#spoopy story

[bugsoda]

spooky!

The Red-Ribbon Lady

⚡️⛈️⚡️⛈️⚡️

once upon a time there was a lumberjack. one day, while out in the woods, he found a woman. she was lost, and asked directions to the nearest town. they were very deep in the woods, and it was near dark, so the lumberjack offered to have her stay at his cabin for the night. she accepted.

he offered to bring her to town the next day, but she wanted to stay. after a week or two, they found they were in love. now-i should add, there was something interesting about this woman. she had a red ribbon tightly tied around her neck. despite living with her, the lumberjack hadnt seen her without it even once. every time he asked, she responded with “ill show you when you’re ready.”

after years of marriage, and accepting this answer, one night he got too curious. she was asleep, and he was just staring at that ribbon, wondering what could possibly be under it that required that much secrecy. so he pulled it. he undid the ribbon, and her head rolled right off the bed. the end.

[markscherz]

Hi Dr Scherz, not a frog question but did you also interact with leeches in Madagascar? I heard they suck blood and live with frogs? 🧛

It's spoopy season, friends. Strap in.

Here's a teaser:

Look how cute it is. How much panic could it really cause?

Read the tags before continuing. You have been warned.

So terrestrial leeches are very common at moderate elevations in Malagasy rainforests. The worst I have ever encountered was around 1200 m above sea level on Montagne d'Ambre in the north of Madagascar. I had been warned, but I was not prepared.

On our first night at this elevation, we went out in search of reptiles and frogs and were absolutely besieged by leeches. Hundreds upon hundreds of them. Panic broke out, because you couldn't stop to flick them off onto the ground without having more make it onto you, and the people at the back of the line were picking up those that the leaders had flicked off. We ran back to camp.

In camp, the situation was not much better. Every now and then you would feel an itch and find a leech attached here or there. Small, but annoying, and itchy!

Porters bringing supplies to camp arrived in their sport shorts with their legs completely coated in blood. Even the reptiles were beset by the leeches.

Over the next few days, we managed to adjust, and to find solutions that helped reduce the leech burden. But our clothes were stained in blood, especially around the waist, where the leeches attach when they reach the top of your trousers. I preferred this to the alternative…

You can stop reading here if you are squeamish. Really. You might not want to know.

…

…

…

…

One night, working in a tiny forest fragment in northeastern Madagascar, my colleague Marius ran over to me and said 'I have something in my eye, can you check what it is?'. I turned my headtorch on his eye, and there was the black, glistening shape of a leech that had decided that today's meal of choice was sclera.

I had heard and read about this before. Colleagues working in southeastern Madagascar had told me horror stories. I had watched youtube videos about people getting leeches in their eyes. I was prepared with the bad news.

'You're going to have to leave it in,' I explained to Marius, trying to keep the panic from my voice. 'It will drop off by itself. You could really hurt your eye if you try to get it off.'

This did not have the desired effect. Marius and one of our guides exchanged a quick stream of Malagasy that I did not follow. Marius started pouring water into his eye, with no effect. Slowly, the guide began rolling up his zipper in the cloth of his coat, as I watched on, equal parts fascinated and horrified, emitting feeble protests of 'but I read on the internet…' and 'I really think you should leave it in…' (knowing in my heart that I would be doing exactly the same thing as Marius, were I in his situation).

I understood what was planned, and elected to help as best I could. While Marius knelt, I shone my headtorch into his eye. The guide crouched over him, and in one swift but firm movement, wiped the cloth-wrapped zipper over the leech. It came free, and out, and Marius blinked, dousing the eye in still more water.

Over the next days, I had several close encounters, catching leeches at my cheek or on my chin, almost as though they were targeting the eyes. Sometimes when I would go to check a random itch on my face, I would find a leech on my hand on the way up.

Since then, when I walk through a rainforest where I know there are leeches, my body is on a constant subconscious rhythm: check the sleeves, check the hands, use the hands to check the face, check the sleeves, check the hands, use the hands to check the face…

So far, I haven't had the misfortune to experience this myself, but having gotten to experience it second hand, that is quite enough for me, thank you very much.

I also realised that by having a tight seal between rain jacket and rain trousers, the face is the first target a leech might come to. This is why I no longer make this a tight connection, and welcome leech bites at the waistline. They are better than the alternative.

[sun-e-chips]

One crafts the other decorates

Funny how things can happen overnight

[spoopy-nevermore-dump]

Had a realization

[molinaesque]

Raphael | Hands (5/?) The screams! Oh, the screams! Hundreds of people watching in horror as the ground came up to meet them. It was not a happy meeting.

