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Skeleton Creek is a 2009 children's horror mystery novel by Patrick Carman, the first of a continuing series. The second is Ghost in the Machine (published in 2009), the third is The Crossbones (published in 2010), the fourth is The Raven (published in 2011), and the fifth is The Phantom Room (published in 2014). [1]
The story takes place in a small town called Skeleton Creek, that was formerly a gold and silver mining town. It is haunted by the ghost of "Old Joe Bush", a man who died in an accident on The Dredge, a large mining machine. 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 Ranger Bonner who are trying to keep the two separated after Ryan breaks his leg on the Dredge which leads to Sarah and Ryan not being able to communicate with each other at all. A video series, starring Sarah, also goes along with the novel, which shows trips to the Dredge and ghost sightings such as Old Joe Bush
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 13, 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.
Sumpter is a city in Baker County, Oregon, United States. The population was 204 at the 2010 census. Sumpter is named after Fort Sumter by its founders. The name was inspired by a rock as smooth and round as a cannonball, which reminded a local resident of the American Civil War and Fort Sumter.
Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California, it was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, and was later converted into a county park named Calico Ghost Town. Located off Interstate 15, it lies 3 miles (4.8 km) equidistant from Barstow and Yermo. Giant letters spelling CALICO are visible, from the highway, on the Calico Peaks behind it. Walter Knott purchased Calico in the 1950s, and rebuilt all but the five remaining original buildings to look as they did in the 1880s. Calico received California Historical Landmark #782, and in 2005 was proclaimed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be California's Silver Rush Ghost Town.
Anthony John Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His works for children and young adult readers include the Alex Rider series featuring a 14-year-old British boy who spies for MI6, The Power of Five series, and The Diamond Brothers series.
Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.
Patrick Carman is an American writer and a graduate of Willamette University.
Leslie "Les" McClaine is an American comic book artist. He grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he worked in the public library. After graduating from high school, Les attended the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he majored in sequential art, and graduated cum laude. Following college, Les created the comic book series, Highway 13 for Slave Labor Graphics, which ran for ten issues. Around the same time, Les produced the popular web-comic Life With Leslie, an autobiographical comic strip that was later published in a collection titled Repeat Until Death.
Sean Patrick O’Reilly is the owner and operator of Arcana Studio, a comic book company and animation studio located in British Columbia, Canada. He is considered to be one of the most prolific independent comic book writers in Canada, with his works having been published in eleven countries and in numerous different languages.
"The Raven" is a narrative poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
Cornucopia is a ghost town built during the gold mining boom of the 1880s in Eastern Oregon, United States. The town was officially platted in 1886 and was a mining town with various levels of success until it was abandoned in 1942. It is now primarily a tourist attraction as a ghost town. It is located east of Baker City high in the mountains of Pine Valley almost due north of Halfway, Oregon, on Oregon Route 86.
Joe Bush is a legendary ghost that allegedly haunts the Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge in Sumpter, Oregon, United States. According to legend, dredge workers on the No. 42 dredge at Sumpter Valley claim the ghost leaves wet, bare footprints on the dredge's decks, causes lights to flicker, and doors to open and close unexpectedly. The ghost of Joe Bush also makes an appearance in the book series Skeleton Creek.
Aaron Blabey is an Australian author of children's books.
Mark Crilley is an American comic creator, artist and children's book author and illustrator. He is the creator of Miki Falls and Brody's Ghost. He produces instructional videos on drawing on YouTube in various styles, including manga-styles. He was at one point an English teacher in Fukushima, Japan, as well as Changhua, Taiwan.
Neil Claude Cross is a British novelist and scriptwriter, best known as the creator of the drama series Luther and Hard Sun. He is also the showrunner for the TV adaptation of The Mosquito Coast, which began airing in 2021.
Ghost in the Machine is a children's horror/mystery novel by Patrick Carman, first published in 2009. It is the second book of the Skeleton Creek series, which is followed by three sequels: The Crossbones (2010), The Raven (2011), and The Phantom Room (2014). Like the other books in the series, it includes links and passwords to online videos which form an essential part of the plot.
Lauren Oliver is an American author of numerous young adult novels including Panic; the Delirium trilogy: Delirium, Pandemonium, and Requiem; and Before I Fall, which became a major motion picture in 2017. Panic was also turned into a series by Amazon studios. She served as creator, writer and showrunner on the project. Her novels have been translated into more than thirty languages internationally. Oliver is a 2012 E. B. White Read Aloud Award nominee for her middle-grade novel Liesl & Po, as well as author of the middle-grade fantasy novel The Spindlers.
Sarah Stonich is an American writer and editor based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her novel Vacationland was published by the University of Minnesota Press in April 2013.
Victoria Elizabeth Schwab is an American writer. She is known for the 2013 novel Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which was nominated for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. She publishes children's and young adult fiction books under the name Victoria Schwab. She is the creator of the supernatural teen drama series First Kill, based on her short story of the same name originally published in the 2020 anthology Vampires Never Get Old: Tales With Fresh Bite.
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