In "Ghost Stories For The Festive Season," writer Glenn Riley has has masterfully written and curated a collection of ghost stories that evoke the spirit of the festive season in the most spine-tingling way. This compendium isn't your ordinary gathe...
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The heavy steel door creaked open, echoing through the vast darkened corridors that lay beyond. Viktor clicked on his flashlight, casting a pale circle of light into the bunker’s gloomy interior. Goosebumps rose on his arms that had nothing to do with the chill autumn air.
“This is it, my friends,” he said over his shoulder. “We’re finally going inside bunker R-12. Keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.”
The four paranormal investigators, who called themselves the “Ghost Seekers”, slowly filed inside. Viktor took the lead, sweeping his flashlight back and forth, followed by Petrov, the technical expert, then Anna, the psychic medium of the group. Taking up the rear was Ivan, the newest and youngest member, clutching an EMF meter that remained silent for now. Their footsteps echoed eerily through the concrete corridors.
Built in the 1960s, bunker R-12 was one of Russia’s secret underground facilities where scientists conducted sensitive experiments for the military. After the fall of the Soviet Union, it had been abandoned and sealed up, home to nothing but rats and shadows for the past thirty years. But the Ghost Seekers had heard disturbing rumors from the nearby village of strange screams coming from the bunker at night. Stories of ghostly figures glimpsed in its weed-choked gardens and abandoned labs. The perfect place to investigate for their paranormal web show.
“Getting anything yet, Ivan?” Viktor asked over his shoulder.
The young man’s wide eyes darted nervously around behind his glasses. “N-no. Nothing yet.”
“What about you, Anna?” Viktor directed his flashlight towards the slim brunette. “Picking up on any ghostly vibes?”
Her brow furrowed as she ran a black-nailed hand along the flaking wall. “There’s something here, all right. Can’t you feel it? Almost like...we’re being watched.”
Viktor felt the hairs on his neck stand up. Even he wasn’t immune to the bunker’s creepy atmosphere. They pressed deeper into its depths, entering a maze of rooms that branched off the main corridor. Testing chambers, isolation rooms, medical bays with overturned gurneys and drawers of spilled surgical tools. All covered in a film of dust and scattered with rat droppings. The place looked like it had been abandoned mid-operation, giving Viktor the unsettling feeling they’d walked onto the set of some Cold War horror movie.
“If the stories are true, these chambers hosted some pretty nasty experiments back in the day,” he remarked, swiveling the flashlight to examine a dried bloodstain on the floor. “Sleep deprivation, hallucinogenic drug trials, psychological torture. Stalin’s scientists cooked up a lot of twisted stuff trying to create human weapons loyal only to the State.”
Ivan nervously wet his lips. “Why would they stop? This place seems like it was still in use when everyone left.”
“That is part of our investigation, yes?” Viktor raised his camera with an enthusiastic grin. “Records say bunker R-12 officially shut down after Perestroika. But we have heard rumors that some activities continued in secret long after that. Perhaps they unlocked something here...” He wiggled his fingers at his companions. “...or someone, they should not have!”
