Everybody loves the woods, until they follow you home. When my father came back from the military, we bought our first house—a boxy, two-story affair on the woodsy outskirts part of town. I was twelve, going on thirteen then. Our neighborhood was a little off the beaten path, nestled somewhere
Forever and Always Read More »
Darlene Kelly’s eyes scanned the set of hoof prints in the mud where she knelt. Her eyes moved to the thick underbrush in front of them, where something large had fled, tearing a hole in the autumn foliage. She could see crimson specks on a patch of leaves to the
Heart of the Rotwood Read More »
The light of the camp fire offered little comfort to the panic that surged through him. His blood might as well have been pure adrenaline. His senses were on high alert, triggering him, causing him to jump at the slightest sight or sound. “AAAGGHHHHHHHHH! HEEEEELLLP ME”! There was that scream
I was discussing Creepypasta’s with my grandfather. He had never heard the term before, and kind of snickered at it. After I explained to him what they were, he said, “We used to just call them urban legends.” He wanted some examples, and I gave him a few of the
Jess steadied her breath as she saw the buck. She was behind a fallen log dug deep into the blanket of snow that lay across the ground. She brought her rifle up to her shoulder and rested it on her cover, moving ever so slowly as to not startle the
What Waits in the Cold Read More »
Thursday, 26th March 2020 There is an old monastery not far from my home in a quiet part of the country. It sits among a ten acre forest where it looms ominously over the local flora. I am writing this because of what I saw there tonight. The pale mannequin
The Music in the Woods Read More »
I had not received any replies from my good friend Colorado in over a week, and I wasn’t happy. All my efforts to play games with him online, or even just to meet-up and hang-out, were left on read. Not only was that bad enough, I had nobody to spend
It’s mid January, and, as I had recently turned 19, I had decided that it was time to take a rite of passage to manhood so to speak. So after nagging my parents (my mother mostly to be honest) for weeks, they had finally caved to my pleas to take
Not many people take me seriously. I get it. Someone with a traumatic past, like mine, must be nuts, right? But, I know what I’ve seen. I know all too well. You see, I’m a Bigfoot hunter. But, I don’t like calling it that. First, there is more than one
Please stay away from Wayne National Forest Read More »
“Careful. Careful. Don’t let him spot us.” Jackson whispered to me as I aimed down the sights of my brand new hunting rifle. We’d been set up inside this old deer blind of his for about 4 and a half hours now without any sign of life other than ours
I need to get this information off my chest. I’m writing this on the shoulder of the highway in Utah. It’s 4 am, and I’ve been driving nonstop for almost 2 hours. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Utah, but it gets pitch black at night; nothing exists
I Discovered a New Species While Backpacking in Utah Read More »
Around five years ago, my sister graduated from college with a master’s degree. She was always wicked smart. She graduated not only with honors, but six months early as well. Instead of graduating in the beginning of summer, she graduated in the middle of winter. I promised her we’d do
My Sister And I Went To A Cabin In The Middle Of Winter Read More »
He tried not to get too close to the man because he smelled like salty chum and rotten fish. Eventually, the scent receded as he went inside the cabin for a nap, leaving Dr. Peters alone on the deck with his pen and yellow-paged notebook. The marine biologist sat by
The bus hit a sharp bump in the road, ripping me from my somewhat peaceful sleep. I groggily look out of the window to see a sleepy village with small cottages, looking as if they were pulled straight from the 1800’s. Dark clouds loomed overhead making the sky an imposing
It’s cold. It’s always cold in January. Isn’t it? This January is not so unusual after all, it would seem. It’s still cold. The snow still hangs low in the branches of the evergreens. The snow fox can still be glimpsed occasionally darting in and out of the treeline. No,
Ikuutayuq: An Inuit Folktale Read More »
Sam laid and stared at the green alarm clock blaring endlessly inches from his face. In his groggy state, he had to think about what the arms of the mechanical clock were telling him as he clicked it off. “4:30” he said out loud to nobody as he shook his
It was summer break and my best friend Liam invited me and a couple of our other friends to his family’s cottage. I’ve visited their cottage many times in the past but for my friends this was going to be a new experience. On Saturday morning about 2 weeks into
Journey in the Woods Read More »
They walked the path because they had always walked the path. This year there were nine children, swallowed in coats of gray, slogging through drifts of soft, powdered snow as the bald trees stood sentinel. They had come a long way, almost halfway up the mountain, yet still the path
My name is James Lockely and I have been a backpacking guide around the world for most of my life. From the frozen wastes of the Russian tundra to the tropical dense jungles of the Amazon and damn near everything in between. Always putting my clients’ needs above my own,
We hauled our bodies through a gap in the stone, entering into a narrow chamber. The walls were lined with skittering insects, and from beneath the stone far under my feet I could sense the flailing of eyeless fish swimming blindly in pools of black water. A dim circle of
I recently inherited my grandfather’s rural home. A log cabin buried deep within 100 acres of woodland— a picturesque scene untouched for decades and a perfect dwelling that I am now proud to call my own. I would spend the weekends here as a child. The wooded paths,
What Lies Within the Hollow Tree Read More »
Every year since my son Lucas turned 10, he, my wife Jennet, and I have taken a week-long vacation in Vermont. Years ago, my wife’s father left her a small cottage by a lake I had never heard of, in a town I had also never heard of up to
A Town Where Strange Things Happen Read More »
One night outside Longfield, Massachusetts was all it took to never feel peace again. The little town is not too far from Thoreau’s famed Walden, and curiosity drove me and some like-minded friends to make the trek one hot summer. It’s a little place, and so secluded that you won’t
New England Residents Beware Read More »
3:30 p.m., 1-September: One three-person party entered the Rio Grande National Forest in Hinsdale County, Colorado. They consisted of Trevor Nyson (37 years old) and Matilda Nyson (33 years old), a married couple, and Benny Nyson (8 years old), their only son. 5:31 p.m., 1-September: Trevor and Matilda, highly distraught,
Monster Hunting and Other Inadvisable Behavior Read More »
