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...
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...
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....
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 0 Comments
You have to listen to me, this isn’t right. You can’t do this. You can’t let this happen! Okay...
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...
16 Feb Tenement
Posted at 11:00h
in Fantasy, Folklore, Folktales, and Superstition, Monsters, Creatures, and Cryptids, Myths and Legends 0 Comments
I moved into my new apartment nearly a month ago. The building’s exterior looked a little run down, but the rent was unbeatable for where it stood. The other tenants all seemed quiet enough and the hallways didn’t smell like piss and stale beer like...
29 Jan The Music of Erich Zann
I have examined maps of the city with the greatest care, yet have never again found the Rue d’Auseil. These maps have not been modern maps alone, for I know that names change. I have, on the contrary, delved deeply into all the antiquities of...
23 Jan The Dark Man
Posted at 11:00h
in Beings and Entities, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult 1 Comment
My grandfather on my dad’s side passed away from cancer back in 2018 at the age of 75. Unlike my mom’s parents and my dad’s mom, my two brothers, my sister and I knew very little about “Grandpa Henry”. All that we knew about him...
05 Jan He’s Killing Up There
Posted at 11:00h
in Comedy, Humor, Parodies, and Satire, Demons and Possession, Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult, Religion and Spirituality, Rites and Rituals 3 Comments
Part 1 “So I’m in the cosmetics aisle, right? And I’m standing there reading this bottle of lotion. ‘Not tested on animals,’ it says. And I’m thinking: Really? Like, who the hell is rubbing lotion on animals? Anyone?” A modest amount of laughter from the audience. About...
28 Dec Spring Flu
Posted at 11:00h
in Children and Childhood, Conspiracies and Government, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Illness and Injuries, Survival Horror 1 Comment
The spring flu was been going around the school like usual, but some people were sicker than normal. They didn’t just have fever and headache – their faces were blotchy, their eyes bulged, and they all wheezed like they’d just run up 10 flights of...
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...