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Hosted by Jonathan Wojcik
Just about eight weeks ago, I asked Bogleech readers to write and submit original horror stories for a hare-brained "Halloween in December" contest, and I'll be brutally honest here: you have no idea how hard, how arbitrary it became to pick "winners." Ten or fifteen possible lists were made. There was mental eenie-meenieing. As much as I like to think I'm a connoisseur of creepy tales, only a couple dozen stories around the web had ever really knocked my socks off in terms of atmosphere or creativity, and most of them were by either by Cameron Suey or Kris Straub, so despite the huge volume of horror fiction available online, the number of writers really leaving an impression on me had scarcely ever hit the double digits. Compared to the entire internet, I thought, it would be even simpler to pick out the best material here. Hahahahaha.
 I never could have predicted that my simple request would more than duodecuple my list of favorite writers, and if I'd known there would be over a hundred entries, I still would have never expected to like all of them. You don't know how proud I am that I only had to say "write the Bogleech dorkus something creepy" to flood the web with so much quality reading material in such a short time. You really got what I was saying about "weird" horror and you really took it to heart, finding dread and disquiet in even the most mundane and innocent of places. There are themes here I have never seen before in the genre, and those that I have are tackled from unique new angles. Perhaps impossible angles, where impossible things slither diagonally through time. The derivative, redundant material clogging the internet's gangrenous pasta tubes feels buried by your efforts. Buried, smothered and slowly digested under a squirming, chattering avalanche of wet, throbbing genius. Slenderman, Smile Dog, that poser Jeff the Killer, even many of good old Lovecraft's creations would run screaming from some of the things hiding in the following pages. Every single story has been compiled on this page, to the best of my ability, in alphabetical order, but we have a few things to go over before we get our creeps on!
 IMPORTANT STUFF:
 Congratulations, if you're a winner, you can e-mail me for one t-shirt of your choice from the Bogleech store! EGGSHELLS - By Gronkling - Our only video entry, though that's not the only reason I've picked it out. Imagining this sequence in any other medium still delights and unsettles me. THEY GO DEEP - By Izzy Winchester - Every parasite story submitted has been parasitic gold, but this is one of the few stories overall to really give me the creeps; not merely for the squicktacular parasitic infection itself, but where it's implied to come from - and the question of just where the hell those came from. THE VISITOR - By J. Ford - It was hard to pick between this one and Ford's "Five Seconds," and I can't offer much of a description without ruining anything. Check them both out! GREASEPAINT - By Gavin Pitts - I don't think Mr. Pitts was feeling too well when he wrote this. I'm not entirely sure if he's ever been well, now. SKILEVAKS - By Nathan Ilar Xenolyi - (PDF DOWNLOAD) - Having received this under an hour before putting up the archive, I honestly haven't had time to get very far into it... but anyone who writes a 108 page novel about our new favorite Halloween character deserves recognition, and the first few pages are already enough to delight me. You would get prizes too, if I were made of money! A THOUSAND BODIES - By Adam Bellamy - This was one of the first I received and the first I previewed, but after much deliberation, I realize it's still one of my favorites. It's among just a few from a non-human perspective...or perspectives. THE SNAIL'S SHELL - By Joseph JG - As the writer of Real Monstrosities, Joseph knows his creepy