14 Jun Twigs
I was twelve years old when I went on my first hunting trip. It took a lot of brown-nosing and a lot of help from my grandfather, but eventually my father caved and allowed me to go. I was ecstatic. Every fall, my dad and grandpa...
13 Jun Wolves
Posted at 11:00h
in Animals and Wildlife, Beings and Entities, Children and Childhood, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Myths and Legends, Psychological Horror, Sounds and Voices, Survival Horror, Suspense and Thrillers 1 Comment
James was an eight-year-old boy with the heart of a dog and the energy of a hummingbird. His mother died when he was only five, so he lived with his grandmother, Babcia. They were very poor: their house was a tiny, dilapidated thing, with a...
12 Jun Teke Teke
Posted at 11:00h
in Body Horror, Children and Childhood, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Myths and Legends, Zombies and the Undead 1 Comment
The boy hated the nights when his big brother snuck out. He would stare at the empty bed in the bedroom they shared, under the large open window in the eave. Through there, every now and again, he could hear the unmistakable metal thuds of...
27 May I Was Hunted by Killer Bees
Posted at 11:00h
in Children and Childhood, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Illness and Injuries, Insects, Spiders, and Parasites, Nature and the Outdoors 0 Comments
The invasion began in 1985, or so we were told. The headlines immediately caught our attention, “Killer Bees Found on Southern Border!” These were the type of things that sparked the imagination of every child. It filled our heads with images of terrifying attacks and...
18 May The Axe Man’s Lullaby
I was just a kid. I didn’t know any better. Even if I could go back, what would I have done differently? Could I have changed what happened? Could I have done anything at all? Probably not. Even so, I can’t help but dwell on...
12 May Do Not Go Outside
Posted at 10:00h
in Beings and Entities, Children and Childhood, Locations and Sites, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Psychological Horror, Sounds and Voices, Survival Horror, Suspense and Thrillers 1 Comment
“Do not go outside! Ignore all cries for help, no matter how human they sound!” shouted Alex’s dad. He pulled the cellar door over and paused to look back. “And lock this door behind me.” The door slammed shut. Alex locked it, walked down the stairs...
08 May A Gift From Below
Posted at 11:00h
in Children and Childhood, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids 1 Comment
Tom Strand had to pee. Sixty-four ounces of gas station root beer sloshed in his gut, disrupting the constant thoughts of his mother. The problem was Tom hadn’t seen a rest stop for nearly an hour, and dusk was beginning to settle over the Louisiana...
07 May Her Tongue Too Long
Posted at 11:00h
in Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Ghosts and Spirits, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Period Pieces 1 Comment
In places where the very old traditions still hold, August is known as “the ghost month.” Hungry ghosts are said to roam the streets and hillsides, especially at night and especially when things are quiet. Some say that hungry ghosts are created when someone innocent...
30 Apr The Blink of an Eye
Posted at 06:00h
in Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Jobs and Occupations, Locations and Sites, Myths and Legends, Sounds and Voices, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
Henry never believed the stories. A marketing trick, that’s all they were, meant to lure tourists who wanted to be fooled. That’s what he told the curator, in so many words, during his job interview. The curator gave Henry a tour of the museum just after...
28 Apr Body Parts
An old man lived alone in a house by the ocean. Every morning as the sun rose, he walked down the forest path to the beach and enjoyed the salty air coming off the water. Every evening, he returned to the shore to watch the...
27 Apr The Room
A man awoke to find himself laying on the floor. Dazed and confused he was somewhat relieved to see that he was not alone. At least a dozen more people were waking up as well; women, men a few children, including a little girl perhaps...
26 Apr Tapdance
Posted at 11:00h
in Beings and Entities, Body Horror, Children and Childhood, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Ghosts and Spirits, Illness and Injuries, Slashers and Gore, Zombies and the Undead 1 Comment
From the moment she learned to walk, little Myrtle dreamed of becoming a tap dancer. She would totter through the house, her chubby bare feet slapping arrhythmically on the hardwood, her squeaky voice calling out “Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!” like tap shoes on a stage. When her second-grade teacher...
23 Apr The Aberdeen Parade
Posted at 11:00h
in Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Illness and Injuries, Jobs and Occupations, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult, Rites and Rituals, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
The road is a light brown path of dirt that stretches up and down the shallow hills, running straight from end to end before becoming serpentine at its eastern end where it meets the main highway. Blades of grass struggle to break through but soon...
18 Apr Slow Clap
I sat down on the padded stool. It was cushioned and made of black leather. As I lifted the sticks, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling like I was being watched. Like there was some sort of audience staring at me just outside of...
15 Apr Road Regret
Posted at 17:00h
in Body Horror, Illness and Injuries, Psychological Horror, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
“My god, boys… will you just stop?!? If you keep messing around you’re going to miss your bus and I can’t afford to be late today.” My spirits far too defeated to attain the authoritative tone needed for the situation. Stewie and Collin are still...
13 Apr Childhood Memories
Posted at 17:00h
in Beings and Entities, Children and Childhood, Ghosts and Spirits, Locations and Sites, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult, Nature and the Outdoors, Psychological Horror, Rites and Rituals, Strange and Unexplained, Suspense and Thrillers 1 Comment
I opened the back door to my house, without bothering to put shoes on, and walked towards the line of trees that stood at the entrance to the forest. It was summer and the warm breeze carried with it the smell of nature, thick and...
07 Apr A Ritual Misguided
Posted at 11:00h
in Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Feelspastas and Happy Endings, Rites and Rituals, Zombies and the Undead 1 Comment
I’ve been a widower for exactly six years now. I was blissfully married to a woman named Ava for fifteen amazing years. We didn’t have much in the beginning, but we were happy that way. She always said she’d rather struggle with a man that...
06 Apr The Smell
Posted at 11:00h
in Body Horror, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
It was on the third day of the stench permeating the house that we decided to call the landlord. In the last month since we had moved in, there had been a lot of creaking and groaning from underneath the house. It was built sometime...
31 Mar Elevator Code
As a freelance convention planner, I stay at many hotels over the course of a year. I spend about a week per trip in an all-expenses-paid suite of my choosing, doing nothing but studying the location and interviewing the staff on hand to get a...
26 Mar Ghost Train
Posted at 11:00h
in Beings and Entities, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult 1 Comment
The house I grew up in was right next to a set of busy railroad tracks. From my bedroom window, I could watch the trains roll by. There were three types of trains that used those tracks and still do to this day. There were the long,...