Cold Spots

Warbonnet Creek, Nebraska - You are out in the woods, near a famous trickling creek that once ran red with proud blood. From behind you, all around you, voices whisper and talk in a strange language. Footsteps rush through the underbrush. You search but come to the sudden realization that you are alone, and the owners of the voices and running feet are not there, but echoes of history replaying.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 11:09am.

Frederick, Maryland - It comes in the early hours of the morning, its arrival heralded by heavy footsteps on stairs. Who he is, many have guessed, but they do not know for sure, nor do they know his intentions. But what is certain, from witnesses to victims, is that he is very real ... and very frightening. Whether he means to hurt anyone is unknown, but he appears just the same, prodding with long bony fingers anyone who has the audacity to stand in his home. Although he is dead, he still lingers, many believe, out of spite.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Fri, 01/15/2010 - 10:48am.

Chicago, Illinois - Inside it's another busy day. Through the hallways, interns dash back and forth with coffee and papers and the latest demands from their higher ups. It seems for all the world like a modern office, far removed from things that happened almost a hundred years ago. But in the hush of a darkened room, the past will not be forgotten. Tragedies continue to leave their marks in the form of phantom footsteps and whispering voices. Even in a city the size of Chicago, things happen that cannot, nor should ever, be forgotten.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 11:50am.

Pikeville, Kentucky - Most people don't give much thought to what happens to a corpse once it's buried. Into the coffin it goes, the lid is locked tight, and it's covered with dirt, out of sight, out of mind. But what happens if the person inside that coffin wasn't really dead?
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Tue, 12/15/2009 - 10:06am.

Bentonsport, Iowa - A guest comes down the stairs after a night's rest and approaches the owner of the historic inn. "Did you know this place is haunted?" she asks. The owner smiles, not because she thinks her guest is delusional, but because she's heard it before. And far from being afraid, the guest seems more excited. They're not scary, not malevolent, and not tortured. In fact, in life, the entities liked the place so much, they just didn't want to leave.
Submitted by Sifu Scott on Tue, 12/01/2009 - 10:27am.

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.