“There is a beast in man that must be exercised, not exorcised.”-The Satanic Bible***It was Christmas Eve, and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas had one last job to do. A job he dreaded.He stood at an iron door in the side of a mountain at the top of the world, hesitating as he lifted a rusted key from around his neck. Did he really have to go through with it? Maybe this year, just for once, he could skip this last chore. Maybe ev...

“Horror stories show that the control we believe we have is merely an illusion.”-Clive Barker***Herb looked at the house and whistled as he got out of the car. “Are you sure this woman’s not a real witch?” he said. “Who else would live here?”Herb’s wife shushed him. The old iron gate around the property’s dying lawn creaked when he pushed on it, and a winding path of broken stones led up to the tall, dark house with Gothi...

“I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is.”“How do you know, then, that you are not one?”-Examination of Bridget Bishop, Salem Village, April 19, 1692***“Abbie Hobbs is a witch,” Ruth said.Phoebe was standing with her locker open, brushing her hair. She hadn’t even noticed Ruth was there until the girl blurted out something about Abbie, and it was a few seconds until Phoebe registered what it was. “Um, okay?”...

“We don’t have time to be happy. We barely have time to live well.”-Mihail Sebastian, “The Star Without A Name”***“You know,” said Lord Henry, “I think this Kamil fellow might be the only virgin on the entire planet.”Lord Henry and his wife lounged on the Jacuzzi patio with their guests, sipping champagne and watching the sun set over Peitho 9. Peitho was renowned throughout the galaxy for its particularly beautiful sunse...

 “True love is like a ghost: Everyone talks of it, but few have met it face to face.”-Francois de La Rochefoucauld***"I should warn you about my family. You may be in for a bit of a shock."They were driving with the top down. It was damn hot. Devanie fixed a scarf around her head to keep her hair from blowing. "You'll have to take them as they come,” she continued. “And you need to be on your best behavior."Charles winked...

“Gods should be exempt from human passions.”-Euripides, “The Bacchae”***Eros arrived. He could already tell he had quite a mess on his hands. There were two of them, a man and a woman, both in love with the other, though neither knew it yet. Eros plucked the string on his bow over and over (an idle gesture that annoyed friends, but helped him concentrate) while the two humans slept and the red numbers of the clock glowed...

“A surfeiting of terror soon makes terror a cliché.”-Richard Matheson, “I Am Legend”***Dora’s ghost and Jill’s ghost left the basement at midnight, dragging chains all the way up the apartment building’s thirteen floors. The chains were Dora’s idea. “If we’re going to haunt people, we should have chains,” she said. Jill thought it was silly, but she didn’t argue. Dora had always gotten her way when they were alive, and so...

“I don't know that there are real ghosts and goblins, but there are always more trick-or-treaters than neighborhood kids”-Robert Brault***Somewhere in one of the darker corners of the world, a witch and a ghoul stood at the entrance of a cemetery at midnight, and both of them were afraid. They weren’t afraid of what was inside: Rather, it was everything outside that scared them. “Mark my words,” said Stokes, shuffling his...

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."-Job, 1:7***It happened because of the heat.Five-hundred thousand people sat in traffic while the summer sun burned away the last shreds of their patience and goodwill. James didn't mind the gridlock so much, but he couldn't get away from the heat. He fanned him...

“Up the airy mountain, down the rushing glen, We daren't go a-hunting, for fear of little men.”-William Allingham, “The Fairies”***“I want to dance with the hill people at night,” Flora said, standing on a chair and looking out the window. Megan looked with her. The summer sun slipped behind the yew trees on the hill beside the big old house, but no one was there that Megan could see. She frowned. “What do you mean?” Flor...

"Come away, O human child!To the waters and the wildWith a faery, hand in hand,For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand."-WB Yeats, "The Stolen Child"***William didn't tell anyone that the baby spoke to him. Who would believe it? Instead he ran away. His parents would probably be angry, but what else could he do? Not stay, certainly. Not with…whatever it was, still in the room.The Menskrs had lived in...

Jess-Belle opened the door, something she'd never dared do on a night like this. It was easier than she expected, but a knot of fear still drew tight in her stomach.The little clock on the mantle chimed midnight. Moonlight filtered through the stirring pines. It a nice night, but no one in their right mind would be out. No one but Jess-Belle, and even she hesitated before stepping over the threshold. The door shut behind...

“The demons there are whirling, and the spirits swirl about.They sing their songs to Halloween. ‘Come join the fun,” they shout.But we do not want to go there, so we run with all our mightAnd oh we will not go inside the haunted house tonight”-Jack Prelutsky, "The Haunted House"***What went on in that town on Halloween night was secret, and the children were never allowed to know. Parents sent their little ones to neighbo...

The sun went down. Lenore crawled from her shallow grave, listless and hungry. At the same time, Baron Latos rose from the coffin in his castle crypt, driven from the dreamless sleep of death by a most unholy craving. And, on the other side of town, Daniel got out of bed, went to the kitchen, and mixed himself a smoothie out of pig's blood and cherry Kool-Aid. (Because drinking blood straight gave him gas).Lenore wore the...

"Do not tell a friend anything you would conceal from an enemy."-Arab Proverb***"There is, of course, the tale of the man who built a horse of ebony that flew through the air with its rider—" "We've heard that one already. What about the tale of the three Sufi Qalandars who were each the sons of kings and also each blind in one eye?" "That one was as old as a dried date when my father was a boy. If you want to hear a trul...