No one takes THIS Chance...

rusty nails and muddy water | ( listen )

• There’s a thickness in the air. It’s cloying. The humidity makes it feel like the air itself is sticking to you. The sweat pours down your face and into your eyes.

• You drive by the same houses every day. The same people sit in their front porch swings. They have a vacant look in their eyes. They’ve been here for as long as you can remember. Sitting. Watching. Waiting.

• No one goes into the woods on the edge of town anymore. We try to forget the disappearances. We try to normalize the dismembered animals. The folks on the edge of town deny that when they take their dinner scraps out to the woods at night it’s actually an offering. Feeding stray animals, they say. But we all know. The woods are hungry. The woods don’t forget. They will take.

• Your neighbor’s farm animals have been falling sick. Those that make it long enough to mate give birth to babies that are… wrong. Stillborns. Extra limbs. Concave heads. Some even coming out with no eyes. When they leave their mother, they come out screaming. Even the stillborns. Even the ones that barely make it past their first breaths. They all scream. They don’t want to exist here.

• A car passes through every once in a while. Someone taking the scenic route. Everyone watches. A twinge of what looks like jealousy in their eyes. Those people get to leave. We aren’t so lucky.

• We’ve been issued a warning for a drought. It hasn’t rained in weeks. Maybe months. Maybe years. We don’t know anymore. We don’t remember what rain feels like. The air is thick with moisture, large bruised looking clouds hanging over head. Taunting. Threatening a downpour, and never delivering. You’re starting to doubt that what you’re hearing is thunder, but there’s still lightning.

• The weather channel spoke of a full moon tonight. You don’t get your hopes up. This town hasn’t seen the moon in a long time. The moon and stars turned their backs on us long ago.

• The darkness coupled with the incessant screaming of the cicadas can be disorienting at night. It’s easy to lose your way. The town looks different at night. Almost unrecognizable. Almost like you’re somewhere else. Almost. But we know that can’t be true. No one ever leaves.

• Everyone has a hunting rifle in their home. Sometimes people leave with them, but where do they go? We don’t go to the woods anymore. What are they hunting? They always come back with sunken, shell shocked eyes and dirty knuckles. Many of them never speak again. People stopped asking questions long ago.

I am glad you asked. I’ll break it down by media type. 

Books/Plays: 

The Crucible: Arthur Miller. Not only a classic piece of American Lit but also an allegory for The Red Scare. 

A Streetcar Named Desire: Tennessee Williams.

The Little Foxes: Lillian Hellman

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf: Edward Albee

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Ken Kasey (Fun Fact, Based on his experience with the government’s MK Ultra experiments) 

House of the Seven Gables: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Young Goodman Brown: Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck

Fever, 1793: Laurie Halse Anderson. 

Movies: 

Jezebel: Bette Davis in one of her most renowned roles as Julie, a strong willed southern belle, who manipulates those around her to try and win back her lost love. 

Interview with the Vampire: 200 year old vampire, Louis (Played by Brad Pitt), recounts his life to a reporter. 

The Beguiled: A wounded Union soldier seeks refuge at an all girl’s school where tensions begin to rise with his presence. 

The VVitch: A thrilling film about a puritan family ejected from their colony and forced to live in isolation where they are plagued by strange events. 

Freaks: a 1932 black and white film about a traveling freak show that takes measures against exploitative outsiders. 

Oh Brother Where Art Thou: A southern musical about three runaway convicts. 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: An anthology of stories in the dangerous world of the early American West. 

House of 1000 Corpses: An honest example of “hillybilly horror” by Rob Zombie

Music 

Bottom of the River: Delta Rae

Barton Hollow: The Civil Wars

Dig Two: The Band Perry

Coal Mine Moonshine: 3 Penny Acre

The Oh Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack

Bildgewater: Brown Bird

Blood on My Name: The Brothers Bright

Awake O Sleeper: The Brothers Bright

Ain’t No Grave: Crooked Still

Pretty Polly: Vandaveer

In Hell I’ll be in Good Company: The Dead South

Hells Bells: Carrie Ann Hearst

American Murder Song: Chapters 1, 2, and 3. 

