Short Stories Occult

Arthur Machen has been cited as an influence to many writers of supernatural horror. He was also a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This story, originally from 1888, is about a monk, in charge of the wine cellar at his abbey, who finds a strange jar and decides to take a drink.

When an American man discovers that he's the last descendant of the De la Poer family, he travels to England to take over their crumbling estate. Accompanied only by his cat, the man follows the incessant sound of rats to a dark place beneath the estate, unearthing horrible, dark, gruesome secrets about his ancestors and the type of activities they partook in. Taken by madness, the man falls into a dark pit of despair and commits unthinkable crimes. This jarring story from a renowned writer of horror fiction utilizes fear-inducing themes to entice its audience.

Lovecraftian themes abound in the tales of an intern at a madhouse and an illiterate madman. Slater, the madman whose unspeakable crimes led him to the madhouse, is continuously awakened in this story by surprisingly literate hallucinations of a glowing entity seeking revenge. Inspired by Slater’s uneducated background and the telepathic machine that he had made in his yesteryear, the intern delves deep into Joe Slater - who is receiving telepathic messages from a being of light.

Lucy is finally back with Daniel, but for how long? When she has a dream about Caleb being seriously hurt, she knows that she must do what she can to help him. She gets Caleb back to the motel where she and Daniel are staying, but something isn’t right. When Caleb pushes Lucy for answers, she finds herself in an impossible position, with far too much to lose.

It’s the beginning of the end. The war is impending, and there seems to be nothing that can be done to stop it. Daniel is offered a choice that he seems unable to avoid making, but he’s got other plans that Gabriel could never have foreseen. When the fight breaks out, someone is hurt in the crossfire. That person is then given a choice. A choice between getting to do it all over again or being with the person she loves. Can there be a happily ever after for Daniel and Lucy, or will they always be torn apart?

Lucy knows that she's in trouble. She knows that once Gabriel has the information that he needs, he is going to kill her. She knows that holding on to the information is the only thing keeping her alive. But as Gabriel ramps up the torture is being alive really such a great thing anymore? Gabriel doesn't know who he can trust. He knows that Caleb is probably the only one of his brothers who can help him break into Lucy's mind, but he has his doubts about Caleb. When desperation kicks in, he agrees to let Caleb help. But what will be the cost?

Lucy remembers everything. She remembers the moment she was born. She remembers how she was born, and she remembers what that makes her. Gabriel has managed to unlock her memories, and now she can’t escape them as they play out inside her eyes. She’s finally getting some answers to the questions that have plagued her life, but will they be what she wanted them to be? Daniel wasn’t always called Daniel. In fact, he didn’t take that name until he made a decision that he knew he would regret for eternity. What forced him to change his name, and what was the choice that led him to it?

Lucy knows there is something wrong with the psychiatric home she’s been taken to. She’s noticed that she seems to be the only patient there. She’s noticed all of the empty rooms and the fact that every door to the outside world is locked. She’s also noticed how strangely her doctor is acting. It’s as if he’s pushing her for information — but information about what? Gabriel knows that all the answers are in Lucy’s head, but she’s refusing to find them for him. He’s trying to keep calm. He’s trying to give her time, so that she can discover her memories on her own. But when she starts to cause trouble, he knows that there’s only one thing he can do. Will Lucy survive Gabriel’s desperate attempt to get the answers?

Lucy has always known that she was different from the other kids in her home. Of course, it doesn't help that she suffers from a recurring nightmare that wakes her up with a scream on her lips and sweat pouring down her back. The nightmare is driving her crazy. She's too scared to sleep, she's too tired to live and she feels as though it's never going to get better...until Daniel shows up, that is.

In a sleepy, coastal, New England town, three men decide to rob and, if need be, torture a very old sea captain to learn where he keeps his wealth - a man who is so old no one ever remembers him being young; a man who pays for his purchases not with dollars but with ancient gold and silver coins minted over two centuries ago; a man who speaks to spirits in bottles; a man who may not be a man at all.

Priscilla putters along in her usual life of bridge and gossip and coffee shops and shopping at the local markets in the small Indian town where she lives, until one morning, the mysterious man known only as the Pharsee gives her a box. The thing is filthy, twitchy and just plain wrong...but no matter what Priscilla tries, or how many cleaning boys she fires, she simply cannot get rid of it.

Days have passed since Carol Long met her end at the Verde Valley Weight Loss Clinic. Now as her sister Tammy fights for her life, a new series of wicked events torture her soul as perfection continues to slip from her reach.

Kathy wanted to be white. She learned to talk white and walk white and even had herself a handsome white husband. The only thing wrong with her life was that she had been born black. While on a shopping trip in New England, Kathy comes across an old curio shop, which sells her a "special" mirror. With this mirror, she can see what she wishes to see. With sleight of hand, the subtle bending of light, and the realization of truth, Kathy and her husband, Robert, learn the frightful lesson of...the mirror.

W awakes from daydreaming about the past to fall back to square one, where we left our hero at the end of book four. But now W only has a few seconds to escape from the impossible situation fate has constructed. How will W accomplish this mission? What will the superhero attempt to find more answer to questions from a forgotten past?

This book is the cornerstone of Guinn’s story so far, where not only the relationship between the person behind the mask and the superhero who wears it is clarified, but we also discover something game-blowing about Guinn’s past. In a burning hot summer day, under a blinding sunlight, things change for W - forever? Don’t miss this story of W, and for the first time, see Guinn for what our hero really is.

The workings of heaven are shrouded in mystery and myth, leaving us to only theorize as to what awaits us when we pass. There are those among us, however, that are special cases. These are good people who have committed a horrendous crime, such as murder. What makes their cases special, however, is the fact that by committing these egregious acts, one could argue that they have made the world a better place.

Love remembered...life honored...our lives are memory...our loves are our only hope to be, and all that hope adored and lost has melted into memory.

The Ghosts of Grand Central stories are interwoven with the dual themes of ghosts and the Grand Central Station Terminal. The stories vary in time period from the 1800s to the present, from pure imagination to historically based fiction. Some of the stories are humorous, some thought provoking, and some are frightening. Generally, the stories are short in length, the thought being that one might listen to this audiobook on a train, and that in transit concentration and time may be limited.