I asked fellow Tales from The Hanging Tree anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.
Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Tales from The Hanging Tree (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).
DL’s contribution is 12 Angry Dead. Here’s the opening:
“No!” A blonde woman screamed as men held her and her family hostage near the oldest tree in the forest.
Around a bonfire, six men stood with her husband and two little girls gagged and bound. The victims stood lined up together. The men brandished knives, placing the sharp metal edges to their necks.
How the story came about:
12 Angry Dead is an urban legend combined with a ghost story, lingering in our culture’s oral history as a cautionary tale. Have you ever been wronged by another person? Did you want satisfaction? Therein lies the premise for my short fiction story, 12 Angry Dead.
This story was inspired by a past life, historical ghost story, and a 1957 film.
The black and white cinematic drama, 12 Angry Men, was directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Reginald Rose. The main cast consisted of Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, and Martin Balsam. According to IMDB, the movie’s summary is: “The jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.”
In the heat of the moment, many people believe that they would choose logic and reason over an evocative reaction. Unfortunately, humans are easily manipulated by their passions, especially when in a group setting. That is why most attorneys excuse anyone with a college degree from sitting on juries: emotion over mind is their key strategy.
12 Angry Dead explores a travesty of justice, but with a paranormal twist:
“When the spirits of the wronged rise to seek retribution for their untimely deaths, is there anyone capable of opposing them?
Marilla Gibbs, an heiress and director of a historical museum, is a descendant of Aida Worthington, a victim of one such tragic murder. The mid-1800s was a period marked by chaos, particularly due to individuals like Josiah King, who took lives with impunity.
In the afterlife, his victims united to form a ghostly jury. On All Hallows Eve, when the boundary between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, Aida and eleven other souls seized control of their descendants’ bodies in order to confront their killer, who has now reincarnated as a seven-year-old boy.
With the help of her assistant, Shaun, and Justin, the child’s father, Marilla attempts to outsmart the twelve furious spirits. Yet, will their combined efforts be sufficient to redirect the course from ill-advised vengeance to authentic justice?
The trio soon learns that no one can escape a past life.”
Certain plot points of this narrative are based on the urban legend of an interracial family, who were murdered in Gettysburg, Georgia before the Sachs Bridge was built, during the pre-Civil War era. This historical ghost story revolves around Ida, her native husband, and three children. Due to intolerance of mixed-race couples and their offspring at that time, the anecdote states that the husband was burned at the stake and the two little girls’ throats were slit in front of their white mother, pregnant with a third child. After her family was dead, the town hung Ida from a tree, and thus, killing the entire family.
Real or not, there are tales from centuries hence and into the recent past that illustrate the horrors that humans can inflict on one another. 12 Angry Dead pursues the idea that karma follows us from lifetime to lifetime. Some karma is about balancing one experience with another. Not all karma is about revenge, as is espoused by the spiritual community. Karma ties an individual to energies that also restores them to their soul’s purpose.
As an author, I enjoy using my creativity and imagination to bring the past to life in my writings. The Legacy Universe is one such venture. As a mortal human, I have had real life experiences with a past life, influencing my present one. Unbelievable, I know, but true.
On a whim, I signed up for a free birthday consultation with a psychic intuitive. Why not, right? What harm could it do? I have been sick most of my life, and now I am disabled by that illness, which took a catastrophic turn in 2007 when my immune system collapsed. I have been unable to do much ever since.
I figured the energies of the universe could give me some insight into my creative writing path, but what came out of the intuitive’s mouth next shocked me. I had a past life trigger. Trigger? An emotion so fierce and strong that it woke a past life, tying itself to my current one. I was advised to seek the assistance of a shaman.
Oh, here we go, I thought. Is this a scam? I set up a call with the shaman. The woman laid out the plan and price. I was uncertain, but what did I have to lose? A little mula? Or, this nagging disabling illness? Medical doctors seek her out to help with their most perplexing cases. In the course of 15 plus years, my health never crossed back over to any sort of normality. No matter the supplements, special medical diets, or whatever else I could manifest to help me regain some of my health. I felt stuck.
In an act of true faith in the universe, I grabbed on and took a ride. The next phone call with the shaman left me in tears. In a meditation, I was guided to a scene inside a home. I was on the second floor with six white doors. One for each of my past lives. A white banister circumvented the opening in front of the doors, leaving a small space to walk. The only opening was for the stairwell that went below into the unknown.
Once I opened myself up to the process, a door burst into flames. I was told to open that door. When I did, I fell into an emotional rabbit hole. I sobbed hysterically. What I saw in the room was a man, hunched over his small writing desk, dead. There was a window to view the sky. I believe this past life’s room was high up in a building of some sort. The man wore a white poet’s shirt and tan pants, but then faded into a pile of ashes.
Still crying uncontrollably, for no reason I could fathom, the shaman and I put the pieces together. I was a writer and I was sick. When the fire broke out, I was unable to escape my room, especially down the stairs. I was trapped and killed. My body was burnt in the blaze. That life became the ash heap.
After this past life regression, the shaman stated that since I released the trigger, I would recover from my illness like I should have years ago. She surmised, in a few months. It took six for me to see any signs of recovery. I am still stepping toward health, because I know it will take more than mere months to reverse a lifetime of environmental/mold illness. My trip to the emergency room in May 2024 is a testament.
In the year since, I am feeling better than I have in nearly two decades. I believe that I will get stronger as the years go on. Mineral and vitamin deficiency reversals along with other healing modalities are being instituted. I still have miles to go, but at least now, I am on the highway.
In my reality, I am living a miracle. As for the past life, I did some research. The only incident that correlates with the time period based on the architecture of the window, man’s attire, and health factors led me to the Great Fire in London, 1666. That past life was triggered because this current life’s illness made me believe that I would not be able to finish this life’s work, just like I couldn’t finish my past life’s work- both as a writer.
If you believe you are energetically stuck for an unknown reason, then research and hire a past life regressionist. It could be as simple as embracing the pain, learning a lesson, and moving on.
I no longer fear my illness and the life that I live. This life is a bonus round, spiritually speaking. Since I was unable to finish a past life, this one is a gift to me from the universe.
All it took was for me to be brave enough to step into the past and face my own death.
No matter what you believe: no one can escape a past life.
About DL Mullan:
A writer at heart, Undawnted’s own creative spark, DL Mullan, began writing short stories and poetry before adolescence. Over the years, Ms. Mullan has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies. As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet.
Currently, she has embarked on writing her multi-book Legacy Universe, Supernatural Superhero Series.
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See all Tales from The Hanging Tree stories here.