This week: Country horror Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week:
"A cold wind blows, and I follow.
No time to rest my weary bones.
I hear her voice, and my heart grows hollow.
Best not walk these woods alone.
Best keep to the roads and out of the shadows.
Best get on home.
Best to leave them ghosts alone."
~From "The Land Unknown" by Landon Blood. |
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While big cities have their share of frightening places and people, some horror happens best in the country. Long winding country roads, peaceful green fields, and sleepy little towns aren't always what they seem.
According to legends some rural roads seem to be traveled more by ghosts and demons than live people.
The E8 Expressway, also known as the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Expressway in Malaysia is said to be one of the most haunted highways in the world. Drivers on this road have reported seeing a Pontianak, or mythological creature that usually takes the form of a woman in white who has died in childbirth. She tries to lure men to their deaths to exact revenge. Others have reported seeing a ghostly yellow VW Beetle that will lead followers to their death.
Almost every US state seems to have at least one haunted road story. My own state of North Dakota has one county highway that is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a policeman in a patrol car. He is said to follow speeders and flash his lights to pull them over, but when they do he disappears. This seems to be a benevolent ghost who tries to warn motorists of the dangers of driving too fast. Still, I don't imagine he is too happy about having to go to work in the afterlife!
While small towns are usually friendly, quiet places, some of them have a more frightening side. Reportedly haunted towns like Salem, Massachusetts are well known, but other lesser known haunted rural places also exist. Many old mines and mining towns in the southern and western US were the sites of horrible disasters such as cave ins and fires that resulted in the deaths of many people. Some, such as Burke, Idaho, are still said to be haunted today.
If you set a horror story in a real place, try to use some of the actual legends and stories of the place. For example, in a small town north of where I live is an abandoned building called San Haven. This building was initially used as a sanitorium for tuberculosis patients, many of whom died there. After better treatments for tuberculosis were developed, the building was used as an asylum for cognitively impaired individuals. Due to overcrowding and alleged mistreatment of patients, the facility was closed in the 1980's and the remaining residents moved to other facilities. Abandoned sites like this one can be dangerous even without any ghosts or paranormal activity. In 2001, a ghost hunter trespassed into the San Haven building where he accidentally slipped at the edge of an old elevator shaft and fell 40 feet to his death.
Something to try: Write a horror story set in a rural place.
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Horror/Scary: January 01, 2025 Issue [#12917]
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