Spooky Tales and Scary Things

Short Stories to Read with the Lights On

By: Harry Carpenter

Narrated by: Doug Haynie

A compilation of short stories. The stories are written based on true-ish stories that happened, or almost happened.

"The General":
An ordinary night. An ordinary guy. Freddy had no idea what he was in for. A demon who can pass from person to person, just by the sheer mention of his story. Plagued by this demon named The General, Freddy is faced with the decision to pass this curse off to someone else, or meet his ultimate end at the hands of this ancient being.

"Demon Dog":
Young Robin is plagued by nightmares of an evil dog. The dog shows up in nightmares, and she cannot break away from how vivid the dreams are. Being scared to go to bed, afraid of the dark, and terrified of the closet is standard fare for the average eight-year-old, but what if there was more to be seen lurking in the shadows?

"Bathell":
The Demon Bathell. An urban legend told between friends who are very much assuming that he is not real. Once conjured, Bathell will haunt and hunt you, killing you in the most terrifying way: Using your worst fear as your death device. Reaching into your mind, it pulls out what terrifies you most, to ensure your end is the most unpleasant possible.

©2019 Harry Carpenter (P)2019 Harry Carpenter

Narration a Distraction

I really hate to give this small collection of short stories such a low rating. The author is an Army Veteran, has a creative mind, and a passion for writing. That passion carries through his short stories. I think that what these stories lacked most was proper editing. They came across as solid first, rough drafts that should have been tweaked and rewritten a few times. The premise of each story was creative and original.

"The General" is about a demon that can pass from one person to another when his story is verbalized. If this story would have been cleaned up a bit (language and marijuana use), it would have been an excellent middle-grade story. Just the right amount of creepiness for pre-teens.

"Demon Dog" was an interesting take on nightmares creeping into the reality of a young girl. Again, had it been cleaned up a little for younger readers, it had just enough creep factor. The ending was slightly disappointing, but original none the less.

"Bathell" involves a group of friends taking a camping trip together. One of the friends told the rest of them an urban legend type story about an entity that takes your biggest fear and uses it against you. Horrible things ensue for each of the friends that listened to the story. This story had the best ending of the three...sort of a "tongue in cheek" twist. My criticisms for this story lie again in editing. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, but since the author loosely based them on people he knew, maybe that flaw is with me and not the writing.

What I did like is that the author added the inspiration for each story at it's ending. I found that interesting. In my opinion, this author does show promise. I am a reader, not a writer, so I can't even begin to imagine what that process must be like. Hopefully he will hone his skills, get a good editor, and keep at it.

As far as the narration, I think it may have taken away from the stories. The narrator read as if his audience were young children, as far as voice inflection and tone. I also felt like he was inserting commas after every four or five words, whether one was there or not. I might try this book in print to see if it makes an overall difference.