What Tim Mulligan’s Witchland Series Teaches You About Turning Real-Life History Into Compelling Horror

What Tim Mulligan’s Witchland Series Teaches You About Turning Real-Life History Into Compelling Horror

When you grow up in a place shaped by fear, secrets, and real-world danger, it can be hard to know what to do with those memories. For award-winning playwright and author Tim Mulligan, the answer was to turn them into stories – first on stage, then in graphic novels.In this conversation, Tim shares how his World of Witchland series grew out of life in Richland, Washington, home to the Hanford nuclear site, and how he transformed a complicated hometown legacy into a horror series that is funny, scary, and surprisingly human.

If you’ve ever wondered how personal experience can become fiction, or how to write about difficult history without losing readers, this interview is full of useful takeaways: Tim Mulligan’s graphic novel series with a moody small-town background. Tim Mulligan’s Witchland graphic novel series set against a haunting small-town backdrop]

From Stage Play to Graphic Novel: How Witchland Began

Tim didn’t start out trying to build a book series. He started with an idea that was personal, weird, and emotionally charged – the kind of story that keeps you up at night until you write it down.During COVID, he finally had the time to test his creative instincts.

He taught himself how to format a play, outlined the story, and focused on one goal: finishing it. He wasn’t even sure anyone would read it. But once the play was complete, he shopped it around and, within eight months, found himself with a month-long run in San Diego and later a life on stages in other cities, including off Broadway.That first success became the seed for something bigger.Copy

“My goal was just to finish it. I didn’t think anybody would ever even see it.”That mindset matters. A lot of people wait for the perfect idea, the perfect timing, or the perfect confidence level. Tim’s story is a reminder that momentum often starts with one finished draft. Once he saw the play could connect with audiences, he adapted it into a graphic novel format with the help of a designer in Mexico, and the story expanded into a full series.The lesson here is simple:

don’t treat one format as the only format

. A strong idea can move from stage to page to screen if the core story is good enough. How to adapt a story across multiple formats A timeline showing play, graphic novel, and series development. Timeline showing how a story can evolve from play to graphic novel to series]

Why Hanford Became the Heart of the Story

The biggest reason Witchland feels different from other horror stories is that it’s rooted in something real. Tim grew up in Richland, Washington, near the Hanford nuclear site – a place he describes as beautiful, prosperous, and quietly haunted by its own history.Hanford was created in the 1940s to produce plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

Over time, it became one of the country’s most complicated cleanup sites, with toxic waste buried in tanks and decades of environmental concern behind it. Tim’s family worked there. He worked there in high school. For many people in the area, it wasn’t just a landmark – it was part of daily life.But that’s what makes the setting so powerful. It’s not a distant disaster. It’s home.Tim talks about the contradiction clearly: the town is idyllic, but it also sits under a black cloud of contamination, lawsuits, illness, and long-term uncertainty. That tension gives the series emotional weight. It’s not horror for horror’s sake. It’s horror that comes from a real place of unease.For writers, there’s a valuable lesson here:

the best settings are rarely just backdrops

. When the place itself carries history, conflict, and unanswered questions, it becomes part of the story’s engine. Map of Richland, Washington and the Hanford site Map showing Richland Washington and the Hanford nuclear site. Background on Hanford cleanup from the U.S. Department of Energy or Hanford site.

Writing Horror With Family, Identity, and Humor at the Center

Tim could have written a straightforward cautionary tale about nuclear waste. Instead, he chose something more layered. He built the series around a non-traditional family – a gay couple and their Black daughter – and placed them in a town that doesn’t quite know what to do with them.

That choice makes the story more than a thriller. It becomes a story about belonging, identity, and survival.Tim explained that he wanted to write something fun and scary, but also something human. He loves horror because the genre works best when readers care about the people at the center of the chaos.

That means the fear has to land emotionally, not just visually. In Witchland, the family’s experience in a small, less diverse town gives the supernatural elements more texture and meaning.He also spoke candidly about writing from experience. As a gay man who didn’t have a great experience growing up in eastern Washington, he knows what it feels like to be outside the dominant culture of a place. That perspective shows up in the series not as a lecture, but as story.This is one of the most useful takeaways from the interview:

When you write from lived experience, specificity makes the story stronger.

