I’m so excited to have the opportunity to interview British short story author Karen Heard. She is one of the writers whose stories are featured in the soon-to-be-published anthology The Haunted Train: Creepy Tales from the Railways. Today, she’ll answer my questions about train journeys and writing.
Nicole: Thank you for taking time out of your day to speak with me! What fascinates you personally about trains?
Karen: I love the idea of going somewhere and the scenery changing whilst you are sitting still, and so have a chance to look at the life changing outside the window – have time to think – and, usually in my case, write undisturbed. My thoughts usually churn best when I have a moving view to look at.
Nicole: I’m the same way! It’s like a real-life television. What’s the creepiest experience you’ve ever had in a train?
Karen: I am always freaked out by that visual trick your mind plays on you, when another train is moving next to you, and seeing it slide by your window, makes you both think and feel that you are moving, rather than other train. The fact that your vision can play tricks on you in this way is the creepiest thing of all to my mind. It’s the same as when I look down at a height from a safe window, my vision doesn’t care what my other senses think – it’s going to play with my mind and tell me that I’m unsafe!
There was also another time when I was in my early twenties a strange naked man chased me around the train, spraying me continually with perfume. I asked whether anyone could help me but everyone on the train pretended they couldn’t see what happened, and carried on reading their newspapers as they couldn’t see or hear what was going on – as if the two of us were ghosts – people in real life can sometimes be more monstrous than in fiction.
Nicole: WOW! That’s incredibly eventful. What are trains like in Britain where you live?
Karen: I’m lucky enough to live in a country that has a long history of trains, back to steam trains that are still in use, though now for historic reasons only.
When I first moved to London they still used the trains where you had to reach your head outside of the moving train, to find the handle on the outside to open the door when the train stopped. The amount of times I had a Hereditary moment in my imagination – I cannot tell you!
I live by a railway line and so am not only used to pausing my conversation every so often as a train goes by – the sound is soothing though – not annoying – I get to watch people from my garden who are all going somewhere.
Nicole: That must give you a completely different sense of inspiration to see people going somewhere like that. Can you tell if someone is a train lover?
Karen: I used to work in marketing for a number of special interest magazines, one of which was Railway magazine. You could always tell, when getting into the lift at work what kind of magazine the person worked on. Those in skin-tight jeans and cool demeanour worked for New Musical Express, while people with chinos and a well-spoken voice belonged to Decanter magazine, those who were dressed up and made up were part of the InStyle team, and so on.
You could spot Railway writers by their friendliness and love of what they did. They were all on the older side – on or over what people might consider retirement age, but were so friendly to everyone whatever their age, they were the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. When you spoke with them they would often name drop different trains that they had just seen or been on, and although you didn’t know what train they were talking about, it would be so nice to see someone so excited and wanting to share their enjoyment, that you’d want to hear more. Train people are some of the nicest hobbyists in the world, in my opinion.
Nicole: How touching that is! What’s the strangest kind of train you’ve travelled in?
Karen: We booked a ride on a steam train recently whilst in the Lake District (area of Yorkshire that has lots of countryside and lakes). When we turned up, the trains were realistic but was actually half-sized – so each carriage was just big enough for two people to sit side by side! The line used to be used to transport coal but had been converted for people and ran as a volunteer experience for tourists. It was so much fun and an experience you can’t get in many other places I imagine.
Nicole: That sounds one of a kind! For your story ‘Out of Order’ in The Haunted Train, where did you get the inspiration?
Karen: I wanted to write a story where the protagonist’s senses are restricted in some way, such as hearing noises on the other side of the door but not knowing exactly what is happening. I’m intrigued by the idea that suggestion can do a lot more than actually describing the events as the reader fills that space by imagining what they truly find frightening.
I’m reminded of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre that was banned for a too-brutal display of a man being chainsawed when in reality you never saw the event, only heard it – what the viewer had actually seen was in their mind’s eye and was so powerful to lead to them to want to censor the film. The true horror comes from the spectator’s past.
Nicole: How fascinating and what excellent writing insights! Thank you again and I can’t wait for everyone to read this book!
ABOUT KAREN HEARD
Karen lives in London and writes short stories, plays, books and scripts. She works
in digital marketing and content creation, and used to manage the website for
Railway magazine. Some of her stories are collected in the book It’s Dark Inside.
ABOUT THE BOOK: THE HAUNTED TRAIN: CREEPY TALES FROM THE RAILWAYS
Come on board for a Gothic journey in a funicular railway in Victorian England, a freight train in the Carpathian mountains, a high tech sky train in Bangkok, an underground railway in Tokyo. Visit stations which lure with the promise of safe shelter but harbour unexpected dangers. Meet the people who work on the tracks – stationmasters, porters, signal-men – and those who travel – commuters, tourists, dead bodies, murderers and ghosts.
In this volume, editor Rayne Hall has collected twenty of the finest– and creepiest – railway tales. The book features the works of established writers, classic authors and fresh voices. Some stories are spooky, some downright scary, while others pose a puzzling mystery.
Are you prepared to come on board this train? Already, the steam engine is huffing in impatience. Listen to the chuff-chuff-chuff from the locomotive and tarattata-tarattata of the giant wheels. Press your face against the dust-streaked window, inhale the smells of coal smoke and old textiles, watch the landscape whoosh past as you leave the familiar behind and journey into the unknown.
But be careful: you can’t know the train’s real destination, nor your fellow travellers’ intentions. Once you’ve closed that door behind you and the wheels start rolling, you may not be able to get out.
The ebook is available for pre-order from Amazon at the special offer price of 99 cents until
31 January 2023. After that date, the price will go up. The paperback edition will be available soon. Purchase your copy today.
I’m curious: do you think you could spot railway lovers if you met them in a different context?
Good answers!
What you said about letting the reader fill the blanks is the best way to write horror in my opinion, because there’s nothing spookier than what your brain thinks is spooky, and the human brain never disappoints when it wants to creep you out lol. Great insight.
What an unfortunate experience you had with that naked weirdo. And I’m still not able to understand how people can be so unresponsive to such situations in public places. Somebody is obviously in need of help and there are tons of people around capable of reacting in a useful way but nobody wants to get involved.
I remember my grandmother telling me that the trains they took in her youth ran on coal and left everyone under smoke. She said after they got off, their faces would be slightly covered in soot. From trains with those handles that you mentioned here to coal trains, to wartime trains, to trains that go around the whole country… So much history, so many memories. Also, I love that the creepiest experience you’ve had in a train is the illusion of your train moving when the other train moves. That’s such an interesting take and very true too.
I like trains, but don’t think I could ever live near a railway, the sound of constant traffic would probably become unbearing. Then again, maybe it’s just like the ticks of a clock, with time you don’t even perceive it anymore.
Guess I found the perfect birthday present for myself 🙂
I look forward to reading your story. I’ve been intrigued since I read the description about the poor person trapped in a dark train toilet hearing screams. Eep!
Great interview! Wow, that’s a great take about trains, you’re going places whilst sitting peacefully. Metaphorically its like reading or watching a movie where you can go to various places without having to move around. Its really interesting to incorporate and play tricks with our 5 senses in a story, it makes it more realistic. Its personal that makes us think “what if that scenario happens to us as well?” Interested in reading the whole anthology!