#crypto0321

At first, I thought the static hiss was coming from the TV downstairs. As I descended the stairs I remembered none of our TVs make that sound anymore. I could still hear the static. The sound was coming from outside the front door.

I looked through the peephole and I’m sure I saw a figure disappear into the darkness at the end of the walk. I noticed a small, old TV on our porch. The screen was filled with white snow and the static sound became deafening.

Then, when I opened the door, everything was quiet and that little screen was black. “

-Tony Barrington, 2019

“I’ve been driving long haul for almost 30 years. - been back and forth across the country at least a couple hundred times. I’ve driven through every natural disaster known to man: flood, fire, tornado, earthquake, hurricane, and blizzard. I’ve seen every bad decision a person can make when driving (and made every single one of them myself). But I’ll tell you this, that day, whatever rolled out of those mists was something I’d never seen before and I never want to see it again.”

CRYPTID CHRONICLER

“She seemed like a nice lady. When we moved in next door to her, we noticed the house was one of those tiny homes and a huge lot that was mostly unmaintained. We never really saw her come out much but the kids in the neighborhood always talked about how sweet she was. Then, one Morning on my way to work I noticed the house was gone. Like I said, it was one of those tiny homes, so I assumed she towed it away or something. That evening was when we found out several of the neighborhood’s children hadn’t come home from school.”

“When we bought the house  we knew it was a fixer-upper. So we didn’t even go out into the backyard. I mean, we looked out the huge, bay window and both my wife and I agreed it was odd to have a swimming pool in Vermont. The price was right, however, so we bought it without giving it any more thought. 

My wife, Clara, told me it started that first week we moved in. She would find me standing next to the pool, staring at the brackish water in a trance. She said we would argue about the work that needed to be finished on the house and other things. I don’t remember any of it.

My wife is gone now and the house is falling apart. I spend all my time staring out that bay window at the pool. Sometimes I notice I’m soaking wet. I’m not sure if I’m eating anymore. I’m just waiting. I don’t know what I’m waiting for. Something deep down inside tells me we should have never bought this house.”

“I love her. None of you seem to understand our love for each other is real. She understands everything about me. She’ll take care of me now. No more family; she’s all the nurture I need. No more church; her words are my new gospel. No more wife; she’s my only true lover. No more...anything. I’m free.”

“...Like I said, we were on the other side of the river. We’d been in that fire for three days and finally we could take a break. That’s when I saw it.

At first, I saw what I thought was an elk, calmly walk through a wall of fire on the opposite side of the river. I reached for my rifle -with my only thought being to put the animal out of its misery.

The beast’s back was ablaze but it didn’t seem to notice. It looked left and right before looking across the river at us. It could have been a trick of the smoke and flame but, it appeared to have a bunch of red eyes, like a spider. It stared for several moments as flames peeled from its back like autumn leaves falling up into the sky.

Then, as if it heard something we didn’t, it abruptly turned its head toward the wall of fire. Paying us no further mind, it walked back into the flames and disappeared.”