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Prologue
Embers and Campfire Stories weekly podcast
“Welcome back to the show, where each week we gather around an imaginary campfire to explore the legends, folklore, and cryptids that keep us looking over our shoulders long after the sun comes up. I’m your host, Jack Mercer, and if you’re joining us again, thanks for coming back.
“Last week, we explored the legend of the Black Shuck—the enormous spectral hound said to roam lonely country roads and churchyards across Britain. Judging by the emails and messages that came in afterward, quite a few of you have decided you’re never taking another midnight walk again. I can’t say I blame you.
“Tonight, we’re talking about something altogether stranger. Unlike a phantom dog or a creature said to live deep in the woods, this week’s subject has a habit of finding people where they should feel safest: in their bedrooms, hallways, and living rooms.
“It rarely announces itself with sound or movement. And I’m afraid I have some bad news. Most of the creatures we discuss inhabit a specific location—like the the Beast of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, the Burrunjor in northern Australia, and the Mongolian Death Worm in the Gobi Desert. However, people have reported this one all over the world. So wherever you’re listening from, you’re not necessarily safe.
“People rarely see it at first. They just get that horrible feeling that someone else is in the room with them. You know the one—when every instinct is telling you to look over your shoulder, but every bit of common sense is saying absolutely not.
“What’s really interesting is how similar the stories are. Witnesses describe completely black, mostly humanoid figures with no real features, as though someone had cut the silhouette of a person out of the darkness itself. A few swear they’ve seen glowing eyes staring back at them, though plenty insist there wasn’t a face to speak of. Almost everyone says the figure first appeared in their peripheral vision, standing perfectly still and completely silent until they noticed it. The moment they looked directly at it, it disappeared. Just... gone.
“And if one encounter wasn’t unsettling enough, people who claim to have seen these things more than once often tell the same story. Every sighting begins with an overwhelming sense of dread, and each time the figure turns up, it’s a little closer than it was before—which is a little rude of it.
“To help us separate folklore from fact, I’m joined tonight by neuroscientist Dr Amelia Carter, whose research focuses on perception and sleep disorders. Welcome, Amelia.”
“Thanks for inviting me.”
“Also joining us is Daniel Morris. Daniel contacted the show a while back, keen to share his experiences in the hope we might help him make sense of them. Thanks for joining us, Daniel.”
“Thanks for having me.”
Jack allowed a brief pause before continuing.
“So, Daniel, let’s start at the beginning. What happened?”
Daniel let out a slow breath. “I was nineteen. I’d just moved into a rented flat while I was at university. It wasn’t creepy or run-down—just a small, ordinary place. One night, I woke up at around three in the morning.”
“What woke you?”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t a noise. It wasn’t a dream, or not one I could remember, anyway. I just opened my eyes and immediately felt like something was terribly wrong.”
“What do you mean by ‘wrong’?”
“It felt like I wasn’t alone. Not because I’d seen anything at that point, but because every instinct I had was telling me there was someone else in the room. I’ve never been able to describe it properly. It was just... dread. Pure dread.”
“And then?”
“I kept looking toward the bedroom door, even though nothing was there. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone standing beside the wardrobe.”
“You only saw it out of the corner of your eye?”
“At first, yes. I turned to look properly, and there was nothing there. I actually laughed at myself because I thought I’d imagined it. Then I looked back toward the door, and there it was again.”
“What did it look like?”
“It looked like a person, but there were no details. No clothes. No face. Nothing I could actually describe. It was just... black. Completely black. Not like someone standing in the shadows. More like the shadow itself had taken the shape of a person, just like you said before.”
“Could you make out any features at all?”
Daniel hesitated. “Only one thing. I can’t swear to it, because I only caught it for a split second, but I remember thinking there were two faint points where the eyes should have been. They weren’t bright enough to light anything around them, but they seemed to glow just enough that I knew they were looking at me.”
“Did it move?”
“No.”
