The idea for this story started out as a conversation with my siblings about horror characters like Pinhead, Eraserhead, Pyramid Head, Siren head, and other "heads" in movies, games, and creepypastas.
I mentioned that you could basically take any noun and add "head" to it to create a horror character, and they challenged me to think up a monster called Basket Head (possibly after glimpsing the waste paper basket by the desk).
On the fly, I said it would have a razor-wire basket for a head that would scoop up people, spin away their soft parts, and grind their bones. They liked the idea and convinced me to flesh it out (pun intended), so I did.
I tried to go for a classic creepypasta and nosleep style, where the main character writes out their experience right away without any dialogue or perfect grammar, almost like a campfire ghost story. This isn't my usual method, the only other time I attempted this was with Bootleg Meg, but I figured I'd give it another shot.
I added a campfire setting, a misunderstanding, and a sprinkle of conspiracy, and at the last minute, I changed the name from Basket Head to The Basket Stripper. I figured it sounded both silly yet horrifying when the reason for the name is known, and it wouldn't seem to leech off the names of other "heads". And as the cherry on top, I sketched it out like a hurried child would.
As for the location, I only chose the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia because it was large enough to reasonably hide the Basket Stripper, and it was in the same state as DARPA, where research and development occurs for the military and beyond.
If you've read the story, let me know what you think. I’m always open to feedback, suggestions, and critique!