'Cold Spots' Creators Detail Real-World Paranormal Experiences That Inspired New Series

Hitting shelves on August 22nd is Cold Spots, the new Image horror comic from writer Cullen Bunn [...]

Hitting shelves on August 22nd is Cold Spots, the new Image horror comic from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Mark Torres. While the series is far from being autobiographical, both creators have been motivated in their careers by bizarre encounters with the supernatural, inspiring them to bring this new series to life.

cold spots image comics
(Photo: Image Comics)

In the series, "Psychological terror, the undead, and a supernaturally bitter cold come together in this spine-tingling new series. Ten years ago, Dan Kerr turned his back on his wife and unborn daughter. Now, both mother and child have gone missing, and Dan must face cosmic terrors to find them again. He soon finds that ghosts stir when his estranged daughter is near. And as the dead grow restless, the cold deepens..."

"When I was in college, I lived by myself in a small, crummy apartment. My bed was a large antique affair, a piece that I had salvaged from my parents' house," Bunn shared with ComicBook.com. "For a period of a couple of months, I was 'visited' at night by a ghostly apparition of an old hag. This ancient woman, usually draped in shadows, would stand at the foot of the bed night after night, whispering to me. Of course, I just thought this was some sort of weird hypnagogic recurring nightmare. But one night, this old woman decided not to just stand near the bed. She rushed up to me, grabbing at me with spindly fingers. Nightmare or not, it was enough for me to talk to someone who understood spirit activity more than I did. One of my co-workers was a psychic ghost hunter in his spare time. I invited him over to see if my apartment was haunted. He stepped into the bedroom. His eyes narrowed as he looked around. He then pointed to the bed and said, 'Get rid of that bed.' I stopped sleeping in the bed, and the visitations of the old woman stopped."

Bunn also noted that this was only one of many otherworldly encounters he's had, making fact possibly stranger than fiction. Torres, on the other hand, experienced another type of encounter when he was younger, which continues to this day.

"I was very sickly as a kid, usually unexplained, that no prescriptions seem to affect. Just on and off conditions," Torres confirmed. "To the point that my mom contacted a faith healer (referred to locally as an 'albularyo'), and using oils and candle wax, we discovered through images developed that I was friends with dwarves who were slowly trying to take me. We had to mark the corners of our house with the blood of a pure white chicken, drip some on me, and offer a buffet. My health & energies immediately improved, and I've avoided major illnesses since. I still tend to suddenly smell, out of nowhere, any flowers or candles present at a funeral even after days, even years, and immediately remember distinctly the person who passed. Just earlier this year, actually, my Grandma."

The details of these encounters might be enough to send most readers running, though both Bunn and Torres noted that, just because we can't explain things like this, that doesn't mean these "spirits" are inherently malicious, as opposed to some of the negative beings in Cold Spots.

"I don't think we can say that all of the ghosts we encounter are evil presences," Bunn clarified. "Some are, as you put it, misunderstood. Some are just lonely or lost. Some might even be quite friendly. But--yeah--there are some very negative ghosts that will show up over the course of the series."

Torres added, "They're just like people, a mixed bag of emotions, personalities, moralities, etc. Some are even just remnants of passed lives. Afterimages…like stars. Though one of the many instant hooks for me when Cullen introduced Cold Spots, was the cosmic nature of its supernatural. I think readers will get a kick out of it as well."

You can grab a copy of Cold Spots when it debuts on August 22nd.

Do these paranormal encounters sound frightening to you? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

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