The leaves rustled under my boots as we climbed up the hill. I was cold. I was tired. I was bored. I’ll never forget that fateful fall weekend my dad dragged me out hunting. He told me I was ten and it was time I started growing up. Time to …
“Dad, look!” I looked up from the dusty and dirty old map I had been examining for the past seventeen minutes to see what Liam was pointing at through the window, feeling worried and upset that I still hadn’t got any clue at all as to our whereabouts. He was …
Something was Following us When we were Stranded in the Middle of the Sea Read More »
My mouth was covered by my older brothers’ hand, shallow, panicked breaths escaping between the sweat between the cracks of his fingers. Both of us whimpering underneath our house in the crawlspace. Our sweatpants and Fanshawe t-shirts covered in spider webs, dirt, and blood. I am crying underneath his hand. …
January 11, 2022 [tap, tap] Hello, um, [clears throat] hey Night Crawlers… if I can still call you that. So, listen, it’s January 11, 2022, and… I know it’s been a while since you heard from me… I’m honestly surprised any of you are here… but if you’ll let me, …
It was October 26th, and I was at the supermarket grabbing a few things I would need for Halloween, before it closed. Specifically candy to hand out to the kids in my neighborhood. While I was there, I picked up a few other things that I needed, as well. I …
Monday 28 December 18:00 I’m not sure how long humans are supposed to stay sane without human interaction but I’ve been doing alright so far I think. The silence is much worse anyway. The initial shock of it all was extremely unnerving though. After the panic attack and near mental …
As his aged, wrinkled fingers weaved through the long beard flowing from his face, that noise came again. Only this time, it was louder. There he sat, hunched over the stained oak table that had arrived years ago with no explanation. It had come whilst he slept; absent one night, …
These days being a hazmat guy is fairly routine work. Despite some of the popular misconceptions, there really isn’t a whole lot to it. I show up to a site, handle business, and let chemistry take care of the rest. As one might expect, working under a contracting agency means …
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 …
Read Part one here Read Part two here Read Part three here For at least a good ten minutes or so, I just laid there as the terrified adrenaline began to wear off, leaving both my body and mind just completely drained. As my heart rate slowly returned to normal, …
A Survivor’s Accounts of the Depraved Funhouse: The Balloon (Part Four) Read More »
The spring flu had been going around the school like usual, but some people were sicker than normal. They didn’t just have fever and headache – their faces were blotchy, their eyes bulged, and they all wheezed like they’d just run up ten flights of stairs without stopping. Cara McCormack …
I. The snow had stopped about an hour ago, but god damn, it was still a treacherous road. Mark turned up the radio, half to keep himself awake, and half to try to hear the music through the interfering static. The mountains weren’t good for the signal, and even though …
Part 1: Good Will Hunting I’m a producer for Alone, the TV show on History. This story is about a participant we had in season 2, whose footage we had to cut. I’ve never felt comfortable talking about this before, especially because it opens me up for liability. After all, …
I hate scarecrows. I have ever since I was little. I found something about the dolls stuffed with straw unsettling. I remember my parents tried to help me get over this fear by telling me things like, “They’re not scary, they only want to be friends” or some other lame …
About half a year ago, I moved into a new apartment downtown. It’s hands-down the most upscale place I’ve lived in—rooftop access, a fitness center, a pool, huge windows with beautiful views of the city… this place had it all. My leasing agent said apartments in that building were going …
When I got the first one, I was literally seconds away from stepping onto the plane when a call from “UNKNOWN” blared from my cell phone. It was a ringtone I hadn’t heard before, one I was pretty sure hadn’t come with the phone. Normally, I wouldn’t have stopped to …
As a kid sometimes your perception of reality and fantasy get all mixed up inside your head, one minute you’re playing with dolls then the next they’re taking you on some kind of mystical adventure through enchanted kingdoms and large castles. Lost in your own little world you don’t see …
I grew up in a tiny town in Vermont. Tiny in terms of population, not size—there were huge sprawling farms and wooded areas, but almost no people. More cows than people, which is standard for a lot of small towns in Vermont. So, clearly, not the most fun in the …
I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder when I was five. I have always struggled to interact with people because of this disorder, spending large amounts of time attempting to fix imperfections around me. I would lash out harshly at people around me if they touched me or my things, and …
There’s always something inherently eerie about living in the forest, in complete isolation. You almost always assume the worst when you’re on your own surrounded by the thickly wooded area, it’s almost like time doesn’t pass the same as it would anywhere else, like the edge of the woods was …
I had the house to myself, my parents were spending the weekend in Toronto, and I’d spent the day hanging out with my girlfriend. Up until I dropped her off at home later that evening, it was an ordinary day, as close to perfection as possible. I took my girlfriend …
The sound of the car engine coughing and sputtering made my heart sink and my stomach knot. I always had a bad feeling about driving something that was twenty-three years of age. Even though it only had a hundred-thousand miles on it and had gotten me many places, I always …
I’ve decided to write this out in the case that something bad happens to me. I’ve begun to play a dangerous game, and I can’t guarantee that I will come out on top. It all started about a month ago. I work at a small grocery store stocking shelves. I …
There’s three of them outside, hikers probably. Older maps usually show a route over the motorway behind my house but there isn’t one anymore. I don’t mind them usually, they just walk down and then walk back up a few minutes later and I go and explain the situation to …
