Scratching

It was late afternoon and the room was that horrible warm where it's impossible to do anything but lie down and close your eyes, to sink into your bed and forget your sorrows and your problems just for a moment. And then I heard a scratch scratch scratching at my door. 'Alfie!' I cried out, muttering 'that dog' to no one in particular but myself. I rolled over and rubbed my eyes, my hands a mix with tears to streak makeup down my face and onto my waiting pillows. Scratch scratch scratch. I ignored the sounds as I sobbed, hoping my cries would drowned out that infernal noise. Scratch scratch scratch. Alfie always knew how to get what he wanted and normally I'd have caved, if the vet hadn't put him down this very morning.


I wrote this this morning on the train after seeing a dog. Inspiration comes in the most mundane of places. It isn't the best twist and you can kind of see it coming but for 11 minutes I was quite pleased.

Let The Right One In

So recently I've been reading Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqviswritten in 2004. I'd watched the film and loved it, not the tacky American remake however., so I decided to give the book ago when I picked it up on the cheap. It's about a little boy called Oskar who meets a young girl called Eli,  but not all is what it seems. It has vampires in. I like vampires. That's a statement I don't feel needs dressing up or even justifying. It stands the test of time itself like a mountain in a sea of sand. Don't ask me what that means, it means I need to get more sleep which is surprisingly hard when you spend half your free time talking about ghosts. Maybe I need a saner hobby.

Anyway the book is very different from the film, so much darker than I could ever imagine. Kinda in a good way but I'm not 100% yet. It's definitely worth a read I always feel characters are so much more developed in books and much more rounded and believable. In films I sometimes think that the characters act so one dimensional they're poorly revised doppelgangers. Either way it took less than a chapter before I was rooting for Oskar.

The reason I'm telling you this oddly long story is not so I can pretend it's allegorical for something but because it brings me onto something I read a while ago and loved kind of on the same topic.

It was written by Brian Bethel, a current columnist for the Abilene News, in the 90's about an experience he had  many years ago. I liked how it could be both amateurish and professional at the same time and was a story that I've heard told many a time in many a format, but I like this one.

One evening Brian was sat in his car outside his local theatre when he noticed two young children, aout 11 or 12 approaching his drivers side door. He rolled down his window expecting them to ask for money or something, but before any words came out he was gripped by a heart wrenching pounding fear that he couldn't explain.

The boy spoke.

He told Brian how they wanted to see the movie but they'd left their money at home, and asked if he could quickly run them there to pick it up. Brian tried not to look at them, somehow sensing that something was not right about the situation, before he noticed that the last showing of the film had already begun. The little boy asked again, imploring for a ride, we're only kids we don't have a gun please. As Brian finally locked eyes with the boy he noticed that both the kids eyes were jet black.

Rolling up his window he started to set off, his shaky hands missing the gears as the little boy called out 'we can't come in unless you say it's okay! Let us in!'.

Brian rushed home as fast as he dared and wrote about the experience the very same night. His story about children appearing with jet black eyes was the first of many, but possibly not the first. For who knows how many times the story has been told, how many people those children have visited...

The Landlady

So once again I find myself simply giving away links to things. It's not that I'm too lazy, but it's not like i've anything to rewrite. As you've probably seen from the title this is The Landlady. It's a short but sweet story written by Roald Dahl. When I was younger I loved this story and ones like this alongside a heavy goosebumps collection made me love horror. I stumbled across it online and tbh I'd completely forgotten about it so I figured it was my duty to share it to save others from the same fate.  Anyway I won't say too much about it because I don't want to ruin it but today I present to you, The Landlady:

http://www.nexuslearning.net/books/holt-eol2/collection%203/landlady.htm

Ted the Caver

So normally I don't like to just link to another site because I feel like I'm merely promoting them and not doing anything myself. But for this I will make an exception. For one it's quite long and there are pictures that really add to the whole atmosphere about it, and two I'm not going to shamelessly rip of someone elses work like i've seen a billion websites do with this without crediting the Author.

Meet Ted the Caver. A hot 20 something. Wait no that's not Ted. Just read it it really does make for such a good read and the best part is, no one's entirely sure who the Author is or whether it's fake or not.

http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/

The Hacksaw

Okay so this one isn't supernatural, even though I've no idea what on earth possessed him to do this, but definitely falls under very very creepy. And nice and recent. One thing that gets me is that so many horror films all happen quite a while ago. Suspiciously before camera phones were everywhere...