You don’t have to tell every fact of your life. But if you know what exclusion feels like, what a place smells like, what people whisper about, and what family looks like under pressure, you can write scenes that feel true.And Tim doesn’t drain the story of fun to make it meaningful. He uses humor and supernatural twists to keep readers moving. That balance – scary, funny, emotional, strange – is part of why the series works.[INTERNAL LINK: How to write fiction inspired by real life without sounding preachy. A dark illustrated family scene in a small town .Illustrated family standing together in a dark small town setting

How Tim Handles Reviews, Feedback, and Creative Risk

Every writer has to decide how much outside opinion to let in. Tim’s approach is practical: he listens to useful feedback, but he doesn’t let comments run his life.He said that reviews are tough, especially because the same play can get different reactions depending on the production. Rather than getting crushed by a bad review, he uses it as motivation to improve.

That’s a healthy creative habit. It doesn’t mean ignoring criticism. It means not letting one opinion define the project.Just as important, he avoids getting pulled into the swamp of social media comments.That choice may be one of the smartest things he said in the interview.He posts about his books and uses critic reviews when they’re helpful, but he doesn’t go down the rabbit hole of reading every comment. For creatives, that boundary can make the difference between staying energized and getting flattened.Here’s the practical version of his approach:

1. Read the reviews that matter
   • Look for thoughtful criticism from people who understand the work.
2. Use negative feedback as information, not identity
   • A bad review is about the work or the production, not your worth.
3. Don’t let comments become the project
   • If social media feedback starts steering your confidence, step back.
4. Keep making the next thing
   • Momentum is often the best antidote to self-doubt.

Tim’s career also shows something else: creative work can come later in life. He spent years in leadership, HR, and law before fully stepping into writing. That’s a reminder that it’s never too late to become the creative version of yourself you’ve been delaying. How to deal with negative reviews as a creator. Writer working late at a desk with notes and a laptop. Writer working at a desk with notes laptop and manuscript pages.

Why the Series Keeps Growing – and What Comes Next

A lot of creators stop after one success. Tim did the opposite. Each book in the World of Witchland series opens up a different angle on the same world.The first story focused on the history and the downwinders connected to Hanford. The second became a ghost story tied to modern-day whistleblowers and workplace danger. The third explored another social issue through a horror lens.

The fourth, Ditchland, centers on animal testing and revenge in a supernatural form. And the fifth book, Switchland, will tie the whole series together with documented UFO sightings at Hanford.That’s not random. It’s a strategy.Tim keeps returning to the same place because the setting has enough history, mystery, and emotional tension to support multiple stories. Each installment explores a different theme, but the world stays connected. That’s one of the biggest advantages of series writing: you don’t have to rebuild the universe every time.

You deepen it.He also thinks visually. He wants the books to work as TV or film, and he keeps that in mind while writing. That’s smart for any creator hoping to move across formats. If your story has a strong visual engine, a recurring cast, and a clear tone, it becomes easier for others to imagine it on screen.Tim’s work also offers a model for niche storytelling that still feels accessible:

Tim Mulligan on turning Hanford history into horror graphic novels

Hollis Chapman sits down with award-winning playwright and author Tim Mulligan to talk about how a late-blooming creative career led from theater into graphic novels rooted in his hometown of Richland, Washington. The conversation centers on Hanford, the nuclear cleanup site that shaped Mulligan’s childhood, and how he uses horror, family drama, and supernatural elements to explore memory, place, and survival.Mulligan also discusses handling reviews, writing through COVID, building a graphic novel series, and why he sees his stories as both a tribute to his hometown and a commentary on the people and wildlife affected by its history.

