Tiny Ghosts, Big Healing

Can a horror movie become part of your wellness routine? For artist Heather Wagner, it already has.

Living with an arthritis-like condition affecting her hands, Heather discovered that creating art while watching horror films became much more than a hobby. Sculpting twisted trees, haunted cemeteries and her signature "soulmate" ghosts helps keep her hands moving, quiets her mind and turns creativity into a form of healing.

Heather also takes us back to where it all began: Saturday mornings watching The Munsters, The Addams Family and The Twilight Zone with her dad, discovering Stephen King as a kid and falling in love with the nostalgia that still makes horror feel like home decades later.

This is a conversation about creativity, family memories and the surprising ways horror continues to comfort us long after the credits roll.

If you're in New England, you can also see Heather's work during the Lowell Folk Festival weekend at Hive Public Market. Check out the festival schedule here.

About Heather Wagner

Heather Wagner is a New England artist whose handcrafted wire sculptures, haunted cemetery scenes and whimsical ghost creations celebrate her lifelong love of classic horror. Drawing inspiration from vintage monster movies, Halloween and gothic storytelling, she creates one-of-a-kind pieces that blend spooky charm with heartfelt meaning. Her work regularly appears at horror markets, oddities events and festivals throughout New England.

Thank you for listening to Horror Heals. 

Share the show with someone who loves horror and someone who needs a little healing.

If you want to support our guests, check the show notes for links to their work, conventions, and fundraising pages.

You can also listen to our sister podcast Family Twist, a show about DNA surprises, identity, and the families we find along the way.

Horror Heals is produced by Mosaic Multimedia LLC.

Is horror good for mental wellness? Of corpse it is.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello, foils and dudes. It's your old Val, Jacky Deer, the voice of the Gripkeeper. And I want to welcome my good friends of the Horror Heels Podcast. Is horror good for mental wellness? But of course it is!

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hey everybody, I'm Kendall. One of the things I love most about Horror Heels is that every guest seems to find healing in a completely different place. For artist Heather Wagner, it started with an arthritis-like condition that made working with her hands more difficult. Instead of giving up creating, she leaned into it. While watching horror movies, she began sculpting haunted cemeteries, twisted trees, and the sweetest little ghost you've ever seen. What started as a way to keep her hands moving became mindfulness, physical therapy, and a creative outlet all wrapped into one. We also found ourselves talking about something I think many horror fans can relate to. The parents and grandparents who introduced us to spooky television, classic monster movies, and Stephen King long before we probably should have been watching or reading them. Here's a conversation about nostalgia, creativity, family, and why horror stays with us for a lifetime. Here's our conversation with Heather Wagner.

Corey 1:30

Hi Heather, welcome to the Horror Reveals Podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Thank you for having me.

Corey 1:35

You've got a nice, nice light glow coming off of you. So perfect for a nice Saturday summer day here in New England. How do you feel about our theory that horror is good for our mental wellness?

SPEAKER_03 1:49

I actually think it's fantastic. I personally use a lot of horror to distract my mind in a lot of different ways. And so I appreciate the idea of horror healing because I feel like I use it to distract myself in many ways. And I absolutely appreciate it for sure.

Corey 2:13

I happen to stumble upon your artwork accidentally because I was in, I think it was Lowell, looking for a record store that's inside of like a collective and just happened to be having an oddities craft fair that day. But then your artwork immediately drew me in. Can you talk a little bit about the inspiration and how it's progressed?

SPEAKER_03 2:32

I have loved working with clay and wire. And so I started kind of marrying those two things together. And I really started leaning into a lot of it because I have an art kind of like an arthritis condition. And so I started using this as a tool to kind of distract my mind. And so while I'm watching a horror movie or some sort of horror show, I actually will be using that as a tool to kind of distract my mind for moving as like a physical therapy for myself, moving my hands in particular. And so I started doing a lot of wire wrap to start with. And so I used that for like creating wire wrap trees or suncatchers. I started infusing these little ghosts into it because horror and Halloween have been my life since I was a kid. And so I put these little ghosts in a lot of my work where I call them my soulmates. I put them in a lot of my creations. And so I started off with little tree of life creations, are mostly what I do. And then I put the ghosts in a lot of my work, or I'll do little haunted cemetery scenes, they are another one of my big things that I do. So there's trees that are in the cemeteries as well. And so that's kind of where I started. I started with the tree of life creations and then branched out into including like these cemetery scenes as well. Cause like I said, I kind of lean into the gothic horror stuff. So it just kind of grew from there. But it kind of came from this idea of um using it as a physical therapy for myself, honestly.