creatures. Once I realized what the narrator was really seeing, I fell in love with the whole concept. EVERYDAY ENCOUNTERS - By Nicolai - This one has the unique honor of being absolutely, positively, one-hundred-percent real for millions of people who suffer from anxiety. Hauntingly written, you don't need to have experienced a panic attack to empathize with the narrator. THE LONG TRAIN RIDE - By John Pesando - If you've ever gotten sick of a long and uncomfortable transit, you'll find this poor sap's situation as awful as I did. INFESTATION: 17 HERBS AND SPICES - By Olita Clark - The entire "Infestation" saga probably deserves a prize, but this was the first one Clark sent me, and I think it makes an excellent prelude to the setting, a thoughtfully original take on the old zombie apocalypse. It also features what may very well be the most creative and digusting death you'll read all day! THE HUNGERING ROOT - By Kevin Stanley - A story with a post-apocalyptic feel, and a bizarre menace that feels suspiciously artificial. Who, or what, created the "root?" And when? HIS MAJESTY - By Peter Allen - This crawly, slimy alien world is strangely familiar, but may not be for long... THE ROOM - By Stuart - The story of an extremely unusual "stalker." TOOTHACHE - By Erickson Warne-Coles - Essentially three sickening, hideously weird short stories connected by an equally distressing theme. Do not read with a snack. HEAVEN SENT - By PartlySmith - The simple, grotesque story of something strange that falls from the sky. INFLATABLE - By C. Lonnquist - Seasonally appropriate, and with a darkly funny climax! ALOE AND MANGO - By Dandelion Steph - "I wake up spluttering. There's something in my mouth, something pouring a cloying, viscous liquid." A MOTHER'S LOVE - By Nicholas Bragg - "He felt something move along his leg, a sudden wet, warm feeling about it." THE AMUNDSEN-SCOTT INCIDENT - By Irene Vallone - "The penguin got in again." AND THAT'S HOW I GOT HERE - By Michael Behnke - "So then his floppy-ass head whispers in my ear “Yes, it is quite precious”. And then..." ANTS - By William Robinson - "Under our watchful supervision, the hive grew and prospered in just a few short years." ASPHYXIA - By Wyatt Hill - "All it takes is one little gasp and he’ll have found me." A THOUSAND BODIES - By Adam Bellamy - "I can feel the scratching in my head again..." AT THE BOUNDARIES, UNEXPECTEDLY - By Erickson Warne-Coles - "Cyan. Everything was cyan." A WILL FOR THE BEACH - By Revereche - "It will say things. You may not understand all of it. You will understand the important parts. " THE BABY JAR - By Olita Clark - "...the latest and greatest way of expanding your family!"  BABY SLEIGH - By Anonymous - "a slick and oiled handlebar moustache, its tips groomed into impeccable curls" BEHIND IT ALL - By Ryan Oleynik- "I can hear it out there, that heavy breathing. But the door is closed, it can’t get in." BEWARE OF BIG HANDS - By Anonymous - "Everything is collapsible." BFEUbrgubrubsbubfea journal - By Brian Shadensack - "Any "injury”" to the apartment is healed the next "day." BLACK FRIDAY - By Olita Clark - "...the woman clung to the smooth face of glass and steel in the manner of a fly." THE BOOK - By Anonymous - "They burrowed deep inside, making thousands of holes in his skin." CAT FLAP - By Jeff - "Don’t laugh. Cat flaps. Can’t stand them. And I love cats, you know, I just haven’t had one for years." CATS AND DOGS - By Olita Clark - "Splat." CHANNEL EIGHT - By Filthypeasant - "Out onto the stage pour three, identical, and astonishingly ugly 3-D models." THE CHILDREN'S FIELD - By C. Lonnquist - "tiny teeth reflected the light; not sharp or feral, but cracked and broken and missing.." THE CHOSEN ONE - By Irene Vallone - " "A giant fucking bright red second moon appears in the sky all of a sudden, and you aren't even bothered by this?." CLARITY IN REVERIE - By David Balbata - "I saw it, I lived it and now I live to be with It." COAT - By Maxx Mann - "The third model was by far the best, wearing a seamless leather jacket that looked like a cocoon or some kind of protective covering the model himself formed naturally." COLD IN HERE - By John Petrie - "Every voice in the radiator sighed with me."  