Joel Farrelly

For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.

Logan wasn’t a great student, but that fact never really seemed to bother him.

Last week, a pdf was sent to me from an email address I didn’t recognize, which isn’t uncommon in my line of work. Strangers send me scary stories and bizarre documents on an almost daily basis and I encourage it. But the pdf in question was unlike anything I had ever been sent and I decided that the only way to properly convey its effect would be to simply let you read it for yourself.

So a couple of years back, a bunch of top secret files became declassified thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and according to one of these files, the government had secretly converted the Control Center into a CIA research facility shortly after it was officially decommissioned in 1965.

The look on my face must have been pretty telling because Julie immediately stopped what she was doing and followed my line of sight over to the large flesh-colored papier-mâché sphere perched on the bottom shelf of an old bookcase that had been mostly hidden by the encyclopedias we just moved.

Police tape was draped across the entrance to the parking garage and two officers in full riot gear were stationed beside it. I rolled down my window and asked them what had happened.

According to the legend, if you stood inside this mirror-room alone for too long, supposedly the devil would show up and steal your soul.

If there are certain parts of this story that you find difficult to read, know that they were just as difficult for me to write.

There are some things that are so inherently fucked that I can’t let them go, no matter how much I write about it. Like with the case of infamous hitman Richard Kuklinski or, as he’s better known, “The Ice Man”.

You could tell something was off…

It doesn’t take a Doctorate in Sociology to know online dating is a pretty normal concept these days. What was once seen as a cause for social stigma is now a general fact of being a single adult. And I had been one of those for the better part of a year now.

I came to regret this entire ordeal…

Or Joel’s vacation.

There can only be one…

…All of the messages were extremely positive and really encouraging. Their combined effect was better than any antidepressant and I was determined to reply to every single one. Then I got this…

Due to the particular subject matter that I tend to write about, over the years I have collected (for lack of a less pretentious term) a plethora of “true scary stories” from people of all walks of life. And this was going to be my attempt at cataloging some of my personal favorites.

There is a very real possibility that what I’m about to show you will get me arrested.

I found it in the trash and I think I made the worst mistake of my life.