This story is about a man called Barrie Hepburn and starts in 2000 after he was shot by his neighbor three times following an argument over a dog at his holiday home in the South of France. He survived the injuries but was left in a wheelchair.

Barrie drove a Jaguar XJ that he had modified but had trouble getting in and out of the car due to his legs.

The next part of the story is in 2011. After years of struggling with his injuries he started to consider getting his legs amputated, he beleived that they served little use anymore but after discussing this with Doctors it was dismissed. But here's where it gets real creepy.

On the 29th August the emergency services reveived a call from a man saying that he was suffering from heavy bleeding, but before the paramedics could reach him the line went dead and the worst was feared.

A few minutes later the paramedics arrived to find Mr Hepburn sat on the floor using a hacksaw to cut off his own legs using a plastic bag as a makeshift tourniquet, figuring that if he got so far they would have no other choice than to remove the rest for him.

The coroners verdict was death by misadventure.

Mirrors

If you've read my posts before you'll know that I enjoy stories with mirrors in. I love (or should that be hate) stories where the mirror is a portal to another dimension, or a window into the soul. This one is only short but I love it, it has everything a short story needs in such a few lines.

'I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I though it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again.'

For more short creepy stories check http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1iwylh/what_is_the_best_horror_story_you_can_come_up.

This one was written by therealhatman and I take no credit for it whatsoever. Even if I wish I could.

Another on the same topic;

'I try and start every morning as positively as possible. I know it's lame but twelve years of therapy and a Mother who's read every single magazine article under the sun about positive thinking kinda molds you, whether you want it to or not. Anyway I'm getting off track. I try to start everyday by looking at myself in the mirror and smiling. Only this morning...I didn't smile back.'

Spooky stuff.

Knock. The Worlds Shortest Horror Story.

Knock was written by Fredrick Brown and published in 1948. It goes as follows:

'The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.'

Even though the first line is by far the most famous the story actually comprises of a lot more where the first lines are fleshed out into more of a story. I won't spoil anything because it really is a great tale and worth reading.

I like this story so much as it tells the reader what it needs to know and leaves the rest of the plot to the imagination. It gives me shivers like no other story consisting of 17 words has ever managed, nor ever will.

At first I did believe this was an original story, however after a little research it appears that it was a play on another story written by Thomas Bailey Aldrich in 1870, which was based on even earlier versions of the same idea.

 "A woman is sitting alone in a house. She knows she is alone in the whole world; every other living thing is dead. The doorbell rings."

Despite this I prefer Brown's version as it's much simpler and more concise. No superfluity words just storytelling at its best.

The Legend of Herobrine

So today's post might be supernatural, but more than likely is just made up. Either way when you read all the accounts and add in the various youtube videos its funny how far people are willing to go to be part of a legend. The Legend Of Herobrine.

So Minecraft is a game where you're on an island and use blocks to build and explore your little paradise. It's much more complicated in that but this isn't a games review now is it, even though i would highly recommend checking it out. The legend started when one player created a new single player map. Everything was going fine at first as he did the usual exploring and building, however While chasing a cow into thick fog, that means your pc doesnt have to render the rest of the world, he saw something a little strange, another person looking back at him. After a quick check to make sure they weren't in multiplayer mode the other player ran off into the fog before he could get near him.

After increasing the view distance things started to get even stranger, pyramids of sand in the ocean, trees with all their leaves cut off and tunnels and passages that couldn't have been created naturally.

Now if you've ever played Minecraft before you do come across caverns underground and the occasional cave of overhang, but nothing that would really constitute as an actual passage, at least none anywhere near as neat as these.

The story continues with the player posting on the forum only to find the post was constantly deleted, and after a while the user got a pm off a user simply saying 'Stop.' The user? Of course it was Herobrine. So not only does he go into peoples games but he also pm's them from an account that takes them to a 404'd page.

With no luck and about to give up the user received an email off of another player, claiming the mods read and deleted forum posts but that there were a small number of other players who had seen him as well in worlds that contained clearly man-made structures.

After contacting some of the other players and with a little research they found out that the name was used by a Swedish gamer, the brother of the games creator Notch. They emailed Notch and asked him whether he had a brother called Herobrine and received this response...

'I did but he is no longer with us.'


Some legends are based on the fact that they are believed, that the more people who give credence to the idea the stronger it gets until it comes into existence. But does Herobrine actually exist? After some digging and some hardcore googling I found out that Notch had no Brother, Herobrine isn't supposed to be part of the game and the instances where he's been seen in game have apparently been as a re-textured painting or door. But if he is real as some still claim then why has no one ever approached him? So many videos have the player noticing and screaming for their life. But why? So far I haven't seen any story or hints that Herobrine can influence anything outside the game yet they act like he's going to jump out the screen and peel their skin off. I'm not convinced one bit.

