03 Apr Shit Magnet
They’ve called me a shit-magnet since I was a kid. It’s only an expression, sure, but I think it might also be a real thing. If a smile can attract smiles sure as a corpse can attract flies, there’s no reason a guy like me...
02 Apr Camper Appreciation
Posted at 11:00h
in Beings and Entities, Locations and Sites, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Myths and Legends, Nature and the Outdoors, Strange and Unexplained, Urban Legends 0 Comments
“Come on, Jim, you know it’s going to suck.” I didn’t nod, though I wanted to. Mark was right, as usual. Most of camp had sucked, to be honest. Tom, on the other hand, tried once more to be the voice of reason, even as he tugged...
01 Apr Herbert West—Reanimator
Posted at 11:00h
in Classic Horror and Public Domain, Cosmic Horror and Lovecraftian Stories, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Investigations and Crimes, Jobs and Occupations, Medical and Hospitals, Science and Experimentation, Science Fiction, Zombies and the Undead 1 Comment
I. From the Dark Of Herbert West, who was my friend in college and in after life, I can speak only with extreme terror. This terror is not due altogether to the sinister manner of his recent disappearance, but was engendered by the whole nature of...
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...
30 Mar The Buzzards
Posted at 11:00h
in Jobs and Occupations, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
Need a crime scene clean-up? How about a crime scene clean-up up in a hoarder’s house? Well, free-market problems get free-market solutions. It only makes sense I ended up with Cesar. I guess you could call me the President and Cesar the VP but those are...
29 Mar Some Shooting Stars Aren’t Meant To Be Wished Upon
There it was. A fragment of the universe, hurtling through the cosmos. And there I was, gazing up from the comfort of a farmhouse rooftop, built by my father’s hands smack dab in the middle of nowhere. In all the years we lived out there...
28 Mar Winter Time
All our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. (‘Macbeth’: Act 5, scene 5) With turned, frozen earth stinking sharp on his big coat and gritting black under his fingernails, he checked the side lane was empty before clinking the allotment gate shut behind him....
27 Mar The Song and Dance Man
Posted at 11:00h
in Bargains and Deals, Beings and Entities, Cosmic Horror and Lovecraftian Stories, Creepypasta Classics, Curses and Cursed Objects, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Editor's Choice, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Madness, Paranoia, and Mental Illness, Period Pieces, Psychological Horror, Rites and Rituals, Strange and Unexplained 0 Comments
In the small town of Belle Carne, nothing ever happens—until the autumn night a strange man arrives with a fiddle, a smile too wide, and a promise of free music. Drawn by curiosity, the townsfolk gather beneath the glow of a yellow tent, eager to...
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,...
20 Mar Best Investment
Posted at 11:00h
in Abductions and Kidnappings, Children and Childhood, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Investigations and Crimes 1 Comment
Being the divorced father of a kid can be a challenging and rewarding job all on its own. Especially when you’re running your own major business. I’ll be honest, I never wanted to have kids in the first place, and the whole married thing was...
17 Mar Huggy
Posted at 11:00h
in Children and Childhood, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Science Fiction, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
“Holy shit! Is that what I think it is?” Brandon’s eyes widened into saucers and, despite being filled with an unabated rage towards his older brother just a few hours ago, Michael couldn’t help but smile and nod at the expected reaction. Even with everything...
11 Mar Code
Posted at 11:00h
in Jobs and Occupations, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Strange and Unexplained 0 Comments
As a code enforcement officer, I’m not well-liked by the citizens of Winter Garden, Florida. Most of the time people tend to get upset when you tell them something about their property violates the standards of the City. I’ve only been doing this job about...
10 Mar I Saved the World
Posted at 11:00h
in Apocalyptic and Dystopian, Conspiracies and Government, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Jobs and Occupations, Science Fiction 1 Comment
You have to listen to me, this isn’t right. You can’t do this. You can’t let this happen! Okay...
08 Mar Oddity
Posted at 11:00h
in Body Horror, Dreams and Nightmares, Ghosts and Spirits, Strange and Unexplained 0 Comments
There was nothing strange about Amber. She wasn’t too tall or too short. She was of average height and weight. She wasn’t ugly but she wasn’t pretty either and her grades, although passing, were never top marks. She lived in an average house, with an...
06 Mar The Body Farm
PART 1 I'm not a guy who gets scared easily, but I'm also not the kind who keeps his head in the sand, if you know what I mean. When something doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel right, period. I acknowledge that most of the bad...
29 Feb Sisters
Posted at 11:00h
in Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Demons and Possession, Madness, Paranoia, and Mental Illness, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Religion and Spirituality 0 Comments
My name is Julien Serrault. It is the 7th of January, 1882. I am an innkeeper outside the mountain town of Briancon, at the base of the French Alps. The inn does not do much trade, and in the winter months I am sometimes alone...
26 Feb I Made a Monster Out of Clay
Posted at 11:00h
in Beings and Entities, Children and Childhood, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Myths and Legends, Rites and Rituals, Slashers and Gore 0 Comments
My name is Mortimer Lipschitz. I know the name itself suggests otherwise, but I shit you not. That's really my name. I used to wish it wasn't. On all that's holy, I wished it wasn't. But I suppose that the name was never really the...
23 Feb Beta Test
Posted at 11:00h
in Science Fiction, Strange and Unexplained, Technology, the Internet, and the Deep Web, Video Games and Gaming 0 Comments
Roxy’s Lounge. It was the sort of dimly-lit, mid-century styled bar that was too classy for me by half. In the real world, it’s the kind of place I’d have gone to get shit-faced on overpriced cocktails at a Game Developer’s Conference after-party. But that was...
19 Feb Salt in the Dark River
The house sat empty at the top of the hill. Its security lights were a beacon in the night, like a lighthouse alone in the mist, warning ships away from the kiss of sharp shores. The closest neighbor was further away than a man could...
17 Feb The Starry Crown
I left the university campus behind to do fieldwork in the Deep South. I was studying folk songs from southern states that had neither a time or place of origin nor a known composer. Those old songs that just seem to rise out of cultural...