Untold Podcast

​The Bitter Souls team tracks down a Rougarou in the Louisiana bayous. But is it a man to rescue, or a monster to slay?

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The legends say the Rougarou has plagued the New Orleans bayous for centuries. With the body of a man and the head of a wolf, it has the appetite of a monster: human flesh. One version of the legend says a Rougarou is born when a cursed man consumes the flesh of another man. Another says the creature manifests around the time of Lent to hunt down any Catholics who violate the holy time. Still another says the Rougarou is a creature that has passed its curse from one man to another since the very founding of New Orleans. It is said the curse of the Rougarou is transferred when the creature bites a man without killing him . . .

​When John accidentally knocks over a cross on a mausoleum, it unleashes . . . something.

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​John walked towards the church, passing through the cemetery among the gravestones, squeezing a rock in his hand. He looked at his white knuckles and saw his tears falling on them. His mouth twisted into an anguished snarl, and he threw the rock as hard as he could. It flew into the dark and hit something. He heard the sound of something falling then breaking. John sighed and stared at the moon for a while, then went to inspect the damage.
 
A strange mausoleum he didn't remember seeing before loomed in shadow. What appeared to have been a stone cross affixed above the door now lay shattered on the ground. John gathered up the pieces and put them into his jacket pocket. He promised himself to tell the pastor when he saw him next and pay for it somehow.

A demonic force oppresses a successful man.  ​

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A chilled shudder raced up my spine. Every muscle tensed, paralyzed by fear. Terror’s icy grip latched onto my throat, robbing my lungs of breath. I tried to clench my eyes shut, terrified by the looming darkness that lurked by my bedside, but they were pried open by a supernatural force.

A vile entity cloaked in shadow drew close to me, whispering hateful blasphemy. Chilled breath blew against my face. Goosebumps rippled across my skin. Dead, yellowed eyes peered through to me and into the deepest reaches of my soul.

​ ​Cassidie is part of the third generation of children to be born into Vibrant Village, a nursing home turned sanctuary, which protects her and its inhabitants from the dangers of the outside world.

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My great-grandmother died last week. She was the only window I had to a world outside of Vibrant Village. The walls seemed to thicken with each day of her passing. 
​
When Nonna Lola was young, she was hired as a nurse and hairstylist for Vibrant Village, a self-sustaining nursing home complex. My Nonna told me it had been built in a deserted shopping mall. The nursing home was designed to look and function like a small town to help residents, particularly those with dementia, feel more at ease. As a child, I would go into her room, lie down in the bed next to her, and listen to her stories. Stories about the beginning of the village, the moon, space travel, the Great Pandemic, and butterflies. 

On a fateful night in Endor, one woman pierced the veil between the worlds. What did she see?

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Her lover had come again tonight. 

Not that he ever left her. But his presence was as arbitrary as his whims. She no longer questioned them. 

He had no living eyes, but she felt his gaze as she sprinkled fresh-cut herbs into the draught. The brackish liquid cast a strangely clear reflection in the firelight. She stared into a face that had once been beautiful. Bright, copper eyes gleaming out over full, soft lips and supple skin crowned by raven locks. Clouded now, the lips dry and bloodless, her aged flesh hanging loosely upon the bones.

Daon took what form he wished. Often he appeared to her as a raven. At other times a serpent. Once a black, man-like shadow of liquid fire. 

She lifted the bowl, breathed in fumes laced with incense. It masked the potion’s vile odor, but would do little for the taste. She looked to the side. Daon—a raven now—regarded her hungrily across the fire. Watching, waiting, whispering.

As the world descends into unknown horrors, a doctor finds himself battling the patients he is trying to save.

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Fear is beautiful, because it drives me into Your arms.

There's a lot to fear in a world of poisoned flesh, where time and space suddenly mean nothing. It was weeks ago, or seconds ago, that I sat, bored out of my mind in 7 AM morning rounds, giving and taking patient reports in the old Episcopal Hospital, praying to You half in jest just to make the attending's lecture end.

Oh, it ended, alright.

Now I stand in a narrow 17th century German alleyway under a blood moon. There is no 7 AM, and no end, or beginning. There is a man with wolf heads instead of hands and feet. They turn on him, eating him alive.

His screams are drowned out by the screeching naked woman to my left. She's at once translucent, and then solid, sometimes in a Civil War Bonnet and sometimes in a 1920s bob, but always screeching and reaching, like a Japanese “Hungry Ghost.”

Then there's the baby behind me, melting and oozing across the cobblestone towards my ankles.

A pack of werewolves plot to take down Santa in Kingsley, Michigan.

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Kingsley, Michigan 2015
          
“I don’t know! I don’t know!” The elf screamed.

He tried to kick, but his feet were tied to an old wood table. He tried to punch, but his arms were restrained by a man.
No, not a man, a half man, half wolf with deep gray fur. A creature with only a hint of humanity illuminated by dim candlelight.

“It is December 23rd.” A second, red-furred creature growled. “You are his scout!”
          
“Just to assess the threat of your kind in the region. I don’t know his schedule. I’m not even supposed to check in until after Christmas!” The elf tried to hold back a whimper.

As an advanced scout for the timeless saint, he had received interrogation training. But the stakes in training only involved a letter grade.

A conservationist returns to her compound just after poachers have slaughtered everyone.

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Elena slapped a tree trunk for balance as she skidded past and flung herself down the faded trail to the lower stream. Her breath sobbed in her throat and hot tears threatened her vision.

They were close behind, but near the jackfruit tree she forced herself to a walk. She took small steps, rolling heel to toe, and counted the meter of “Rock-a-bye, Baby” as she stepped. She hesitated as she neared the rotting log and then veered to the right. Even in her haste—especially in her haste—Queenie was a safer bet than Elvis.
She glanced at the nearby mound and saw a telltale strip of olive-brown among the decomposing leaves. Nothing more. Her familiar tempo had bought her passage.

She veered left again, safely past the leaves and log, and reached the jackfruit tree. Its foliage was thin but with luck, she might go unnoticed among its enormous fruit. She hooked a leg over the lowest limb and wriggled as high as she trusted it.

She touched her phone, secure in its belt clip. It had no signal here, but she had to keep it close, for Dr. Morrison and Dr. Laghari.

She had been away when the poachers came.

Isabella charmed Demetrius with her innocent beauty and effortless grace from the moment they met. Her virtue hides a deadly secret that threatens to destroy their blossoming romance and everything he holds dear. Evil comes in many forms, but none so twisted and destructive as the promise of true love.

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The clear water of the reflecting pool shimmered like diamonds. The humidity made everything sticky, and the climbing mercury did nothing to temper the madness that came with it. Demetrius told himself he never intended for things to go as far as they did. He had always tried to maintain a calm and even demeanor as was demanded of him by breeding and upbringing. In stark contrast to his lifelong training, he lay half on and half off the stone bench surrounding the pool and stared into the water, tears streaming down his soot and blood covered face.

Everyone else was gone, and he was left to deal with the fallout alone. He remained partially on that bench throughout most of the day and into the evening, contemplating what had happened and what was next. One thing he knew for certain. His chance for a life in Paradise Valley had vanished.