Half Believed

Something

They told you it was only a story.

Every culture has one: a warning about a road, a river, a mirror, a voice that calls your name. Someone older said it quietly, then said it was nothing, and you remembered it anyway.

Half Believed is an anthology of original folk horror short stories, each inspired by a myth, legend or piece of folklore from somewhere in the world. These are new stories, not retellings.

• A woman in a mask asks a question on the last train home, while the rest of the carriage looks away.
• A diary hidden behind a painted-shut cabinet ends with a list of signs.
• A neighbor sits up through the night to call someone back from something that has settled on her chest.
• A woman spends years agreeing to call a weeping sound the wind.
• A night watch in a winter hall where the dead do not stay down.

Drawing on legends from Mexico, Japan, Ireland, the Norse North, Newfoundland and beyond, these stories take the one thing a legend is known for and ask what it would be like to meet it. After each story, a short note separates what is traditional from what is invented.

Atmosphere over gore. Dread over blood. For readers of folklore, ghost stories and urban legends, and anyone who has ever lain awake wondering whether the old warnings were true.

Read them at night if you like. Leave a light on.