Chapter 1 “The Tunnel to Hell” The mountain groaned and geysers of fire burst from its sides. Clouds of sulphur whirled around its peak like bird murmurations and the sky churned over in red spasms all around. At the base of Dragon’s Back Mountain, Royce was...
Drac’s head had been bashed to such an extent that he was barely recognizable. He was Zack’s firstborn and the one he adored more than any of his other children. He’d just turned ten when his mutilated body was discovered lying on the floor of...
She stopped as her legs ached from hours of walking. She had come far. Very far. The day and night seemed to intertwine, never being distinct, if there could be said to be a circadian movement in the subtly shifting gray above at all. There...
Subject Two One Eight “Write. Anything you can remember. Anything that comes to mind.” I remember looking up from the thick orange gloves covering my hands. Staring into the dark eye holes of his mask. But in truth, when he slid the pen across the table, I...
I’m a veteran detective working in a mid-size city, retirement age but not ready to rest yet. Among all of the standard assignments I’ve covered, I’ve seen my share of strange cases, only a few of which have made me struggle when it came to...
In the summer of 2025, a large house just outside of a small town in northern New Hampshire went on the market. I’d been watching and waiting for years, because it was where I grew up. I was even born there, after my mother suddenly...
I inherited this house only three months ago and it haunts me. I’ve walked its slim hallways and dark rooms, checking again and again if the doors are locked, the windows closed tightly, and the drapes drawn. No light and no peering eye may pierce...
Part I “Who is he?” my son inquired, pointing to the tall figure drawn upon the dusty, nearly crumbling page. As a reproduction of a reproduction of a reproduction, the history book could have easily been mistaken for the mad scribblings of troglodytes in their firelit...
Part I Mindy Ayers noticed the new girl’s reflection before she noticed her. The conference room’s wall of glass caught everyone at the table in unflattering profile, except for the woman near the head. On the far right pane, Mindy’s own reflection blurred where the fluorescent light...
Part I Alden Richards watched Ambrose Massey through the cracked pane of the bar’s side window, the glass warped enough to twist the man’s head into a mild distortion. Neon from the sign outside bled over Ambrose’s hair as he sat in his usual place near...
Looking for a new beginning, Cameron takes a high-paying job at a pharmaceutical plant with a lot of secrets—and even more red tape. But when his body begins changing in impossible ways, he suspects the work isn’t just dangerous—it’s transformational. As he peels back the...
A quiet lakeside retreat was supposed to be the perfect cure for burnout. When overworked insurance broker Kyle rents a secluded cabin at Clearwater Lake, he plans to spend the week recovering and finally finishing his novel. But when he discovers a strange artifact buried...
Brett Barbour sees the package placed next to his front door as he pulls his Bronco up to the house. He feels the kind of tingling excitement that’s always felt when such packages arrive. It’s not quite the same feeling as receiving presents on Christmas...
My name’s Ariana, and I wasn’t supposed to be the responsible one. That’s usually Mom’s job. But when my mother and father, Elaine and David, left for a week-long work trip, the responsibility of keeping an eye on my sixteen-year-old sister fell squarely on me. I...
“Can you believe this crap?” Doug asked his younger brother, David. The Sunday night football game featuring their vaunted Steelers had meandered to its soul-wrenching conclusion: a Steelers loss. “You knew good and darned well that this was gonna be a rerun of last season,” David...
David Halloway had lived in the new city for less than three months, and already the novelty of relocation had worn away. His apartment was smaller than the one he’d left behind, the traffic worse, the food scene less impressive than the online blogs had...
When lurid Halloween posters featuring a wolf-like mascot named Mickey start appearing in his small Minnesota town, Jon is the only one unsettled by the sight. As the event draws near, the whole community seems gripped by a strange excitement—and an eerie phrase they all...
I’m not really sure how to start this. I’ve never told the whole thing before. I don’t know if what happened to me qualifies as scary in the way most folks think, but it’s true. Every damn bit of it. And it was scary. In...
TRIGGER WARNING: The following story was originally published in the January 1943 edition of Weird Tales, a pulp horror magazine aimed at white audiences. Like many authors of their time, the author of this story used racial tropes uncritically, reflecting both the systemic racism of...
They sent us out just three days after the water started receding, while Aquarena Springs still smelled like algae and rot. You could see where the flood had chewed up the shoreline, deposits of tangled grass and fish bones clung to the fencing that marked...
