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Artist in Residence: Sylvia Shults

From love stories to ghost stories, books are a way of life for author Sylvia Shults

Sylvia Shults was always fascinated by history and by the stories brought forth by historic events.

She graduated from Monmouth College with a degree in history that had a concentration in Roman history and has a master's degree in history from Illinois State University. "I was always fascinated with the idea that people lived hundreds of years ago and lived basically the same kinds of lives we do. Think about it. The creature comforts are different, of course, but they had the same kinds of hopes, the same fears," she said.

Reading that, it probably isn't surprising to learn Shults enjoys romance stories. But she is a little deeper than that.

Indeed, it was when she decided she wanted to start telling her own stories, many of them guided by her love of history, that Shults realized her calling was to chill, thrill and even still the masses.

A Chicago-area native who now makes her home in Pekin, Shults is not yet a household name among writers, but it may not be long based on the reception many of her novels and other writings have received.

"Eventually I believe my writing will pay my bills. People tell me they love what I've written, so it's a matter of getting more people to read it," Shults said recently. So to help keep food on the table she works at the Fondulac Public Library in East Peoria. "That job also feeds my book addiction, so it's the right job for me."

Shults also serves as publicity director for Dark Continents Publishing, an Illinois-based company that, as its name suggests, focuses on horror stories. That's right up Sylvia Shults' alley. Her books are mostly of that genre, but she also writes romance novels. That's not a normal pairing, is it?

"My first love was always horror," she said very matter-of-fact. "But I entered a writing contest once that included a romance section so I gave it a shot. Found out I was pretty good at it, too. But you know, I will be the first to admit there is really a very fine line between the two. In romance novels there is usually conflict, but a difference is that it's always worth it in the end to go through the conflict."

But with horror novels and ghostly writing, there is a different kind of fun, she added. "Then, I pull out all the stops. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty with horror writing," she said.

Some of the titles of Shults' horror stories are "Dream Watcher" and "Borrowed Flesh." A collection of her short stories is titled "Voices in an Empty Room."

Recently she published a "mash up," which Shults described as taking a well-known story and turning it into something a little different by including fiction of another genre. Her mash up is titled "Taming of the Werewolf" and it has received good reviews.

"That one is definitely a blend of horror and romance. It was a lot of fun to write. And I just finished a rough draft of a novel that will blend both genres, a romance based in Salem, Mass.," she said.

One of her most successful writing ventures, at least in local sales, was a collection of ghost stories she'd heard about or were told to her. Called "Ghost Stories of the Illinois River" and published in February 2010, it was a top seller at local bookstores. It was while giving a talk about the book at the now-closed Borders store that Shults realized there has never been a full-length book about the ghost stories from the former state hospital and insane asylum in Bartonville.

She is now compiling stories to put into a book she will call "Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital," with hopes of completing it by the end of the year. "When I tell people about the book a lot of them will say, 'have I got a story for you.' I write them all down. And I want to put together an interactive website to coincide with the book's release so people can tell their stories," she said.

Shults then began looking deep into the haunted hospital. She knew it was time she did so, especially since she has a love of the paranormal and is herself a paranormal investigator. "I just believe that I can't begin to understand the hauntings that go on there now without knowing the history of the place," she said.

Shults now has been to the hospital and its various buildings, including the Bowen Building and the Pollak Building, numerous times. She has worn paths through the cemeteries where bodies of former patients are buried, the majority identified on their tombstone by only a number.

"There was such a stigma attached to that place and then when it closed everything was left behind. Everybody's belongings were still there, including of those that had died years before. So their spirits were encouraged to hang around. It was basically the only place they felt safe," she said.

She spoke as if she is a true believer in ghosts. "Oh my yes, I definitely am. I've had too many experiences not to believe," she said. She then described a couple of those experiences, such as when a tape recorder picked up a male voice saying "too many people here, too many people here" when she was in the Bowen building with only a couple of other women.

At the Pollak Building, where thousands died because it was the asylum's tuberculosis hospital, she was in the basement with a group from Peoria Paranormal and felt warmth on her hand, the that sensation she was being touched on her fingers.

"The joy of communicating with someone in the spirit world is wonderful. Still, I am a big skeptic by nature. You have to show me before I will believe something. Ironically I've loved ghost stories since I was a little girl but I had no experiences myself until I actually went out looking for it," she said.

One reason she is excited about "Fractured Spirits" is because she believes there will be a lot more personal connection for readers because so many people have either had experiences at the Peoria State Hospital or have heard about it. And with her own experiences added in, "I think this book will have a lot more passion than simply retelling ghost stories."

She added, "To actually know what I'm talking about makes a good starting point."

Shults said she considers herself an artist and that writing itself is an art. "It takes a thorough grounding in what you are trying to do. Putting it together is not as much talent as it is craft," she said.

For helping craft stories Shults uses a lesson learned almost by accident. "I once overheard an art teacher talking and he described how to create a portrait. From what he said I learned how to outline my stories. Using other forms of art to help with your own is creativity feeding on itself."

She reads a lot of other authors, fiction and non-fiction, and learns something from each. "I try and take what I learn and make my own work better and as exciting as they made their stories," she said.

She intends to write as long as she can while always being a student of life — and the afterlife, of course. That's something she can get pretty regular servings of, also.

She and her husband Rob Shults own The Cantina on Court Street in Pekin, a whisky bar that frequently has live entertainment and can be booked for private events. It frequently has paranormal activity, Shults said, describing stories told to her and Rob by former owners and bartenders. It includes one of a man who was seen walking into the bar in a tuxedo and top hat and going straight into the men's room. When he didn't come out after several minutes the bartender went to check on him and there was no one there.

"We've had our own experiences there, but nothing I would call scary. The bar used to be the meeting place of the Knights of Pythias fraternity," Shults said.

The motto of the Knights of Pythias is "Peace Through Understanding."

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