In the Andes foothills sits the ancient Incan village known as Iglesia Colorada. It is
tucked in the Atacama desert, one of the driest regions of the world. From the late
1400s to early 1500s the Incan empire expanded its reach through war and conquest.
The Roaring Twenties are remembered for speakeasies hidden in remote locations or the basement of a building. Slim flappers shimmied while drinking illegal hooch, and gangland killings made the front page of newspapers. But there were other dark deeds being committed, even against the innocent.
The first military hospital in Aldershot, Hampshire was situated near a church. It was established as a lunatic asylum and pestilence hospital. Close by was the Union Hospital, which started out as a poor house. During the mid-1800s the Connaught Hospital for a while specialized in treating men with venereal disease, and ended as a dental facility which closed its doors in 1973. However long before it was abandoned there were stories about a mysterious gray lady.
There is a little-known but very interesting case of a serial sexual killer who targeted older women. Between 1995 to 1997 he claimed fifteen lives in the city of Apulia (also known as Puglia) located in Italy's heel.
Lone Pine, California has only one road with a traffic light. Whitney Portal Road heads westward across Highway 395, traversing the Alabama Hills and onto Mount Whitney which is nine miles away. It is the tallest mountain in mainland United States. Like many routes that started out as trails they are witness to human traffic and tragedy, and inevitably tales of hauntings.
There is a solitary outpost in Afghanistan known as "The Rock", short for Observation Point Rock (OP Rock). It's situated southeast of Patrol Base Hassan Abad, and developed a reputation for being haunted.
In 1875, Chicago's county hospital was located in the South Side. Even then it was considered old and rickety. The morgue was an out-house attached to the hospital. It was located apart from the main building because of the bad odor coming from it. Bodies would be stretched out on slabs awaiting burial. Only during winter months did the place not smell like a charnel house.
Almost a year to the date before the infamous Villisca Axe murders in Iowa, a family of four were killed in Ardenwald, Oregon in a similar manner, and like that crime this one remains unsolved until this day.
Along Old Sheldon Church Road stands the ruin of what was once known as Prince William’s Parish Church in Yemassee, South Carolina. Now it goes by the name of the Old Sheldon Church Ruins. Built between 1745 and 1753 it witnessed mundane family celebrations as well as history making events, so it is not surprising that it has a reputation for being haunted.
In June 1934 in Brighton, England a steamer trunk was found in King's Cross railway station. It contained a woman's torso and legs. The arms and head were missing. Scotland Yard reached out to the public in trying to identify the victim. In the United States, Agnes C. Tufverson, 43, had married a former Czech officer six months before. She disappeared, and the last heard from her was when she visited London. Her family wondered if it was her body that had been found.
Reports are received worldwide that in the aftermath of disasters those that perished appear to be ignorant that they are no longer among the living. Calls are received at emergency centers, taxis are hailed, and these lost souls try to reach homes that are demolished or connect with loved ones who are dead as well.
The Black Island, Being the Narrative of Horvath Blayne" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by August Derleth. | There is an island in the South Pacific that surfaces only at certain times, and it serves as the portal for the ultimate evil.
In the story, the protagonist, Horvath Blayne, encounters the Black Island, a mysterious place where Cthulhu is believed to be hidden. The story is notable for its blend of Lovecraftian horror and Derleth's own interpretation of the Cthulhu Mythos.
The Keeper of the Key is part of The Trail of Cthulhu series. | In pursuit of the ultimate evil, you have to resort to raising the dead, because no living person has the answers you are seeking.
Ignorance is bliss, knowledge brings no happiness or safety when you are confronted with the reality of great evil.
"The Watcher from the Sky" is a novelette written by August Derleth and is part of the Cthulhu Mythos series. It was first published in the July 1945 issue of Weird Tales and later included in the 1962 collection "The Trail of Cthulhu". The story follows Abel Keane, a divinity student in Boston, Massachusetts, who has some experience as a stage hypnotist and has taught himself psychic abilities, including telepathy. One night, Keane returns to his apartment and encounters a mysterious entity.
What if the missing link is not a primate, but something much slimier?
"The Seal of R'lyeh" is a short story by August Derleth, first published in 1957 under the title "The Seal of the Damned" in the July 1957 issue of Fantastic Universe Science Fiction.2 It was later included in the 1962 collection "The Mask of Cthulhu". The story is part of the Cthulhu Mythos and involves themes of good versus evil. In "The Seal of R'lyeh," Derleth suggests that R'lyeh, the sunken city where Cthulhu is imprisoned, might be an enormous ring-shaped sunken continent that extends from the South Pacific all the way to the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts.
A shunned house, the abode of a murderer, even the skeptical can become victims of evil when they dismiss everything as superstition. Once more the epic struggle between the Elder Gods and the Ancient Ones was having repercussions on one of earth's seemingly most peaceful valleys.
Selling your soul is easy enough, it's when the time comes to honor your end of the deal that things get dicey.
"The Sandwin Compact" is a novelette written by August Derleth, first published in Weird Tales in November 1940. The story is narrated by Dave, who spends summers at his uncle Asa's house. Uncle Asa exhibits unusual behavior, such as responding oddly to the call of a sea-bird, which Eldon reveals was not a bird at all but something else communicating with Asa. Dave experiences strange dreams and finds the house smelling of fish and with phantom footsteps and vocal sounds. Upon investigating, they find Uncle Asa arguing with something that croaks in an unknown language and the room dripping and wet, leading to Uncle Asa's confession that the Sandwin family has been selling off its oldest sons to Cthulhuoid hordes for generations to maintain their wealth.
"Something in Wood" is a short story by August Derleth that was first published in the March 1948 issue of Weird Tales. The story revolves around Jason Wecter, an art critic and collector of weird and macabre artwork, who wishes to obtain a wooden bas-relief that would complement his collection. His friend Pinckney finds a dark and heavy wooden sculpture of an octopoid creature in a second-hand shop in Portland, Maine, and purchases it as a gift for Wecter. The inscription on the base of the sculpture is in an unidentified language and reads: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn".
The memories, however, refused to leave. They lingered, haunting me like a specter. True stories and urban myths of the weird, the paranormal, ghosts, cryptids and the things that make your weird little heart happy.
- The Return of Andrew Bailey by August W. Derleth and Mark Schorer (a short story included in their collection "Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People."
Ronald Meyer is a seasoned paranormal experiencer, with encounters ranging from out-of-body experiences and cryptid sightings to non-dual awakenings. He is the owner of Centre Communications, a film production company. Recently, he produced "Becoming Evil," the number one streaming documentary series on Amazon Prime about serial killers. Additionally, he is a peer-reviewed published scientist with contributions to the fields of behavioral cybernetics and paleontology.
A man is induced by his wife to strangle her sister, and is in turn put to death in a horrible manner, or so it was rumored.
In October, 1902 The San Francisco Examiner wrote about a remarkable story of "savage superstition". It read like the tales of torture and Indian justice related in James Fennimore Cooper's Indian stories. It came to light among the Mojave Indians who lived along the Colorado River in Arizona about an incident of love, jealousy, superstition, murder and finally a terrible death to the offending Indian. It all combined to make a story of unusual interest and cruelty, astonishing even with those familiar with the tragedies of the mountain and desert in the great Southwest.
There's a reason why some things dwell in the shadows. True stories and urban myths of the weird, the paranormal, ghosts, cryptids and the things that make your weird little heart happy.