Corey 4:14

So when you're doing it, does it help sort of alleve the pain or yeah, honestly?

SPEAKER_03 4:19

So a couple of different ways. So I use it as a mindfulness thing for myself. So as a way to kind of purposely use it for like as a meditative thing. And and in addition to purposely like moving my hands as like a movement thing. So mindful movement as well. So I do it in both ways. Yeah. So it does help with the pain as well.

Corey 4:43

Are they friendly ghosts?

SPEAKER_03 4:45

They are, yeah. So I tend to, they tend to be little cutesy ones that I make. So they tend to be little happy faces that I put on them. Or they'll have usually a lot of times I'll have them with hearts so that they show their like soulmates.

Corey 4:59

So Yeah, I like that. Now you mentioned that some of the inspiration comes from really like classic black and white horror, Twilight Zone and the Adams Family, that sort of thing. Can you talk about why what draws you to that?

SPEAKER_03 5:12

So I remember when I was little, my dad used to have me watch with him. There was like the classic Turner classic movies. Like they would have early in the morning, I think it was at seven o'clock in the morning, they would have, I think it was The Munsters were on first, and then it was Adam's Family every morning. And so I would have breakfast with my dad, and we would watch those in the morning. And at some point, after watching those, my dad was like, you need to watch The Twilight Zone. And so I started watching those with him when I was a kid. And I just really appreciated them. I think there was a combination of like the storyline, but also the subtle humor that was in it as well, that I just really appreciated. I have this like nostalgia for all of that. And that opened up, you know, when I started watching those with my dad, he also would be like, oh, we should watch, you know, you know, the old black and white horror movies too. So we would watch all those old movies as well, too. So it just kind of opened up this door for me. And I was pretty young when I would watch them, but I really, it just really has this like soft spot for me of watching all those old movies. Like since I was a kid, like I said, I just really, really appreciate the old horror movies, the black and white ones, you know, like Lon Cheney, like those are my favorites. And I really just appreciate all of the old classic horror movies.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

I don't know if I have ever said this on the this podcast before, but my dad did something very similar with me because I rem my memories were of like the Munsters and Adam's family. And I think when I was a teenager, I was like, Did you have any method to your madness? And he said that he purposefully wanted me to see the the comic side of it before I saw true horror because he wanted me to not be scared. And I I mean, I think it worked, or at least for me it did. I thought, you know, I think I remember we we watched one old black and white. I can't even tell you what it was, but I remember thinking, oh, there's gonna be a comedic part in a minute. And when there wasn't, it was okay. I appreciate that he didn't let me be scared. You know what I mean? Like he he explained everything. He's like, this is make believe, you know, this is fun. And I think that's why I was never really scared of horror as a kid.

Corey 7:49

Yeah, my grandfather on my dad's side used to love to record movies off TV all the time. So to, you know, to show to us kids later. And I remember a couple of early ones that he showed me were the Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Those those are the kind of ones that my dad would watch with me too. And it's funny, I think like all of that, you know, the Munsters, the Adams family, and then my dad had an appreciation for Vincent Price. And so I think that's kind of just like what opened all of that to me as a kid. And it just really instilled a love for me for all of that old horror. I have a sister who's eight years older than me. And so I think maybe that was part of the idea. She was in this age where right around that time she started watching Friday the 13th and all of that. So that might have been part of the method to his madness, where he was like, Let's watch these, because I wanted to watch Friday the 13th with her. You know what I mean? Maybe he was like, Let's watch these things first, you know, before you see those other ones. But was at a time when there wasn't really like the rating scale that we have now. I grew up in the 70s, so I I think maybe it was the introduction to it all, you know, and it just was like I said, it was one of those things for me where it was just like the introduction to, you know, the the classic horror was an introduction to just the love of the film completely, like the love of Halloween, the love of just like the movie making in it in itself, and and just the appreciation for like Vincent Price, you know, I absolutely love him. But the monsters and and the Adams family were like the intro for me and and just really started all of that for me. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Well, shout out for all the parents and grandparents who eased us into horror in the right way. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Same.

