Kaidankai: Ghost and Supernatural Stories

Scientists exploring the deep sea encounter unexplained phenomena. Unexplained until they meet the perpetrator. Is it friend or foe?Stephen A. Roddewig is an award-winning storyteller and playwright from Virginia (USA). He won second place in the 2023 Vocal Painted Prose challenge, and his stories are featured in Abyss & Apex, Diet Milk Magazine, Struggle Magazine, and Wintermute Lit. When not writing, he enjoys collecting records and running races.You can read "SEALAB IV" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

Today’s character is certain that her fiancee’s mother doesn’t like her. But when the mother dies just a few hours after announcing the engagement, what does that mean for her relationship? Is she to blame for the family matron’s untimely death? And will she still get the family heirloom ring?S.E. Will lives in the Midwest, where she writes about the things that keep her up at night. Her most recent work can be found in Black Sheep: Unique Tales of Terror and Wonder.You can read "A Wake" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebookPhoto thanks to Kaja Sariwatung on Unsplash.

If you lose a child, the sight of a school bus can rip your grief wide open. But what does it mean when a school bus shows up in the middle of the night?Rick Sherman (he/him) is a retired award-winning Magician/Mentalist living in the manicured suburbs of Long Island, New York. Finding himself with a surfeit of free time he has turned to writing with increasing degrees of success. He lives with his wife and five children (only three of which have four legs and a tail).   facebook.com/RickShermanMagiYou can read "Night Bus" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebookPhoto thanks to Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash.

A man goes in search of a godly godparent for his newborn daughter. But, when humans and gods form relationships, does the human always get what they want?Allister Nelson is an avid fan of fantasy romance, world mythology, and writing! She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, Tea Witch, armchair occultist, cult aficionado, Taylor Swift Truther, and big time navel gazer. She loves to cook, bake, bike, and play with her husband and dog. She enjoys taking them on long walks, and watering them occasionally. A lifelong Washingtonian, she loves writing diverse fantasy romances with a dash of intrigue and spice! You can read "Godmother Death" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

Today’s character attracts the supernatural. But why? To introduce strange creatures to the world? Or because a horrible fate awaits?Simina Lungu is a speculative fiction writer currently residing in Timisoara, Romania. She has several short stories published in places such as Night Picnic, CommuterLit, or Dark Fire Fiction. Her writings explore primordial fears as well as the need for human connections. Those who wish to know more about her can check out her website: https://corasimina.wixsite.com/siminalungu-writer or come hang out on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/simina.lungu.writerYou can read "Scattered Hauntings" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebookPhoto Part of "Fairy Godmother" by Sarah S. Stilwell Webber

Five poems--"Doorways," "Hush," "Journeys," "She Laughed," and "The Last Time I Was Here"-- that journey into the afterworld and the feelings of curiosity, discovery, revenge and acceptance experienced by the living and the dead.Like a magpie, Rhonda Parrish is constantly distracted by shiny things. She’s the editor of many anthologies and author of plenty of books, stories and poems. She lives with her husband and cats in Edmonton, Alberta, and she can often be found there playing Dungeons and Dragons, bingeing crime dramas or cheering on the Oilers.Her website, updated regularly, is at http://www.rhondaparrish.com and her Patreon, updated even more regularly, is at https://www.patreon.com/RhondaParrishYou can "Doorways," "Hush," "Journeys," "She Laughed," and "The Last Time I Was Here" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebookPhoto Part of "Fairy Godmother" by Sarah S. Stilwell Webber

"Fox Hunt" first appeared in Commuter Lit on September 27, 2022In Japan, foxes are messengers for the god of agriculture. In today’s story, a farmer hates foxes and spends his life hunting them with his dog trained for the hunt. So, how is it that he remains wealthy and unpunished for killing his god's favorite animal?Linda Gould is an American who has lived in six countries. The mythology and folktales from each have inspired her writing-- fiction and non-fiction. Her work has been published in media outlets around the world. Gould is the editor of White Enso, an online journal of creative work inspired by Japan, and host of “The Kaidankai,” a podcast of modern ghost and supernatural stories read aloud.You can read "Fox Hunt" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebookPhoto of the memorial and fossilized dog by Linda A Gould

