” We all laughed about the concept, but my son and I kept talking about the possibility while my wife caught snippets of the conversation as she came in and out of the house.
When my son and I were still discussing the idea hours later, my wife said, “OK, now you guys are scaring me. You sound like you really want to do this.” Six months later we had bought the hearse, had it re-modeled so six people could ride in the back, and the next October we gave our first ghost tour as Dark Ride Tours. We had a good three-year-run with so many wonderful experiences that will last us a lifetime, but eventually we got to the point where a decision had to be made. We either had to expand the business or let it go, and since we weren’t willing take out another big loan, we dissolved Dark Ride Tours. (Photos of the hearse and our guests are visible on the Dark Ride Tours Facebook page. I haven’t the heart yet to take it down.) We still have the hearse, and just recently I began making short videos in which I tell some of the stories I used to tell on the tours while sitting in the hearse in a series called “Tales from the Hearse.” You can find those stories on YouTube.
Tell us about your special friend, Eileen.
Eileen is a beautiful, three-legged black bear whom my family has come to love so much it hurts. We live in the mountains of North Carolina where black bears are becoming more visible as more and more land becomes developed for human habitation. We first saw Eileen (yes, pun intended) when she and another female sibling appeared, first with their mother and a third cub. All the bears seemed fine, but the next day, one cub appeared by itself, crying pitifully as it worked its way across our property. If you ever should hear a cub cry as often happens when a mother bear leaves a cub in a tree while she forages, you’ll have heard one of the saddest sounds on earth. That’s what we heard; this little cub was crying for its mama. The next day we saw two cubs, one of which was limping and dragging its useless front paw. We never saw the third cub or the mother bear again, but the two female cubs stayed together for a whole year, frequently “visiting” us as they searched for food in the wooded area that surrounds us.
Eileen eventually lost the useless paw, bravely hopping along in what became a familiar gait for us to witness. I should point out that she is quite capable of running and even chasing other bears up a tree as she successfully claims her turf.
Eventually Peanut, Eileen’s sister, went on to claim other territory, but Eileen comes back after every winter. Two years ago she had two adorable cubs whom we named Linus and Lucy. Trying to keep our Halloween scenes unharmed was a real challenge as cubs are like puppies–they will play with anything, including each other. I have hours of video of those two wrestling on the grass in front of our house. Cubs leave their mothers during their second year, so Linus and Lucy are gone now, but we believe Eileen is very likely to have cubs again this spring as we did witness some courtship this past June and July. Guess we’ll have to have more inside scenes than outside ones this coming Halloween!
(You can find the complete interview here.)
Click here to get a free copy of Captain Buchan’s Return, a haunting tale of sadness and loss.
