Kaidankai: Ghost, Supernatural, and Dark Short Fiction

In Garretson Berry’s Traveling Apothecary, Eric Petty introduces us to a traveling medicine seller whose remedies promise relief to the sick and weary. But behind the promise of a miracle cure lies a stranger purpose. As the harvest moon rises, the villagers settle in for the night, unaware that the potion may bring a very different kind of transformation.

Blending dark humor, supernatural fantasy, and the atmosphere of an old-fashioned folk tale, this story offers a wickedly entertaining look at the gap between how we see ourselves and what might be lurking beneath the surface.

Eric Petty began creating fantastic worlds as a child.  His imaginary friends became constants in his life.  He spent the Saturdays of his youth watching creature feature movies and began writing stories about monsters, ghosts, and ghouls from the viewpoint of a child. While pursuing his BA in English at Indiana University – Bloomington, he wrote and published his first story, “Grey’s Ending.”  He has several children’s poems published both in print and online.  Petty is currently a high school business teacher in Indiana, devoted husband to his wife, Erin, and loving father to their daughter, Etta. 

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

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Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

Six friends into the woods for a weekend of camping, drinking, and fun. But Jawbone Lake is more than a scenic getaway. Local stories tell of a murderer who was never caught, and when Amber spots an impossibly square light in the darkness, the weekend begins to take a disturbing turn.

Blending contemporary horror, an eerie setting, and the unsettling atmosphere of a local legend, this story asks what happens when a weekend adventure takes a turn toward the terrifying.

About the author: Arpad Nagy is a 51yr old, Hungarian Canadian, working husband and father, with a storyteller’s soul and a romantic’s heart, who, began his writing journey in 2021 after sustaining serious work injuries. After surviving a year as soulless content writer, he quickly refocused to fiction and nonfiction writing, finding success as a fiction ghostwriter, creative consultant, and developmental editor. His fiction writing, nonfiction essays, and memoirs have achieved a measure of success, most recently shortlisted for the Northwind Writing Award in fiction and nonfiction, as well as being accepted as a feature author for Dragon Soul Press Winter Anthology. His work is published regularly at Medium.com.

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
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Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

Two colleagues who share a passion for pinball decide to build a machine of their own. They combine mechanical engineering, electronics, programming, eerie sound effects, and spells drawn from old books to create a game with a distinctly supernatural goal. But as Halloween approaches and the final touches are added, the boundary between a clever game and something far more unsettling begins to blur.

Blending supernatural horror, occult fiction, Halloween atmosphere, and modern technology, this story asks what might happen when we try to turn the supernatural into a game.

Glossary:
- Homebrew: A pinball machine that is not commercially available and has been built by the owner
- Spooky Pinball: Manufacturer of pinball machines, including the “Halloween” machine
- Stern Pinball, Inc.: Manufacturer of pinball machines, including the “Rush,” “Stranger Things,” and “Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant’s Eye” machines
- Orbits: Ball paths along the outer edge of the playfield
- Slingshots: Bounce contacts above the flippers that cause the ball to bounce back uncontrollably when touched
- Shooter lane: Launch path for a ball newly brought into play
- Spinner: Small propellers that spin quickly when hit
- Lockbar: Metallic bar on the front edge of a pinball machine where you rest your hands while playing
- Action button: Illuminated button in the middle of the lockbar on many modern pinball machines that triggers a specific action when pressed
- Gottlieb: Former manufacturer of pinball machines, including “Super Soccer”
- Bumper: Striking tower that flings the ball away when it is hit
- Pinball buttons: Buttons on the side that you press to move the flipper fingers
- Gates: Movable wires that only allow the ball to roll through in one direction
- Inserts: Transparent inserts in the playfield that are illuminated from below
- Multiball: Game with multiple balls

Andrea Tillmanns lives in Germany and works full-time as a university lecturer. She has been writing poetry, short stories and novels in various genres for many years. Her poems and stories have been published in The World of Myth, Hawthorn & Ash (Iron Faerie Publishing), SciFanSat, and other journals and anthologies. She has also published more than twenty books in German.
Author website: https://www.andreatillmanns.de/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.tillmanns.9/

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
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Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

Izzy, a young apprentice, is learning the craft from Nana Pat, a formidable witch who seems to know far more than she lets on. When Izzy arrives for another lesson, she discovers that Nana Pat has something very different in store for her.

As the lesson unfolds, Izzy is forced to confront the true nature of the power she is learning to wield—and what it might mean to become a witch. Blending dark magic, witchcraft, supernatural horror, and a touch of dark humor, “Witch” is a story about power, temptation, and the choices that come with discovering what you are capable of.

Mark Speed has been writing stories since the birth of ink. His stories vary from dark as death's shroud to comical and ridiculous.
Recently, Speed has been working with an artist in writing a story a week, moving through the alphabet, and has written two collections - Sodom's Alphabet, Gomorrah's Alphabet.

