I originally wrote this story for Last Exit: Travels with Death in the Garden State, a special issue of Weird NJ that was published in 2009 and has long since been out of print. Seeing a reference to safety coffins on social media the other day prompted me to dust it off and share it … Continue reading Mr. Vester’s Safety Coffin
Death
Death of a Clown
Sometimes you find a song you like under good circumstances. Sometimes you find one you like under completely sucky circumstances. This song comes from the latter--not from a direct personal concern but still something that saddens me. I think it will become an odd addition to my regular playlist. For those who are playing at … Continue reading Death of a Clown
An update on KD
About a year ago, I wrote about KD Cyr, a young woman and fellow lover of the weird who died in a car crash. I wanted to let you know that you can learn more about her through the website that her family created not only to mourn her loss but to also celebrate her … Continue reading An update on KD
Katie Likes Flowers
This short piece about an experience I had in a nearby abandoned cemetery was originally published in Weird Hauntings (Sterling, 2006). Many abandoned bits of civilization are found in the woods in the part of New Jersey where I live: Towns that simply disappeared off the map for one reason or another. Their remnants include … Continue reading Katie Likes Flowers
About those gone too soon
Hi there. It's been a while since I posted. The thing that has prompted me to do so today is the death of someone I never even met, but whom you can check out through her Instagram site. I'll bet it's as close to a snapshot of her essence as you'd ever find online. Her … Continue reading About those gone too soon
Contact List
It was a while ago, maybe two years back, when I had to stop by the Weird NJ office for some reason that has long been lost to me. But I didn’t have a key and I needed to make sure that somebody would be at the office so I could do the thing I … Continue reading Contact List
The B side of a headstone
A few years ago, I accidentally stumbled across a family headstone while looking for interesting graves to write about. The stumble became a story in larger project, and in my returns to the cemetery to visit the grave in question, which marks the burial site of a great-grandfather and his two wives, I eventually got … Continue reading The B side of a headstone
DEAD Robin…hummmm
A robin died behind a waterspout located in my flower garden last spring. This spring, while cleaning up the garden, I found the remains, including the skull. It's amazingly fragile, except for the beak. I now know why you don't see little bird skulls all over the place. I buried the rest of the body … Continue reading DEAD Robin…hummmm
joanne m. austin 
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