R. E. Kraus

Jeff, Thank you for your "Reply." Living in a House that was a real trip! Then to add imaginary contingencies was an additional thrill. Many of the items of the story were true. But just the memories are remain real!!!! I hope you enjoyed reading it!

Hi Sonja. Thank you for your entry. Memory is certainly a fascinating concept. Then take " it" and couple your imagination into things and this is what you get. I started to write this around the 1984 -1985 era. Then it was taking a lot of time, so I put it aside until about 2022, or so. Then, horrified at what I needed to do to regenerate all of my notes and portions of a Rough Draft, I resurrected it. Then I added much of the Cape Cod segment and then the balance of the Elmwood Section. I am fortunate that I reread the whole Novel perhaps a hundred times to keep the flow smooth and interesting. A lot of details pop into "ones" head in doing so. Cape Cod was a place where my family and I traveled to on an annual basis. I could feel the specific mental status of what it is like to be there. Even though there are lots of people there, it only takes one or two steps to wander into the wilderness and History surrounding Provincetown or to venture onto a Whaling boat and observe whales, firsthand. It was truly one of the Three Greatest Fishing and Whaling towns of our nation. The seafood is great, too. The Elmwood Mansion was my uncle's home for many years. After he passed away, I bought the property from my cousins. Some of the details I wrote about are real. And they are quite interesting. Most of the story was written in York, Pa. and Gloucester, Va. And thank you for your comments. The picture of me is standing in front of the World's greatest Banyan Tree in Maui. It luckily did not suffer much damage from its fire a year later. Also, if you are interested, Google this... "Elmwood Mansion in York, Pa." Best regards, Rich Kraus.

Greetings Steward. Thank you for your commentary. I hope you enjoyed reading Long Call. Plug in your imagination and enjoy the book. Best regards, Rich Kraus.

Hello there Rickey. I appreciate your commentary. Well, it would be special to have something like this filmed. Back around 1985 or 1986 a local TV Station, WGAL, had their former TV Weather Personality, Wendell Woodberry, come to the house after I had sold the property to Memorial Hospital. Wendell had his film crew document the strange events that had happened there for a Halloween Special TV show from our area in Pa. I have a copy of it, and it is interesting to watch. I can boldly say that the events were in NO WAY scary nor harmful. But it was a thrill to be a small part of a bigger component of local history. The Battle Axe is imaginary, but the Stained-Glass Window is real. The history of the Girl in the window is unknown. Imagination and Reality are indeed important components, are they not? Regards, Rich Kraus.

Gayle S. I THANK You for your wonderful comments. It makes all the effort worthwhile. Although the Axe is fictitious, many of the other details are correct. The girl on the cover is a close friend who I vowed world wide attention but she just laughed. The house is also real and is called the Elmwood Mansion in York, Pa. If you google "The Elmwood Mansion in York Pa" you will get some background on the facility, much of which I actually prepared and presented as I lived there. The red rocks in Cape Cod are/were real also. In my opinion they were from the ballast of the vessel that Thorvald sailed. He was probably the first ship wreck on Cape Cod waters with a cracked keel. Years ago when I began this story, I received a newspaper clipping that the local newspaper had published in the Provincetown vicinity. It told a story of red rocks being found on what I would recall to be the lee side of the very tip of Cape Cod. That would be directly across the bay from what is now Provincetown. However most Geologists recognize that rocks are not on the upper strata of terrain at that point of the Cape. So where did the rocks come from??? My guess is they came from the repair of Thorvald's vessel. Afterall the entire lower part of his ship had to be replaced/repaired. And Yes, the vessel belonged to his Father, Eric the Red. Eric had this vessel built in Norway before Eric was evicted from Norway for murderous ordeals. Red rocks of this type are found there at the Norway local. AGAIN...Thank you for your wonderful comments !!!!! Rich.

Thank you Brett. The house is real and located at 400 Elmwood Blvd in York, Pa. I lived there as noted in the story. Many of the details are true. The stained glass window does exist on the second story of the back of the house. It was such a joy to live there.

Thank you Jonathan. I greatly appreciate your comments.

Renee. I thank you for your inspiring comments. Thank you.

I greatly appreciate your comments, David. Thank you.