A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 19

This is the 11th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas.

Today’s story: Man forced to quarantine in ghost town with gruesome past.

Brent Underwood learned a tough lesson: Don’t spend millions on a ghost town in which you wouldn’t want to self-isolate.

The 32-year-old marketer took sheltering in place to the next level when he became trapped in a California ghost town he recently purchased. The problem is: There’s no running water and a snowstorm has him trapped.

Plus, it may be haunted.

“When I first got out here, I was in a T-shirt and enjoying myself,” Underwood tells The Post. “And then it snowed for four days straight and now there’s no way to get out.”

He bought Cerro Gordo, a former silver mining town with a murderous history, for $1.4 million in 2018. Aside from monthly visits, Underwood has largely left it in the care of its full-time live-in caretaker of 21 years, Robert Desmarais.

When the scope of the coronavirus pandemic became clear, Underwood agreed to take over duties for a week while Desmarais checked in on his wife in Arizona. But that was about a month ago.

Now, he’s stuck in his ghost town under five feet of snow.

Underwood says he was aware of the 22-building town’s violent reputation when he bought it, adding that it once had one murder per week. A TV show called “Ghost Adventures” once investigated the town and found that it was haunted by the ghosts of two children who died after being trapped in a closet.

“I stay in the room with the child ghosts,” says Underwood, “but I have yet to see them.”

But that doesn’t mean spooky things aren’t happening in Cerro Gordo during the lockdown.

“Things are moving around, I’m seeing curtains move, I’m hearing things in the night,” he says. “There’s no draft, but things drop inside of houses.”

In addition to a general ambiance of otherworldliness, a light in the bunkhouse keeps turning on, and his wallet recently disappeared for two days only to reappear in the town hotel.

“That was a bit freaky,” he admits, but he believes the spirits are peaceful. “For the most part, I leave the ghosts alone and they leave me alone,” Underwood says. “I try to respect their space.”

“Anytime you’re in a town and expect to see nothing and hear nothing, when you do, your mind is on heightened alert,” he adds.

Given the frequency I’ve seen this story in social media, my guess is there are already a dozen screenwriters pounding out a horror script with this premise, but still it’s a cool idea.

Whether you include the pandemic or not, the main thing is to get the Protagonist to the secluded location, dump a bunch of snow on her — yes, a Female Protagonist — so that there’s nowhere to go.

Then the ghosts come calling.

There you go, my 18th story idea of the month. What would YOU do with it?

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18

Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in RESPONSES to hear YOUR take on this story idea. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.