14 Jan Out With the Old
I know most of you are probably heading off to get a few drinks with friends and pass the night away watching the ball drop from the comforts of your couch, and if so, I applaud you for not having a care in the world...
17 Dec The Town that Dreaded Snowfall
I was headed toward the airport to catch a flight, driving down a country road that my GPS claimed would serve as a shortcut when my luck officially ran out. A sudden flat tire caused me to swerve off the road, slamming my rental car into...
17 Dec The Last Voyage of the Rouse Simmons and Its Aftermath
In the late 1800s, set against the raw beauty of Lake Michigan, if you looked across the water, you would often see a dazzling spectacle. Sleek, three-masted schooners were running smoothly on a western wind day in and day out before the days of motor vehicles....
16 Dec Chaos Pagentry (The Nativity)
Everyone in town knew my family, the Bowers. We are considered cornerstones by some. Never wavering in any community activity. Until this year. We experienced a tragedy, one that only now with the holidays past us I can talk about. It’s an event that changed the meaning of this...
09 Oct Halloween with the Neighbors
Let me start out by saying that I am not a people person. When the pandemic hit North America it was probably the best damn thing to happen to me. Most of my time is spent online anyway seeing as I work in data collection for an...
08 Sep Reminiscences of Aucturn
They were never even supposed to be here. Forty-seven kilometers past the Arctic Circle, the lone helicopter neared its target. According to the classified reports she’d been graciously given, the facility wasn’t even supposed to exist. Even from this angle, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see...
07 Sep The Night Library
The downtown library was always a comfort to me as a young schoolboy. Often getting picked on by bullies, I would hide away in the recesses of the stories I found there, imagining a lifetime of adventures I could never have. Perhaps my favorite collection of works...
06 Sep The Last Will and Testament of Charles T. Bowman
I never met Charlie Bowman. Not that I expected to, in a company the size of this one; the chances of ever rubbing shoulders with the CEO are probably astronomical. Still, he was the one who always signed my checks every payday, so when the news...
05 Sep Housekeeper to Hell
The following personal ad was discovered among a myriad of others on a dark web forum. It was connected to a local string of murders by the Rochester Coast Police Department. It is being made public at the request of the Chief of Police. Any...
14 Aug Firing Range
I found the place one night after an especially heated argument with my ex. Now, I’ve never actually been the type for guns, but something about the venue interested me when I passed it by. I think it was the privacy. Open 24 hours, the bright glimmering...
13 Aug Good Eggs
“Summer homes are for rich people, Allen.” I’ve been known to spend money on things that I don’t need. Sometimes it can be hard to determine which products are necessities and which are simply desires. My wife Brittany is usually the one who keeps my head on straight,...
12 Aug CRISPR
“Imagine you were alive in the 1980s, and you were told that computers would soon control everything related to life. From shopping to dating, to even supercomputers in the palm of your hand or an international invisible network that connected you to literally anyone on...
11 Aug Better This Way
Technology is changing at a rapid pace, so fast that some even say it’s frightening. I got a chance to experience this nightmare firsthand just a few weeks back when I was given the opportunity to test out a new autonomous vehicle for my company. At first,...
10 Aug Point & Shoot
Would you believe that three simple gold tokens changed my life? They clattered to the bottom of the arcade machine, and the screen in front of me turned from dark blue to a splash of pixelated orange and yellow. Rhythmic sounds beat out from the speakers on...
11 Jul The Screaming Island
“Are you sure there’s buried treasure here?” “Yeah, I have heard strange tales about this place. Ghosts and zombies and shit.” I resisted rolling my eyes as the small skipper boat we were on slid up against the sands of the island. “It’s not like a treasure map,...
10 Jul Full Moon Flights
Last year BloodyDisgusting gave it 4 out of 5 screams. Fangoria Magazine touted it as “the most original haunted house concept on the market.” But you shouldn’t believe the reviews. No, really; don’t. Full Moon Flights is not what it seems. According to the brochure, they are a modern...
09 Jul The Child Market
It started with a call from a friend, Luke. “Rob, are you awake?” he asked in a panic as I groggily searched for my glasses. “I am now,” I remarked dryly as I checked the time. Three fucking thirty in the morning. “This had better be good,”...
08 Jul Beneath the Earth, Nightmares Dwell
I knew my time at the Rossetti University was going to be something special the minute I learned of its intriguing history. Originally used as a battle fortress during the last years of a strange land war amid pioneers of the Northwest, the last remaining soldiers...
29 Jun That Abominable Sound
I arrived at the Kotirc Outpost at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon alongside three senior officers from HQ. We had been told nothing about the facility’s state or its staff, simply that we had lost all communication with them about three days before our arrival. Russell, the...
15 Apr To Let
I should have taken more notice of the graffiti when I arrived at the Highbrooks. But the sad fact is that the strange scribblings on the complex were the least of my worries here. Traveling alone is never something I would recommend when you are in an...