The school bell in the old high school rung like it does every night at 12 but nobody knows who rings it. Nobody knows why either. Some say that the bells are rung to call all of the spirits to the school, but that might just be part of an urban legend. I don’t know…
17-MAY-2008 Fort Huachuca, Arizona Just like the old marching cadence, it’s the“Same old shit again” indeed. And now here I am marching my own Soldiers off to one of several pre-deployment briefings being held today. Most of it’s just the usual mandatory stuff, what to do in combat situations we might not actually get to…
Skype is a pretty useful tool to me. I’m an artist, so I tend to use my hands a lot and skype lets me talk without having to hold a phone. Guess I’m just too much of a multitasker for my own good. But, whether or not it was a good quality I sure valued…
The Town of Willowing Hills A collection of true stories surrounding a mysterious town nestled between a mountain and valley, in the middle of nowhere. Taken from residents of this town, who have written in wishing for someone to investigate the strange occurences of which they report on. These residents wish to have their names…
I awoke this morning with a dull ache in my head. I took two Excedrin and went about my day. It’s probably due to the change in pressure outside. It should pass as the day goes by. Eight hours and four Excedrin later the pain has greatly intensified. I have made plans to go see…
This story was one of the scare stories my grandmother used to tell me as a child. I cannot verify its authenticity or provide any proof of it having originated from a real experience, except from the fact that nearly everyone in my mother’s family knew of the story and can relate it to me…
Have you ever noticed an ordinary person simply standing somewhere that was obviously unreasonable? Like an elderly woman idle near a pub’s back entrance or a child motionless outside a bank. Yes, I know, I too thought, “Well, there’s got to be a logical reason behind it. So what? They’re probably waiting for someone or…
It’s the summer, and you’re out of your college classes for at least a week or two, before the next semester starts. You’ve spent this time lounging around and sleeping a lot. But lately, correspondence between your local friends has dropped off. They don’t drop by. Your phone’s been quiet for a while, and your…
It was a warm summer night. There was a refreshing breeze entering through my bedroom window, blowing away the still humidity and warmth that stuck to my body like a wet blanket. Despite the cooling breeze, it was far too hot to sleep properly. It was 2:13 AM, I stared at the ceiling as my…
My boyfriend and I decided to go down to the South for a week. Hike the Great Smokies and everything. We rented a cozy cabin, secluded, in the woods, not many people milling around. It was the end of summer, still some tourism going, but not much. We thought it would be the perfect getaway…
I LOVE GOSSIP. Every chance I get, I watch Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, Steve Wilkos, and that new girl Zara Zimmerman. All sleaze, all the time. The revelation of other people’s secrets sends a thrill through me like an electrical jolt. Cheating lovers, absent fathers, all sorts of liars – they get what’s coming to…
Alex leans in to examine the wall closer. Alex and her partner, Rebecca, had been driving for the last four hours and Rebecca had a tendency to fill the silence with her trademark “stream of consciousness” chatter. As soon as Alex heard the final cough from her engine after she twisted the key and yanked…
As the last of the crisp brown Autumn leaves fell to the worn pavement, the young man let out a sigh. So much had happened in the time since he left in the spring of 2001. His home, his workshop, even his favorite stores and restaurants were gone. Walking past the town hall, he was…
For several nights I have seen a man vanish into the woods behind my home; a man that I do not recognize. It started three nights ago. I thought nothing of it at first; perhaps he was a homeless man living in some clearing in the woods, or possibly a drug addict looking for a…
I thought she was playing a practical joke the first-time she did it. I was in the kitchen, getting dinner ready when she walked in the front door mid conversation. I expected to see her on her mobile but I noticed both hands were holding things – her briefcase and a parcel that had been…
The Carpathian mountains cast a long shadow as the Sun set. I was in this God-forsaken place for my brother. He had left three months ago, leaving a voicemail before vanishing. He said he was on to something, that it might take some time, but that when he returned, we would have no more worries….
I can see them. I could always see them. I don’t think they have yet noticed me, noticing them. They are everywhere. They follow us at work. They sit with us on the city bus or on the subway. They are there when we eat, watch t.v., sleep, even when we fuck! They whisper to…
You’ve always had a slightly ridiculous phobia of mirrors. It’s never interfered with your life before, except in small and completely inconsequential ways. You’d close your eyes during a middle school session of Bloody Mary, would rush past them in a dark hallway, things any red blooded American raised on a steady diet of horror…
You know we’re here. We’re that presence you feel the thing that pushes you to run up or down the stairs as if the steps were made of hot coals. We’re the thing that keeps you turning around when walking down a dark empty street alone. We’re the thing that makes you cower under the…
All too often, my nights would end with a freezing walk to the nearest payphone to reach out to a friend for some help. My car was a piece of shit. To be brief and spare you the mechanical jargon, it had a nasty habit of dying on me. Being a native to mountainous regions…
How ironic, Cnaeus thought to himself as the glowing horizon signaled the start of the new day. The trees his men had cut down to expand the protective walls of the Roman fort he commanded had led to the release of a horde of bloodthirsty monsters. And those monsters had come in force that very…
I really need to let this out. I can’t bear to live with what happened that night anymore. Every time I close my eyes I can see the death in her eyes, and the malice in his. I had just recently moved out to Scotland with my fiancé. We had moved to a beautiful town…
During my sophomore year of high school, my family moved from urban Knoxville to a tiny one-horse town in Alabama. My dad’s employer offered him a significant promotion in exchange for helping to rebuild a failing branch of their company, though their desire to save that particular sector is still a mystery to me. The…
It was around midday when the call came. My manager at Target was asking whether I could work that night. The store had been understaffed recently since many of my co-workers had left town. I didn’t think much of it at the time; I didn’t really have time to make friends in the retail business…