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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
25 Dec The Problem With the Drains
“Man, that shift sucks!” I hear it all the time. I can understand why people say it; I used to think the same thing. I still do some days. I’m one of the lucky people that go to work while everybody else is...
23 Dec Snow Day
Posted at 11:00h
in Beings and Entities, Children and Childhood, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Natural Disasters and Storms, Psychological Horror, Strange and Unexplained, Survival Horror, Suspense and Thrillers 0 Comments
Jake Thomasson pulled the sleeve of his sweatshirt down, covering his hand, and wiped away the condensation from the window. It was the third time he had done this in the past ten minutes, but he didn’t want to miss seeing if any cars drove...
16 Dec It Wasn’t a Reindeer
Posted at 11:00h
in Animals and Wildlife, Beings and Entities, Christmas and the Holidays, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Myths and Legends, Nature and the Outdoors, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
“Christ,” I muttered to myself, as the first flakes of snow started to fall. They gathered in fuzzy clumps over the windshield before my wipers cleared them away. I’d been waiting for fifteen — no, twenty minutes now — in my sister’s driveway. Had I...
05 Dec The Trunk
Moving day. A chance to start fresh in a new place. New opportunities, new community, new home. Home. Not just a house. To Eric Sherman, this was a place he could finally call home. No ex-wives to hound him for alimony. No disapproving parents to...
12 Sep The Promise
Posted at 11:00h
in Children and Childhood, Feelspastas and Happy Endings, Strange and Unexplained 0 Comments
The anniversary of Layne’s death wasn’t for another three days, but when “Cochise” came on the radio as I approached that curve, I took it as a sign. Layne’s favorite song. I pressed the gas and shifted gears as Chris Cornell began to wail. The...
27 Mar He Who Preys
My daughter Hannah had always had a fascination with bugs of all kinds. She collected them and kept them in a terrarium she insisted I buy for her when she was six. It was on a constant rotation as her interests changed; when she was...
17 Jan The Curse of Luck
My life hasn’t been what most would consider to be… great. As you will read, I have always had terrible luck. I was an infant when a drunk driver decided one night that he wanted to drive on the wrong side of the road at...