As moonlight cast haunting shadows upon the frayed edges of the journal, I could almost envision the young author, their sanity slowly unraveling, as they chronicled the sinister events that unfolded, blurring the lines between reality and nightmare in a dance of malevolent intrigue. The very act of transcribing their experiences onto paper appeared to invoke an ancient evil, one that lingered between the lines, eager to claw its way into our realm once more…
A sixth entry awaits…
THE RUNAWAY
A Stray Souls Story
Journal Entry #6 - ``Armor of the Damned``
October 31, 2001
Alright, you won’t believe the stunt I pulled, but I find it downright hilarious. I went ahead and crafted myself some bona fide anti-ghost armor. I stumbled upon this tidbit about the Celts donning costumes during the Samhain festival to ward off ghosts. So, I thought, why not give it a shot on the one day of the year when people wouldn’t openly laugh at me for trying?
Here’s the recipe:
– One hefty bedsheet (color’s your call)
– A pair of fishnet stockings
– A felt pen
– A pair of scissors
– Needle and thread
– A roll of black ribbon
Flip the sheet inside out and drape it over yourself. Adjust it till it evenly blankets your arms and hands. Grab the felt pen and roughly mark out where your wrists should be, draw a circle around your head, and sketch out eye sockets.
Next, get those scissors to snip out the eye areas you marked. Cut two squares from the fishnet stocking material to cover those holes, then use the needle and thread to sew these patches inside your sheet.
The final task is to find the wrist markings you made earlier and sew a length of ribbon on each side. Make sure it’s long enough to comfortably tie around your wrists.
Last but not least, dress head to toe in black, toss the sheet over your head using the crown markings as your guide to align your eyes, tie those ribbons around your wrists, and boom! You’re now the proud owner of anti-ghost armor with a bonus of camouflage (hey, it’s a ghost costume, after all)!
Now, I did create this costume for a Halloween work shindig, and knowing where this “costume” tradition came from gave me some inspiration for what it represents. Maybe, just maybe, there’s a tiny part of me that hopes it’ll serve a purpose beyond just festive decoration.
But here’s the kicker – I’m still grappling with that same darn nightmare, almost every night. And the sounds… well, they’ve honestly taken a turn for the worse.
A lot worse.
I’m banking on there being some method to this tradition’s madness. All I’m asking for is a single solid night of peaceful slumber. That’s not too much to wish for, right?
That’s all for today! Thanks for joining us for an inside peek at Stray Souls!
As always, if you have any content to share or questions for the team, please feel free to reach out. You can stay in touch with me and the rest of the Versus Evil team by joining our Discord and following us on our various social media channels.
~ VS | Renee
Stray Souls Community Manager