Episode 3 of Season 2 of Tales from The Hollow

Herald McKinnon has been making his rounds through Wawaset County since before the roads had names. He knows every ward he has set, every line he has held, every piece of iron he has put in the ground across a lifetime of work he has never fully explained to anyone. He knows what routine feels like.

Tuesday morning. A depression on forty-three acres of unowned bottom land. Forty-one years quiet.

Not quiet anymore.

Across town, Roy Chandler has been working through his call slips. Sixteen calls since early March. Dogs that won't go in yards. Sounds at night that one person in the house can hear and the other can't. A feeling of being watched that keeps showing up in the same part of the county. Roy has spent nine years learning to read a pattern. He is reading one now.

When Herald and Roy lay what they have found side by side, the picture becomes clear. The thing circling Willow's Bend is not moving randomly. It is building a map. And both of them know, without saying the name out loud, exactly what the center of that circle is.

Frank Harmon has known this call was coming. He has been telling himself he needs more time.

The thing circling Michael Anderson's life does not care about his schedule.

This is not a standalone story. The Darker Season is a continuous serialized narrative following one unfolding threat across 12 episodes. Start with Episode 1 and follow along as the darkness builds toward something that has been coming since 1977.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic horror | Serialized thriller Runtime: [X] mins Content: Supernatural horror, themes of ordinary life under encroaching darkness, the cost of carrying something alone, and the patience of something ancient and hungry. No graphic content.

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS: The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began:

The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977–1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind everything you just heard — and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

Season 1 Collection - All 10 Tales:

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2YN5CVT

EBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H31WBJLJ

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks — https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks
• Complete series + exclusive content

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for new episodes every two weeks
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share with your horror-loving friends and don't spoil what comes next

Until next time, stay out of The Hollow.

Episode 2 of Season 2 of Tales from The Hollow

Michael Anderson is twenty years old. He works the finishing stage at a copper fittings plant outside Willow's Bend. He goes to church on Sundays. He is good at his job, good at his life, good at pushing the things he does not examine back to where they belong.

He has been pushing them back since he was ten years old.

The dreams that went quiet for two years have started again. The tire swing on the old oak. His uncle's voice from the wrong direction. And something new — a figure at the end of the drive that has never been in this particular dream before. A laugh at the edge of hearing that is almost right.

Almost.

At Ironwood Retreat, Frank Harmon and Herald McKinnon have spent the winter following a thread through ten years of records. The thread points upstream along the Nakin Creek cave system toward something that was in the ground long before Ironwood existed. Frank knows they are running out of time. He is not ready to make the call.

Not yet.

This is not a standalone story. The Darker Season is a continuous serialized narrative following one unfolding threat across 12 episodes. Start with Episode 1 and follow along as the darkness builds toward something that has been coming since 1977.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic horror | Serialized thriller

Runtime: 45 mins

Content: Supernatural horror, themes of ordinary life under encroaching darkness, guilt, and the cost of carrying something alone. No graphic content.

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS: The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began: The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977–1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind everything you just heard — and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks — https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks
• Complete series + exclusive content
• Season 1 Collection: All 10 Tales coming soon

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for new episodes every two weeks
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share with your horror-loving friends and don't spoil what comes next

Until next time, stay out of The Hollow.

Episode 1 of Season 2 of Tales from The Hollow

Something is getting stronger in Wawaset County.

Guardian Herald McKinnon has been managing the old places in Willow's Bend for longer than most people have been alive. When the thing in Deadman's Hollow starts speaking about Ironwood Retreat — and about a letter that hadn't been delivered yet — he knows the calculation has changed.

Caretaker Frank Harmon has held the watch at Ironwood alone for ten years. He has kept the records. He has maintained the wards. He has done everything right. And three weeks ago, something walked through his fence, stood in his lodge, and erased one of his protections like it was nothing.

He finally wrote the letter he should have written three years ago.

This is not a standalone story. The Darker Season is a continuous serialized narrative following one unfolding threat across 12 episodes. Start here and follow along as the darkness builds toward something that has been coming since 1977.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic horror | Serialized thriller

Runtime: 1 hr 11 mins

Content: Supernatural horror, themes of isolation, encroaching darkness, and the cost of keeping watch alone. No graphic content.

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS: The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began:

The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977-1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind everything you just heard — and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks - https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks
• Complete series + exclusive content
• Season 1 Collection: All 10 Tales coming soon

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for new episodes every two weeks
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share with your horror loving friends and don't spoil what comes next

Until next time, stay out of The Hollow.

Story 10 of Season 1 of Tales from The Hollow

Keith Barnett is a Columbus taxi driver who survived Ironwood Retreat once. That was six years ago. He made his confession, held the iron, and drove away telling himself it was finished. For six years he almost believed it. Now the mirrors are wrong again and the back seat of his cab feels occupied even when it's empty. He knows what it means. He knows what he left unsaid.

Frank Harmon has kept the watch for ten years. He manages Keith's return the way he manages everything at Ironwood... carefully, methodically, with the knowledge of a man who has seen this kind of thing before. But Keith Barnett is not the only thing that found Ironwood Retreat this October.

Some doors don't close the first time.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic ghost story | Psychological thriller

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Content: Psychological horror, themes of guilt, confession, and supernatural dread, no graphic content

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS:

The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began:

The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977-1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind these hauntings and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks - https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks
• Complete series + exclusive content
• Season 1 Collection: All 10 Tales coming 2026

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for weekly episodes
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share your favorite story with your horror loving friends!

Until next week, stay out of The Hollow.

