The Kaleidoscope
While honeymooning in Maine, my wife and I stopped in the picturesque town of Boothbay on a particularly dreary and rainy day. Since our planned picnic was out of the question, we sought shelter in a dilapidated little antique store near the harbour. While my wife inspected the large chests and side tables near the door, I eagerly examined the antique tools and seafaring equipment inside the glass sales counter at the back. Being a collector of optics and mariner’s instruments, I hoped to find a sextant, or perhaps an old leather-bound telescope.
A particularly interesting piece caught my eye. It appeared to be a heavy brass flashlight, bearing a worn brown patina but remarkably modern in design. I asked the shopkeeper, but he could only tell me it was found in the same old sailor’s chest as several of the compasses and the sextant also on display. He inquired as to whether I would like to purchase it for five dollars, or perhaps have it for free. “It’s worthless to me, nobody wants it.” When I remarked about the price, he sighed wearily, and then reached into the cabinet and retrieved it for me.
“Here, see for yerself, feller.”
The craftsmanship was wonderful—quite durable and apparently hand-made, perhaps originating from somewhere in Europe. Worn lettering indicated it might be German, or perhaps Austrian, in origin. I twisted the bulb housing and a weak red beam swept out. Poking it into a dark corner of the shop, I was greeted with fantastic monotone swirls, moving and entwining with each other like a pit of eels. As I stared further into this unusual projector-kaleidescope, my fanciful mind invented ghoulish faces and sinuous, gnarled tendrils.
Shutting the device off, I turned excitedly to the shopkeeper. “Fantastic!” I said. “It must have an oil filter of sorts in front of the lens! I have two Victorian kalediscopes, but none that are illuminated like this.”
“You don’t get it, do you? Nobody gets it. They all come back to return it after a while.” The shopkeeper leaned on the counter and I could see that he was breathing heavily and perspiring. “They all think it’s some sort of trick… till they start seeing it when the light’s off.”
“That ain’t no projection, mister. That… damned thing, that light… it ain’t makin’ up those creatures. It’s just lettin’ your eyes see what’s already there.”
D: That makes me paranoid…
I like
sounds pretty damn useful
i don’t want to get tentacle raped in my sleep by invisible monsters
Hm, interesting. I like it alot. If only there was more. Like a description of the creatures would be nice.
Meh… kinda bored me… it’s like the pasta is half written. Shoulda had an ending where he shrugs off the warning… checks it out without lights, and becomes one of the ghoulish faces or something
WUT?
Fantastic! Finally a good one. I love it. ^_^
Oh wow.
This sort of reminds me of LMLYUT’s mirror story on the forums.
Creepy D:
so-so, not all that creepy. but still better than the recent pastas have been.
Then WHO WAS WIFE?
Neat, this one makes me happy :3
Especially so after reading John Dies at the End.
The writing is really nice-it’s all flowy and I barely noticed that I was reading something at all. It sucked me in, all right.
I like that it’s creepy in a more subtle way, rather than “BOO! I’M COMING TO GETCHA!”
Now, if you’ll excuse me for my lack of coherence, I’m off to nurse my migraine~
Sounds familiar with John Carpenter’s “They Live”
The story seems abrupt. Is there a continuation of this?
Very Lovercraftian creature descriptions. Very nice.
Oooh… this one is good. Better than the others that have been around recently, at least.
REALLY GOOD! i love when it talks about the unknown and how things are lurking where we cant see them
well, i liked it alot; i didn’t mind the ending.
it was one of those you had to have a bit of your own imagination in.
I likes it.
I liked this one. Its better than one or two that have been up recently, and it leaves just enough mysteryous-ness for your imagination to fill up in.
lol @ anonymoose!!
so. who was creature?
Haha Cool I like this one..
I want that kaleidoscope now.
Also, this sounds like something Mr. Welldone would approve of.
Me likey. Me wanty.
not bad
wait…did cyarm propose that john should BECOME the demons?!?! BRILLIANT!!!
I WANT TO BELIEVE.
This one has been the best as of late, but I feel like there should have been more. It almost sounds like the author was set to write more and got board so they just ended it.
Also, since I didn’t see it in my hasty scrolling to the bottom of the page: WHO WAS FLASHLIGHT?
who was old man
niiiiiiiiiiiiiice^^. hurrah!
hehe sextant…
But then…
WHO WAS SEXTANT?
but….WHO WAS KALEIDOSCOPE?
