sorcerer

The Sorcerer’s Harem

Regular readers here know that the West is afflicted with a crisis of meaning, and we have been for a long time. It's a target-rich environment for clever con artists with no conscience and a penchant for spinning tall tales. Author JD Cowan brought up a Twitter thread by Lin…
March 7, 202212 Comments
Denver Mustang

Things to Do in Denver if You’re a Fed

A chat with some friends late last night took a turn toward the Denver International Airport and the high strangeness therein. And, rumor has it, below. Built at $2 billion over budget and unveiled in February 1995—16 months behind schedule—Denver Airport has been attracting controversy since construction began. The airport…
January 14, 20229 Comments
K2 West Face 1908

Second Highest Strangeness

Photograph by By Vittorio Sella (1859–1943) We all know the classic weird tale settings: dark woods, moonlit moors, fog-bound swamps. The gothic tales practically write themselves. But for this horror writer's money, the eeriest place on Earth has none of the above features. Indeed, its stark barrenness is what makes…
December 17, 20219 Comments
Strange Cemetery

Six Strange Stories

Back in grade school, a classmate told me of a strange experience he'd had while sleeping over at a friend's house. This friend claimed his house was haunted by the ghost of a boy named Eddie. The boys fell asleep around the TV in the finished basement. My classmate got…
December 9, 20215 Comments
Phone

Grandma’s Phone

Here at the end of the internet, 4chan stands as the great archive of a vanishing culture built online. Its various boards are the true successors of the Neolithic campfires around which hunter-gatherers shared tribal lore. Spend any length of time browsing /x/ or /k/, and you'll soon discern a…
November 29, 202113 Comments
Coal Mine House

The Coal Miner’s House

Stay in the writing game long enough, and you learn that a good story could come from anywhere, anytime. I was reminded why every writer does well to keep a pocket notebook on him during a recent visit to the barbershop. While waiting for a trim, one of the other…
November 23, 20213 Comments
Gilgamesh Nephilim

Gilgamesh and the Nephilim

The spooky season continues with a highly strange story from last year that somehow escaped my notice. A shocking discovery in the FOIA release of State Department emails confirms ... [a]n email ... “Requesting documents pertaining to the resurrection chamber of Gilgamesh, the location of his body and the location…
November 15, 20218 Comments
Bender House

Another Little House

Spend any length of time doing editing work, and you'll soon conclude that most material excised from a book is cut for good reason. But sometimes, scenes deleted because they didn't fit a book's theme or mood make for fascinating tales in their own right. Every self-respecting bibliophile should be…
November 10, 202124 Comments
CIA

A CIA Internal Matter

The popular perception of Millennials as culturally bankrupt philistines incapable of making anything useful doesn't give them a fair shake. Braving the dank bowels of the web reveals that the extremely online generation has pioneered a new art form: the sharing of spook stories through formularized posts. This medium has…
October 27, 202116 Comments
Demon Face

It Showed Itself

A comment occasioned by a recent post offers us a twofold tale of high strangeness and spiritual warfare. I have seen demons myself. One night, after a series of bizarre dreams, I woke up to the faint sound of my mother calling for help. My mother lives far across town…
September 17, 20214 Comments