Growing up, Gravity Falls was truly something special. Released back in 2012 and concluding after two seasons on February 15, 2016, the Disney Channel series revolved around Dipper and Mabel Pines, a set of fraternal twins, who were sent to spend their summer vacation in the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, with their great uncle, or rather “Grunkle” Stanley Pines. Together, they work at Grunkle Stan’s tourist trap “The Mystery Shack” alongside Soos Ramirez and Wendy Corduroy. It is there that Dipper would discover a journal cataloging all the mysterious anomalies that plague the town. Of course, the show was best remembered because of its use of cryptograms such as the Caesar cipher among other varieties of encrypted puzzles.…

A creak outside his office caused Micah to stop typing on the report before him. He stood up from his desk and went to investigate. Micah opened his office door and peeked out into the hallway. He looked left and then right, but it was empty. The only thing abnormal was the blinking overhead lights. “Did everyone go home already?” Micah asked aloud. He took out his phone to check the time, only to find the service signal marked with a red ‘X.’ “I must have worked later than I had initially thought,” he mumbled, putting his phone back into his pocket. Closing his office door, he walked down one of the hallways, peeking into the other office windows to…

LAB EXPLORATION DAY 1: Randy: We made it to the research facility after about two days. There were so  many close calls that I almost lost count. There were the obvious threats, the false copycats and Mimickers were at almost every damn turn we made, but we made it. I remember all the local conspiracy theories surrounding this place, from before this whole monstrosity happened. Originally, the research center was just a small hospital situated in the middle of town, until the military suddenly seized it and made it their own building. Nobody really knew why, but almost everyone thought it had to do with the Copycats. Sam stayed behind with Janet, saying he wanted to keep them safe, so…

I was 32 when I married Ashley, the love of my life. The daughter of two wildly successful divorce lawyers, she carried her wit as well as she carried her elegance. Taking after her mother, she was blessed with strikingly Baltic features, and taking after her father, she was perhaps the sweetest and most genuine soul I had ever met. In other words, she was perfect. A few weeks after our wedding we set off on our honeymoon. Instead of sun-drenched beaches and overpriced umbrella drinks though, we opted for medieval museums and frosty pints. Something that fit the both of us much better. Over the course of the 10 days, we scoured the southern half of Ireland, stopping in…

My fingers shake involuntarily as I slouch like a giant insect and type this on the computer. I don’t want to write it, but I have no choice but to document what happened here. I could write it slowly, thoughtfully, and clearly, but I can’t—I’ve never been a writer, and I’m in no position to turn this into a professional essay. After all, I have to hurry, we all have to hurry. The pieces of plaster that have fallen from the walls are starting to move like little cockroaches, which means I don’t have much time left. I have to finish this before it gets to me. I can hear the crackle of iron in the pipes behind the wall…

I remember that first day… I was out of the house and went to the convenience store. There was always an advertisement on the window and there was this one poster everywhere. I took a good look at it, not really understanding it but it had fun, colorful, goofy characters and a box below it. I decided I’d look at it after getting snacks, I came out of the store and had a sudden feeling of dread reaching for the box but I didn’t mind it. I picked up the box and brought it home to look at, I dumped its contents on the ground and it was a bunch of VHS tapes. Episode 1, 2, 3, 4… there were…

Alice arrived at Clare View Point. She had saved just enough money to get there but needed to save the rest for lodging and food. It meant taking other forms of transportation was out. Alice had decided to see if someone would be willing to give her a ride. After all, the last stop she was heading to was pretty close; it would still be a long walk on foot. Alice scanned the faces of the people standing outside the bus station. There stood a handsome man walking to the parking lot. “Excuse me!” she cheerily spoke, walking up to him, who stopped to listen.”By chance, could you give me a ride?” Alice asked. The man looked at her. “Where…

When I was a kid I used to play down by the creek that was behind my house. I’d throw rocks, play with plastic army men, make little houses out of mud and sticks having them sink into the creek. On a particular hot day in July when I was about nine I was sitting by the edge of the creek. I had my feet in the water trying to cool down as the day was unbearably humid. I had my eyes closed and didn’t hear her walk up. “Hello” I heard an older voice say. I open my eyes and see a thin middle aged woman wearing a thin white dress, walking barefoot carrying a box under an arm.…

I hate Mondays. It’s a generic thing, but I just loathe having to go to work after the weekend. Anyway, I’m done with it, so I guess I can’t complain now. I recently purchased a house for a surprisingly good deal out in the woods. It’s a pretty nice place, other than sometimes the cellular mysteriously goes out for hours at a time. It’s pretty late, about 9 p.m. My new job keeps me quite late, but it’s extra pay, so you’re not hearing anything bad from me. As I get off the main road and onto the gravel road into the woods, per my navigation system’s directions, I listen to my tires running over the small rocks, almost sounding…

It was three years ago. I was 20 and couldn’t keep a job. I was just too lazy, I guess. I finally got one, though. It was at the Hubert Amusement Park, I was Hubert. Being the park’s mascot wasn’t a high-paying job, but at least I could live dressing up as a clown. Every day, I would dress up as Hubert and go to the park. Like any clown, Hubert had pure white skin with red markings on his face, frizzy blue hair, a squishy red nose, and baggy rainbow overalls. Anyway, I would arrive at the park at 6:45 to get ready, and greet people at the entrance. I made adults and kids alike smile. And sometimes make…