Corey 9:41

As you're talking, I was thinking this like, yes, we use horror artwork, things like that to kind of help us, you know, physically and mentally heal, but it's also like uh an opportunity to kind of like keep a bond, like a familial bond, sort of thing like, you know, my grandfather and my dad are are gone, but I do still have the memories of like what they introduced me to on the horror side. And so like when I stumble upon, you know, an Addams Family episode or Twilight's own episode or something like that, I think it's makes me feel good because I'm sort of like remembering the past and and celebrating the past.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

Yeah, absolutely. I feel that too, like that nostalgia. Like even when I'm in Salem and I see like the buskers who are dressed as the Addams Family, like it does like pull at that like nostalgia from when I was a kid, remembering those moments with my dad. Absolutely. I feel I feel the same way.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Yeah. And strangely, I can add to that that The Exorcist is one of my favorite films of all time. And that makes me think of my dad because he, you know, didn't mean to, but he let me see it and because I was sneaky and kind of saw it, you know, by accident. But yeah, but even that brings happy memories for me from my childhood. True.

Corey 10:57

So it sounds like you've carried horror with you since you were a little kid. And so if you remember what you know, 50 years later and you're still deep in it.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Yes, absolutely. I really have. My dad introduced me to those early classics, and I think too having my sister be the age difference that we are, she was kind of going through her teenage years at a time when I was young, and I was really interested in those movies when she was kind of watching them. Like I said, it was kind of a different time, and so I definitely watched some of those movies maybe way too early. I saw poltergeist in the movies way too young, but again, it was a little bit of a different time, but but like I do like have these moments of remembering seeing some of those movies when I was younger, and I just have a love for those movies completely, and I do carry a deep love for horror for sure.

Corey 11:55

Poltergeist was sort of on that cusp of like we've got G, PG, and R, and that's the give between poltergeist. Once they introduced the PG 13, there's no way that poltergeist would be rated PG. I mean, there's like a guy's face falls off that is. You know, I mean it was you know, he imagined it.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

Right. And here there were these kids, like in the movie, right? And so like I think my dad like was like, hey, there's kids, like, let's go see it, you know. And I think it was like, huh, why not?

Corey 12:24

You might see one of the kids get eaten by a tree, but that's okay. Gary Land's in it, that's all you needed to know. No, we came up at an age where everything was on HBO, I mean, at all times of the day. So you could turn it on at two o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and see some some crazy stuff. And how close were our parents really watching what movies we brought to like to rent on a Friday night, you know?

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Actually, exactly. Yeah, I know it's funny. I do think about like the even the on the Friday night going and like walking up and down the movie, you know, aisle and like looking at the covers of like the horror VHS tape and being like, oh, I want to let's let's rent this one, you know, just based on the cover, you know, it's it's funny just thinking about those times. And that brings back such nostalgia too, like thinking about Friday night, what movie's gonna be there, you know, what's gonna be on this shelf, what can I, you know, just looking at the cover, the art that's on the cover and having so much fun just doing that.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

No, it's true. Nowadays it's I don't want to say it's too easy because of course we love the convenience, but it's different just flipping through with your remote, you know, it's just the physicality of picking it up and touching it and flipping the the box over and reading. It was, it was a ritual, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Absolutely.

Corey 13:40

Yeah. Today's little kids too. I mean, the the parents are introducing them to horror stuff earlier, like you'll see at horror conventions or like walking around Salem Mass, like kids dressed as jigsaw, you know, or Chucky, or anywise. I think it might actually make an interesting episode if the parents are open to it to like, well, how did you introduce them to this? Like, are you letting them watch like a couple scenes that aren't too graphically violent? Like, how do they how does a kid become a fan of Chucky? You know?

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Yeah, it's a great question.