THE CREEP - By Anonymous - "I’m pretty sure they are the ones who did it, but what they did exactly, I can’t tell." CROWS - By The Awesome Flee - "I’ve had a crow infestation for a while now." DEATH OF A HIVE - By Mr. Weasel - "My hive of common Arizonan fire ants was an obsession that began in grade school." DEER GUY - By Jesus Lizard - "There was a thing that I thought lurked outside the window in the night..." DIFFERENT - By Emily Pirka B. - "I saw a flash of color. Something moving that was not your flesh." THE DIVERS - By Wes Dennis - (mature content!) "It spread its tendrils, giving us a clear picture of the puckered undersides of the outstretched fingers and the wide membrane that joined them." DIVER'S LOGS - By John Meszaros - "Deep, bioluminescent blue pits lined with coral and colonial angler-fish—that’s where the starfish breed." DOCTOR, PATIENT - By Jay Reavis - "He refuses to allow us to even open the curtains during the daytime. " DO I GET A THIRD CHANCE - By Dandelion Steph - (short) DOOMSDAY'S SURGEON - By C. Lonnquist - "They would clutch at him with tentacle hands and demand a return to normalcy." DOLLS OF BITS - By Jessie - "Small. Of Bone and hair." EGGSHELLS - By Gronkling - ??????? ELECTION DAY - By Thom Wanton - "You know oppositional ideologies really depend upon dehumanizing their opponents..." THE ELECTRO ELECT - By Valerie EPry - "For a moment, I glanced at his vast, empty eyes--the pale blue of a computer screen." ENLIGHTENMENT - By Glumdrop - "He sees trees and rocks, landscapes flying by, a blue orb in the darkness. He flies past stars and planets. It's beautiful." EVERYDAY ENCOUNTERS - By Nicolai - "It’s only going to get louder." EVERYONE IS SERVED - By Revereche - "You may deduce that I am from many things a composite." EXTRASOLAR - By Erickson Warne-Coles - "Above all else was a fiery comet orbiting a black space. An invisible planet, about the size of Earth."  FIVE SECONDS - By J. Ford - "Above the chimney I saw the antenna’s light, burning brighter than ever." THE FIVE - By Jonathan Wojcik - "The loop isn't perfect, of course. Things wear down. Accidents happen. A lot of them are sitting in their broken-down cars, still pumping the pedals unless I intervene." FUNGI - By Rahkshasarani - "The second rain, though, that was worse." GARDEN - By Luke Myrick- "For someone who loves plants, she hates the animals." GETTING CLOSER - By Ryan Oleynik- "We await His arrival, as we have before. He will come and deliver to us His gifts. We wait for Him. We wait for God." GREASEPAINT - By Gavin Pitts - "I wanted to be a tapeworm, but the Fat Lady said she already had four of them." GRAVEYARD - By Anonymous - "Earlier that day he’d fed his little brothers the story about the ghouls, the dead that wake at midnight on the full moon..." GRUBS - By Anonymous - "As we stood over his body, holding each other and crying, it began to move again." HAIRWORM - By Brooke Van Kampen - "I’ve been prepared for the zombie apocalypse for a long time! NO REGRETS." HALLOWEEN DEMONS - By Aranel Diamond- "I began having thoughts in a voice unfamiliar to my own, hard to make out in some places and crystal clear in others." HANDSOME - By Ted Miller - "Dressed in resplendent shimmering green am I." HEADED SOUTH - By Jonathan Wojcik - (sequel to "the five) - "A civilization of pristine, headless, silent mannequins." HEAVEN SENT - By PartlySmith - " I noticed small bits of its flesh stuck to the ceiling. Or rather, they were part of ceiling, now."  