Short Stories Occult

Imagine, if you will, you’re traveling through the unknown, hellbound, with no road map or stars to guide you. The light fades as you descend into a shadow realm where supernatural terrors make their lair and evil lurks at every turn. Here, dead things don’t always stay dead, for this is a world where things that shouldn’t be...are, and things that should be are not. In this world, we pay a visit to the smallest, but terrifyingly necessary, room, and stories are written precisely to chill the bones as you wait for nature to make its call.

In exchange for pizza, a beautiful crow delivered stories to my windowsill. I've collected those stories, here, for your amusement and observation. This audiobook includes short stories like "Bedfellows", "Belligamy", "Captured by Animals", "The Red Constellation", and more. 

Where do you start? Where do you end? At some point, you stop, sit, and enjoy, or else you become enveloped in the darkness. The Minstrels Are Calling is a book of nightmares, spooky stories, and poems; homages to Hunter S. Thompson and Allen Ginsberg; and a prequel for the author’s graphic novel NUMB. Spiders, zombies, vampires, psychics, supernatural beings, death, creation, and obscure mythology are some of the topics that are embraced within this book.

Prepare to scream forever! Howie Payne and Nick Enlow work the midnight shift at Big Carl’s Video Transfer and Media Services. An odd AVI clip begins to appear in their public drive on a nightly basis. At first Howie and Nick think it’s a serialized art house horror film someone on the day shift is sending them in secret. As the clips progress, however, the now obsessed duo discover something deeper and darker in the videos. Horror author Terry M. West would like to introduce you to the Green Room and its primary occupant, The Screamer. 

There's a shark in the kitchen. A biology teacher dumps a dead angel onto his grandmother's dining room table. A billion bees swarm the Empire State Building. In an empty attic, a teapot filled with lizards reaches a boil. Everything is understood when a small town sheriff bites into an eyeball. These are the scenes that draw you into the world of James Maxey. Good luck on finding your way back out. 

“Mr. Tony Abbot”? It was my time. I had been waiting for this moment and now it had arrived. It was like going to school or starting a new job for the first time, a feeling of apprehension. I was looking forward to it with dread, I was going down.

In these two "inspired by actual accounts" but still entirely fictional tales, a pair of challengers of the unknown go one on one with two of the world's most famous mysterious legends. In "Beneath Still Waters", a lake-dwelling giant creature draws a devoted paranormal investigator into a staggering encounter that goes far beyond a blurry photo of something with a long neck and humps passing by a Loch Ness excursion boat. 

"Azathoth" is the beginning of a never-completed novel written by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in June 1922 and published as a fragment in the journal Leaves in 1938, after Lovecraft's death. It is the first piece of fiction to mention the fictional being Azathoth, one of the major entities in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, though the entity only appears in the title.

Christmastide. A time of feasting and good cheer. Gifts, cards, and blazing holly logs. Snow falls while family and friends trim the tree and kiss under the mistletoe. But it isn’t always joyful. It’s the coldest time of year. The days are short, the nights long. Chilling myths lie concealed behind the raucous revelry...The ghoulish events in the frozen workhouse...The undead presence at the costumed ball...The pantomime that became a massacre...The winter goddess with the heart of ice...The thieves who woke the dark side of the festive spirit...

"The Playground": Jack Francis has lost his zest for life. Retirement has left him feeling old, and divorce has left him feeling useless, until one day, he witnesses something extraordinary. "The Crack in the Wall": The old stone wall that runs the length of Hendersonville Road in Milner's Hollow has a strange crack in it. On a beautiful summer's day, two little girls discover the terrifying truth about that crack. "Bossman": Disenchanted with his dead-end job, Eric Pendergrass discovers a strange way to make his boss pay.

There is evil in the woods and it wants you dead. They warned us not to enter, but we didn't listen. The call too strong to ignore. And now there is no one left to save us. Beware, these things within the forest will rip out your heart and devour your soul. You will tremble as they revel in your madness, taking everything from you and leaving you with nothing. Delve inside this anthology of what truly lurks within the shadows of the trees.

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, but even the light can't keep away all that goes bump in the night. From rituals and witches to summer slasher and sunny horror, this anthology has it all.  

A beer run becomes an interdimensional excursion. Two men settle their differences after discovering an extraordinary secret in the wilderness. A woman faces the bureaucracy of a digital afterlife. A grieving man seeks to know where his wife was reincarnated. Strange lights in the sky transform the lives of a small town. God and the devil play billiards for people's souls. A teenage deity's science project sprouts a startling discovery. These and more dream-like detours into the surreal, interstitial, and inexplicable await within. Chock full of gooey, mind-bending goodness. 

Janell making phone calls to demonic lovers in front of her husband is just the beginning. The horrors hit home for two young men telling ghost stories while driving through the thickest fog of the year. An aging hunter summons the spirit of the Bavarian wilderness as his abilities and will begin to fade. A teacher opens his mouth to instruct his students - and finds himself speaking in the voice of his newly deceased mentor. A young woman, pregnant out of wedlock in the late 1950s, is "sent away" only to find her new home harbors strange secrets.

The divine feminine is an energy living within us all, ready to be awakened. This queen will give you her story and remind you about energies calling in when you least expect it but most need it. Just allow yourself to tune in.

Some believe that spirits still wander between the headstones, lamenting about the life and secrets they left behind. Others believe the spirits can’t rest until injustices are righted. Whatever you believe, this book might make you second guess yourself. Are cemeteries truly haunted? What lurks among the graves of those who’ve passed on? These tales of haunted cemeteries of all ages and origins and from around the world will leave you shaking and wondering if you should chase answers…or stay far away.

Alex Pereneaux was sick of his life, tired of the way it all felt fake and meaningless. When he took up his sister-in-law's offer to come to the farm and her request to help his estranged brother, he thought that maybe this was his chance to make amends and start taking his life into his own hands. He hadn't bargained for the darkness there. He didn't know that this was more than a simple battle over land and money. There, in the dark, Alex will find everything he ever asked for - but first, he has to pay a terrible price. 

Salem, Massachusetts. A town with a rich history of spirits and witches. It’s a place Adam Frost, a former paranormal investigator, never intended to visit again. But his teenage daughter is troubled and shows early signs of self-harm. Can the trip save their fractured relationship? Only time and a haunted house will tell. Surrounding the Frost storyline is a series of tales that utilize the coastal city to ratchet up the chills. Listen if you dare.

In the town of Bonneville, good people lose limbs, fight lightning, and slip into sinkholes. They pitch over bicycles, tumble off ladders, and expire without warning. They spin the wheel and take their chances. It’s all in a day’s work. Some blame God, others blame kismet, and still others rail against random happenstance. All told, maybe there are no accidents.

This anthology details encounters with ghosts, loved ones that have passed, evil spirits, lost entities, devious spectors, and haunting encounters that’ll send a chill of dread tickling up your spine. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. There’s almost certainly a ghost or two reading over your shoulder now. This anthology makes a great gift for the horror fan in your life, perfect for the storyteller that loves to scare others around a campfire, or for anyone who thinks ghosts aren’t real!