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Haunted History & The Birth of

Haunted History & The Birth of "The Ghosts of Newgate"

How a haunted ride sparked one of the more memorable scenes in The Lost Heir.

Newgate Prison. If ever there was a place to send shivers down your spine, this would be it. 😨 This infamous London prison operated from 1188 to 1902, housing everyone from petty thieves (like our boy-hero Jake!) to hardened murderers. Over 1,000 prisoners were executed there—many right outside on a raised platform for the public to watch. Yes, people actually treated these gruesome events like twisted entertainment! Can you imagine? 😱

Fast forward to the summer of 2011: We were brainstorming ideas for The Lost Heir, tossing around scattered notes and wild ideas for Jake's adventures. We knew early on that Jake was going to wind up in Newgate (poor lad 😬), but something was missing. The scene needed a hook—something memorable and fun to lighten the grim atmosphere.

✨ Enter G's "Eureka!" moment! ✨
Later that summer, G attended a writers' conference at Disney World. After a busy day of lectures and networking, she and a friend decided to take a spin on the Haunted Mansion ride. Surrounded by silly ghosts, ghouls, and spooky sound effects 🎶👻, inspiration struck! Suddenly, G thought: Why not add colorful, quirky ghosts to Jake's Newgate scene? Toss in a meaningful life lesson about restitution, and BOOM—"The Ghosts of Newgate" chapter was born.

E remembers G calling him that night, practically buzzing with excitement. 😄 That Haunted Mansion ride didn't just inspire ghosts for Jake's prison adventure—it motivated us to officially start writing The Gryphon Chronicles. At the time, we weren't even sure if the series would happen or if it would end up on our "future projects" list (which is... extensive, lol). Plus, G was juggling a busy schedule writing novels for HarperCollins. But that trip changed everything.

Nine books and over 1.6 million words later (yes, that's as long as Harry Potter AND The Lord of the Rings combined 😲), we're so glad we took the plunge

🎧 Listen to the Magic 🎧Check out the audio clip below of our brilliant narrator, Jamie MacKenzie, performing a portion of "The Ghosts of Newgate." His range of voices is incredible—we're constantly in awe of his talent. Give it a listen and let us know what you think!

Let the adventure begin...

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