what is wrong with me (/kurt)… content warning for school shooting related shit, but this is all horror stuff, so you should expect badness.
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SPOOKTOBER DAY 25 – PSYCHIC
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE:  CURSES
TITLE: THE WIGHT
Premise: A group of young teens were tripping on acid by a barrow mound in the late ’60s, when the groups “shaman” was struck by ball lightning. The light remained in his head like a halo for long enough that he was able to descend to his circle of friends and deliver an otherworldly sermon that imbued them all with psychic powers.
They played together, developed the powers more, agreed to keep it secret from the world and always protect each other. But the shaman seemed somehow diminished in the wake of the experience, less passionate, more distant. Eventually he astral projected to death.
Horror Element: He had imparted psychic powers to them by parceling up his soul, and his angry ghost wants the soul parts back. Each person is haunted by visions and creepy phenomena until they are finally killed in a horrible way.
They connect the dots and the survivors team up to try to keep surviving. It’s psychic warfare. If they can collectively take him down, they can parcel up his power and be done with him. Or can they? When they think they’ve achieved this, the absorbed soul fragments attack them from within.
Only the most selfless survive in the end by expelling every bit of the power and running away by hopping a train. But will the phantom catch up to them someday? Run forever.
Some Nonsense: Balpala, a great and strong duke, appears in the likeness of a lion. He has the wings of a griffon. He is subtle and marvelous in mathematics, in the observation of physics, and in chiromancy, and in all the arts found in the books of the mathematicians. He has beneath him thirty legions.

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SPOOKTOBER DAY 26 – BACKWOODS
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE:  FRUIT & VEG
TITLE: EL PANEL DERECHO
Premise: One common reason for people to feel the necessity of Heaven & Hell is that life is so unjust. There simply must be justice; the universe itself demands it. Why do our minds do this to us?
They were right. Heaven accepts the good and Hell the evil. But the souls must be shoved in the right hole. There’s a hellmouth in this Spanish speaking banana republic, who knows where?
It’s rural. It’s in the forest. Little farms yield amazing crops of fruit, from soil drenched in the spiritual effluvium of countless sinners. Don’t wake up at night; don’t watch it happen. You might get his attention.
Horror Element: In the middle of this rustic pueblito, the night becomes a boschesque tableau of freaks. Naked bodies that are unseen as ghosts in the daytime take on a pale reality in the moonlight, prodded with forks and hooks wielded by a motley assortment of goblins.
Presiding over a throne across the village’s well, a grand devil with the head of a nightjar swallows the sinners and shits them into Hell.
Some Nonsense: Gorsor, or Gorson, is a strong duke, appearing in the likeness of a human, but with a head like a night raven. He makes people marvelous in botanical arts. He gathers people in the presence of the exorcist, who is to provide a punishment. From foreign and faraway places, all murderers are brought to be tormented. He was the worst of the order of Virtues, and has under him twelve legions.

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SPOOKTOBER DAY 27 – CRYPTID
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE:  HOTEL
TITLE: DEVIL LEGS
Premise: Rural Maryland, the goatman supposedly mutilating dogs, you know the drill. A guy returns to his hometown with his husband and they have to stay at a shitty hotel run by the creepiest dude from his old high school, all grown up. Spooky guy loves the goatman and talks about it a lot. The hotel has one other employee who is a quiet and disabled old janitor. Spooky guy is nice to janitor’s face but tends to be gross or rude about him behind his back.
Horror Element: A monster is loose, and occasionally the man & his husband have close encounters. Clearly the goatman, it sometimes leaves hoopfrints running up walls or across ceilings.
Turns out the old janitor gains supernaturally buff devil legs, and kills while thus possessed. Further, it turns out to be high school creep casting a spell on him.
Some Nonsense: Ponicarpo, a strong duke, appears in the likeness of a fighting man, bearing weapons. Let there be made, therefore, an image of him with sharp weapons. And let this be consecrated in the aforementioned way, and through it you will be able to bind infantry. He gives the love of women and true replies to questioning. He has under him 30 legions.

