Cold Spots

Leavenworth, Kansas - Its guest list reads like a who's-who of infamy, full of swindlers, gangsters, murderers and monsters. The gargantuan structure is at once a beautiful piece of architecture and an imposing sentinel on the land. In fact, from the outside, it looks almost like one of the many halls of government in Washington, D.C. But the people who stay here aren't guests of their own free will. They don't make laws. In fact, they broke a few. And inside, where penance is paid and cells are overcrowded, there are a few inmates who have stayed longer than most.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Mon, 11/16/2009 - 10:06am.

Amityville, New York is a quiet community on a lake. Its name means "friendship," and its citizens try their best to live up to that name. In 1977, the town gained infamy from a haunted house story that claimed to be true, one that played on a real tragedy from three years before. While every town has seen its share of tragedy, few events receive as much attention as those that rock the community to its core. Thirty-five years ago today, real horror enveloped the quiet bayside town, and it has been trying to recover ever since.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Fri, 11/13/2009 - 10:28am.

Watertown, Connecticut - Every 34 days he appears, a shambling form that moves from the Connecticut River to the Hudson with grunts instead of words his only form of communication. To those unaccustomed, he can be a frightening sight, some sort of wild man descending from the mountainous terrain. But even to those he's visited before, his presence is somewhat disquieting. It isn't his appearance or his animal growls. Rather, it's the fact that he died more than one hundred twenty years ago.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 10:46am.

New Orleans, Louisiana - There are places in the world that defy description. The horrors of what happened within their walls seem far-fetched or even impossible outside the confines of a horror movie. And yet, for many places, fiction could not even hope to capture the terrors of real life. Strangers from far away, riches and murder most foul may begin the story, but where does it end? If it had ended, some might say, the house would not be haunted.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Thu, 10/15/2009 - 9:59am.

Monticello, Arkansas - Behind a black iron gate sits a house that seems to be something out of a dream. White pillars, red domed roof, surrounded by trees, the home is an ideal setting for a fairy-tale existence, a happy home where nothing could ever go wrong. But within, not everything is as it seems. There is an unhappy air, a sadness that paces the floors, accompanied by the sounds of crying and faces peering back out of mirrors. She didn't die a violent death, nor was it much of a surprise to her when she died. She took her own life.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 3:20pm.

Talcott, West Virginia - Through a wall of granite hammer strikes ring out, echoing off stone. Grunts of effort can be heard, and when people reach the end of the tunnel, they feel pain. No matter who they are, they've heard the story. To ignore such a tale would be to ignore one of the greatest heroes of the United States. And while, to many, his tale is one tall enough to be considered mere folklore, to others his is a story of triumph of the human spirit, and such is the stuff of which legends are made.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 9:07am.

Greenbriar, West Virginia - In the courtroom, a man sits accused of murder. The victim's mother takes the stand and proclaims his guilt. Her only evidence can neither sit on a table nor can it take the stand. She's speaking for the deceased. In fact, her daughter's ghost told her he did it. The man protests, but to no avail. The ghost is proven right, and he spends the rest of his natural life in jail. What happens afterward is anyone's guess.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 9:57am.

Tuscaloosa, AL - Who is the crazy woman with a gentle touch, who tucks the children in at night and sings songs in the darkness? Who is the drunken idiot who falls down the stairs and kills himself? And what is the cause of the mysterious fires that annoy the fire department because they simply aren't there? What is the cause? Is it madness? Alcohol-fueled dementia? Or is it rage over a purposefully ignored last request? In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, you never know the cause. It might be all three.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Fri, 08/14/2009 - 9:28am.

Brooksville, Florida - The room upstairs looks like any child's. Toys are carefully arranged, ready for tiny hands. Downstairs a doctor's office waits for patients, a room is filled with wartime memorabilia, and a schoolroom waits for students. But the people who roam the halls are not the people for whom the rooms are intended. They've been dead for more than 150 years. But if that's so, then who moves the toys? Whose cries are heard from the doctor's office? Why is there such a feeling of unease? Because, dead or not, many of them never actually left.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 9:26am.

Kingsport, TN - There are places about which legends are born. For some stories survive for generations because of personalities so evil, the mere mention of their names is used to terrify children. For others stories of love lost and tragedy give a place a romantic, if melancholy, air. But for a few the tales of the tragic and terrible collide, creating a place where the past and present fuse, and where some long to visit but others dread. With the edge of time legends and folk tales arise, but no matter how strange they sound, there is usually a base in truth.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 9:16am.

Stowe, VT - Some hauntings are benign, harmless to all who encounter them and enjoy a shiver at their brush with the supernatural. Some are helpful, welcoming even. But there are others, in which the dead sits and waits, anticipation and hope turning first to anger, then to rage and madness.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 12:04pm.

Charleston, SC - There are people in her house. She doesn't know them, but they come in droves. They eat in her living room, cook in her kitchen, and pay her no mind at all. After such a long life of lonely solitude, the air is thick with conversation and the scent of Lowcountry spices. Of course she hasn't lived here, or anywhere, for a long time, and the house is no longer her home, but she continues to walk the floors and look out the windows, remembering a time that once was.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Mon, 06/15/2009 - 9:17am.

Richmond, VA - Richmond, Virginia, is a city of contrasts. Signs of the modern world abound, alongside pieces of its rich history. Downtown holds a tiny house, its walls made of stone, in which visitors gather to pay respects to a great man. Though he never lived here, many of his things are now cared for within. And while some come for a glimpse of the property of the mad genius, others can feel him watching, roaming the halls, and looking at the things that once belonged to him.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Mon, 06/01/2009 - 9:30am.

Toledo, OH - Do houses have memories? Why is it that in some places, people can feel an electric energy, can feel the house live around them, while in others, there seems to be nothing but walls and a roof? Truly, some houses are unassuming but have witnessed extraordinary events. Others, though grand in scale, lack the love and passion to give the house a personality, a life, of its own.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 9:35am.

Charleston, SC – In the night a woman wakes. There’s someone in her room. She can hear him walk across the floor, feel his presence as he watches her still form, and can feel his weight when he lies down next to her, draping his arm across her body. She turns to see a pale figure, almost transparent in the moonlight, and screams. The figure gets up and makes a hasty retreat through the nearest wall. Outside her room something else awaits, its hideous growls resounding from its headless body. She looks from wall to door. Which should she choose?
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 9:21am.