Key topics

• In this episode: Tim Mulligan shares how he moved from years in HR and law into creative writing during COVID, eventually writing plays, cookbooks, and a growing graphic novel series.
• In this episode: He explains how his first play, later adapted into a graphic novel, grew out of his upbringing in Richland, Washington, and his fascination with the eerie stories surrounding Hanford.
• In this episode: Mulligan describes Hanford as a place of contradiction, beautiful and livable on one hand, but shadowed by decades of plutonium production, toxic waste, lawsuits, and illness.
• In this episode: He talks about how he handles criticism, saying bad reviews can become motivation, while social media comments are something he avoids altogether.
• In this episode: The World of Witchland series is introduced as a supernatural, horror-driven story that blends a diverse family’s experience with small-town exclusion and the legacy of the nuclear site.
• In this episode: Mulligan says he writes from lived experience, including themes of being a gay man in a non-diverse town, raising children of color, and creating characters who are outsiders trying to belong.
• In this episode: He breaks down how each book expands the scope of the series, from historical cleanup issues and whistleblowers to ghost stories, drug themes, and animal testing.
• In this episode: The fourth book, Ditchland, focuses on animal experimentation at Hanford, with a revenge-driven horror angle centered on the animals themselves.
• In this episode: Mulligan discusses his view on nuclear power, saying it can be valuable if done safely, while stressing that Hanford is an example of what happens when cleanup and oversight fail.
• In this episode: He looks ahead to Switchland, a fifth book tied to documented UFO reports at Hanford, along with new plays including Point Loma and Pig Butchered.

Timestamps

(1:22) Introductions and Tim Mulligan’s background as an award-winning playwright
(2:59) A creative writing career sparked during COVID
(8:42) Teaching himself to write and format plays
(11:05) How to handle bad reviews without getting discouraged
(12:22) What Hanford is and why it matters in Washington history
(14:54) Transparency, cleanup efforts, and the reality of ongoing risk
(16:28) Why Witchland became a supernatural family story
(20:13) Why the series kept going after the first book
(22:05) Ditchland and the animal testing history at Hanford
(23:36) Why the series feels visual enough for TV or film
(25:17) The disturbing history of animal experiments and radioactive waste
(28:07) How Mulligan thinks about nuclear power today
(30:33) Writing LGBTQ family dynamics into horror and graphic novels
(34:19) What’s next: Switchland, UFO reports, and new plays

Notable quotes

Copy

“I don’t get too knocked down by a bad review. I usually use that as fire to do better next time.”Copy

“You can’t write about that place without having Hanford be the main character.”Copy

“I try to do all my stories or plays based on something factual and then I add my own crazy Mulligan twist to it.”

• a specific place
• a recognizable emotional conflict
• a genre hook
• and a larger social or historical context underneath it

That combination is what makes a series feel both personal and expandable.[CHART/GRAPH: A simple visual showing the evolution of the Witchland series by theme] [ALT TEXT: Graphic showing the progression of the Witchland series through different themes] [INTERNAL LINK: How to build a book series readers will keep following]

The Big Takeaway: Real Places Make Better Stories When You Tell the Truth About Them

Tim Mulligan’s story shows what happens when you stop trying to make fiction feel generic and start making it feel lived-in. By drawing from Hanford, family identity, small-town tension, and his own creative instincts, he built a horror series that feels specific without becoming limited.

He also proves that you don’t need to begin with a publishing plan or a media empire. Sometimes you just need a story that matters to you, the discipline to finish it, and the courage to keep going when people respond.If you’re a writer, creator, or simply someone sitting on a personal story that feels too strange, too specific, or too complicated to tell – take note. Those are often the exact ingredients that make fiction memorable.Want to see how Tim describes the world behind the books in his own words? Watch the full conversation and explore more at Mulliganworld.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Tim Mulligan’s World of Witchland series about?It’s a graphic novel series inspired by Tim’s hometown of Richland, Washington, and the Hanford nuclear site. The books blend horror, family drama, and real historical unease into a supernatural story world.Is Witchland based on true events?It’s inspired by true events, but it is not a documentary. Tim uses real history, local lore, and documented issues around Hanford as a foundation, then adds fictional and supernatural elements.Why did Tim Mulligan turn the story into a graphic novel?After his play gained traction, he realized the story had more life beyond the stage. Graphic novels let him reach a wider audience and keep expanding the world in a visual format.

Where can you buy Tim Mulligan’s books?They’re available on Amazon, and he also shares information on Mulliganworld.com. You can follow his updates on social media under Richland Play.What makes the series different from other horror stories?It combines real-world history, queer family dynamics, racial identity, humor, and supernatural horror. That mix gives the series an emotional core that goes beyond scares.

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[IMAGE/VISUAL SUGGESTIONS]

• Hanford cleanup background from the U.

S. Department of Energy

• A credible news or history source on the Hanford nuclear site
• Tim Mulligan’s official website: Mulliganworld.com
• Amazon author page for Tim Mulligan