Travel The Moonlit Road

A Q&A with The Moonlit Road storytelling site founder Craig Dominey, complete with a ghost story.

How did The Moonlit Road come about?

CD: I’m a native Southerner and used to write freelance articles on Southern history and culture. I always felt the South sometimes got a bad rap in other parts of the country so I wanted to create something that taught people about Southern culture in a fun way. So, I chose storytelling and ghost stories as a gateway to do that. Our visitors can simply read or listen to a story, or dig deeper and learn more about the place and culture that the story comes from.

Have you always been a fan of ghost stories?

CD: Yes. I used to be the kid who always wanted to tell the spooky story around the campfire. I also loved creepy old radio shows and ghost story recordings we had on vinyl. My absolute favorite record was “Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House” from Disney. I played that record to death!

What makes a good story and a good storyteller?

CD: Good stories have a clear beginning, middle and end, no matter what the genre. Interesting plot and characters, a dramatic arc, maybe a lesson to teach. And a good storyteller is part performance artist if you see him or her live, drawing the audience into the story. But, for our purposes, the storyteller also has to have a very unique voice, because our audience obviously can’t see them perform. So, the voice has to draw them in.

Do you have a favorite story on the site?

CD: There are many, but our audience seems to like stories like “Skull Lake,” “Sleepyhead” and “I Don’t Feel Dead Yet.” During Halloween, our Cajun ghost story “Patin’s Punkin Patch” is a big hit.

Do you have a favorite haunted location or your own ghost story to tell?

CD: I’ve never encountered any ghosts, but I’m partial to the oldies like “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “The Monkey’s Paw,” etc. And our site was named after a story by Ambrose Bierce, who was one of the greatest ghost story writers.

What else can we look forward to on The Moonlit Road as Halloween approaches?

Many more original stories from our readers and two special podcasts – one based on a very popular haunted spot in the South.

Listen to ghost story “Sleephyhead” as shared by The Moonlit Road: [audio:https://deepsouthmag.com/wp-content/audio/moonlit_road.mp3|titles=Moonlit Road]

Campfire photo by RVWithTito from Flickr Creative Commons.