Dead Ends is a collection of short stories edited by J.T. Ellison. Ellison posed a challenge to twelve other authors: write a Southern Gothic short story based on this photograph.

The instructions were simple, and the result proved Ellison’s theory:

“If you give thirteen writers a photo and ask them to write a story, you’ll get thirteen completely different stories.”

The responses were vastly different – each with their own jaw-dropping, gut-busting, spine-chilling ending.

 

The Perfect Buyer

Jeff Abbott

Paul Duvalier is a struggling writer whose wife, Hollywood actress Catherine Manning, wants to move back to her hometown in Fort Sheldon, North Carolina. Paul is visiting Fort Sheldon to find a home for him and his wife when he discovers the old Pallisters Mansion. The home has a storied past and served as the stage for a family feud of epic proportions – think Hatfield-McCoy feud meets Montague-Capulet. In this case, the feud is between the Pallisters and the Mannings. Catherine is hesitant to move into a home with such a dark past, particularly one that involves her ancestors, but agrees to it in an attempt to save her husband’s career and her own. The story is a classic haunted house tale and a perfect read for Halloween.

“I’ll only be writing horror novels from now on. I know it’s an abrupt change but wait till you see our new house. It’s as if Dark Shadows and The Shining had a threesome with The Haunting of Hill House. I’ll send you a link to the Zillow listing, be sure and do an exorcism before you open the web page.”

 

Women and Zombies

Helen Ellis

If the Helen Ellis Fan Club doesn’t exist yet, I am starting it now and declaring myself president. If it does exist, I’m ready to stage a coup. I fell in love with Helen Ellis’s writing when I read her collection of short stories, American Housewife. Truth be told, I picked up Dead Ends because I saw that she was a contributing author. “Women and Zombies” is written in second person, addressing YOU as a survivor of the zombie apocalypse seeking shelter in a women’s compound named “The Frizz.” The narrator gives you a tour of The Frizz, which used to be Hillary High School, where the zombie apocalypse began as a reaction to a bad batch of tater tots purchased in bulk from Iraq. This wacky story has a shocking surprise twist at the end and teaches you important lessons about surviving the zombie apocalypse: “Vanity is for the weak. There’s no time for hair dye in the zombie apocalypse.”

“The first thing you have to accept is we’re all going gray. Just look at my roots: I’ve got a skunk stripe. In three months, if I live that long, I’ll look like someone whacked a blackboard eraser over my head. So leave your beauty ideals at the gate, and make friends with us women who wear our roots like crowns. We’ve survived the longest. Vanity is for the weak. There’s no time for hair dye in the zombie apocalypse.”

Eat: Zombie Lady Fingers

 

No Truth to Tell

Patti Callahan Henry

“No Truth to Tell” is the story of Alice Lister, a woman haunted by her traumatic childhood and an imaginary friend named Rufus, who has followed her into adulthood. Rufus encourages Alice to visit a house in Linton, South Carolina that is eerily familiar, but Alice cannot understand why. I don’t want to give too much away, but this story reveals a frightening secret at the end that will satisfy any horror fanatic.

“It was impossible that Alice had ever seen this house before. Mother had told Alice that they moved to Atlanta from Louisiana when Alice was four years old. Every time Alice asked her mother about their childhood house, and the days when they’d lived there, her mother would shake her head and with the gray perm curls wiry and tangled, wave her French-manicured hand through the air, and make a noise that sounded very much like pooh-pooh. ‘It doesn’t matter now, Alice, dear. It’s in the past and you don’t want to look at the past, trust me on this.’”

 

The Death Doula

Amanda Stevens

Amanda Stevens creates a haunting world in “The Death Doula” with intoxicating sensory details. Alice is a young woman who meets Habella Peace, a death doula to the young and handsome Simon Straiker. Habella’s job is to care for Simon’s needs, as he dies a slow and painful death in the bedroom of his mansion. Habella recruits Alice to visit with Simon and read to him for a couple of hours each day in exchange for a hefty reward. Alice agrees to the daily visits and becomes simultaneously attracted and repelled by Simon and the bell he uses to communicate…

“The bell tinkled twice, paused, and then tinkled twice more.