[seresaaswang]

Yeah

[gooptober]

Finally met @spoopy-story !!!! He’s much cuter in person (didn’t know that was possible tbh)

[foldingfittedsheets]

I finished What Moves the Dead. It was a bit curious because the narrative was so compelling and I was engaged and entertained the whole time and then I finished the book and thought Hmm! That’s enough of that!

[lunewell]

Some quick MerMay pixel art of a very tired mermaid, whilst I wait to get the time to write my MerMay story (:

[wren-l-winter]

“Do you know my name?” The voice whispered from the darkness. 

The explorer stood within the ancient temple, her torch clutched in both hands like a blade. “Reveal yourself.” Something scraped behind her. There was nothing but damp, eroded stone when she turned, brandishing her feeble weapon. 

“I had a name once,” the voice continued. “Time has stolen it from me.” 

The flames flickered as the explorer twisted and turned, searching for the unknown. “I do not know your name,” she said, forcing her words to carry a confidence her mind did not harbor, “but I know this temple was built to contain something.” 

“Many somethings.” The explorer could hear the purred smile in the whispered words. “They are no more. Only I am left.”

“I could give you a name.” Slow, steady footsteps took her back toward the entrance of the crumbling temple. A cold breeze caressed the back of her neck. She stopped, knuckles white around her flimsy torch. The air was warm beyond the temple’s walls. “My people often take and give names.” A purr rumbled behind her. She could not hear it but rather felt it against her back. Only darkness greeted her when she whirled to face the temple’s prisoner.

“I have never taken a name before.” Something soft and cold brushed against her calves. The explorer flinched away, her heart beating like thunder within her chest. “Perhaps I will take yours.” A gnarled, ghostly hand reached out from the shadows and extinguished the torch’s flame, plunging her into darkness. “Won’t you sing it for me, little bird?” 

[coff33-stained]

The Co-ed Killer

Edmund Emil Kemper lll
After taking the lives of his grandparents at the young age of 15, Ed Kemper was released at the age of 21 from Atascadero State Hospital where he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. 
After being released Ed Kemper started his reign of terror by picking up young ladies who were students of Fresno State. He would then drive to secluded areas with his victims and murder them. His murder spree escalated quickly to decapitation, dismemberment and necrophilia.


Before he turned himself in he bashed his mother’s head in with a hammer.


Ed Kemper is currently serving 8 concurrent life sentences in the California Medical Facility.
To all his victims may they Rest In Peace.


*Photo is not mine nor is any quoted material and is not intended to be copyright infringement*

[commodorecliche]

I've been wanting to share more if my original works, most of which is spooky content, so...

[ofbeautsandbeasts]

Scary Story Time! 😱👻

This is a true story, and it's not very scary, but it's the scariest thing that's happened to me this year!

So, my spouse and I were staying at the Lord Baltimore Hotel in downtown Baltimore this summer and when you walk into the lobby, you immediately realize this is an extremely old hotel that's 100% haunted. You don't even have to be someone who senses energies to feel this...the decor sets the tone 👀

Anyway, after a long day of going around Baltimore and doing a tour of Edgar Allan Poe's graves and house, we retired to the hotel. While chilling in our room, I googled "Lord Baltimore Hotel haunted" and began reading about various ghosts that live in the hotel. There's a whopping 22 documented cases of guests who jumped to their doom from the roof after the stock market crash and during the Great Depression! And plenty of ghosts from that era have stuck around 😨

I came upon a lady's tiktok where she walks around the hotel, describing paranormal events that happened there and in the middle of the video, I received a Ring alert saying "a person was detected in the dining room" at my home...several states away!!! Now, the Ring app has ONLY ever done that when there was an actual person in my dining room! Deeply worried, I went to check the video and there was no visible person, however, there was a big flash of light and an audible POP as it changed from color to black & white because it was dusk and it makes this change daily, but never with such flair 🌟⚡️ I could only conclude that a ghost from the hotel decided to visit my house via technology and spook the wits outta me 😂

Note: The first 5 photos were taken by me. Yes, the hotel has stupidly long, creepy hallways. Yes, some rando left hand prints on the mirror and no one bothered to clean it in the 24-hr span that I was there 🙌

[gears2gnomes]

The Halloween season starts! Tai and Tael are ready for a small story arc this month!

[aslanvlad]

A DALS Halloween Party (part 1) are they off to the see the wizard? the wonderful wizard of oz? no! they’re just having a Halloween party in the castle. a non-scary group costume, because they’ve faced enough horrors 😔 @rc-appreciationweeks

[seresaaswang]

Normal workplace conversation