Write Spooky Stories All Year Round! And Get Paid For It!

Writing for spiritual and paranormal magazines

“We don’t do realism” said the features editor of a popular spiritual publication. I’d just offered to cover Spontaneous Involuntary Human Invisibility for the magazine.

On the face of it, the story appeared to be right up their street. It was an interview piece with US paranormal investigator, Donna Good Higby, who says the solar system is changing to bring about a new planetary power grid, like meridians in the human body or the leylines on earth. The theory gets weirder, but is interesting — she asserts that deep meditation can create a higher consciousness, which takes you to a higher frequency, causing spontaneous human invisibility.

I was going to link it up to tales of astral planes and the pseudo-scientific theories of parallel universes. The magazine prints tales of goblins and fairies, angels and demons — all true, of course — so it seemed spot on. However, it was apparently, too scientific for that particular publication.

Despite their aversion to realism, over the years, I’ve sold a lot of articles to spiritual magazines. Maybe that’s a reflection of my own little world, where nothing is impossible and fantasies become reality if you work hard enough. I’ve sold articles to spiritual magazines on alternative medicine and sold ghost stories and fairy sightings to ‘real life’ publications.

Investigating hauntings

One of my earliest commissions for a spooky tale, was for Paranormal magazine, covering the haunting of Hughenden Manor in Buckinghamshire, England, which according to some sources, has its own resident ghost: Victorian Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli.

I rocked up at the Manor House. There was a guide on the door.

“Have you seen this ghost? Can you tell me about the paranormal disturbances?” I asked.

She laughed, “What ghost?”

I explained what I’d heard about a haunting, paranormal investigators, a visit by the Ghost Club, and the phantom in the woods. She turned to her colleague. “Do you know anything about a ghost?”

“Someone saw a Victorian figure in the office once,” she offered, “He just disappeared into thin air!”

Now we were getting somewhere. That particular visit was fairly fruitful in the end. The tour guide at the estate knew more about the ghost, and told me that some visitors had said they’d seen the fire pokers jump around by themselves. She was sceptical about the visitors’ motives, but it didn’t matter. It made a good tale, and I was eventually put in touch with a clairvoyant who had experienced Disraeli’s presence in the drawing room.

Are you mad?

It’s great when everyone gets into the ‘spirit’ to help you with your ‘true’ ghost story — but a little trickier when they look at you like you’re mad. I had this problem at Bodiam Castle, and Missenden Abbey, also both in England.

At Bodiam the property manager told me it was a lot of nonsense — but then added that some visitors do report a strange cool aura (that made it into an article).

At Missenden Abbey the manager, after he’d stopped laughing, conceded that some workmen on site reported strange things happening at night.

Sometimes you just can’t get people to talk about ghosts, and then you’re reliant on internet blogs of people’s spooky experiences. However, when you need to get out there to get quotes and photographs, you really have no choice but to go and ask those awkward questions!

I consider it a bit of fun. I’ve sold a fair number of ghost stories to spiritualist publications, and there’s always an increase in appetite for these tales at Halloween.

Incredulous tales of the supernatural

Many spiritual publications aren’t interested in reality. But it helps to understand which publications are interested in the truth, and which are really just indulging their readers’ spiritual fantasies. Some ‘real life’ publications are looking for people with fantastical stories about ghosts, poltergeists, spiritual healing, and angelic intervention. It doesn’t matter if they’re a bit mad — all that matters is that they tell a good yarn and are happy to pose for photos!

These magazines are led by incredulous tales of the supernatural. They often reject anything that presents a scientific or logical argument, but they love anything to do with Wicca, spiritualism, Eastern religions, new age culture, and hauntings. Beware, if you offer them something about paranormal investigations, you’ll probably get a knock back. It might just be deemed too scientific. Try Haunted magazine instead.

The market for tales of the strange and miraculous, and sometimes spooky, is wide and diverse. Paradigm Shift, Faeries and Enchantment, Horoscope, Haunted, and New Dawn (Australia), all take slightly different approaches to their exploration of the spiritual realm.

In this sector of publishing, anything goes. You can write wholeheartedly about your dead grandmother leading you from the grave to follow a more fulfilling path in life, or the alien abduction experienced by your best friend. They love this stuff. You can cover spontaneous human combustion and astral travel. No-one will bat an eyelid. You can talk about the weird and miraculous, and the mind-bogglingly radical. For some magazines, the weirder the story, the better.

Spiritual healing, health and beauty

A similar type of publication to the ‘real life’ magazines, are the glossy women’s magazines that focus on the spiritual side of life, as well as health and beauty. To sell a ‘true’ story of spiritual healing, or divine inspiration to these publications, it may help if your interviewee is beautiful. I’ve had a number of proposals rejected and I got the impression that it was because my interviewees, who all had good stories, were simply not beautiful enough (the stories were rejected on sight of the photos)!

These publications are all about beauty, horoscopes, psychic powers and spells. They carry true life stories of women who have had remarkable experiences with a spiritual twist, and they might include tales on spiritual healing, developing your sixth sense, or divine weight loss. They are also interested in celebrities, clairvoyance and angels. One of these glossy spiritual titles told me they now want scientific studies quoted in articles, to back up their ideas about crystal healing, unicorns, and angels. So for some spiritual titles, science is back in fashion. Good luck finding scientific studies on some of these radical topics though!

Some titles with a focus on health, healing, clairvoyance and spirituality include Caduceus, Soul and Spirit, and Prediction. They might cover strange alternative therapies and spiritual healing techniques. Sometimes they’ll touch on nutrition, meditation or mindfulness and run better substantiated health articles too.

Pseudo-scientific and serious titles

If you prefer to write for a more serious publication on issues of this nature, then there are publications that do in-depth reports on all things weird. Fortean Times, Nexus, Dot Connector, Mindscape, and Fate (USA), are all much more interested in the science behind strange phenomena, as well as cutting-edge and highly controversial debates about health, conspiracy theories, doomsday predictions, UFOs, aliens, and anything else that’s just plain weird. They too, cover spiritual possession, hauntings, and other paranormal phenomena.

Finally, don’t forget the pagan publications which include Pagan Dawn, Pentacle Magazine and Witches & Pagans. They cover pagan beliefs and activities including the gods of nature and the power of spells. On another level, they are quite down to earth, with concern for environmental issues, and the morals of capitalism (or lack of them). They promote an ecologically friendly way of life, and are into calm and meditation, as well as Druidry, Wicca, and their inherent pagan theories and practice.

Spooky fiction

The fiction market for spooky tales is also diverse. Black Static and The Edge are among those that specialise in dark tales of the supernatural, gothic horror and dark urban fiction. If you fancy writing horror fiction, short stories for these markets are a good way to flex your brain muscles, and practice your skills in preparation for that best selling horror novel you’ve been intending to write for the last 20 years.

Spiritual publications enable writers to unleash their imaginations into the limitless world of the supernatural, maximise their creativity, and explore theories on the cutting edge of science and paranormal research.

Check out my writing books, for more inspiration, ideas and advice for freelance writing in magazines.