“Biiip,” echoed the machine in the empty back room by the door as my employee identification card swiped it. “Clocked out: 10:17 p.m. Have a good evening, Anthony.” It was a long walk to my car. The restaurant I worked at was right on the beach—I mean, like, basically on […]
When I was alive, or, more accurately, the last time I was alive, I honestly didn’t give a lot of thought to the idea of life after death. It never seemed important; when you’re young, and your whole life’s ahead of you, death and its possible consequences seem so distant
I Was Reincarnated and I Hope it Never Happens Again Read More »
It was night and gloomy and somber and serene. There was the wardrobe in front of me and on its higher corners dust had gathered and yet within the somberness the wooden fabric seemed to stretch out cosmically, darkly away. I was sitting and looking at my computer when I
A Million Tinges of Red – NGC 1569 Read More »
The old radio crackled to life, the static a constant hiss against the silence of Alex’s room. He’d been tinkering with the dials for hours, searching for the usual crackle of distant stations or the hum of late-night broadcasts. Tonight, though, the airwaves seemed empty.Then, a faint chirp broke through.
“Here we go,” Robert says, staring at the national broadcast system warning as it flashes across the TV screen. He sits in his dad’s old blue recliner wondering if he should be more worried. The world as he knows it is coming to an end and he rests in the
Nearer My God to Thee Read More »
Night One Hello, I am Sally, or Sal for short. I have a story for you that happened about a year ago. I need to tell someone because it is a tale that has been gnawing away at my mind. It is a story that still haunts my nightmares today
“Come on.” The voice was distant but still clear. “You’re dragging your feet. You didn’t have to come. You wanted to. So let’s go.” Her voice had irritation to it, almost offensive. I groaned and steadied my pace, walking only a bit faster. “I’m coming, Celine. Jesus Christ.” I snapped
My Bestfriend Was a Ghost Hunter, I Wish I Never Went. Read More »
It was a stormy night on Welkes Street. The street sign creaked back and forth as the wind blew past it. Heavy rain water flowed into drains on every corner as debris from trees was picked up and whisked away. Toby Forest sat on his bed, watching the rain beat
The Ghost of Levi Johnson Read More »
“How do you know that what you experience is real?” Was the question I posed to my class that blustery Thursday morning in January. I teach psychology at the University of Maryland, in College Park, Maryland, and that day we were beginning our unit on perception and cognition, one of
The Hallucinations of Cy Abrendo Read More »
The sound of the doorbell echoed through my empty house like a banshee’s wail. It was Halloween night, and I was alone. Not by choice, but because it was my ex’s turn to take our kids, Lily and Ben, trick-or-treating. The custody agreement was part of the divorce proceedings. Though
The Unanswered Doorbell: A Halloween Nightmare Read More »
Cole stood alone on a hill in a world without color. There was fog all around him, and he did not know where he was. The boy could not see more than five feet ahead of him in any direction. Only the dead grass beneath his feet offered any clue
As a young radio DJ back in the 80’s I was beyond thrilled when I landed my first job at a local station. But my excitement quickly turned to dread when I was assigned to the night shift. It wasn’t just the strange hours that unnerved me; it was the
Haunting Melodies: The Curse of the Mysterious Caller Read More »
Deep within the dark, foreboding woods, nestled among the gnarled trees and overgrown shrubs, stood the abandoned cabin, shrouded in mystery. Its cracked walls and broken windows bore witness to the passage of time, and its wooden door creaked ominously as if warning intruders to turn back. Rumors of a
The Haunting Melody Read More »
I found the following letter in a music text book in our school library.It’s pretty weird, but thought it would be best to share it here…make of it what you will. “Hey.I’ve been mulling over sharing this or not for the past two weeks. I can’t tell anyone, no one
He promised himself he would quit after the last time, but here he was with a small square of aluminum foil gripped between his thumb and index finger. The last trip was challenging; he learned about the difference between a bad trip and a terror trip, and concluded the former
The Only Thing You Know Read More »
You’ve probably never counted how many steps are on your staircase, yet, if you were to walk those steps with your eyes closed, you’d know exactly when you’ve reached the top. So, what would you do if you knew you’d reached the top, and then suddenly, there was one more
The last man on Earth heard a knock at the door. This was nothing new. He heard a new knock and a new plea for help every hour of every day. It was the Revenants. The undead. They had come back, and just as they had done for decades in
Whispers in the Hallway Read More »
I watched the fog creep along the ground and through the treeline at the edge of the property in a daze. I had been staring for a while, slowly realizing that I was still tightly gripping a mug. My hand trembled as I brought the tepid coffee to my lips,
Demented Marionette Read More »
There’s something about the crunch of leaves under my boots that reminds me of death. Walking down an unlit path to get back to my house, I’m regaled with that feeling with every passing step as I travel through the park. A shortcut between my home and a friend’s Halloween
A Shadow in the Woods Read More »
A mild night in the New England countryside. An empty field with an omnipresence of untrimmed grass and wild weeds left to grow unabated. The field is surrounded by a lumbering audience of trees. The moon casts its glows of judgment, the dim light graciously cast is swallowed by a
Composer of the Unknown Read More »
I open my eyes, yet they do not see. I reach out with my hands, yet I am constrained. I inhale deeply, but dank air fills my lungs. Where am I? My mind races as I try to remember how I got in this predicament. It is pitch blackness that
At three A.M. I was awoken to an ear piercing scream coming from the woods. Waking up my husband, I ask him to listen to the sound, it persisted for several minutes. “It sounds like a mountain lion, it’s probably trying to lure in some bait, no one screams like
The Screaming In The Woods Read More »
Things have been tough ever since mom passed. Dad’s a complete shell of himself, and I’ve been left on my own to sort through the abundance of emotions I’m going through. It was actually a relief when Dad told me he was going to head to the cabin for the
Don’t ignore the motion sensors Read More »
“I want you to know I’m not crazy. What I tell you in this office today is just to clear my head so I can get past all the damn nightmares. Past the demons” Joshua stated. Dr. Hugh listened but did not acknowledge as he read over the man’s handwritten
The man in the window Read More »
