"The Yellow Carousel" - Chilling Tales for Dark Nights
Chilling Tales for Dark Nights — A Horror Fiction Anthology and Scary Stories Series PodcastShow Notes
For fifty-two years, Silas and Emma have shared a life in the West Virginia mountains. These days, their pleasures are quiet ones: evening tea, familiar conversation, and sunsets watched from the back deck. Then, one September night, Silas discovers a yellow carousel standing in the empty field behind their home. There are no fairgrounds nearby. No visitors have come up the mountain. Yet the scent of cotton candy drifts across the grass, and the beautifully carved deer seem to promise a happiness he thought he had outgrown. Silas takes a ride. Before long, he is waiting for every sunset—and keeping a secret from the woman who knows him best. As Emma searches for a way to reach her increasingly distant husband, the coyotes gather beyond the house, and something wonderful becomes harder to leave behind. Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chillingtalesfordarknights/
More from Chilling Tales for Dark Nights — A Horror Fiction Anthology and Scary Stories Series Podcast
Off Florida’s Forgotten Coast, a stranded shrimp trawler promises Jonah Daughtrey the payday he has spent years chasing. Its hull appears intact, its cargo remains aboard, and no rival salvager has reached it. For once, the advantage is his. But the crew has left no tracks on the beach, and a scavenging bird soon draws his attention to something caught in the nets. Aboard the Job 2:7, Jonah finds signs of a disaster that never made it into the ship’s distress calls. While his first mate searches the deck, he ventures below, following the prospect of salvage into cramped compartments fouled by decay. Somewhere beyond a closed door, something scratches. As the evidence mounts, Jonah must decide how much danger he is willing to overlook for a profit—and whether he has already waited too long to leave. Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chillingtalesfordarknights/
In 1994, the Lechtler family checked into room thirteen at the White Valley Hotel. By morning, both parents and their two children had vanished. The investigation yielded no answers, and the death of the hotel’s owner left White Valley with a mystery it would spend decades retelling. The hotel still welcomes guests, including visitors eager to spend a night in its most infamous room. For the young employee covering the overnight desk, that reputation is simply another way to keep a struggling business afloat. Then the newlyweds upstairs call to report an unbearable smell. With snow falling outside and the owners away, an apparently routine complaint draws the employee into the room at the center of White Valley’s unresolved past. Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chillingtalesfordarknights/ FEATURED STORY: "Drip" by Matt Richardsen Performed by Paul J. McSorley Original music by Nikki McSorley Produced by Nikki McSorley 🔑 Support Us and Listen Ad-Free (Become a Patron Today): https://www.chillingtalesfordarknights.com/join-now/
An evening meant to bring a husband and wife closer ends with the loss of their infant daughter. In the months that follow, he struggles to reach Beth through her grief while privately wrestling with anger and guilt of his own. When she begins cooking again, opening the curtains, and speaking about their daughter without breaking down, he allows himself to hope. But the stove stays lit long after the meals are finished. Candles burn in empty rooms, and he hears his wife talking when no one else is there. As her comforting routines become increasingly unsettling, he must confront the possibility that he has misunderstood what is helping her survive. Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chillingtalesfordarknights/
SmallDoc promises to make routine doctor visits a thing of the past. One simple injection puts microscopic medical machines to work inside the body, treating illness before it can disrupt everyday life. Dean Swanson’s friends swear by it. His mother feels better than she has in years. His boss sees no reason he should refuse. Dean would rather keep his cold. Then an unsettling phone call and a trip to the pharmacy give him something more serious to worry about. Familiar voices sound wrong. Ordinary movements seem strangely rehearsed. And the treatment everyone recommends begins to look less reassuring with every encounter. Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chillingtalesfordarknights/
At a small-town Florida carnival, the Ferris wheel stands still, the concession stalls sit abandoned, and something is growing where it should not. Detectives Dachery and Margot arrive to investigate a scene neither can explain. Flowers bloom from human remains. Moss spreads across the attractions with impossible speed. And a strange proclamation invokes a name that means nothing to them: the Moss Prophet. With daylight fading and backup still on the way, the partners search for answers among the remnants of a celebration gone terribly wrong. But every discovery makes the grounds less familiar—and their route back to the car more unsettling. Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chillingtalesfordarknights/