I looked up from Simon to Habella in confusion.

‘He’s given you a name,’ she explained. ‘He has rings for all of us, don’t you, dear?’

Two tinkles. Yes.

Then, two tinkles, a pause and two more tinkles. Alice.“

 

The Gentleman’s Magicians

Paige Crutcher

Florence is a bartender in the small town of City, Anywhere, which means that she’s the town’s eyes and ears. With a recent death of one of the town’s most mysterious figures, Florence begins piecing together the unusual legacy the late Cecil Sterling left behind. Told through multiple narrators, “The Gentleman’s Magicians” tells the tale of a strange small town and its inhabitants.

“What I am sure of is that if secrets were currency, City, Anywhere should be the richest place in the universe, with the residents riding around on waves of the highest coin. But that’s the funny thing about secrets. When they’re kept so well, even the secret holders forget what they have.”

  

Fortunate Sons

Dana Chamblee Carpenter

Spencer Hutchinson is the son of one of Mississippi’s First Families, which is how he found himself walking arm-in-arm with Miss Delta Blackstone on a cool night in 1968. Spence and Delta met at her debutante ball and took a walk around town in the Mississippi moonlight. Delta is beautiful, sweet, and shy – the perfect Southern belle. Spence is an Ole Miss student on break looking to enchant his way into Delta’s pants. “Fortunate Sons” is a bewitching tale of the “old ghosts and backwards ideas” that haunt the Old South. This story is as Southern Gothic as it gets.

“As he pulled them forward, they broke through the cedars into a clearing where the lane ended at two large iron gates with a high stone wall stretching out on either side.

            ‘Wait! I know this place – this here’s the old Winona plantation,’ Spence said as he tugged at the heavy gates, half hanging off their hinges and tangled in kudzu. ‘My daddy used to come out here when he was a kid. He told me this place was haunted.’

            ‘Is it?’ Delta took Spence’s arm again and pulled as if to move them back onto the lane.

            ‘Don’t you worry none, sweetheart. I’ll keep you safe from spooks.’”

 

Stone Angels

Laura Benedict

Susannah Ross gets hired at Trewlove Hall to be a governess for young Lilith Trewlove. Susannah brings her daughter, Theresa, who is close in age to Lilith to their new home. Trewlove Hall belongs to Lilith’s grandmother, Mary Trewlove, who is a recluse and only makes appearances at dinner. Trewlove Hall is a lovely home where Theresa is happy with her own bedroom and her new friend, though Susannah’s gut tells her that something is not quite write. “Stone Angels” is a suspenseful tale with a horrifying ending – a perfectly spooky Halloween read.

“Trewlove Hall is the last house I will ever see. The thought assaulted me with violent certainty as the chauffeured car made its slow way up the curving drive leading to Trewlove Hall, and I clutched the collar of my new spring coat closed to fight the sudden chill.”

 

The Body Electric

Bryon Quertermous

“The Body Electric” was not my favorite story in this collection. It is “grit lit” – a term used when discussing Southern literature that depicts shows a rougher South. “The Body Electric” is about a drug-addicted alcoholic single mother, Brindy Dye, who lives with her daughter, NeNe, in a pedophile-infested trailer park. Not my taste, but it is grit lit well done. The story is told from Brindy’s perspective, which is deeply influenced by her drug and alcohol addiction and her emotional distress because it is about the death of NeNe.

“Brindy Dye needed to go get her baby. The rain was coming down in thick sheets and NeNe was out there in the swampy weeds, exposed and alone. Brindy’d never gotten used to drinking in this weather. Give her a blizzard and a fifth of something brown and she was a happy girl. The humidity was bullshit, and whiskey did weird stuff to her head during hurricane season. Not as weird as the shit Dusty did to her head when he hit her, but weird enough to make her wonder if she was even awake.”