HOUSE OF CHEESE - By David Haire - "One day he came to a queer little door, that led to a stairwell deep in the floor." HIS MAJESTY - By Peter Allen - "My arrival at the palace is heralded by a procession of scuttling, hunched figures, robed in tattered finery." THE HUNGERING ROOT - By Kevin Stanley - "It appeared without warning, spearing itself forth from a rise in the landscape." THE HUNGERING ROOT II - By Kevin Stanley - "They say I’m like… a… 'root?' What's a root?" THE HUNGRY RUG - By Ryan Oleynik- "They said it wasn’t real, Just my imagination. A simple child’s fear, A mere fabrication." I LOVE YOU - By Oak - "The last words we'd ever have from us. The last kind sentiment before darkness fell." I, MONOTREME - By Valerie Epry - "The mass was clawing its way out of me a millimeter at a time." INFLATABLE - By C. Lonnquist - "The problem with the drive home is that Santa." INFESTATION: VIPER - By Olita Clark - "And it's not just people that come back but animals too." INFESTATION: 17 HERBS AND SPICES - By Olita Clark - "Their various parts would still keep crawling towards you, spitting spores." INFESTATION: RITZ - By Olita Clark - "Not that they ever truly go into hibernation outside of proper Dry areas..." INFESTATION: SPAM - By Olita Clark - "It's all canned crap, but it'll get you through the month." I WIN - By Anonymous - "The device in my hands is made of flesh but its skin is hard, smooth, shell-like."  JORMUNGANDR - By Glumdrop - "Another spill, was the official story. Everyone was so used to them by now. Soon pictures leaked out of the rig drenched in red." KITTY - By Smilecat98 - "The meows get desperate and more in pain." LAUGHING - By (Unknown) - "It was waiting for a pattern." THE LAST HOROSCOPE - By Thomas F. Johnson - "In a lonely alley, written on human flesh, inked in inhuman blood by an unknown author..." LILIN - By Stuart - "Now her fingers push through skin, and she peels it away from the musculature beneath." LOHJM - By Pookey - (microstory) THE LONG TRAIN RIDE - By John Pesando - "As the months had gone by, I learned that the train followed certain patterns, and seemed to reward consistent behavior." THE MARROW STORM - By Alun Clewe - (offsite comic link!) MANHATTEN - By Witness the Absurd - "...like hell did this thing ever come from Manhattan, it looked like scrap." MATERIALIZATION - By Dandelion Steph - "These “Chip-People” seemed like chatbots, with one difference: they were much more intelligent and humanlike." MAY CONTAIN - By Kiara Maher - "It's always at the bottom of the box, or the carton, or the goddamned tupperware container that I find them." MEMENTO MINFELD - By Shouty - "In the murky waters of an unknown ocean lie a species of drifters." MILK RUN - By Glumdrop - "Then there was a noise in the dark that a dog couldn't make." THE MIRROR ON THE DOOR - By Infernalthing - "When I looked at my reflection I felt like someone's watching me. Even when I was alone I had the same feeling."  MORS VOLUNTARIA - By Spitblaze - "Maybe we should’ve gone on to human trials with the medicine." MR. SMOTHER - By Wyatt Hill - "No, Mr. Smother! What are you doing?" MUSINGS FROM THE BUNKER - By Ben Jeffrey - "The exact date is not known when the Ice cream men started to wear the hoods." MY FAULT - By Nick Noah - "The victims were all found fully clothed, but their bodies covered with perfectly spherical, tennis-ball-sized burn marks." MY HAPPY PLACE - By Wyatt Hill - "The round thing lives in a tall house on a cliff. It is upside down, but then again, so is he." MY TEETH - By ChiknHart - "I keep digging them out with the pliers. Ripping them out one by one." NAUSEA MAZE - By Infernalthing - "When he got up he saw the thing that made him trip. It was a human spine that had a pair of legs on each vertebra." NANA - By PartlySmith - "Nana’s hard, wooden fingers wrap around me as she lifts me up." NEVER MAKE EYE CONTACT - By Anonymous - "You know it is there, but it can never, never ever know that you know." NOTHING - By Erickson C.M. Sturdy - (microstory) THE NOTHING PERSON - By Brian J. - "Gruesome, terrible, blades grew from the limb, and started scraping the wall trying to find me."  