
Word Count:
278
Sokushinbutsu
Scattered throughout Northern Japan are two dozen mummified Japanese monks known as Sokushinbutsu. Followers of Shugendô, an ancient form of Buddhism, the monks died in the ultimate act of self-denial. For three years the priests would ...

Word Count:
277
The Demon Within
It was past midnight now, and I still had a while until I met my destination. The girl I picked up an hour ago was asleep in the seat beside me. She was a hitchhiker. I ...

Word Count:
277
These Used To Be Red
"Those used to be green!" the man said aloud, staring at the plants on the sill. "I swear! They were green just yesterday!" he shouted to his wife, who was reading a book across the room ...

Word Count:
275
The Photograph Pile
A young girl walking home from school found a small pile of Polaroid photos lying in the gutter. There were twenty in all, neatly wrapped in a rubber band. She picked them up, and as she ...

Word Count:
274
Ode to the Slender-Man
Upon the cloudy night he did come, The Slender-Man hunts for his prey. Alone, a walker roams the forest he does, and within seconds, gone they are away. The detectives they hunt for clues of the ...

Word Count:
274
The Woman in the Oven
During the summer of 1983, in a quiet town near Minneapolis, Minnesota, the charred body of a woman was found inside the kitchen stove of a small farmhouse. A video camera was also found in the ...

Word Count:
273
Any Final Thoughts
The overwhelming majority of your actions in life will have no effect on your eternal condition. After all, does a grain of sand have any effect on a prodigious star? Of course it doesn’t. The star ...

Word Count:
271
The Music Box
You know how it goes. When you were a child, your favourite thing was your music box. It would play a soothing yet haunting melody that lulled you to sleep, or provided background noise for playtime ...

Word Count:
268
The Sleepwalker
I have dreamed more than once that a man may attain immortality by assiduously avoiding daylight, for it is only by the light of the sun that he ages; knowing this secret, one might go on ...

Word Count:
268
Remember To Turn On The Lights
I walked into the bed and breakfast tired as ever. First I entered the bathroom, turned on the light and washed up. I was too exhausted to turn on the rest of the lights in the ...

Word Count:
268
The New Year
New Year’s night is a time of bliss and celebration Joy to one and all, but one for the duration But all through the night till the morning after sedation The lowly eyeball man finds a ...

Word Count:
264
Will You Sleep Tonight?
My name is often whispered, my memory abhorred, My touch brings out the blisters, my skin is cracked and torn. My eyes are small and heartless, just circles black as soot. They blend into the darkness, ...

Word Count:
264
Remember to Turn the Lights On
I was six, maybe seven years old when this happened. My family had just gotten back from visiting my aunt's house. My cousins were watching a scary movie in the basement, and even though my parents ...

Word Count:
263
The Prince’s Fresh Start
Somewhere in West Philadelphia, you will find an old basketball court with a single ball lying in the middle. Pick it up and start shooting hoops. After a while, a small group of hooligans will approach ...

Word Count:
261
Father Figure
My father’s footsteps ringing distant from the hall was my lullaby when I was younger. In the dead of night, when my back was turned to the door, I would hear the familiar padding of his ...

Word Count:
258
Number 77’s Death
Early in the morning of August 19, 2005, the body of a young black man approximately 16 or 17 years old was found on Wolfe Street, in downtown Baltimore. The corpse lay in a pool of ...

Word Count:
258
The Pregnancy
Since before I could remember, I've wanted to be a mother. It seemed my whole childhood and teenager years were spent yearning for a child of my own. By the time I was nine, I had ...