Small acts of love and beauty can make the difference between wanting to die and wanting to live. In this case, the help comes from an unexpected source.Maia Brown-Jackson is a symphony of papercuts, banged-up knees, and stubborn determination. She believes in the altruism of strangers, the power of direct action, and the use of the Oxford comma. She strives to offer what she can; here, that offering is her words.You can read "The House" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

What does it mean to come from "the longest and purest royal bloodline in history?" Hana Carolina is a pseudonym of an Edinburgh-based creative and academic writer. Born in Poland, she moved to Scotland and studied literature, film and television for many years. Since then, she has been working as a tutor, interpreter, and researcher, and publishing academically while writing dark stories about horrible people. Her work has been published in Every Day Fiction, Crow & Cross Keys, Five on the Fifth, the Chamber Magazine, BRUISER, The Horror Tree, Black Sheep Magazine, and others. You can find her on X/Twitter @HanaCarolinaSCO and BlueSky @hanacarolina.bsky.social.You can read "The Perfect Homogeny" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebookPhoto Part of "Fairy Godmother" by Sarah S. Stilwell Webber

A psychic is hired to perform at an exclusive hotel. When he encounters a sad and lonely ghost, he thinks love is all the ghost needs to be released from our world. But something else is keeping the sad ghost and others from moving on.Geoffrey Marshall is a writer in Aurora, Canada. He knows just enough to be dangerous (mostly to himself) in several different fields. You can find his work in The Ansible, Academy of the Heart and Mind and the September 2022 issue of MoonPark Review. His education never really took, through no fault of his instructors (debatable) but he did manage to acquire a BA in English Literature from Carleton University. Find him on twitter @g_k_marshall.You can read "Where They Look Away" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

After WWII, an injured man plans to recuperate at a countryside manor where he has a strange encounter.Claude Chabot has published five short stories and has produced and directed four radio plays based on his own stories. One of them, an adaptation of his own ghost story, was aired on public radio worldwide. He has also completed a collection of short stories exploring the conflicts and changes his characters experience while traveling, along with several ghost stories and other stories with assorted themes.You can read "The Gables" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

A young man suffers for his father's sins.Born in Tokyo and educated at ICU in Japan and Brown University in the United States, Akira Odani wrote for many years for the Japanese media. Today, his interest has turned to writing in English and subjects related to his experiences interacting with the two cultures. He is a member of the Florida Writers Association (FWA) and Taste Life Twice Writers’ group. Some of his recent works have appeared in the pages of FWA Collection, Volume 8: Hide and Seek (2016) and Volume 10: Where Does Your Muse Live? (2019), and Editor, Randell Jones Personal Story Publishing Project, Twists and Turns, Sooner or Later, and Lost & Found (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023).You can read "Bemoaning Ghost of War" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

A young man is meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time. Is his nervousness from the parents’ oddness or his own secrets?Tyler Markham is a writer and horror enthusiast. Whenever he is not writing, or shivering under his covers with a scary story, he likes to spend time with his wife Chloe and their cranky ten-year-old dog Maggie.​You can read "Indistinguishable" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

This week, we honor Martin Luther King Jr. Today’s story uses three voices—a house, narrator and historian—and music to tell the stories of generations of people from a town in the Deep South of the US. Yes, it is a tale of bigotry and racism at the micro and macro scales. But also hope and determination to make a better world and a better life. It’s a beautiful example of how ghost stories can change our own stories, the course of history, and our dreams.Anne Watson has been writing, in one form or another, all her life, most recently focusing on fiction. She’s written news articles, book and art reviews, blogs, documentary films, podcasts, and for radio. She has two blogs, echolaliaredacted.com, which meanders through life's joys and sorrows; and countriesandcobblestones.com about traveling for a year with her daughter. Her writing can also be found on Canada's National Observer. Her first book,Thin Lines of Broken Time, represented by Anne Depue, is looking for a publisher. She’s currently working on a second book.The music in this podcast is performed by Earle Peach, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and songwriter from Vancouver who directs choirs and plays in musical groups, volunteers at and hosts music events, pursues social activism, and is still actively involved in the folk music community.The voice of the historian is Tim Gould (my wonderful and helpful husband. He also wrote and performed the Kaidankai's opening music.)You can read "Built on a Dream" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

