Showing results by author "J.R. Erickson" in All Categories

On a sunny August morning in 1935, 13-year-old Sophia Gray finds her friend Rosemary wandering in the woods. Rosemary’s yellow dress is tattered and her eyes are vacant and glassy. She beckons to Sophia, desperate to show her something. In an abandoned cabin, beneath a tattered blanket, Sophia discovers Rosemary’s body. It was not Rosemary who led her there, but Rosemary’s ghost. Twenty years later, Sophia finds herself trapped in the sprawling Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane, in the hands of a malevolent doctor who preys on patients who exhibit paranormal abilities.

Lorraine Hicks is 14 years old when she watches her best friend, Beverly, climb into a tree in the forest and never come back down. It’s a mystery that haunts her small town and embeds itself in Lorraine's life. Fifteen years later, Lori is a grown woman, doing her best to move on from her troubled childhood. She reluctantly agrees to a night of camping, despite her secret terror of the woods. As she sits by a roaring bonfire, a man stands and tells the story of two 14-year-old friends who walked into the Manistee National Forest - only one of them walked back out.

Their mothers told them monsters weren’t real, but mothers don’t know everything.

Two years ago, Gloria Cline had the worst night of her life. A music festival deep in the woods near the Porcupine Mountains turned deadly when Gloria and her best friend, Wren, went for a night walk. Twenty-four hours later, Gloria was found barely clinging to life with a horrific story of being abducted and nearly murdered. No trace of Wren was ever found. Today, Gloria has walled herself into a safe world that relies on routine and familiarity. She doesn’t leave her apartment—ever. But somehow evil has gotten in.

Fifty years ago, a diabolical plan was set in motion. It ended in murder. In present day, Adam Tate is in a rush to build his wife’s dream home. She’s ill, and he lives with the looming fear that her days are numbered in months rather than years. As he digs the foundation for their new home, he makes a chilling discovery - long-buried skeletons. On impulse, he hides the grave and pushes it from his mind. When Adam and his wife, Holly, move into their new home six months later, it becomes clear that Adam has awoken something that will not be silenced.

When Rowan and her family move into the 1800s home nestled in the woods on a bluff near Lake Michigan, she's looking forward to a summer reprieve. However, she soon discovers that Helme House harbors dark secrets, including people who have vanished from the house and never been found.

It’s the day of his ex-wife’s wedding when Dan makes the winding mountain journey to a remote cabin for an escape from the life that another man has stepped into. Less than 48 hours into his reprieve, the forest tranquility is shattered when he looks through a telescope and witnesses the violent abduction of a young woman. Dan springs into action, but there’s no evidence of an abduction nor reports of a missing woman. That is, until Dan sees the missing person’s poster for Ivy Trent. 

In their freshman year at Husher University, inseparable friends Teagan and Harley embark on a new chapter of their lives. The excitement takes a chilling turn when Harley mysteriously disappears during rush week, leaving Teagan desperate to find her. Teagan's relentless pursuit of the truth leads her into the depths of a malevolent mystery, unearthing the disturbing secrets of other missing girls from Husher University.

More than a decade ago, six kids witnessed unspeakable horror. Not all of them lived to tell. Riza is no longer that kid - troubled, angry, and filled with secrets. She’s grown up, and when she stumbles upon an on-line forum about the shuttered Northern Michigan Asylum, she tries to pretend it never happened - not the years of experimentation, nor the strange midnight writings, and most of all, not the murders. But someone wants her to remember. Deaths shockingly similar to those that occurred in 1989 are happening again.

A night so terrifying, he blocked it for 30 years….Jake Edwards hasn’t thought about the Northern Michigan Asylum in three decades. When Petra, a mysterious woman from his childhood, appears at his business, he suspects a practical joke - until she vanishes, leaving behind a blood-spattered apartment and a trail of secrets that all lead back to the shuttered asylum. As Jake digs into his dark past, he must face the sinister forces who have been hunting him for decades. 

Eleven years ago today, Bette and Crystal’s mother died. The sisters observe the day each year with a visit to her grave followed by dinner. As Bette stands in the forlorn cemetery, large oaks watching in silent contemplation, Crystal does not arrive. Flummoxed, though it’s too early to panic, Bette embarks on the usual calls and stops in search of her free-spirited sister. However, minutes soon turn into hours, and hours turn into days. As more secrets pour from Crystal’s life, it becomes clear that she sensed the sinister destiny awaiting her.

A secret they intended to take to the grave, but the dead will tell...In 1945, Liv commits an unspeakable act. She flees from her life, but all actions have consequences. Twenty years later, she's drawn back to Northern Michigan where it all began. Dead Stream Curse weaves together the past and present in a chilling ghost story filled with mystery.

Orla has a gift, an ability to sense things she touches: memories, traumas…murders. On a sunny day in 1975, she sets off on a bike ride into the picturesque countryside and vanishes. She is not the first young woman to go missing and she will not be the last.

The sprawling Kerry Manor has stood abandoned for nearly a century. But that hasn’t kept the darkness at bay...Today, Kerry Manor is restored to its original grandeur. Corrie and Sammy Flynn, and their daughter Isis, move into the house for a winter retreat. As they settle into the dim, gothic rooms, they cannot imagine the terror that awaits them.

For six long years, Max has avoided Draven, her hometown that holds the remnants of a ghastly accident. But when her brother dies, she is drawn back into the clutches of her haunted past. In the wake of her family's shattered happiness, Max is caught in a nightmarish whirlwind of horrors that defy the laws of our world. The epicenter of these malevolent forces resides within the crumbling walls of an abandoned farmhouse, burdened by a sinister history. The house harbors secrets, both old and new. 

On a desolate peninsula, Skelling Hall has stood for more than a century. When Iris Walsh confronts some troubling truths about her family, she flees to the Upper Peninsula to seek solace at the home of her grandmother. She’s soon swept into a disturbing mystery haunting her grandmother’s small town. At the heart of the mystery is Skelling Hall, the long-abandoned mansion with a sinister past.

For Kale Goodwin it’s love at first sight when he sees Annie working at the county fair. Darkly beautiful, she’s unlike anyone he’s ever met. There’s an electricity to her-something dangerous and magnetic. Their love is fast and passionate. Kale is quickly swept away.

When Alley is chosen for a six week writing residency in an isolated stone house, she’s elated. As a single, working mom, she’s spent most of her adult life caring for others. The residency is a dream come true, and an opportunity to finish her memoir.