“I still have nightmares about my mother,” I told my friend Zack on a frigid October night in downtown Mystic. “She’s running through the Darién jungle from a man dressed head to toe in camouflage. His face is shadowy and deformed. I can’t see my mother’s face, but I can hear her scream.” Zack’s face was as pale as mine, flushed with goosebumps. “I…don’t know what to say.” I kept the rest of the dream to myself because it was too terrifying to put into words. I never met my mother or even saw a picture of her. In my dreams, however, I saw her braided hair, mestizo skin, and unblinking brown eyes so vividly that I felt like I…

Every single night, at midnight, I am startled awake by the sound of something moving in my living room. At first, I thought it was house noises until I heard crying in the hallway. I called an exterminator to see if I had some type of animal living in my walls. Nothing was found. The exterminator recommended security cameras in case someone was breaking and entering. I got a security system, and after two hours of trying to understand the instructions that reminded me too much of the manuals used to assemble IKEA furniture, I tested out the cameras. I stood in front of one of the cameras while the live feed was pulled up on my phone. I was…

Its been 6 hours since I sent my message. Seen, but no reply. Something must have happened. Maybe he’s hurt? It’s not unlikely that he tripped and hit his head. His apartment is a mess after all. I push my chair out, arising  into a panicked loop as I walk a figure eight around my room. My feet kick against bottles and cans, my foot swings and an old pizza box is sent flying, launching stale crusts across the room. Maybe he’s ignoring me? No, of course not. He’s not like that. I grab the keys to my car from their spot next to my laptop and head for the door, my foot slipping as I grab the handle. The…

They say that only the truly desperate would invite the Devil for dinner. Not because of the meal itself, but because the entire ritual is a gamble—a dangerous game where the stakes are your very soul. If you play it right, though, there’s a chance you can walk away with exactly what you desire. The trick is in the details. First, you must prepare a meal yourself—homemade and crafted with care. The Devil despises laziness. This dish will be your offering, and it must be perfect. Set your table for two with your finest plates, silverware, and a single candle in the center. Most importantly, place a sharp knife next to your own plate. Across from you, an empty chair…

I’ve worked as a lunch lady/cafeteria worker for close to a year now and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. Originally when I applied for it, I was beyond disappointed that my endless job searching had concluded with not only the high school I despised going to, but easily the worst position in it. I would’ve taken the school janitor if they had offered but I didn’t have any options. I was broke, had to look for new employment since the diner I previously worked at had multiple health code violations. And since I was a high school dropout and never went to college, finding a well-paying job has proved difficult. Normally a school cafeteria position requires a high…

I do not know this man. I do not know this man in the mirror. The one staring right back at me, moving his eyes to reflect wherever I look. He does every single thing I do. Makes every single face, pokes back at fingers aimed against the glass, and turns his back when I turn mine. To the untrained eye, it looks as any normal reflection does; behaves as any mirror is designed to do. There is nothing obviously out of the ordinary that would arouse suspicions otherwise. But as of a few restless nights ago, my rationality has flipped completely on its head. I cannot explain what changed in the span of those 24 hours. The mirror looks…

I was always told to stay out of the old garden behind the house. My parents kept saying it was unsafe, overgrown, and full of thorns. I believed them, as children believe their parents. When I grew up and moved back into the family home after they passed away, I decided to clear out that forgotten space. I wanted to reclaim it, make it mine. While I worked, my shovel hit something hard. As I dug deeper, I uncovered a small, old box. Inside were tiny bones, neatly arranged, and a locket with a picture of a baby. And then it hit me. My heart started racing, and from the depths of my memory, something resurfaced that I had long…

I didn’t remember how I got there. One moment, I was somewhere ordinary—a grocery store, maybe my car—and the next, I was standing in the polished hallway of a sprawling mansion. The floors gleamed like polished obsidian under chandeliers that glittered coldly overhead. The place was immaculate, almost painfully so, but something about it felt wrong. It wasn’t the silence—no, the silence was welcome. It was the way the air pressed down on me, thick and humid, as though the house had lungs, and I was breathing what it exhaled. I wasn’t alone. My brothers were with me, talking quietly near the massive oak doors we’d apparently come through. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their presence was…

Since the 1990s, people from all over the world have received a series of strange phone calls dubbed the ‘Wake Up Calls’, from an unknown caller. These calls at first, according to witnesses, seem like mundane calls from telemarketers or people calling the wrong number. Though shortly after, usually after the 3rd or 4th call, the calls seem to take on a more eerie and bizarre air about them. Regardless of the ringtone of the phone, these particular call’s rings seem to be off. Most accounts claim that the ring will seem to contain, although faintly, people calling their name, or meowing and/or barking, or beeping or ringing of an alarm, though others recount bubbling, odd mechanical noises, and what…

It was a quiet, cold, windy night in the cornfield I was in with my dog. My father told me to search through the somewhat small yet vast cornfield. My father was always scared of people that weren’t us in his field. We both grew up hearing stories of our family members encountering unexplainable shit in forests, old buildings, and that very cornfield my father sent me to search. I remember how my father used to tell me experiences he had in that field. Like seeing the stalks move on their own when the night was still and hearing sounds of animals like coyotes far or even close to him. Yet he’s with me sharing the story. I always take…