There are things that go bump in the night.. abandoned buildings.. hospitals, perhaps? Maybe it's that thick fog that descends over your home, shrouding your comfort in a hostile dense mystery. There is something about fog that can be creepy.. You can strain your eyes trying to drive in it, wondering if an animal will jump from the woods ... wondering if something else is out there. And to say you're safe in your home when it's foggy outside is wrong. After all, a glance outside may spot something, anything, in the corner of your eye. Maybe a tree that looks like a man waving.. or maybe a someone who will intrude into your safety. And, it could still be just a tree...
If you have read the HORROR REPORT on any semi or regular basis since the year 2001, you may get a sense that there are more than a few lists of what scares me.. I began this site in February, 2001, during a cold and bleak winter day. It existed then on a Geocities site and had an Angelfire backup .. A dotcom was born several months later. And the rest became history. This site vanished for a few years.. but came back again. When it did, the things that scared me grew in numbers.. How could they not.
Life has changed much in ten years.. What I worried about as a 21-year-old surely is not the same as a 32-year-old. For some reason, I have considered this website my friend. I felt it was a living, breathing, and aging friend. It was there during times of sadness, tragic circumstances, personal victory, and history. 9/11 happened, and the HORROR REPORT was there.. A space shuttle exploded.. a marriage occurred.. a son was born. . . and a few dogs perished along the way. All there, though, still was the HORROR REPORT. With all of the scary news from the world and beyond. But the thing I still do, as I did then, is update this website in a dark room. No windows, no lights.. just the flicker of the computer screen.. and the sound of typing fingers.. Sometimes a background song or two to accompany my mood.
My son Ayden just turned 2-years-old a few days ago...Amazingly enough, I went back in time, and found an old copy of my first official 'HORROR-REPORT' .. and it was dated February 21, 2001. Ten years and one day later I would have a son.. Never in 2001 would I have thought that...
The HORROR REPORT was originally a center for horror movie news ... it transitioned and grew--as I did... as we all do. After all, what is scarier: Some bloody gore flick or real news? We know the answer. And it's why horror movies are still popular in 2013 as much as they were any other time.. because they allow an escape from reality. A reality that is often more frightening than any script or scene on a screen in front of you. Living color is more horrid and horrific than the digital kind...
Fright and scares..
Take flight.. avoid scars.
I see already that my son gets freaked by shadows.. I see him scared at certain scenes on games or TV. Noises make him jump.. Why is it that fright is so ingrained into the psyche of a human being? Why does a child, innocent, still find fright and take flight at things you'd least expect? Maybe because people who are fresh to the earth have a simple and true approach to life.. maybe they see things we don't? Maybe they know more than adults who grow to disbelieve wicked games of paranormal...
Out of respect, I won't give many details, but I will tell you that my sister had a strange experience as a child. She saw, what I think at least, was the Rake. A hand would follow her around.. it would torture her in her sleep, trying to grip and claw at her. Of course, parental guidance would suggest such thoughts and feelings were of imagination.. Not real. Not at all. But who is an adult to tell a child, experiencing a claw tormenting her, that it is not real?
I had some strange occurrences as a child, too.. I recall, quite vividly, a few times in which I saw bright white lights in a room where my grandfather died... I remember looking in the room and seeing endless white light. I recall a trip to a church late at night when I heard a confession taking place. Unfortunately no one was actually in the church except me, and my father...
My cousins and I used to play 'horror movie' when I was younger.. typically I'd be the Michael Myers or Freddy figure in the game, and have to find them somewhere .. we'd typically play this game over a wide landscape--my cousin lived near farmland and had more than 4,000 rows of corn field to hide in. I remember one night, in particular, where we played late into the evening. It was late summer, I know that because I still can feel the warm breeze that was blowing in across the landscape... We were quite far from his home when we realized that we needed to travel back before it got dark. And as the group of us walked the landscape we came across a farmer, or someone, chopping wood. The figure of him in motion was set against a dark yellow-red back drop... for some reason, that simple image of a man doing hard labor at sunset scared the hell out of us.. we ran the rest of the way. Think about it: A group of young men unaware of danger, seeing a man with an ax and not knowing if we'd be in some type of trouble.. we ran like our lives depended on it...
And I write and report on this website in the same fashion now.. Like my life depends on it. I report what scares me.. sometimes the news of the day, whether it be entertainment or geopolitical, Hollywood gossip or religious, can give me a chill to my bones..
In 2001 Pope John Paul II was reigned... in 2013 the 'prophecy of the popes' may come to fruition.
In 2001 George W. Bush was president.. now he paints naked images of himself..
In 2001 I was young and dumb. In 2013, I'm aging and lamer.. wasting some time but longing for more.
I am a father. A husband. A son. An employee. A co-worker. An uncle. A brother. A brother-in-law. A friend. A teacher. A student. And an owner of the HORROR REPORT.
I intend on doing this so as long as I can.. Live long the free internet.
Live long the HORROR REPORT.
But I'd sure love less frightening news....
Thanks for reading. Thanks for being here. Keep in touch..
Email me at bryan@horrorreport.com .. keep in touch on Twitter@TheHorrorReport. Or just read it here.. It's where I'll be.
Thanks.
A million.