16 Jun Children’s Games
“How much longer till we reach the campsite?” Archer pursed his lips as he thought. “I dunno, maybe another hour, maybe two...
15 Jun Ensorcell
It had started with a word. Ensorcell. Pollyanna had first overheard it when she was a child, playing with her Barbies in the spacious parlor as her mother prattled away on the phone to one pageant organizer or another. “She’ll absolutely ensorcell everybody, she’s a natural!”...
11 Jun The Cabin by Grizzly Lake
My sister Heather meant the world to me. She always seemed to have everything growing up. She was the homecoming queen in our small town. She graduated valedictorian of her class. She was voted Most Likely to Succeed her senior year. She was captain of...
10 Jun Never Use Cheat Codes on a Ouija Board
In my hometown, there is a unique shop of oddities called “HexWorks” that I frequent. It’s an old-world boutique that specializes in niche products that I’d describe as being vintage-style with a modern spin. Their items include cloaks, pocket watches, lapels, bizarre art prints, lavish...
09 Jun The Luckiest Bastard Alive
Posted at 11:00h in Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Investigations and Crimes, Strange and Unexplained 0 Comments
Screw Marvin Jenkins. The luckiest bastard in the world. Let me start at the beginning. I was born and raised in Flagstaff, second-generation blue blood. I think I first held a gun at the age of five. I known my way around these parts probably even before...
08 Jun The Lilac Tower
Sometimes, you may see people on the news, or reality shows, or even social media, and think, “How the hell does someone live like that? How can they believe that?” As someone who grew up deep in the hornet’s nest, I can tell you. We are...
07 Jun The Legend of the Chained Oak
I write this piece with a great degree of trepidation, for the knowledge I now pass on to you has resided festering in my mind for many a month. A large proportion of us subscribe to the belief that the past should remain therein. However,...
05 Jun A Diner Open 25 Hours a Day
Late one night, I found myself driving down what seemed like an endless stretch of road. I was on my way back from a week-long business trip, facing at least a twelve-hour drive home. Having always been afraid of flying, the monotonous trek was unavoidable....
04 Jun Let the Buyer Beware
Everyone probably knows a Hank Easley. You know those people you say you can look up a word in the dictionary and their name would be alongside the definition? For Hank, that word would be ‘slime-ball’. Greasy, sleazy and greedy, it was little surprise to anyone growing up...
01 Jun Zipper Dog
Posted at 11:00h in Animals and Wildlife, Science Fiction and Aliens, Strange and Unexplained 1 Comment
At first, I didn’t think anything of it. My neighbor would stop to chat with me, leash in hand, and I would catch glimpses of the metal slider dangling from its belly. I assumed it was wearing a piece of pet clothing, or that perhaps...
31 May How to Exit Your Body
Posted at 11:00h in Artifacts and Objects, Rites and Rituals, Science and Experimentation, Science Fiction and Aliens 1 Comment
The sleeping mind fascinates me, namely the nighttime hallucinations we call ‘dreams’. Because of this, I keep a journal to record every thought that passes through my brain at night. I set at least one alarm each day so that I’m able to wake up...
30 May The Woods and the Goddess
The far-off unfocused stare of a corpse is something that still unnerves me. Their gaze locked on to a spot somewhere out beyond the physical realm, the milky haze of the degrading cornea acting like a barrier between the living world and the endless black...
30 May Every Year on My Birthday, I Receive a Letter
Posted at 13:52h in Apocalyptic and Dystopian, Beings and Entities, Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances, Demons and Possession, Hell and the Afterlife, Journals and Diaries, Religion and Spirituality, Strange and Unexplained 0 Comments
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of my father’s death, taken away by a single, senseless act. It just so happens that today is also my birthday. He’d been working late. As he often did, regardless of birthdays or holidays. I understood it was a painful memory...
26 May The Wolves
Posted at 11:00h in Animals and Wildlife, Illness and Injuries, Natural Disasters and Storms, Nature and the Outdoors, Psychological Horror, Strange and Unexplained, Survival Horror, Suspense and Thrillers, Zombies and the Undead 1 Comment
I think there’s three of them still out there — three wolves. Aside from the one I killed, I’ve only seen two at any given time, but they’re distinct enough for me to tell them apart — there are three of them. We’ve been trapped...
23 May The Heart and the Cabinet
Posted at 11:00h in Artifacts and Objects, Beings and Entities, Body Horror, Ghosts and Spirits 0 Comments
When a heart fell out of the medicine cabinet, Carrie Pickett screamed. Not two seconds ago, she’d wandered in, relieved herself, and opened the swing-door for her sleeping pills. Out it rolled, rebounding off the sink and against the floor with a sickening plop! The sudden movement startled...
22 May There’s a Dead Girl in My Mirror
Posted at 11:00h in Artifacts and Objects, Beings and Entities, Ghosts and Spirits, Strange and Unexplained 0 Comments
Saturday This sounds absolutely idiotic. I know you’ve all heard this kind of thing before – someone thinks her house is haunted, everyone else assures her that she’s just paranoid, and all kinds of terror and gore follows. It’s the stuff of every campy, B-list horror...
19 May The Attic in the Basement
“Quiet down, back there!” I yelled whilst driving down an all too familiar road. My best friend and his girlfriend wouldn’t stop laughing loudly with each other, much like young couples do. I almost regretted bringing them, but I really didn’t want to go alone,...
17 May The Clan of the Red Wolf
I’m a student at Bridgewater State in Massachusetts. I share a dorm with my roommate, Wallace. We both major in computer science, and that’s all we’ve ever talked about on the rare occasions that we actually speak to one another. We don’t have much else...
16 May The Clacking
I think the proudest moment of my life is when my son found the treasure on his Scouts’ Geocache Weekend in the Woods; my worst moment is what I found at the same time. Jacob had been excited since the first moment his troop announced they...
15 May The Bayou
Posted at 11:00h in Animals and Wildlife, Illness and Injuries, Locations and Sites, Nature and the Outdoors, Survival Horror 1 Comment
My name is Clem. I grew up in a little town in south Louisiana called Chickapin, about an hour west of New Orleans and right on the edge of the deep bayou. There were channels everywhere, and you could make it from my backyard all...