The Devil Gets His Due in Michigan

An elementary school student from the dark wilderness of the Michigan upper peninsula discovers a book with stories about real witchcraft in the restricted section of the library which quickly escalates into a demonic ritual of horror; has his life been forever tainted by the karmic aftershock of this sinister event?

Listen now!

Episode Summary

There’s something spooky about the remote upper peninsula of Michigan. Eerie lights, haunted woods, and children left to their own devices with sinister spells populate the snow-driven wilderness. Would you dare to visit?

Our guest today grew up amongst these ghosts and has his own memorable stories to share, along with some folklore from the area. Settle in for a cold night, today, on Homespun Haints.

About the Guest: Ron Riekki

With his imposingly large frame, Ron has been cold-recruited for horror movies and haunted houses on many occasions, but he’s still a bookworm at heart. Ron has written over a dozen books so far, and won’t be stopping any time soon.

Ron Riekki’s books include U.P.: a novel and Posttraumatic: A Memoir. Also the upcoming hybrid collection My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting in Extinction. He co-edited Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice and The Many Lives of The Evil Dead: Essays on the Cult Film Franchise, and edited And Here: 100 Years of Upper Peninsula Writing, 1917-2017, Here: Women Writing on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works. He has anthologies upcoming with McFarland and WSU Press.

His fiction has also been published in The Threepenny Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Wigleaf, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Akashic Books, Juked, New Ohio Review, Cleaver, Puerto del Sol, and many other literary journals. Riekki’s story “Accidents” received the 2016 Shenandoah Fiction Prize and “The Family Jewel” was selected for The Best Small Fictions 2015.

The Paulding Light

There is a mysterious light that appears over Bruce Crossing, MI. Ron says the area reminds him of the legend of Robert Johnson. Interestingly, Becky and Diana just performed an original musical composition about Robert Johnson at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. We’ll post clips from the live performance for our Patrons soon so y’all can have a spooky day!