There’s a (probably apocryphal) story that Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a six-word novel, and he responded with, “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Over at io9 they’ve been riffing on this extreme flash-fiction idea with a series of posts inviting commenters to write six-word science fiction stories: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Science fiction and horror are kissing cousins at the very least, so a lot of the contributions skew in that direction. Some are outright creepy:

It was moving under my skin.
— Blalock

“The snow… it… it… got hungry.”
— fogelmatrix

“Try to relax,” my parasite said.
— Claire B.

They ate dreams. Only insomniacs survived.
— x84jdh

Some are really evocative:

The monsters cry in their sleep.
— JennyGirl

The outsiders killed us last night.
— spagornasm

Walls had ears. Eyes, too, now.
— Daryl

The Old Gods come in peace.
— Phos

Death machine works, but it weeps.
— Matt

And some are funny:

Zombies placated! They just wanted hugs.
— nootrac4571

“The badger revolution humbled us all.”
— interrogator-chaplain

Room for rent, cheap. NOT HAUNTED.
— Long Lost Albatross

“Chess?” scoffed Death, “no way. Candyland.”
— ColinGagnon

(Most of them seem to be less “complete story” and more “really intriguing first sentence.”)

Want to play along? Write your spookiest six-word story and leave it in the comments! Here are a few to get you started:

“Believe in ghosts? I am one.”

The screaming isn’t real. Ignore it.

Tiny footsteps run into the closet.

“Mommy, why won’t it stop moving?”

NSFW! NSFW! NSFW! YouTuber Frank Dracman has put together nearly two hours of gore- and sex-filled grindhouse movie trailers. It is deeply mind-blowing.

One of the things I like best about running this silly blog is that frequently, rather than seeking out the weirdness, the weirdness comes to me.

Lisa Hix, a writer for Collectors Weekly, sent me this over the weekend:

Morbid Anatomy—a blog, library, curiosity gallery, and lecture series dedicated to the places where death and beauty intersect—often revels in the macabre, albeit in a thoughtful, intellectual way. Thanks to its swelling popularity, Morbid Anatomy is expanding into a three-story, 4,200-square-foot museum in Brooklyn this spring.

Learning to Love Death: New Museum Takes a Walk on the Shadow Side

I talked to founder Joanna Ebenstein about her strange fascinations with Santa Muetre, the holy saint of death; medical specimens; depictions of deformity and disease; superstition and paranormal research—and eccentric Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter. She explained why she thinks pondering mortality is good for all of us.

And then half a dozen of my friends sent me the same story, one with the suggestion that we all organize a field trip to New York for a visit.

So, yes; awesome blog Morbid Anatomy, which has maintained a small physical presence with limited hours for a while now, is expanding into a full-scale museum in Brooklyn. In addition to a café and gift shop, the space will include a lecture hall where “rogue scholars” can give talks on everything from ancient Egyptian funerary customs to jackalope taxidermy.

They’ve got a Kickstarter campaign to help build out the space, and some of the rewards look fantastic (one of them is the Halloweentown gates set piece from Nightmare Before Christmas).

The whole thing sounds very cool; if you’ve got a visit to New York planned, this would definitely be worth adding to your itinerary.

(Incidentally, be sure to check out some of the other articles that Hix has written; there’s some cool stuff about dark rides and creepy clowns and mourning jewelry.)

In 1970 my celebrity crush Vincent Price did An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe, reading some of Poe’s works in front of a live audience. Kind YouTube user Zombie Popcorn has uploaded the whole thing.

Bonus Links: Here’s “The Raven” read by Basil Rathbone and John Astin (dressed as Poe!)

As usual, here’s a bunch of images I’ve run across which I want to share but might not be able to hang a whole post on. Some of them have no attribution, so if you happen to know the source for any of these please leave a note in the comments. (Click to view larger.)

	Skull Mug I originally found this at Design You Trust, where it’s erroneously presented as a “design concept.” Sadly, it’s actually a staged photo by deviantARTist CRuS23, so there will be no production. Oh, well; it’s pretty.
	Creepy Statue I can’t find an original source for this image, so I don’t know where the statue is located (there’s another photo from a slightly different angle here). Still, I’d be reluctant to walk past it on a rainy evening.
	“Han in Carbonite” Refrigerator This is a photoshopped entry in an image challenge, created by artist Quentin Devine. I am sad indeed that it doesn’t actually exist.
	Cat Makeup This elaborate design was created by makeup artist Tal Peleg. She’s got many other amazing examples on her site.
	Tim Burton Shoes I can’t find an original source for these; all roads lead to Pinterest. They look suspiciously ‘shopped; yet another crushing disappointment where something should be real and available for purchase but isn’t.
	Wall Message Another one with no original source. I adore how simple yet effective this is. It’s just vinyl letters–made even easier by the fact that you don’t have to align them neatly–but the result is creepy as hell. (The message, by the way, is a lyric by La Dispute.)
	Halloween Cake Yet another frustrating example of an image appearing in dozens of roundups and Pinterest boards with no original attribution. I don’t know who made this, but I love the elegantly creepy design. (Bonus: Whilst trying to track down the source, I ran into this collection of cakes and cupcakes that seem mostly do-able by the home cook and this collection of cakes that are well beyond the average person’s talents but are gorgeous anyway.)
	Hearse with Camper Another orphaned image. I love that the trailer matches the colors of the hearse.
	Until I Say Hooray! A source! This is by deviantARTist Ryan Alexander Lee, and illustrates the dangers of a mortal falling in love with a dryad.
	Spooky Wall Sculpture I was certain that this was a really fantastic Halloween prop; instead it’s a plastic bag sculpture by Khalil Chishtee (he has a site but it’s all Flash, so I’m linking to an image collection instead. Screw Flash). Something similar could probably by DIY’d as a Halloween prop with cheesecloth and starch.

Yeah, this’ll scare the crap out of you.

It won “Best Director” in this year’s BC Horror Challenge.

This stop-motion animation by Toshiko Hata won the 2012 Jury’s Choice for Short Film at the 2012 Puchon Inter­na­tional Fan­tas­tic Film Fes­ti­val. It is creepy in the way that only Japanese films seem to be able to pull off.

(via Cat)

Harrison Browning’s creepy stop-motion short Pluto and the Vessel is “both homage to early science fiction horror tropes and as a personal contemplation on the impossible differentiation between containers and their contents.”

Rock duo Vamps got together with a bunch of other well-known Japanese musicians to release a two-song Halloween project under the name “Halloween Junky Orchestra.”

The result is totally, utterly bananas.

The B side title was “Penalty Waltz,” which doesn’t appear to have a video. There’s also a “making of” documentary, but it’s all in Japanese, so it may or may not be of much interest.

(Hat tip to Pixel Pixie)

Just Ella is a short science fiction film by Jim Munroe which “posits a future overrun by gibbering monstrosities.”

Ella takes refuge in a “the Ossington Safehouse, a collectively-run space dedicated to human sovereignty.” But despite doing the assigned tasks on the chore list, the Safehouse isn’t safe — the terrors outside are nothing compared to those within.

Contains perhaps the first cinematic example of autocomplete used for a dramatic reveal.

(via BoingBoing)