Monster Horror

This issue of Weird Tales presents a variety of stories, essays, and poems about cryptids and urban legends. Not to dispel, but to reveal.

Could you love something so hideous and offensive that it made you ill to look at it? If you travel to a little dive called Violet's Tavern in Pasadena, you are apt to hear that question from Violet herself. But whatever you do, don't give her an answer. And don't tell her your sins. Especially after closing time.

Give your kids a fright! Haunted houses, prowling monsters, vengeful ghosts, and more are waiting for you. Inside you’ll find 35 original short scary stories for kids, including a room where everything is wrong and you can never leave, a forest guide who leads people on a walk they won’t forget, a monster dining in a graveyard, a ghost ship that hunts down treasure seekers, and a statue that comes to life—for a price. And many more! Just make sure you listen to these stories with the lights on.

Claire Peterson was born into an abusive, toxic family. Unwanted by her mother, wanted by her father in ways she could never imagine. She lives on a farm surrounded by pigs and assorted other animals and a lake used by fishermen regularly. Because of this, she is also taunted and bullied at school by the other kids. Until new neighbours move in just down the road; an opportunity to finally be loved and accepted by a real friend. But her luck isn’t going to change here, either. She soon outstays her welcome and once more is alone again in the world.

In Matthew Lyons' pulse-pounding crime horror, A Mask of Flies, a criminal on the run after a failed heist must confront dark family secrets and demons from her past made flesh. THE PAST HAS TEETH In the grisly aftermath of a botched bank heist, career criminal Anne Heller has no choice but to...

There isn't a style or pop culture trend in the monster world that Cleo De Nile isn't on top of. But on a visit to the human world, Cleo discovers a tradition that completely escaped her: Monster Con, where humans gather to dress up as their favorite monsters. Convinced it's what Monster High has been missing-and determined to prove to her family that she can be a leader-Cleo decides to put on the school's first ever Human Con.

Nita finally has Fabricio, the boy who betrayed her to the black market, within her grasp. But when proof that Kovit’s a zannie - a monster who eats pain in order to survive - is leaked to the world, Nita must reevalute her plans. With enemies closing in on all sides, the only way out is for Nita and Kovit to take on the most dangerous man in the world: Fabricio’s father. He protects the secrets of the monsters who run the black market. Stealing those secrets could be the one thing that stands between Nita and Kovit and certain death in the thrilling conclusion to the trilogy.

After escaping her kidnappers and destroying the black market where she was held captive, all Nita wants is to find a way to live her life without looking over her shoulder. But with a video of her ability to self-heal all over the dark web, Nita knows she's still a prime target on the black market. There's only one way to keep herself safe. Nita must make herself so feared that no one would ever dare come after her again. And the best way to start building her reputation? Take her revenge on Fabricio, the boy who sold Nita to her kidnappers.

The first in-depth cultural history of one of the most famous American contemporary musicals featuring archival research and first-hand accounts from its creators and collaborators.

From James DeMonaco, the writer/director of The Purge film franchise, comes the provocative and terrifying last stand of a lone outpost of women in the wake of a deadly pandemic. Allie Hilts was still in high school when a fire at a top-secret research facility released an air-borne pathogen...

In 1969, New York’s section of Niagara Falls was drained for maintenance and terrifying truths were revealed. One discovery was so peculiar and chilling it was buried, swept under the raging waters of the falls when they roared anew. The bill for that decision has come due. Alex Weston runs Mist’s Edge River Tours, but his obsession with an ancient myth that foretells the return of a ravenous sea creature puts him at odds with the law. Alex knows the beast’s ancient hibernation cycle is complete, and it’s time for the leviathan to feed.

The bone-chilling, instantly New York Times bestselling tale of an unsettling, unbreakable friendship—from acclaimed horror author Paul Tremblay. “All the questions we ask as kids about who we are and what we’re worth take a terrifying turn in this spooky tale of a sinister, inhuman...

You can’t have a good tale of monster hunting without monsters. And sometimes the monsters don’t need to be hunted. Sometimes it’s fun sitting back at minimum safe distance and watching the mayhem.

Come Join Us by the Fire S2: Originals is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-first horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. "Season 2: Originals" features nine all-new stories from authors...

Having slain the creature terrorizing the loch, Zachary Wallace quickly goes from hero to villain as he is blamed for destroying the tourism industry in the Scottish Highlands. While his conniving father, Angus, explores a “genetic” solution to reboot the legend of Loch Ness, Zach and his friend True fly to China to represent Team Scotland in an international science competition to track down a new species inhabiting Heaven’s Lake.

Beast is a fast-paced adventure of guts and survival with a paranormal twist, from acclaimed author Watt Key. Adam says he can’t remember where he was for the two months he went missing in a Florida swamp. That’s not true. He does remember. The truth: He was driving with his parents, and the...

I Say Your Name in the Dark Nights is Jonathan Maberry's never-before published adventure that blends swordplay, action, adventure and horror. Kagen Vale—disgraced former palace guard, damned by his own gods, on the run from bounty hunters and assassins—discovers that no matter where you try...

Some people have nightmares of finding a monster in their closet, but how many fantasize about it? If you fall into the latter category, you get me. There I was, simply working to program my visual novel and find my muse, when bam! Monster girl in my closet. Needless to say, she changed my life. For the better at first, sure. But then there was the hunter, and the crazy lady who spoke of another world where the monsters live.

A National Bestseller! “Juicy…simmers with tension as secrets explode out into the open.” —The Washington Post * “So alluring…I raced happily through the pages.” —The New York Times Book Review * “Compulsively readable.” —Vogue * “An absolutely captivating read.”...

*Long-listed for the Bram Stoker Award* In this incendiary mash-up of horror and suspense, a notorious slasher film is remade…and the curse that haunted it is reawakened. Fresh off the plane in L.A., here to visit the set of a new streaming horror series, journalist Laura Warren sees a man...