Skeleton Creek (novel)

Skeleton Creek is a 2009 children's horror mystery novel by Patrick Carman, the first of a series. The second is Ghost in the Machine.

Synopsis

The plot of the novel centers around "The Dredge", an abandoned gold dredge that destroys everything in its path to locate gold, in Skeleton Creek, a local town. It is haunted by the ghost of "Old Joe Bush", a man who died in an accident on The Dredge. Two youths in the town, Ryan McCray and Sarah Fincher, attempt to investigate the dredge and its ghost, while being closely watched by their parents and the Forest Ranger, who are trying to keep the two separated after Ryan breaks his leg on the Dredge. A video series, starring Sarah, also goes along with the novel, which show trips to the Dredge and ghost sightings. The books has four sequels, Ghost in the Machine, The Crossbones, The Raven, and The Phantom Room.;)

Pre-release

Prior to the release of Skeleton Creek, a conspiracy website (SkeletonCreekIsReal.com) was created, questioning whether the videos and journal entries were actual events. The basis of the website is that the creator found a hidden directory on Patrick Carman's website. On the directory were files of videos. The creator uses these videos to determine that the events in Skeleton Creek happened in the real town of Sumpter, Oregon. The site has a blog where the creator talks about findings, and videos where he posts things such as the videos he finds on Patrick Carman's website, analysis of those videos, a trip to the Dredge and promotion for the Raven, the fourth book in the series. As of August 13th 2011, no blog entries have been made, and the last video was posted November 1, 2010. Even though it is considered abandoned, updates to the site are made, such as new advertisements for Patrick Carman's other projects. Patrick Carman has admitted to creating the website to promote the book and its sequels. One of these websites is called Sarahfincher.com. It accompanies the book. It is filled with videos that may be spooky for young children. To watch a video you must have reached a point in the book that has a password. Many of the password contains gibberish making the passwords hard to guess. The videos are made, looking like they are only made for Ryan, and many people enjoy playing along.

References

• Sarah Fincher website (accompanies the novel)
• Skeleton Creek Site
• Skeleton Creek is Real website (fan conspiracy site)
• Haunted Backlot