Dirk was feeling lost and lonely. His wife Patricia had announced that she was struggling to feel any purpose in her life and had decided to move into an apartment for a time period to sort things out. Dirk is strongly motivated to change something to put his family back together, and decides to sell his share of the business and invest in a summer resort based around a beautiful, remote, spring-fed lake in Arkansas. Unfortunately, he didn't ask enough questions about the history of the la...

Heather was forced to go live with her Uncle. Uncle Reece, her mother's brother, felt obligated to take her in. But, Aunt Pansy and her cousins resented that she was upsetting their lives. Heather hoped that her mother would soon save her. Coming home from school one day, a strange old man caught her eye and carefully laid a package on the lawn for her. When she opened it she found an old fortune teller's pendulum. Experiments soon progressed, and Heather seemed to have a unique ability to...

PRETEND FAMILYJessica loved playing with the family of dolls she had found in the old house. She slipped away to visit them every chance she had, and pretended that she belonged there with this, her family—with her mother, the blond haired woman in the picture on the wall. As she played, she began to realize that sometimes the dolls were not where she had left them. At times she even imagined that she heard them whispering to her. And the name they whispered was—Annabelle—not her re...

Felicia was not quite fourteen years old the night that she disobeyed her mother and took a path home through the woods after nightfall. She was attacked. When she came to, she vaguely recalled the incident, and could not identify what or who had attacked her. Celta, a servant who had been with the family for decades, helped her recover and keep the attack secret. However, four months later her pregnancy could not be disguised. Felicia's mother felt strongly that they should keep that baby...

The youths began appearing across town one evening. They seemed to exactly match descriptions of missing children, some gone for 30 years, several more recently. When a dog was killed, the threat could not be ignored. After the tent revival, Reverend Walsh was called to sit and pray with Matt Reed, a trapper who had been accidentally caught in one of his own steel traps. Matt had freed himself and staggered home before collapsing. Now he seemed possessed, with sounds of children's voices c...

After her parents passed away, Tara sought to escape the inevitable marriage to the wealthy Albert if she stayed in town. After traveling to San Francisco with almost no money, during a heavy rain she found shelter with a small group of people that seemed to be penniless and without resources. She learned that young Amy, one of this "family", was pregnant and needing help. After the men returned from an evening outing, they expressed an urgent desire to leave. Mysteriously, they had a car ...

Ten-year-old son Timmy had already missed the opportunities to go to summer camp with one of his buddies. When family acquaintance Dan offered to take Timmy to the mountains for two weeks for hiking, camping, and taking pictures of wildlife, his parents thought that was a great idea. Lots of fun, a perfect vacation. Timmy tried to argue against the trip, as he had never felt really comfortable around Dan. However, his parents won the argument and off he went. The closer they got to the cab...

Youngsters Abby and Brian decided to spend the afternoon riding their bikes to the Speedee-Mart and buying a few treats. However, plans strangely went awry. First, Abby talked Brian into taking along Babs, his six-month-old golden retriever. Without asking permission, Brian put his best leash on Babs and off they went. Abby then wanted to stop and ask Shelly to join them. Shelly agreed, but suggested that they take the short-cut through the woods. That is where things went off-track. Along...

Amy and Jodi hardly remembered their father who lived and worked in a carnival, but now they were going to live with him. This could be great fun! Jodi soon went exploring, got lost in the House of Mirrors, and there discovered a mysterious talisman. Her father asked that she check with India, the carnival owner, on what to do with it. India freaked out, saying that the talisman was very bad and must be destroyed. Jodi threw it in the trash, but Amy slyly fished it out and hid it. Shortly ...

LONG-LOST TWINWhat a wonderful doll! Real hair, perfect features, and clothes there were stylish a century ago. Amazingly, it was soon realized that the newly discovered doll was an almost exact twin of the one that had been featured in the local antique shop for several years. The dolls seemed so real, it was as if their eyes followed you when you moved. Two priceless dolls, surely worth even more when united. What was Grand-Dad thinking when he carefully planned the destruction of...

Sheba is impulsive, unconstrained by convention, and fond of men. When she comes into a small amount of money, she decides on a lark that she wants to purchase an old house—sight unseen—and turn it into a hunting lodge. The house and many surrounding acres are priced very attractively. She talks two sisters and her roommate Donna—her good friends—into quitting their jobs and coming to live and work with her, but each of them wants to give one- or two-week notice. Impatient, Sheba jumps in ...

Ellen returns home from college hoping to spark some interest from Rodney, the man that she has loved since her teenage years. She seeks peace and comfort in her childhood home and the surrounding ranch. However, a recurring nightmare from her childhood returns after a three-year break. Moving from her old room in the third story to the second story seems to help settle things down. A short time later, her Uncle returns from a long absence and introduces his new bride Tina. Surprisingly, E...