Posts tagged ‘legend’
UNHOLY GROUND, A HORROR SHORT STORY, CHAPTER I
This story was accepted for publication by Books To Go Now in 2011
UNHOLY GROUND
Zeke Young
Shaking his head, John Taylor said to newcomer Zeke Young, “I wouldn’t build on this land if I was you.”
Zeke was a lean man, his face weathered from years of working someone else’s property. Now he would have a farm of his own. The year was 1754, early spring, and the men were standing deep in the western Pennsylvania woods. Zeke was not a man to be easily dissuaded. He fixed John Taylor with a hard stare, and asked, “Why would you say that?”
“Heard tell of strange things happening here on this land at night. People have seen a kind of glow in the trees, a moving glow. Them that seen the glow heard ungodly sounds too. Like a kind of moaning. People say this place is damned.
“Even the savages that live in these parts avoid this ground. They say it’s cursed, always has been. They speak of the Ancients, a tribe of demons that live here underground. These devils come to the surface to take those that violate their land. The Indians avoid this area like the plague. I would steer clear of it too if I was you.”
Zeke Young responded, “Sounds like just the place I’m looking for. Snooping neighbors and Indian raiding parties will pass me by. I recon, in the wilderness, a man needs help to survive, but I like my privacy. I’ll offer help when asked, but I’ll not pass the time of day in idle talk. Indians, I can do without.”
John Taylor warned again, “Don’t take it so lightly, Zeke. I tell you the Indians say there are devils living in this here ground. They say that sometimes if you put your ear to the ground, you can hear the devil’s moan. I wouldn’t settle my family in this place.”
“You might not,” Zeke said, “but I sure as hell will.”
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART III
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
The story began: there is a legend among the local natives of a group of men they called The Ancients. The Ancients were given this name because, when the first Lenape natives entered the land that would one day become Pennsylvania, The Ancients already inhabited one of the many caves in the area. No one knew their tribe or where they came from, and The Ancients offered no information. They were wise old men possessing strange powers. There were four, all men.
The natives avoided their company out of fear and respect. They observed that The Ancients would age considerably over a four-year course. They noticed another curious aspect of their appearance: as they aged their eyes would redden. The Ancients’ eyes reddened to a point at which they would glow. As the visage of their age increased so, did the glow of their eyes, when a curious event would occur. Four members of the Lenape tribe would go missing. Coincidentally, The Ancients, suddenly shed the mantle of approaching death; their faces now appeared almost youthful.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART II
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
It began with an innocent trip to Baldwin’s Book Barn, a store which sold old and rare books. Baldwin’s was located in a rambling five-story barn. Set in the bucolic Pennsylvania countryside, it was my favorite haunt. I was in love with books, the older the better. I enjoyed breathing in the smell of old print and paper and wondered at the people who once owned these old tomes. My favorite time to visit was on a spring night when the customers were few. The store manager opened the barn doors to the surrounding fields, creating a natural setting for the store’s many books stacked in old orange crates. One pleasant spring night I parked in the gravel parking lot. I made my way up the rickety stairs, being sure to bend low so I wouldn’t tear my scalp on the low doorframes.
On the second floor, I walked past a door that was always locked, the door to the rare book room. A faint glow emanating from beneath the door had caught my attention, and then it was gone. My eyes traveled to the edge of the door. It was slightly ajar, a fact that had escaped my attention until that glow caught my eye. I entered and found beautiful leather bound volumes with gold leaf. I wandered among the shelves in the room filled with books I could never afford.
Off in a corner I noticed a slim volume on a table. The cover was leather with black letters; ‘Folklore of Pennsylvania and the Surrounding Area’. I knew some of the local myths, stories that made the tabloids or the local news when they had space to fill, such as the Jersey Devil rumored to inhabit the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey. But this book appeared to be a serious and ancient text. With mounting curiosity I confronted the volume. A ribbon, marking a site of interest, peeked from the bottom of the book and upon being opened, the book yielded naturally to theses pages. With a mixture of awe and curiosity, I inspected the story of the Legend of the Ancients. I sat in a round-backed chair, and with curiosity, soon became lost in the book.
THE HAVEN OF HORROR: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART I
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
It was a quiet, lovely June night. The light of a crescent moon walked across the tranquil surface of the lake as waves lapped its shore. The air was filled with the smoke of campfires reaching skyward, as the smoke of many ancient fires did so many years ago. I sat quietly at this place where an unspeakable evil might exist. It was an evil that I stumbled upon. Or, maybe I was meant to confront the horror on this peaceful night. My thoughts led to the ultimate question. What if evil really exists as a tangible entity, able to be touched and looked in the eye?
Sitting on a picnic bench in camp site 34, with apprehension, I looked toward the lake for any sign of a glow. My wife, my daughters and I have camped here in the past. We have a particular fondness for campsite 34, a tree shaded campsite on the shore of the park lake. Although the tent site was somewhat small and gravelly, we endured the hard ground to enjoy the lake view.
But behind the joy was now a looming fear.
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