The Flying Dutchman
Nautical Nightmares by Charles Spratley The crashing of the waves and the salty air remind me of my childhood growing up in San Diego. It also, unfortunately, reminds me of my time working on fishing boats as a young man. The cramped quarters, the long hours working the decks. The sounds and smells of the…
The Journey of Death
El Camino Del Diablo by Charles Spratley “The emigrants gave a terrible account of the crossing of the Great Desert, lying west of the Colorado River. They described this region as scorching and sterile – a country of burning salt plains and shifting hills of sand, whose only signs of human visitation are the bones…
The Occult History of the Third Reich
Occult Influence on the Nazi Party by Charles Spratley A defeated country on the brink of economic collapse became the most dangerous country in Europe in just a few years. Its armies spread across Western Europe like a plague. Their flag struck fear in the population of the areas they took over. Their leader, a…
The Sin Eaters
Dinner for One by Charles Spratley The table is set, the food is plentiful and the wine is indeed fine. You don’t mind that your only companion for the meal is a corpse, after all it is them that you came to see, for you are a sin-eater. The history of the sin-eater is a…
The Ghastly Tales of Christmas Past
Tales From Beyond at Christmas by Charles Spratley The planchette of the Ouija board moves, ever so subtly as, the dead use it to communicate with the living during a séance. Is this a Halloween show? No, it’s the Downton Abbey Christmas special. When people think of a time to tell a ghost story, they…