“Witch” is part two in a series. Listen to the first part--"The Cauldron"  here.

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
Instagram
Facebook
Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

On a silent winter night, a man encounters the presence of someone he loved and lost, but what appears before him is both familiar and strangely transformed.

Blending supernatural fiction, ghost story, fantasy, grief, and existential mystery, “Fey” is a quiet and haunting exploration of love, loss, faith, and the possibility of something beyond what we understand.

Michael Scholtes has worked as an astronomer and software engineer and has had more than 1,600 limericks published with OEDILF.com. After many years in Texas, he now lives in southern Oregon between the Cascades and the Siskiyou Mountains with his wife and two Bengal cats.

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
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Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

Everyone in town knows there is something wrong with the old Carter place. No one will tell about it, though..

In “The Old Carter Place,” Whitney R. Holp follows two boys who become fascinated by an abandoned house surrounded by rumors, mystery, and a disturbing history. Their curiosity eventually leads them to the house and unexpected experiences. 

Blending haunted house horror, supernatural fiction, dark folklore, childhood curiosity, and psychological horror, the story creates an atmosphere of growing unease as an ordinary childhood adventure becomes something much darker.

Whitney R. Holp is a student of surrealism who seeks gnosis through dreams, intoxication, and objective chance. “The Old Carter Place” comes from his unpublished book of the same name. 

This story first appeared in Blood Moon Rising Magazine #89, October 2022

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
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Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

In “The Ghost of Calvin Seaworthy,” David Albano takes us into a Gothic world populated by restless spirits and a mansion with a terrible history. Calvin Seaworthy has spent decades haunted by memories of violence, loss, and the family he left behind. Then a stranger crosses the mansion threshold, dooming him to a horrible death...

Blending Gothic horror, ghost story, supernatural fiction, revenge, and redemption, this atmospheric tale asks whether even the dead can find a way to make amends.

David Albano is a Louisiana native who now lives in Texas with his wife and child. An avid reader and writer, he has been published in Frontier Tales, Dark Moments, and 50-Word Stories. 

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
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Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

In “Molly’s Divergent Blessings,” Barry Lewis introduces us to Molly, a fiercely capable woman trying to hold together the ranch she inherited from her father. Feverish, alone, and confronted with an unexpected visitor, Molly must decide whether to trust what she is seeing—or dismiss it as a fever dream.

Blending supernatural fiction, Western storytelling, mystery, and folklore, the story explores family, fate, loss, and the possibility that help can sometimes arrive from the most unexpected places.

Barry Lewis is the author of The Wyoming Adventure and What’s Dragon You Down. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including HotPoet Equinox, Literature Today, Amethyst Review, Poetry Breakfast, The Writers’ Journal, Grist, and Harrow House Journal. He also has an upcoming short story in Bloomin Onion.

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
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Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

What happens when a favorite teacher is pushed too far?

In “We Love You, Miss Raina,” Prachi Shah takes us into a classroom where a popular teacher's easygoing personality makes her a student favorite—until one student's challenge to her authority changes everything. Blending supernatural horror, dark humor, school horror, and unsettling transformation, this story turns an ordinary classroom into a place where the rules are very different from what the students expect.

Author bio: Prachi Shah is a horror writer whose work has appeared in Flash Phantoms, Delhi Poetry Slam, and the Tidbits 'Wishes' Anthology, among others. Her work was longlisted for the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and she is currently working on a horror series for young adults and her Substack, terriblycreative. 

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
Instagram
Facebook
Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].

What happens when an artist's imagination becomes more powerful than he expected?
A freelance comic-book artist has a talent for drawing horror creatures. When he receives an assignment to create a Wendigo for a horror anthology, he dives into the project—and into the folklore surrounding the creature. But the more he brings the Wendigo to life on the page, the more unsettling his own experience becomes.“

The Penciller’s Lament” is a supernatural horror story about artistic obsession, imagination, hunger, and the unsettling boundary between creating a monster and becoming part of its story.

George Larson is a retired special agent with the Diplomatic Security service, US Department of State. He's written eight novels (DICK AVERY ADVENTURE STORIES) and twenty-four horror stories. Many of his stories have appeared in print or been podcasted. He holds a BA degree in English.


Listen to the Unpleasantville story "Clazie Porter" by Jen Schneider here.
Listen to the Unpleasantville story "Charles Stonebridge" by Anne Hansell here.
Listen to the Unpleasantville story "Timothy Montgomery" by Robert Pettus here.

Sketch by Leonardo da Vinci

The Kaidankai Podcast features original short fiction exploring horror, fantasy, science fiction, and the strange.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Subscribe on Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read the stories at kaidankaistories.com

Follow the show:
Instagram
Facebook
Bluesky

Have a story you'd like us to read? Send submissions to [email protected].