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 »
“Goddammit! Not again!” screamed Ricky after opening the much-anticipated email. “Pinche pendejo!” he said even louder. “Hijo de tu puta madre!” He picked up his expensive mouse and threw it against the wall. “Besa mi culo, puto!” He slammed his fists down, shattering the tricked out, top of the line
After my dad shared his Halloween tale about the disappearance of his best friend Jake and the town’s O-Lantern Man urban legend, I asked him if he would tell me another story…and he did, several. We were actually up pretty late that night talking about my dad’s childhood. My dad said he had experienced so many terrifying and bizarre encounters, he figured it would be best to start from the beginning.
It Came From the Haunted House Across the Street Read More »
Growing up, my dad would tell me scary stories, ones he claimed he experienced during his childhood. His stories would both fascinate and terrify me. As I grew older, the stories he would share became less frequent until they eventually came to an end. Maybe because I stopped believing. I
Be Home by Midnight on Halloween Night Read More »
My foot tapped eagerly on the floor of the internet cafe. I looked at the unattended laptop, then back to the counter. The laptop been sitting there, unlocked, for over 10 minutes— it would be an easy sell, and I had bills to pay. As soon as the barista opened
The Devil’s Playground Read More »
Detective Martinez dragged on his filter-tipped cigarette, watching the fiery cherry rapidly descend to the orange paper. He heaved a deep sigh on the exhale, regretting having to work into the wee hours. The spent cigarette tumbled from his hand, landing on the wet Tarmac with a fizz. He reached
I’d never been inside of one before. An awkward, out-of-place-feeling little room nuzzled between a failing Irish pub and an antiques shop, I’d honestly forgotten these things existed in the vast metro area of my city. Until I needed one. College essay, see, and I hadn’t even begun it – just my luck for my laptop to obnoxiously die the weekend before the paper was due. I tried to borrow a friend’s computer, but no dice; as for plan B, my school’s library was out of rentable laptops. To the local, seedy internet café I went then, where I had always been told the poverty-stricken perverts surfed for porn and the seemingly parent-less children crowded around online games.
They Like To Play Games Read More »
Being poor is tough, but it hits especially hard during the holidays. Halloween is the first reminder that you don’t have the disposable income for your kid’s happiness. I took Austin down to a local thrift store we visited frequently. They had a rack of reject costumes from supermarkets, a
My Son Won’t Take Off His Halloween Costume Read More »
The storm made the city street a blur to Tim Avery as he walked rapidly down the sidewalk. Rain fell just heavily enough to make people run to their cars or take shelter in the shadows of store awnings. To Tim, however, walking through the rain seemed right. It felt like it might