I had to. .___.
That aside, I love this pasta…it provides enough, but at the same time, allows the reader to draw their own mystery from it.
WHO WAS FLASHLIGHT?
WHO WAS OWNER?
I like it . I like it a lot. :]
Oh, and wtf is a sextant?
…Uh, no…
I’m sorry, I’m too picky when it comes to creepypasta D:
Wow, Loooooved it. Sooooo nice. Hope the dude is stupid and buys it anyways.
Goooood pasta.
EPIC WIN!
The truth is out there!
And also, I agree with Reptilian Liar…… not my cup of tea ^_^
I lol’d because The Spiderwick Chronicles came into my head. =\
This was very well written, better than the pastas as of late.
=] yay!
Greetings
This one has quite the veracious ring to it. The truth is they are always watching.
So the shopkeep’s a creature? ^o)
SexualBubblegum …your name is made of win
A sextant is an old seafaring tool used to measure things at sea. I’m not sure what it measures, but I think it uses the sun/moon/stars.
I liked this, the only thing i didn’t like is to me it seemed like there should have been more between the comments from the storekeeper at the end, a response from the guy buying it or something? I mean its kind of like explaining a regular flashlight to someone that’s never seen one(I don’t know where you’d find that person but…) and being like “Everyone thinks its magic” then before they can react going “ITS NOT A TRICK IT LETS YOU SEE IN THE DARK” well not so much….I just thought the shop keeper talked funny there
I rather liked this one compared to the other pastas here. Very subtle.
I liked this one. The concept is great. The only issue I might have is that it feels a bit rushed… The shop keeper kind of gave up the truth of it too easily if you get what I mean. I htink the customer should have had to press him for it a lot more, considering what it’s meant to be.
I love this it is awsome and I love it. Oh my god it made the hair on my arms stand up.
damn i shit brix..
Better ending:
(Cut off from “Shutting the device off, I turned excitedly to…” and below)
I set the device down, fascinated, explaining to the shopkeeper the surprisingly creepy deformities of apparant nature created by the Kaleidoscope.
The shopkeeper casually replied, “Oh, it looks even better with the lights off”, he said as he flicked the rickity old light switch.
I looked into the device, but before I had even flipped the switch on, my viewpoint was filled with one ghoulish horror standing before me, in the exact spot I had seen the shopkeeper in, not a moment earlier.
The figure reached for me, and I screamed..
Not bad 49, but, that would conflict with the wife being in the shop too…
D:
Uh.
Abruptly ended much? D:
@49 What about the guy’s wife?
errm
gay.
didnt like it one little bit
found it boring and well- not scary in the slightest.
i meen compare it to the Girl int the picture
i meen that one i just read ant scary at all.
Seems incomplete, but intriguing.
I like the simplicity of this, better then a lot of other pasta’s.
i would like that i coulpd prove to my friends there is things in the dark noone can see those why i’m scared of the dark
Was all right… Not great.
….I wonder did the guy buy it or take it… I would like to have it…
I liked this one, but a short and abrupt ending.
Wants to see faces tooo…*steals*
BUT WHO WAS PERSON WHO SAID LAST LINE?
but who was mother
I want one.
BUY ME ONE MATE.
This one had a lot of potential. Could have been a bit longer.
soooo where exactly is the disadvantage in having this demon-detecting flashlight if the demons already exist and are supposedly fully capable of doing whatever the hell they want?
i can’t possibly see the logic in returning an item like that. ignorance is bliss?
This was brilliant.
i thought this one was really neat.
This is good. People seem to be saying that it should continue, but more would be pointless; it already ends perfectly well. The character is pretty cool too.
While the idea is very good, I can’t help but feel the writer was just trying to use big words to sound smart. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was written by a clever little teenager with a thesaurus.
The shopkeeper ruined it! Finding out by yourself is much more scarier.
Awesome!
Compare to H.P. Lovecraft’s “From Beyond”: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/fb.asp
In fact, if any story has writhing unnameable horrors that humans are just lucky enough to not see, check Lovecraft’s works; I’ve definitely found several on this site that are direct lifts from him.
Interesting. Very interesting. Gravebot, you are in no way similar to Mr. Welldone. Do not try.
Fear the Darkness
-Nex
i hate to break it to you, but this is basically a shorter version of H.P. Lovecraft’s “From Beyond”
10/10
Creepy as fuck…
Did any body else think of Flying Polyps?