Corey 14:11

I'm sure like the these are the same parents that are going to spirit Halloween and stuff, and so people, you know, the kids are seeing, you know, the Chucky Dolls and all of this stuff. I mean, they make toys out of, you know, horror stuff now, like the the merchandise of the hell out of Art the Clown, you know? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Sure. No, I make bookmarks, I make like hook bookmarks out of like wire, and I have like some horror themed ones, and I had a couple that were it, and I had like them displayed at a market that I was doing, and a kind of a younger kid came over with her mom, and she walked up to the bookmarks and was looking at them. And I just kind of like warned the mom, like, oh, some of those are horror themed. Like, just so you know, like when they walked over, and the mom was like, Oh, she loves and like was super excited, and I was like, Oh, okay, like I just was kind of like warning her, and she was like, Oh no, she's so good. And I just was kind of I was shocked, but she was like, Oh no, she loves it, loves the movies. I'm like, oh, okay, like wasn't sure, but I think you're right. There's a whole and maybe it is because of the way that it's marketed and spirit Halloween. I think you're right. Like people bring their kids in, like that is a whole thing, too. Like people bringing their kids into Spirit Halloween, like for the experience of that too. Maybe that's part of it, but you're right. This was definitely a kid who looked like she was maybe seven or eight. So I was like, cool, that's some like I said, I was definitely like six when I was watching some of those movies, so I am not judging by any means, but yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that she knew who it was.

Corey 15:50

I don't on the flip side of that, like when my niece was probably around seven or eight years old, was when the the it commercials were on TV, she could not even see, you know, an image of Pennywise. And like if they were to go to like Six Flags or something like that around Halloween, like she would have to be out of the park before any of those actors showed up. But she did something sort of funny. My sister sent me a photo, she dressed herself as Pennywise. I don't know if that was just a way to sort of conquer the fear or what, but it's just but she she couldn't she can't possibly look at him. But she didn't did like a makeshift costume and make I'll have to ask her if she's okay with us here.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

Yeah, it's funny. I think too, like, I also grew up reading a lot of like Stephen King was like my go-to for reading when I was younger too. And I don't know if it was just because of growing up watching what I was watching, but everything I read was Stephen King. And so I read all of Stephen King's books, and I still do. And so I I don't know if that was part of for me. I guess for me, it's exciting to see that there are people who are still super excited about Pennywise, and you know what I mean. So I'm happy to see that that's still a thing.

Corey 17:04

No, I think Stephen King is responsible for creating millions and millions of horror fans. I remember my aunt used to get the his hardcovers in, you know, I was probably seven or eight, and she let me borrow, you know, a Cujo and Hat Cemetery, and how I'm not warped, you know, for looking at it. I don't know, but you know, hey, it's there's something special. I don't know. Do you remember when The Green Mile came out and it wasn't published in a traditional way? It was tiny little paperbacks, and I think it was like six or seven or something, and you had to wait. The back of the book told you when the next one was gonna be out. It was like you could go to the bookstore or the grocery store or whatever, and like I'd have to get that same day. I went to uh a concert, like one of these outdoor amphitheaters. Don't remember what the show was, but I was with two friends, and all three of us were reading it at the same time, and while we're waiting for the band to come out, we're lying on the blanket, reading our Stephen King.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

My mom's always gotten me Stephen King books, so I totally get that. That's awesome.

Corey 18:00

Yeah, we need to get up. We we haven't been to Bangor yet. We need to get up to Bangor Main and check it out. Have you been?

SPEAKER_03 18:05

Yeah, it's amazing. So I I know he's not living there anymore. Like, I think he's moved, but like the it's amazing. Like just the the iron gates of the house are like phenomenal. Like it's a beautiful house, and banger itself is like amazing, but the like the house itself is just stunning. Like I said, just the gates are incredible. And when I had gone up, he actually had owned the radio station in town too. And I forget what it was called. It was like WKIT, and it was actually like his face was the actual like image for the radio station, but it was like a zombified version of his face, and I don't think that he owns it anymore, but it was just fun. Nice.

Corey 18:58

What kind of artwork are you working on these days?

