Ashley Herzog
Bio
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Stories (51/0)
"I've overheard a threat to kill the President"
“That’s the last speech Mr. Lincoln will ever give.” The man uttering the words had clearly not intended for Will Chambers to overhear him, but Will couldn’t help whipping around to look at him anyway. The crowd gathered outside the White House was solemn but triumphant; they listened to their President with rapt attention. Therefore, it surprised Will to find some ninny with overgroomed hair glaring at him.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in Fiction
The barn and the bog body
Breda walked to work each day as if she were walking to the gallows. Only a few nights had passed since a group of vagabond thieves—known among the Irish as Tinkers—had stormed Lord Andrews’ manor house, masked in old cut-out flour sacks that made them look demonic. But evil spirits they weren’t. They were common thieves who knew it was an auspicious evening to loot the teach mór—“the big house.” The owner, a rich English landlord, was entertaining rich guests that night. They knew because Breda had felt sympathy for the poor Tinker woman at the market. Breda had given the woman butter and a loaf of bread to feed her gaunt, dirty children, while letting it slip that Lord Andrews was hosting a Midsummer party.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in Fiction
The time I caught a ghost on camera
The summer before my eleventh birthday was the first time I encountered a ghost. Well, sort of. I was on a camping trip with my Girl Scout troop on Johnson’s Island, a tiny patch of land in Lake Erie. During the Civil War, the North built a prison camp for captured Confederate officers on Johnson’s Island, and a Confederate cemetery remains there today. Next to the graveyard is a cabin, and in the cabin is where I was staying with a dozen other ten-year-olds on an overnight trip. Unfortunately, it drizzled throughout our first day, so we were bored. Some girls cut through the graveyard to a walking trail. Suddenly, two girls came running from the woods, screaming that they had seen a ghost—a young soldier in the blue jacket worn by Union troops who once patrolled the island prison.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in Horror
Yes, of course race is a social construct
While I was in college, one of my affable hippie professors declared, to an audience of Poli-Sci 101 students, that race was a "social construct." Observing the confused looks on his students’ faces, he elaborated. Race is a man-made concept, he said, and is not necessarily based in science. Instead, racial labels (including "black" and "white") change with the times--and with political agendas. He pointed out that some European immigrants weren't considered "white" in 19th-century America, when they were new and unwelcome.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in The Swamp
COVID-19 is the nail in the coffin for the anti-vaccine movement
I’m an anti-anti-vaxxer, and I’m proud of it. My 9-year-old daughter is fully vaccinated. I never had any concerns that vaccines would “give” her autism. Why? Well, as anti-vax moms like to brag, I did my research. Starting from her birth in 2011, she got her shots on schedule, as recommended by experts. (I chose to ignore self-styled experts on the Internet who watch too many YouTube videos.)
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in Confessions
Marjorie Taylor Greene, "America First," and dog whistles
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman infamous for mocking survivors of the Parkland school shooting, has scrapped her plans to launch an “America First” caucus. The caucus’ policy platform made a lot of dubious assertions, such as that “recent election results” were the product of “manipulated” voting machines and widespread fraud. Even former president George W. Bush trashed the America First platform, calling it a shortcut to irrelevance.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in The Swamp
One Night at the Pirate's House
The people of Savannah hid whenever they saw those tattered sails approaching the Georgia coast, billowing in the fair winds like storm clouds. But not me, never. I stayed put at the inn, at my station behind the bar. I was only a tavern maid, but I didn't care. I would not hide from the pirates who terrorized this city and stole my only brother.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in Geeks
I Don't Know Them
Strong women. Where do I even begin? Is the American Revolution too late? Sybil Ludington of Connecticut was only sixteen years old when she hopped on her horse and rode into the night, warning American militiamen that the British were coming. She carried only a stick to defend herself against any stripe of hooligan, as well as the gun-wielding English. Sybil rode twice as far as Paul Revere, but no one has ever heard of her.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in Humans
The Melungeons: Appalachia's ethnic mystery
In the eighteenth century, land surveyors in the Appalachian Mountains reported encountering bronze-skinned, light-eyed people who fell to their knees in prayer five times a day. The mysterious mountain-dwellers, who lived far beyond the Western border of the thirteen colonies, referred to themselves as “Portuguese” in broken English. While their outward appearance suggested they were Mediterranean, the custom of praying five times a day hinted at Islamic roots. The French-speaking explorers, unsure what to call this mysterious community, described them as mélange, “a mix.”
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in FYI
Vampires are real!
Forget Edward Cullen—the first time I felt the seductive lure of the undead was when I saw Tom Cruise on the movie poster for “Interview with the Vampire.” It was 1994, and I was not quite nine years old. Cruise starred in the film as the vampire Lestat, the dark anti-hero of Anne Rice’s classic horror novels. Lestat’s electric blue eyes seemed to stare out at me and pierce my soul, the same way his fangs pierced a succession of necks in the movie. Edward Cullen, the brooding young hero of the “Twilight” vampire sagas, didn’t come along until later. Cullen captivated my little sister’s generation, while I stayed stuck on Tom Cruise’s Lestat and his blood-sucking protégé, Louis, played by Brad Pitt in “Interview.”
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in FYI
Do "past lives" exist?
Past lives and reincarnation: what was once a hokey New Age theory is now a viral TikTok trend. Using a YouTube video to induce a state of hypnosis, TikTok users are emerging from their alleged hypnotic state with wild claims. Some say they discovered they “let the Trojan Horse in” during a battle in ancient Greece; others say their past lives were more recent, and that they died on 9/11 or caused the death of Princess Diana in 1997.
By Ashley Herzog3 years ago in FYI