 

In Home Visit

David White

Alex Stepian is a former basketball player coaching at Ben Franklin University who returns to his alma mater high school in Ocean Springs, Mississippi to recruit prodigy Lonzo Childs. Alex lost his parents in Hurricane Katrina and was raised by his sister, Alicia. Alex is haunted by a green goblin whose presence impacted Alex’s life more than Alex ever knew, until his trip home.

“Alex went back to the crack in the asphalt and lined up to take another shot.

            ‘Oh, this is good.’ The goblin’s voice was a croak. He’d never spoken before.

            Alex hesitated.

            ‘You take this shot, and your life will go one way.’ The goblin’s voice was like an ocean at high tide. ‘If you pay attention to everything else, you will be a hero. Right?’”

 

The Perfect House

Lisa Morton

A Hollywood location scout checks out the Ducommun house in Mobile, Alabama, despite warnings against it by locals. The home’s decaying state is ideal for the horror film he is working on. After all, they just need a couple of exterior shots. But when the location scout explores the home on the inside, he discovers a secret he was unknowingly prepared for… and one that he was not.

“Walking up closer to the house did nothing to dispel its aura of decay and mystery. The place just looked cold, even dead; no vegetation grew next to the house, where the air smelled of mold. Astonishingly, the windows were still intact, as were the interior draperies, making it impossible to spy into the house.”

 

Sleeping Angels

David Bell

Daniel Stone is a washed up best-selling novelist. The inspiration for his most successful book came from the murder of four young girls in his hometown. He is interviewed on Facebook Live by Emily Francis, who is the descendent of the real-life killer. Daniel’s interview goes awry and the two become an Internet sensation. Daniel and Emily’s lives spiral out of control due to the popularity of their interview and the reignited interest in Daniel’s book, Sleeping Angels.

“Daniel shook his head. He clutched at the robe again, pulling it tighter. He felt a draft from under the kitchen door and shivered. ‘It’s a pretty simple story, really. Four girls get murdered in a small town. The police find their bodies in the basement of an abandoned estate, all laid out side by side. The killer ends up being the father of one of the girls, the youngest one. A detective tracks the killer down, brings him to justice, and he is executed, bringing closure to the town. But the detective is changed forever.’”

 

Catwood

J.T. Ellison

Five girlfriends escape their busy lives (and their spouses) for an off-the-grid weekend in the woods. There is wine, gossip, and a mysterious house in the woods. This is the horror movie formula for trouble. J.T. Ellison delivers a creepy mystery with a surprise ending that you will never see coming.

“Catwood? Is that the name of the house? Or the land here? And there is a cave? I love caves. I like how each one is a microcosm of the world, living unto itself, not at all concerned with the outer world. Like blood in a vein, doing its business regardless of the external forces driving it. Nourishing and restorative.”

Drink: Catwood Cocktail

 

Looking for the Lost

Ariel Lawhon

I was surprised that J.T. Ellison’s story did not come last in the collection, but after finishing “Looking for the Lost,” I understood why. I was so engulfed in this story that its ending gave me the spine-chilling feeling I wanted out of Dead Ends. Detective Henri Baker enlists the help of two teenage boys (who he names Piss and Vinny) to navigate him up the Mississippi River in the middle of the night. Their destination? Phelipeaux Inlet – an abandoned insane asylum and bone yard for executed criminals. Can you think of a more terrifying setting? Detective Baker is in search of old records to protect his wife. “Looking for the Lost” is the perfect ending to Dead Ends.

“As for me, I came here to find a body. But I can’t find the body until I find the burial manifest. And that will require a number of felonious acts, not the least of which includes breaking and entering. Thus the boys. Two of them. Carlos and Wyatt. Or Piss and Vinegar, as I came to think of them on our choppy ride up the Mississippi.”