Overall Herobrine is an interesting story that is quite creepy. We've all played a game where we would swear that someone was watching us, or that items had been moved ever so slightly from where we left them. Even if fake it's still amusing enough to be worthwhile, and well if he is real? There is a slight chance that a fault in the games code went unnoticed and spawned another creature like a cow or a chicken that had the same characteristics as the player, but is an incredibly rare event. Or maybe Herobrine does exist, just most of the time he's too busy watching you to build anything.

Happy gaming!

Robert the Doll

Dolls often appear in horror stories and films alike and have featured in many nightmares over the years. They sit in that uncanny valley of being inanimate objects that look human, yet aren't. Stories of possessed dolls are everywhere and as with any superstition it gains a certain amount of credibility when there are several accounts. The fact that many childrens dolls were made with the childs own hair and sometimes even teeth does little to make them less frightening. Today's post is about Robert the Doll, an old doll that caught my attention originally because the Chucky films are rumoured to have been based on him.

Robert was made in around 1900 and is dressed as an American Naval officer, hat and all. He was given to a young Eugene Otto in 1906 by the families Bahemian servant who was skilled in black magic and voodoo. Black magic and voodoo is something that crops up in many possessed dolls stories, with a 'soul stone' or 'soul crystal' being placed inside the doll to give it a soul of its own and some intelligence.

It soon became clear that something was amiss. Eugenes parents often heard him talking to the doll, and the doll talking back. At first they thought he was just pretending and putting on a different voice to reply with, but over time even they came to believe that the doll was speaking of its own accord.

Robert was often spotted running from room to room, or hovering in the corners of peoples vision only to vanish when they looked. Footsteps were heard as well as a sinister giggling from no discernible source. Neighbours reported seeing him in the windows of the house, moving from room to room to appear in different windows when they looked away.

Often in the night Eugene's parents would wake to hear him screaming and would find furniture tipped over and items scattered around the room with Eugene swearing Robert did it. By the time Eugene died some say that Robert's face had become more expressive, especially the eyes, and guests reported his face sometimes changing before their very eyes.

After his death in 1974 the house remained empty for some time until a new family moved in, and their ten year old daughter took Robert for her own. The mysterious happenings didn't stop however and it didn't take long before the girl woke in the night to find Robert moving objects. On several occasions she even swore that he'd attacked her when she'd tried to raise the alarm, something she held to for the rest of her life.

After being moved from the house Robert is kept at the East Marcello Museum. Since Robert arrived museum Staff have reported strange noises, and  visitors have witnessed his expression turn to a menacing smirk and his toy lion moving places while they look away. One time a visitor fled the museum, swearing he heard giggling coming from the doll.

Camera malfunctions seem to also be a common occurrence, photos coming out blurred or distorted or even simply being blacked out. Digital cameras have had files corrupted and had troubles turning on or off, again due to the electromagnetism possibly related to the haunting.

It is believed that if you wish to take Robert's photo you need to ask politely, and if he tilts his head to one side it means no. If you still persist and take a photo then bad luck will follow you, as might Robert...


Spooky stuff...

The Midnight Game

                                                             The Midnight Game



There are rules to the Midnight Game that MUST be followed precisely for the ritual to work. These Rules are as follows:

Materials required: 1 candle per person (at least), matches, salt,a pen and paper to write your names on, a wooden door to attach your name to and finally a drop of your own blood.

Step 1: Write your full name on a piece of paper and put at least one drop of blood on it. Allow it to soak into the paper.

Step 2: Turn off all the lights in the house. Go to your wooden door (It has to be wooden) and place the paper with your name on it. Now take the candle and light it.

Step 3: Knock on the door 22 times (the hour must be 12:00 AM upon the final knock), then open the door, blow out the candle, and close the door. You have just allowed the “Midnight Man” to enter your house.

Step 4: Immediately relight your candle.

