I have a confession to make. I have been trying so hard to forget what I saw, but now that Halloween is right around the corner again, all these memories resurfaced all of a sudden. I now know it was wrong to keep my mouth shut. But before I tell […]
My Son Did Something Terrible on Halloween Read More »
“Ben? What are you doing in there?” I glanced up at the door briefly where my wife stood on the other side. “I’ll just be another minute.” There was no point in answering her question. She knew what I was doing, I’m sure. And she didn’t like it. And she
How Do You Kill a Monster? Read More »
Most towns have a library. They’re public buildings, institutions of knowledge and fantasy. The books held within are almost sacred; librarians and their assistants: the priests and acolytes of knowledge and lore. Some libraries, however, are not public. They hold forbidden secrets and untold stories. Congratulations, reader. This is your
The Library is Hungry Read More »
There was a time when I was younger that I didn’t let the people around me know that I smoked cigarettes or was a regular fan of vaping. My best friends and I would acquire some packs from older friends, and sneak off into the woods just behind the corner
Cigarettes Will Kill You Read More »
Grandma Elouise had strictly forbidden everyone in the family from going into the attic of her old farmhouse. She insisted that the ceiling door was far too heavy, and that someone would throw out their back, get a splinter, or smash their fingers if they tried to lift it. She
“Dude, you’ve never heard of Bunnyman Bridge?” I had been living in Virginia for less than six months when my buddy Scott asked me this question. I was a recent transplant from New Jersey and had no idea what he was talking about. We were sitting on the lawn outside
Have You Ever Been to Bunnyman Bridge? Read More »
I have a friend, Tomas, who works as a freelance artist creating booths and installations for event shows. He’s quite talented at designing interactive presentations for companies to showcase their products. The last time we got together, he told me that he had signed on to be part of “something
I’ve always enjoyed Halloween. It’s a great holiday, it’s fun, and above all, I like getting scared. All these reasons make it like Christmas for me and my family. My parents actually like it as much as me. Besides trick-or-treating, they’d watch horror movies with me and take me to
My Boyfriend Investigated A Strange Noise on Halloween Read More »
At no point during the night was she more than a half-mile from the police station, but the park was thinly lit, and the road snaked through forest in both directions. I took a personal interest in her story after I learned about how badly her body had been mutilated.
God, I wish we hadn’t changed our Halloween routine last year. For three years, ever since they have been old enough, we have done the same thing, go trick or treating in the village with some of my daughter’s school friends. Last year we decided to mix it up a
I Found a Lost Little Girl at a Halloween Attraction Read More »
Too many sages and soothsayers to reference, those thoughtful idiots, have lambasted the youth with the wizardry of profundity. They had answers to the esoteric. Of Life. Of Death. Of the end. Who are they? What do they really know of the darkness? What do they fancy as truth or
“The Candy Man can ’cause he mixes it with love, and makes the world taste good.” ~Willy Wonka Every town has its ghost stories. Maybe it’s the haunted house on the other side of the railroad tracks, or the spirit that haunts the tunnel in the woods, but people love
Little Johnny got a fudge pop laced with razors. Susan got an orange pop filled with hydrochloric acid. Billy got Dip N’ Dots dipped in fire ant poison. 97 more to go. A new park everyday; new deaths every night. He was careful, always making false leads, always covering his
For seven consecutive years, no one has gone trick-or-treating in Bigelow County. In fact, no one in that rural, God-fearing little town celebrates Halloween. At all. Under pressure from concerned parents, elderly residents – who make up the majority of the electorate, and the four churches – all of some
The Town That Banned Halloween Read More »
I lost my laptop for a few days, and after a thorough search of my apartment, I retraced my steps to an internet café called Trista’s that I occasionally visit. I could have sworn I remembered having it after leaving Trista’s, and I knew it was a long shot, but I
The sun shone dimly through gray skies, barely illuminating a vague dirt road upon which a young teen walked. The young man was tired, fighting off fatigue as he forced one foot in front of the other, desperate to find an inn. His perseverance was soon rewarded by the sight
Where the Nightmares Go Read More »
An open letter to the killer of Samantha B. If you’re somehow able to read this wherever you are now, know that I will find you. No father should have to watch their child lowered into the sacred silence of the earth. I don’t know if there is a right
An Open Letter To My Daughter’s Killer Read More »
It’s that time of the year again. I know how I’m going to be spending Halloween. Same way I have for the past two years, slowly nursing a beer in the bar. Watching the glass sweat on that smooth wooden counter, staring at it till it goes warm in my
One Last Trick-or-Treat Read More »
Slow is the smolder of fire igniting in flesh. The skin cracks and dries and powders to ash, incinerating extremities long before flame penetrates to vital systems. The eyes will boil from the skull and cartilage will melt and run like wax. The insulated brain will be protected all the
The True Legend of Friday The 13th Read More »
When I was just a little kid, my grandmother on my mother’s side once scared the living shit out of me. I’ve never forgotten that terrifying moment of my youth. Until now, it was just a fond memory of a silly little boy in his Scooby-Doo pajamas running down the
The message has been smuggled via a plaintext file saved to a MicroSD that I pray survives its trip to the surface. If the journalist or civilian receiving this can read this message, I am posting covertly from a deep marine lab that officially does not exist. Its codename, as
Spearhead Unlit Frontier Read More »
The Stanwyck Ghost Tours used to be a tradition in my hometown around Halloween. It was always cheap and heavy on the schlock. Hammy tour guides, cheesy music, cheap decorations. Picture Monster Mash as a two-hour ghost tour, and you get the idea. But given the town’s limited history and
The new epidemic is already beyond its patient zero. Whether or not I am infected, I am confident that Mr. Bridestar will soon have me murdered. He will do this in order to keep the disease’s name unknown. I won’t let him win, though. At least not completely. Although this
Sometimes when you’re a kid, you dream shit that you don’t tell your parents. And it’s not because what you dreamt was so bad, but because you have no words to explain what the fuck it was you dreamt. Add that I’d had the dream the night before Halloween. Add
Jamie Lee Curtis and the Night They Filmed Halloween On Our Street Read More »