Tanaya Beatty in the clips I was able to find online from Hostiles.

TANAYA BEATTY || Da’naxda’xw First Nations || Himalayan

Want to create a religion for your fictional world? Here are some references and resources!

General:

General Folklore

Various Folktales

Heroes

Weather Folklore

Trees in Mythology

Animals in Mythology

Birds in Mythology

Flowers in Mythology

Fruit in Mythology

Plants in Mythology

Folktales from Around the World

Africa:

Egyptian Mythology

African Mythology

More African Mythology

Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

The Gods of Africa

Even More African Mythology

West African Mythology

All About African Mythology

African Mythical Creatures

Gods and Goddesses

The Americas:

Aztec Mythology

Haitian Mythology

Inca Mythology

Maya Mythology

Native American Mythology

More Inca Mythology

More Native American Mythology

South American Mythical Creatures

North American Mythical Creatures

Aztec Gods and Goddesses

Asia:

Chinese Mythology

Hindu Mythology

Japanese Mythology

Korean Mythology

More Japanese Mythology

Chinese and Japanese Mythical Creatures

Indian Mythical Creatures

Chinese Gods and Goddesses

Hindu Gods and Goddesses

Korean Gods and Goddesses

Europe:

Basque Mythology

Celtic Mythology

Etruscan Mythology

Greek Mythology

Latvian Mythology

Norse Mythology

Roman Mythology

Arthurian Legends

Bestiary

Celtic Gods and Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses of the Celtic Lands

Finnish Mythology

Celtic Mythical Creatures

Gods and Goddesses

Middle East:

Islamic Mythology

Judaic Mythology

Mesopotamian Mythology

Persian Mythology

Middle Eastern Mythical Creatures

Oceania:

Aboriginal Mythology

Polynesian Mythology

More Polynesian Mythology

Mythology of the Polynesian Islands

Melanesian Mythology

Massive Polynesian Mythology Post

Maori Mythical Creatures

Hawaiian Gods and Goddesses

Hawaiian Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses

Creating a Fantasy Religion:

Creating Part 1

Creating Part 2

Creating Part 3

Creating Part 4

Fantasy Religion Design Guide

Using Religion in Fantasy

Religion in Fantasy

Creating Fantasy Worlds

Beliefs in Fantasy

Some superstitions:

Africa:

Ancient Egypt: the Mythology

Egyptian Gods

Legendary Monsters of Africa

The Americas:

Aztec Mythology

Incan Mythology

Haitian Mythology

Mayan Mythology

Asia:

Chinese Mythology

Japanese Mythology

Korean Mythology

Hindu Mythology

Japanese Folklore and Mythology

Chinese Mythology

Europe:

Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology

The Olympians

Women in Greek Myths

Greek Mythology

More Greek Mythology

Even More Greek Mythology

Greek/Roman Mythology

Germanic Myths, Legends, and Sagas

Norse Mythology

The Muse

Creepy Irish Creatures

Irish Folklore

Norse Mythology

Arthurian Mythology

Celtic Mythology

Latvian Mythology

Norse Gods, Goddesses, and More

A Celtic Pantheon

Welsh Gods and Goddesses

Celtic Deities

Werewolf Legends from Germany

Welsh Deities

Celtic Gods and Goddesses

Oceanic:

Australian Mythology

Polynesian Mythology

General:

Ancient Myth and Magic

Massive List of Mythological Creatures

Mythical Creatures

Hairy Hominids

Cryptozoology

Mysterious Beings, Monsters, and Creatures

Amulets and Good Luck Charms A - Z

Modern Monsters

Myths and Legends

Folklore and Mythology (2)

More Links

Folklore, Myth, and Legend

Names of Gods and Goddesses