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Story 9 of Season 1 of Tales from The Hollow

Cole Decker is a long-haul trucker stranded on a back road in Grindstone Hollow. Dorothy Reeves is a county records clerk who drove out Old Mill Road telling herself she was just checking on something. When both end up at Ironwood Retreat on the same sweltering July weekend, the hollow takes notice. It doesn't break the wards. It doesn't force the doors. It finds what people carry inside themselves and walks right through. Frank Harmon has kept this watch for nine years. He does everything right. This weekend is different. What you carry will find you.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic ghost story | Psychological thriller

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Content: Psychological horror, themes of guilt, survival, and war trauma, no graphic content

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS:

The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began:

The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977-1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind these hauntings and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks - [https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks]
• Complete series + exclusive content
• Season 1 Collection: All 10 Tales coming 2026

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for weekly episodes
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share your favorite story with your horror loving friends!

Until next week, stay out of The Hollow.

Story 8 of Season 1 of Tales from The Hollow

Aaron Bledsoe is a bank foreclosure specialist. He has spent thirty years collecting what others owe. When he discovers an abandoned mill in rural Ohio with no clear owner and no tax records since 1952, he sees opportunity. What he doesn't know is that twelve men died in that mill, trapped and burning, owing debts they could never repay. After the siren sounds at 8:47 PM, the Lienholders come. They know his name. They know his brother. They know every debt he has ever collected, and the one he has refused to pay. Some debts can't be settled in money. Pride is stronger than fire.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic ghost story | Industrial thriller

Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins

Content: Psychological horror, themes of family estrangement, labor history, and guilt, no graphic content

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS:

The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began:

The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977-1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind these hauntings and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks - [https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks] - Complete series + exclusive content
• Season 1 Collection: All 10 Tales coming 2026

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for weekly episodes
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share your favorite story with your horror loving friends!

Until next week, stay out of The Hollow.

Story 7 of Season 1 of Tales from The Hollow

Michael thought he left the supernatural behind when the haunting at his family's farm ended. But when his cousin Samantha suggests helping Frank with spring maintenance at Ironwood Retreat in March 1985, the sixteen-year-old takes the job. What should be a simple weekend clearing trees becomes a nightmare when the dead rise and walk the compound at Ironwood Retreat. Trapped inside Unit 3 with nowhere to run, Michael must survive until dawn while the Hollow tests him with an army of the walking dead. Some nightmares won't stay buried.

1980s supernatural horror | Zombie thriller | Survival horror

Runtime: 2 hours

Content: Psychological horror, themes of supernatural destiny and facing fear, intense zombie combat

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS:

The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began:

The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977-1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind these hauntings and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks - [https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks] - Complete series + exclusive content
• Season 1 Collection: All 10 Tales coming 2026

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for weekly episodes
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share your favorite story with horror fans

Until next week, stay out of The Hollow.

Story 6 of Season 1 of Tales from The Hollow

Carla Simmons is a former ER nurse. She's been running from guilt for six months. When something pulls her to Ironwood Retreat in late February 1984, she discovers she can't leave. Three figures appear at her door across three nights—each one wearing a hospital gown, each one calling her by name. They know what happened during that code in August. They know why she froze. And The Flatline won't let her run anymore.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic ghost story | Medical thriller

Runtime: 1 hr 39 min

Content: Psychological horror, themes of medical ethics and guilt, no graphic content

📚 DISCOVER THE WILLOW'S BEND NOVELS:

The horror at Ironwood Retreat is just one chapter of a much larger story. The darkness in Willow's Bend has been feeding for over a century. Learn how it all began:

The Haunting of Willow's Bend Farm (1977-1978) & What Dwells Beneath (1885)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN6T77TR

Both novels reveal the dark entity behind these hauntings and the families it consumed long before Ironwood Retreat existed.

🎧 MORE TALES FROM THE HOLLOW:

• YouTube: Stephen Crane Audiobooks - [https://www.youtube.com/@StephenPCraneAudiobooks] - Complete series + exclusive content
• Season 1 Collection: All 10 Tales coming 2026

📱 CONNECT:

• Subscribe for weekly episodes
• Leave a review to support the show
• Share your favorite story with horror fans

Until next week, stay out of The Hollow.

Story 5 of Season 1 of Tales from The Hollow

Ray Butler is a retired postal worker. He's been running from a conversation for four years. When his wife finally breaks on New Year's Eve 1983, Ray flees to Ironwood Retreat—only to discover he can't leave. The Toll Keeper blocks every bridge. It wears Ray's old uniform. It speaks with his son's voice. And it demands payment: the words Ray never said, the forgiveness he never gave, the love he was too proud to show.

1980s supernatural horror | Gothic ghost story | Atmospheric thriller

Runtime: 2 hr 3 min

Content: Psychological horror, themes of grief and estrangement, no graphic content

THE YULETIDE

A Christmas Horror Story from Tales from The Hollow

Two estranged sisters. One snowbound retreat. A Christmas that demands the truth.

Claire and Jenny haven't spoken in eight years—not since their mother's funeral revealed deep wounds neither could face. When they return to rural Ohio to scatter her ashes at a remote retreat, a blizzard traps them with the secrets they've buried for decades.

As Christmas decorations manifest unbidden and a figure wearing their dead mother's face appears in the snow, they discover The Yuletide: an ancient entity that feeds on family lies and the gap between holiday cheer and hidden resentment.

It knows what Claire suffered to protect her sister. It knows why Jenny stayed away. And it won't stop until they speak the truth to each other—or die pretending everything is fine.

Set in December 1983 at the isolated Ironwood Retreat, THE YULETIDE is a gothic Christmas horror story about childhood trauma, family secrets, and the cost of forgiveness.

Part of the Tales from The Hollow series - standalone gothic horror stories set in 1980s rural Ohio, connected by the mysteries of Grindstone Hollow and Ironwood Retreat.

Content warning: Themes of childhood abuse, family trauma, and supernatural horror. No graphic content.

Written and narrated by Stephen Crane.