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SPOOKTOBER DAY 28 – VIRAL
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE:  LIFETIME/MOM MOVIE
TITLE: MOMMY’S PERFECT ANGEL
Premise: Shyla’s little boy Michael was born sickly, a condition that denied all attempts at diagnosis. For years mom was suspected of Munchaeusen by Proxy, but at last was vindicated when he became too sick to care for, and ended up beyond the reach of household poisoning at the hospital.
Then the contagion began, and a medical genius from the WHO called in to investigate. Michael has a form of cancer which affects him slowly, but which had become airborne. From the lungs it enters the bloodstream very quickly, taking root almost anywhere in the body – making it express in a million disturbing unique ways in its victims.
Horror Element: He never did anything wrong! Mommy must save baby, and damn the world. Plague of cancer, everybody dies, the end.
Some Nonsense: Lanima, or Pneumam, a great count, appears in an angelic countenance, speaking with pleasant speech, and understands the powers of herbs, and has under him 20 legions.

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SPOOKTOBER DAY 29 – FAMILY
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE:  DANCE
TITLE: THE DEADLY DANCE
Premise: Two unconventional families are feuding. The breakdown of the economy over generations leads to aging elders having all the money, and a motley assortment of younger people living in their orbits. Both families are alike in toxic masculinity, but one is worse, including an adult uncle leading a teen into inceldom. As the focus of his twisted desire is a daughter of the other family, puffed chests and reprisals make things worse.
Horror Element: Girl’s uncle means well when he threatens incel boy, but incel uncle threatens him, and so on, and so on. This comes to a head at the prom, where the incels take hostages, and the tension leads to all too real human horror.
Some Nonsense: Saylmon, or Zamon, a strong duke and president and count, appears in the likeness of a man riding on a pale horse, with the head of a lion, bearing an eagle in his hand. He speaks in a harsh voice. He makes peace among many and makes men without women quarrel. And under him are thirty legions.

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SPOOKTOBER DAY 30 – SPOOPY/PUMPKINCORE
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE:  INTERACTIVE/CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-ADVENTURE
TITLE: GOURDON
Premise: Babygirl doesn’t want her jack o’lantern Mr. Gourdon Pumpks to die. The mold must never come. She wishes upon a star, but feeling that isn’t enough, checks in with the aunt who did her star chart. Surely that lady knows more about stars than “look at ’em twinkle and wanna”…
Horror Element: If you choose the most boring options, the horror is watching Gourdon go moldy and slump, learning a lesson about growing up along the way. Babygirl must accept that not all can be preserved, that one must let things pass in their time.
If you choose more interesting options, astrologer aunt invokes the powers of the stars to magnify those wishes, and Mr. Pumpks comes to life. His vines are a horde of serpents that form the shape of a body, the candle inside him transforms into hellfire that he can breathe on the unfortunate.
Take that, shelf life!
Some Nonsense: Simias, or Gumas, a great Marquis, appears in the likeness of a lion. He rides upon a very strong bear, its tail a serpent, and a flame comes from his mouth. In his right hand he carries two great hissing serpents. He knows the strengths of herbs and constellations, the places of the planets, and is the best teacher of their houses. He makes men transform into other shapes. He grants dignities and prelacies, and the grace of all friends and enemies. He has in his dominion thirty legions.

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SPOOKTOBER DAY 31 – GHOSTS
OPTIONAL CHALLENGE:  BOOKS
TITLE: BEAR MARKET
Premise: In the hamlet there is but one businessman, respected for his magnanimity by all but a few radicals. Yet why does he never take a wife, to produce an heir? Or at least take an apprentice? At last he emerges from the depths of his studies to pass on his craft to a worthy acolyte.
Young Sixtus is the lucky boy. He discovers that the old man has been honing his art for decades, focused too fully upon the task to cultivate a legacy. He fears he will die without realizing his dream, but if a man with the powers of youth could take up his banner, what could be possible?
If the hamlet prospers, Sixtus and his master make money. If the hamlet despairs, they make even more money. If the hamlet has brief bursts of amazing fortune, it outweighs the memory of great stretches of desolation, and they keep supporting the merchants, always dreaming of a return to those unsustainable feasts.
Boom turns to bust, and the people come to Sixtus with hat in hand, asking when things will be good again. He says wait but a little longer. As they go home they fade from existence. One by one, the people of the hamlet turn to ghosts.
Horror Element: Maybe the ghosts are feeding the master their lives, maybe they just represent those forgotten by the great machinery of commerce. When nobody remains to give you money, Sixtus, what happens then? Ghost attack, probably.
Some Nonsense: Foreas, or Fortas or Sartas, a great president, appears in the likeness of a very strong bear. In human form, he knows the strengths of herbs and precious stones, and teaches fully the practice of logic and its aspects. He makes people invisible, ingenious, eloquent, or passionate, and has twenty-nine legions.

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