This is where the game begins. You must now lurk around your now completely dark house with the lit candle in your hand. Your goal is to avoid the Midnight Man at all costs until 3:33 AM. Should your candle ever go out, that means the Midnight Man is near you. You must relight your candle in the next 10 seconds. If you are not successful in doing this, you must then immediately surround yourself with a circle of salt. If you are unsuccessful in both of your actions, the Midnight Man will create a hallucination of your greatest fear, and rip your organs out one by one. You will feel it, but be unable to react. If you are successful in relighting the candle, you may proceed. If you are successful in creating the circle of salt, you must remain in there until 3:33 AM. You must continue to 3:33 AM without being attacked by the Midnight Man, or being trapped inside the circle of salt to win the Midnight Game. The Midnight Man will then leave your house at 3:33 AM and you will be safe to proceed with your morning.

Indications that you are near the Midnight Man include sudden drop in temperature, seeing a pure black, humanoid figure through the darkness, and very soft whispering coming from an indiscernible source. If you experience any of these, it is advised that you leave the area to avoid the Midnight Man.

DO NOT turn on any lights during the Midnight Game

DO NOT use a flashlight during the Midnight Game

DO NOT go to sleep during the Midnight Game

DO NOT attempt to use another person’s blood on your name

DO NOT use a lighter as a substitute for a candle. It will not work.

AND DEFINITELY DO NOT attempt to provoke the Midnight Man in ANY WAY
Even when the game is over, he will always be watching you…

Good Luck, you’re going to need it.


The rules of the Midnight Game are easy to find, and stories of people doing it are just as as common. The game has even drawn enough attention to warrant a film based around it that airs in 2013. But where did it come from? Is it real? The origins of the game are harder to track down. Some hint that it was an old pagan game to punish rule breakers, that this was a forfeit to teach them a lesson, while others suggest it's entirely fiction.

Searches on google reveal how popular the game has become however, with 49,500 searches per month globally. What is more interesting however is that the midnight game is already on google trends when it started in 2004, which means it was already popular by that point. Paired with the fact that the midnight game was only made popular 2009 onwards it does suggest the game is older than most sites give it credit for. But again this doesn't even come close to proving it's real.

Even if fake the piece does contain some features that are common in a lot of supernatural lore, the most obvious being the salt in a circle keeping the midnight man at bay. These themes along with various tales of shadowy figures and shadow men  again don't prove anything, but it does prove that if fake it's one hell of an effort. With blood being added to the paper some would argue it would be enough to attract the attention of a wandering spirit looking for a home, the equivalent of leaving your front door open and handing your address out on craigslist. It's dam creepy. The only way to prove whether this is real or not would be to try it, and honestly it does sound fun. However anything with a blood ritual involved is not child play Let me know if you try it and if you do, seriously, good luck.

The oldest recorded human voice

Although not entirely supernatural the clip is reportedly the oldest recording of a human voice, and will certainly send shivers up your spine. The track is dated 17th August 1857 and was created by Leon Scott, entitled "Jeune Jouvencelle". Even though I believe it's all but impossible to prove that it's a human voice the effect is very, very creepy.

The sound is paired with the oldest film recording from 1865, a revolving portrait of Felix Nadar the French journalist, photographer and baloonist. When it was released the video caused some controversy, linked to the belief that photographs held pieces of your soul, so a series of them would hold more. The belief seems to stem from the superstition about mirrors, that they reflect the soul. After a person died the mirrors in their house were covered up, to ensure that the soul didn't get stuck in a mirror instead of passing over.

Urban Legends-The Clown Statue

We've all heard the stories, those ones that happened to a friend of a friends cousin who knows this guy who heard that this happened, but what about when the story is true

 A girl in her teens was babysitting for a family in Newport Beach, Ca. The family were wealthy and had a very large house, the sort with many more rooms than people. The parents were going out for a late dinner/movie, and told her that once the children had gone to bed she could watch whatever she wanted, perk of the job. Shortly after the parents had left the babysitter put the kids to bed, and made her way to the front room to watch Tv there. As she sits down something in the corner of the room caught her eye, a clown statue. Trying to ignore it she carried on watching, only moving when the phone rang. She answered it in a flash, finding the kids Father on the line,  calling to make sure the kids were behaving. She reassured him with a smile, glad everything was fine, but before he hung up however she had one simple request.

"The kids are in bed, they've been fine. Mind if I move rooms though?"

"Of course, why?"

"That clown statues really freaking me out."

"Get out of the house, I'm calling the police."

"What? Why?"

"We don't have a clown statue..."

 Creepy right? The story goes on that the children had been complaining a clown had been watching them sleep, but the parents put it down to their imagination, yet when the babysitter saw it they knew something was wrong. The clown had been living in the house for months, hiding in the spare room and coming out when no one was there, but he couldn't resist watching the babysitter.

 So next time you're looking at a statue watch out, it might just be looking back.