Addicts can be ghosts, too. The aftermath of their deaths can be just as tragic as their lives.Robert Pettus is an English as a Second Language teacher at the University of Cincinnati. Previously, he taught in rural Thailand and Moscow, Russia. His short stories have been published in numerous webzines, magazines, podcasts, and literary journals, including previously on Kaidankai. His novel, titled Abry, was published last spring by Offbeat Reads and is scheduled for republication this March with Flick-It books. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, Mary, his daughter, Rowan, and his pet rabbit, Achilles. You can read "Walls. Singing Bushes" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

Today’s character lives in the arctic, long nights and depression are the least of her problems. She has to find a way to keep monsters at bay.Katy England has been writing for longer than she likes to admit. A journalist and communications expert by day, modder and fiction writer by night. She spends much of her time in the great expanse of the Maine woods with her husband, triplets, and select fish. Her greatest accomplishments, to date, is that her children like her stories and that the crows come to her yard when she calls them.You can read "The Long Night" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

This week's story: A midnight raid of the fridge leads to an encounter that just might give us a clue about where ghosts come from.​John Shea is a technical writer with a B.S. in Communications from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an M.F.A. in Motion Picture and Television Production from the University of Southern California. He is extensively travelled and has been known to babble in French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Japanese. He dabbles in wordplay, palindromes, and is a part-time cruciverbalist and punster. He lives in the Dallas Fort Worth with his wife (a schoolteacher), two dogs of different age and disposition (exuberant and shyly playful), and a lawn that needs constant mowing, during which he contemplates plot lines and story ideas.Martini glass photo by Anastasiya Badun on Unsplash.com.You can read "Cookie Dough Bounce" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

An author has a litany of problems that most authors experience, and an additional one that few of us have to worry about. John Shea is a technical writer with a B.S. in Communications from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an M.F.A. in Motion Picture and Television Production from the University of Southern California. He is extensively travelled and has been known to babble in French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Japanese. He dabbles in wordplay, palindromes, and is a part-time cruciverbalist and punster. He lives in the Dallas Fort Worth with his wife (a schoolteacher), two dogs of different age and disposition (exuberant and shyly playful), and a lawn that needs constant mowing, during which he contemplates plot lines and story ideas.You can read "The Party Downstairs" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

November 24 to December 24: Please support the Kaidankai podcast. Donate any amount via PayPal through the Kaidankai website or Ko-Fi (preferred). For select donations, receive a digital ghost story anthology, a Kaidankai t-shirt, or special readings available only to members.The Kaidankai website donation link: https://www.kaidankaistories.com/shopdonate.htmlKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/kaidankaighoststories#This week's story: A 9-year old boy has figured out how Santa travels around the world in one night. He plans to use his knowledge to get more gifts than he earned for being a good boy. Will his plan work?L.N. Hunter’s comic fantasy novel, ‘The Feather and the Lamp,’ sits alongside works in anthologies such as ‘The Monsters Next Door’ and ‘Best of British Science Fiction 2022’ as well as Short Édition’s ‘Short Circuit’ and the ‘Horrifying Tales of Wonder’ podcast. There have also been papers in the IEEE ‘Transactions on Neural Networks,’ which are probably somewhat less relevant and definitely less fun. When not writing, L.N. unwinds in a disorganised home in rural Cambridgeshire, UK, along with two cats and a soulmate.Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/L.N.Hunter.writer Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/l.n.hunter Linktree (publications list): https://linktr.ee/l.n.hunterYou can read "Observer Effect" at Free Kids Books, an educational rsource for elementary and middle school students. Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook

November 24 to December 24: Please support the Kaidankai podcast. Donate any amount via PayPal through the Kaidankai website or Ko-Fi (preferred). For select donations, receive a digital ghost story anthology, a Kaidankai t-shirt, or special readings available only to members.The Kaidankai website donation link: https://www.kaidankaistories.com/shopdonate.htmlKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/kaidankaighoststories#This week's story: A woman, tired from Christmas shopping, takes a shortcut home. What she witnesses will affect her forever.Sarah Das Gupta is a retired teacher from near Cambridge, UK.who also taught in India and Tanzania. She started writing a year ago after spending time in hospital following an accident. Her work has been published in a number of magazines from 12 different countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, India, Germany, Croatia, and Romania among others.You can read "Skating on Thin Ice" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.Website: kaidankaistories.comFollow us on: Twitter/XInstagramFacebook