NOT YOURS - By (unknown) - "And you scooped the ideas out with a pencil , and put them on paper." OLD - By Erickson Warne-Coles - "Regina slowly made her way over to the bag of cat food." ONE UGLY CHAIR - By Nick Noah - "So a few months ago my friend picked up this really ugly office chair..." THE PAPERCRAFT DRAGON - By VeePickle - "This new head shape was so far removed from the others..." PIANO - By Dreadnawt - "As crazy as it might seem, I often felt that I was disappointing a piano most of all by playing it so poorly." PINK - By Dandelion Steph - "Jennifer Mordley loved pink." PORCELAIN GOD - By Olita Clark - "You are here because of the thing in your gut." PREDATORS - By Lee - "Behind him, a pair of large pale eyes are staring in from the window." THE ROOM - By Stuart - "There was one room we were especially fond of hiding in, my sister and I."  SCENT OF THE NIGHT - By Shard - (short) THE SEQUENCE - By Witness the Absurd - "The Beast is pulled from the Dead Sea. It's body is a salted wreck." SHRIKE - By Stuart - "...a fat little bird hops between branches, chirping. In moments it is joined by another, and another." SKILEVAKS - By Nathan Ilar Xenolyi - (PDF DOWNLOAD) - a novel-length entry starring one of Bogleech.com's sort-of-home-brewed freaks! SNAILS - By Anonymous - "No person in this world has ever despised them as much as I do." THE SNAIL'S SHELL - By Joseph JG - "As I gazed into that miniature abyss, something slowly began to come into view." SNOW - By Anonymous - "Nothing but a pile of snow, except for two black disks representing eyes." TEDDY - By Stuart - "I have no hands. I have no feet. My mouth is nothing more than a line of flaxen thread." THEY GO DEEP - By Izzy Winchester - " Sonar showed forests of them thronging the earth, sliding through bedrock, source unseen." THE THING AT THE WINDOW - By C. Lonnquist - "A sound like muttering; like old, stern German hymns thrummed through the glass my forehead rested upon." THIS IS YOUR HOLIDAY PRESENT - By Glargondangit56 - (offsite DA link. It's a holidays poem!!) TOMMY - By Ray - "One day Daddy and Uncle John started telling me and Tommy about something called a ‘snipe’..." TRANSCRIPT FOR INTERVIEW NUMBER 25 - By Brian Shadensack - "I’ve been unable to enter a house for about two years..."  THING - By Lee - (short) TODAY - By Dandelion Steph - "Today my toe fell off. That was fine. It was a malformed toe anyway." TOMB OF THE ANCIENTS - By Xavier Patterson - "I awoke in a dizzy haze." TOOL SEEKERS - By Vox Humana - "One time, I popped one and it made a bad mess." TOOTHACHE - By Erickson Warne-Coles - "Something shot of his gut, eliciting a sharp shriek of pain, followed by several more." UNDERNEATH - By Infernalthing - (short) THE VISITOR - By J. Ford - "The torso narrowed at the center and bulged at the top with what appeared a row of rib bones jutting from his back. A distended goiter served as the unsuitable placeholder for a head." VOXCAN, VOXCAN'T - By Shouty - "Through the damp dusk of the night-drenched bog moved a ponderous figure. Heaving jingles chime from it as it burdens a large pack." WANNA SEE WHAT I CAN DO? - By Kiara Maher - "Another tooth, identical to the first, begins to emerge, connected to the same strand." WATCHING - By Keith Johnstone - "2 is the only even prime number" WATER WORLD - By Irene Vallone - "COME SEE THE REAL LIVE MERMAID." WE'RE ALL SMILING - By Revereche - "SO THIS IS WHY YOU'RE THE SORT OF PERSON OUT TALKING TO TREES, HUH." THE WISHBRINGER - By Powder - "I shake the plant over Brandon’s face and a black, glossy, oval like shape peeks out from his mouth." 18MM - By Ted Miller - "It was fogy, very thing smelt bad. I could feel the moist gross heat all around me." 
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