Set in the fictional nation of Ashland, Haunted is a long-form graphic novel that begins with brothers Luke and Aaron Holgwin, as they set out for a cross-country road trip. Luke was adopted into the Holgwin family as a toddler; and, unbeknownst to anyone outside the family, Luke has the supernatural ability to levitate. He, however, is not concerned with the birth family he believes abandoned him—that is, until an unexpected hiccup leads the brothers to encounter a young man who looks like a carbon copy of Luke.

That man, it turns out, is Carroll (“Carey”) Thomas—also adopted into his respective family as a toddler, and equally gifted with the ability to levitate. In short, they are long-lost twins. It’s a revelation which calls into question everything Luke and Carey know about themselves, and their upbringings. 

At its heart, Haunted is a journey between Luke and Carey, as they learn who the other is and piece together the shreds of a shared past they don’t remember—a past that (as the title alludes to) still haunts them. However, the twins’ quest increasingly leads them into the untold story of Ashland’s imperial history; never mind the bloody civil war eighty-seven years prior, whose horrors have been overshadowed by blind reverence amongst Ashland’s current generation for their founding fathers. As the political climate of Ashland worsens—and the truth of the twins’ past and individual purposes unfurls—Luke and Carey will be challenged with learning to love each other, and work together, despite their differences. A sentiment, as they will learn all too well, that’s easier said than done.  

Meet the Characters!

As I like to joke, Haunted is the story-world I turn to when I need a break from the grittiness and heavy research of The 1890s Story. However, it wasn’t always this way. Luke, Carey, and those closest to them can be traced back to early 2011, in a story-world loosely based off the World War II history I was learning at the time in middle school. Upon switching this world to World War I in 2014, its intention became far more bleak and depressing—partly why (I think) a few years later the entire story-world collapsed under its own weight. In fact, between early 2018 and mid-2020, this story-world and its characters were practically nonexistent. 

Created between 2020-2021, the world of Ashland (and the past it reckons with) is a very strange cocktail of the histories of Northern New Jersey; 9^th-century Kievan Rus; and 20th-century Latvian history and culture—the last part being an homage to the family stories and rumors my Latvian relatives have passed down to me (see The Civil War Arc for more). The fictional nation has also greatly benefited from my hands-on experience with historical artifacts at the Wayne Museum in Wayne, NJ. With Haunted, my intent is to tell the stories of Ashland and its past through the everyday objects left behind by previous generations, rather than focusing on famous names and dates like so many history textbooks do—which, if you think about it, is what “history” is at its core. 

Meet the Characters!