Fairies, Pookas & Changelings

Follow me to an enchanting world where things are not as as gossamer winged light as they might seem…don’t fall asleep. 

Paranormal Parlor

Step right this way for shimmering specters and mysterious tricks, parlor games and terrifyingly true tales of hauntings and history…

Among the Mermaids Book Cover

Among the Mermaids

An enchanting collection of classic stories, facts, and tales of mermaids from around the world that will thrill every lover of this romanticized mythological creature. From a mermaid joy ride in Baltimore's Druid Lake Park to the craggy shores of Ireland, your favorite new beach read is here.

Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires, Book Cover

Banshees Werewolves, and Vampires

The lusty vampire, the sympathetic werewolf, the tragic banshee...from the annals of forgotten folklore to the modern day hunt, this collection of facts and fictions showcases all manner of things that go bump in the night.

The Book of Bizarre book cover

The Book of the Bizarre

A treasure trove of startling and stranger-than-fiction trivia that spans history, continents, even worlds. From rock n' roll history to the real reason you don't open an umbrella indoors, this collection of bizarre things looks great on a shelf next to those pickled "specimens" you've been collecting.

Beyond Bizarre Book Cover image

Beyond Bizarre

This sequel to The Book of the Bizarre takes the reader through chapters of even more freaky facts, terrifying trivia, and stranger-than-fiction stories including plants that smell like rotting corpses, coincidences you wish you could forget, and other handy tidbits guaranteed to scare off your conservative neighbors at the next block party.

Varla Ventura

Varla Venturava

Varla Ventura is most recently the author of Varla Ventura’s Paranormal Parlor: Ghosts, Seances, and Tales of True Hauntings. She is also the author of:

Fairies, Pookas and Changelings: A Complete Guide to the Wild and Wicked Enchanted Realm

Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires, and Other Creatures of the Night: Facts, Fictions, and First-Hand Accounts

Among the Mermaids: Facts, Myths & Enchantments of the Sirens of the Sea

The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories 

 Beyond Bizarre: Frightening Facts and Blood-Curdling True Tales Bizarre

Born just outside the wild jungle of San Francisco, she recently relocated from the mist and mystique of the California coast to the deep, dark woods of Minnesota. Her next book project is top secret (but rumor has it you can ply her with liquor to get answers).

Radio Ga-Ga: Upcoming Interviews & Archived Podcasts

Radio Ga-Ga: Upcoming Interviews & Archived Podcasts

Looking to tune in, turn on or maybe just space out? This is my (mostly) current list of upcoming and past radio appearances. Many of […]

New Website

New Website

Updated Look To The Website Hey Kids! Take a peek at my ALL NEW website designed by the amazing HillbillE. Be sure and check out […]

The Poltergeist Within: An Excerpt from Paranormal Parlor

The Poltergeist Within: An Excerpt from Paranormal Parlor

We Are Family The idea of family ghosts, or ghosts that attach themselves to people and are “inherited” from generation to generation can perhaps be […]

Beyond the Strange Tonight with Dave Cruz May 9, 2019

Beyond the Strange Tonight with Dave Cruz May 9, 2019

Am I a three-toed malignant, Or furry Yeti miscreant? Have I a beard or a wooden leg? A tattooed face or am ne’er’bathed? Mostly you […]

Try to Keep an Open Mind: From Frederick Douglass to the Fox Sisters

Try to Keep an Open Mind: From Frederick Douglass to the Fox Sisters

Amy and Isaac Post were a pretty radical couple for the 1840s. As outspoken abolitionists it isn’t surprising that their open-minded attitude meant that not […]

Happy Hour of Horrors: Corpse Reviver

Happy Hour of Horrors: Corpse Reviver

The next time you’re trying to think of something clever and creative to order at the bar, put down the Merlot and order up one […]

In Praise of Vampires: Living Vamps FAQ

In Praise of Vampires: Living Vamps FAQ

In Praise of Vampires Although some of my exes may disagree, I am not (at least not last I checked) a vampire. However, I do […]

Sabine Baring Gould, Father of Werewolf Lit?

Sabine Baring Gould, Father of Werewolf Lit?

Sabine Baring-Gould was an eclectic man. Born in England in 1834, he is best known for the hymns he composed, among them the infamous “Onward, […]

Leaping Leprechauns: A Bit of Lore

Leaping Leprechauns: A Bit of Lore

Leprechauns are also known by more than pots of gold in the Fairy Kingdom. The leprechaun can be identified by the sound of his knocking […]

The Hopskinville Goblins

The Hopskinville Goblins

Not all goblins are from a different century. Case in point, The Hopskinville Goblins: In 1955, eleven members of two families living in a rural […]

The Occult Power of Goats

Do you believe in the occult intellectual power of goats? An American journalist, born in the 1830s, William Wirt Sikes did. Or at least he believed it […]

2 weeks ago

Varla Ventura
Here is the before and after of the zombie plant aka Selaginella lepidophylla. Also called resurrection plant or rose of Jericho, this native to the Chihuahuan desert can seemingly come back from the dead. Soak this dried, brown, brittle plant in water and it will return to a rich green in less than a day. We put this baby in water last night at the beginning of my Rotten Botany talk with the MorseInstitute Library.org and by the end it had started to unfurl. Today it is green again. A great plant for overcoming the odds. 💚💚💚 #rottenbotany #ressurectionplant #zombiefern ... See MoreSee Less
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