SPEAKER_03 19:01

So I've been taking the idea of my cemetery scenes, and I've kind of tweaked them a little bit, and I've made I call them rest in peat. And so I have like these scenes that are like I found these beads that are like gothic inspired flowers that I put in either these flower box-like in like crates, or I actually have taken wooden coffins and made them. I painted them and then had them look like moss and grass, and then have the wire flowers coming out of the coffin. And then I made clay tombstones. Some of them have my ghosts and some of them don't. I've made some clay coffins that I put inside them. And so it just looked like an overgrown coffin or cemetery in the coffin. And then I just started doing some resin pumpkins that I have been pouring in the shape of a pumpkin and the same idea where it's like moss and putting little tombstones inside of there with little flowers kind of coming out of the pumpkin as well. So it's kind of the same idea.

Corey 20:17

Do you have any shows coming up that we can help promote for you?

SPEAKER_03 20:20

The Lowell Folk Festival is going to be happening in Lowell. I'll be back at Hive Public Market. I'll have a table inside Hive Public Market in Lowell.

Corey 20:31

We'll definitely get this episode out there before those days, definitely. So the last question that we always ask on the podcast is who is your favorite final person, the survivor in a horror movie?

SPEAKER_03 20:45

So I go back and forth between a couple. I feel like my main one is definitely Lori Strode, but I go back and forth between two. So I really love Night Gallery, which is like an offshoot of The Twilight Zone. And so there was a short story on there that was like a cemetery-related one. And so there was a character on there, his name was Portifoy, that like had this whole storyline behind like kind of tricking the person that was in charge of the household that he was living in. It was actually Roddy McDowell who was in the episode, and it was kind of like him like tricking Roddy McDowell. But at the end, I don't want to ruin it if you haven't seen it. So at the end, I don't know if like if Portifoy can be considered like a final character. So I think I'm gonna go with Lori Strode because I don't know if Portify can be the can be considered a final character. So you haven't seen that night gallery episode, you gotta see it because it's amazing.

Corey 21:54

I know I've seen some. I don't think I've seen as many night galleries as as I have Twilight Zone. But yeah, we we love going back and revisiting that stuff, and now it's great that it's it's out there and there are a lot of like you know, free streaming channels like Tubi that put you know horror that hasn't that's been out of print or you know, not broadcast or not streaming and old TV shows, and I don't know, I'll watch a few commercials. I figured up in the 80s side of stint, you know, as long as they don't overdo it, like I'll sit there and watch this. We do sort of wonder sometimes how the algorithm is picking the commercials for us because sometimes they're right on, and sometimes like let's just say there's a political one that keeps popping up now. I'm like, why? Obviously, we get listened, you know, big brothers listening to us, like well, or or big Alexa is listening to us all the time. So like clearly some of the messages are getting through and some of it is not.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

No. Or or they don't care and they're paying for it or still or that could be too deep through deep pockets, like just show it to everybody.

Corey 22:52

So I get that. That's the only time it's just a little frustrating. We're getting closer and closer to the midterm, so you know, of course that's gonna happen. You know, yeah. And that's when we'll definitely need extra doses of horror. The MMU button. I know we'll definitely be out to a show to uh see some more of your stuff because Kendall only got a little taste of it from the piece that I brought him. Keep making your artwork. I'm glad it's helping you physically and mentally. I think that's just an important message for people to hear. You don't have to be a horror fan to to make art, you know, but it's it's definitely an outlet for settling our brains, things like that.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Thank you. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. It was great to meet you.

Corey 23:34

It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

One thing that really stuck with me was hearing Heather describe creating her artwork while a horror movie plays in the background. It's not just inspiration, it's part of her healing process. The movement that keeps her hands active, the creativity keeps her mind focused, and horror becomes part of the rhythm of it all. I also love talking about those early horror memories, the monsters, the Addams family, wandering the video store on a Friday night hoping the movie you wanted was still on the shelf. Those moments are about so much more than scary movies. They remind us of the people who shared them with us. If you'd like to see Heather's incredible artwork or find out where she'll be appearing next, we've included her information in today's show notes. As always, we'd love to know your story. What horror movie, TV show, or creative hobby helps you recharge or simply makes you feel at home?