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The Kaleidoscope



Estimated reading time — 2 minutes

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.

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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.”

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“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.”

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111 thoughts on “The Kaleidoscope”

  1. Dammit, I wanted to read more! It’s short and sweet, but could just imagine a nice longish story about the guy not being told what he’s seeing, buying it and then find out slowly. Maybe have them interact with the guy more and more, like a doorway. And a great ending were he ends up seeing them all the time everywhere not sure if he’s gone mad.
    If you ever consider writing a longer version I’d love to read it!

  2. Nicola Marie Jackson

    This one is wonderfully weird. Maybe shouldn’t read it at 4:40 in the morning when I can’t get to sleep, but still a cracking little Pasta that justifies its high rating. Small problem though: I need a wee but don’t want to have to get out the quilt….lordy, I’m a wuss xxx

  3. would have been better if he didn’t get the warning from the guy. show us the horrors, don’t just tell us “here’s a spooky thing”…… it should be something like, he takes the flashlight home, plays around with it, DISCOVERS that the light reveals what’s there, then one final Big Scary Thing happens. maybe they can interact with humans? noticing them lets them notice you? staring at them too long makes you turn into them? something along those lines. rly nice start, cool idea, but it’s soooooo short and has no actual description or build up.

  4. Brilliant story! Short and sweet, just like I like my creepypasta. You’ve mastered the art of stripping away the unnecessary elements, leaving a brief story that packs a horrifying punch. Other than “kaleidoscope” being spelled a different way every time it pops up, I can’t find anything I dislike about it.

  5. The ending was really the hook that had me excited to read more, and then it just ends so abruptly. Docked points for that.

  6. Yawn….pretty boring,and definitely doesn’t deserve to be in the top ten.Also….
    WHO WAS MORON SHOPKEEPER WHO LET HIM USE THE DAMN THING!!!!?

  7. i hate to break it to you, but this is basically a shorter version of H.P. Lovecraft’s “From Beyond”

  8. Interesting. Very interesting. Gravebot, you are in no way similar to Mr. Welldone. Do not try.

    Fear the Darkness

    -Nex

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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?

  12. shortys roc my sox

    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

  13. 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.

  14. 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..

  15. 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.

    1. Nicola Marie Jackson

      Maybe the shopkeeper was sick of giving refunds? I don’t know, it’s 5am and I can’t sleep s ok my brains not working at full strength and my full strength is just about everyone else’s “Dipshit” rating and so you can see my quandary. Tell me you see my quandary, Simone! Xx

  16. 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

  17. 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.

  18. I lol’d because The Spiderwick Chronicles came into my head. =\

    This was very well written, better than the pastas as of late.
    =] yay!

  19. 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.

  20. 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?

  21. The Person Formerly Known as 'Noneya'

    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.

  22. 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.

  23. 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~

  24. 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

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