“It may sound incredulous, but it was when I was about three years old.  The five of us, at that time…mom, dad and my brother, sister and me, lived in a very small, two bedroom house in Bloomington, Minnesota.  The basement wasn’t what we think of today, it was more of a root cellar with a dirt floor and contained the machines that kept us warm and gave us light.

One day, in the dead of winter, we had no heat and my father had to go down there…I followed close behind.  When he opened the door, all I saw was darkness with only the first few steps made visible from the kitchen light.  I remember walking directly behind my father as he descended into the darkness and stepped onto the sand, then stopped.  I watched him as he began to wave his hand over his head…I didn’t understand what he was doing, until he grabbed the cord and pulled the light on.

I remember being a little scared, but safe with dad and then relieved when the light came on.  I don’t know, maybe I, at that very moment, realized that being a little scared was kinda fun!”

Growing up in his beloved Minnesota at a time when horror movies and the great expansion of rural communities seemed to provide a perfect mix for this up and coming lover of the chilling, provided the perfect fodder for this man’s mind.  It was a time of Lon Cheney, Jr., Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Vincent Price…and it was a time when houses were being bought up by cities for expansion and left for months until they could be moved or destroyed.  Thus, there were many vacant houses, many of which were “haunted” and “evil”, he was sure.  And he entered many, but only at night when he was sure to be safe from the authorities, only to discover the many murders and imagined beings that lingered.

An enthusiastic writer since 1991, Randall Dyck possesses a wonderful writing style that entertains the reader with fantastic, yet believable, characters and storylines. He has always been an avid reader with an incredible imagination. Even as a young boy devouring the works of the two Edgar’s—Poe and Burroughs, he discovered the enchanting journeys and faraway places only his imagination could take him.

Having served his country for over nine years in the U.S. Army, with a combat tour in Vietnam, Randall returned to his country as a private citizen and continued on with his life.