Stashed in a Jar: A Shocking Tale of Supernatural and Psychological Horror

by Rex Hurst

What price is worth your soul? Your humanity?

It’s a question Aiden Sullivan would soon ask.

While camping with friends, Aiden makes a macabre discovery - a jar containing a shriveled creature. That night its haunting voice whispers in his dreams, offering to teach Aiden the hidden paths of power if only he would free the creature from its cage.

Aiden finds himself pulled between the mundane world and one of cosmic power. Which will he choose?

And will his soul survive?

Stashed in a Jar is a collection of dark and haunting stories filled with supernatural beings, evil forces, witchcraft and magic. It probes the nature of corruption and the toll it can take upon the human soul. It asks the unsettling and fundamental question, which is more important? Power or your humanity?

Author Rex Hurst is the author of the horror thriller novels The Foot Doctor A Serial Killer Speaks Out; What Hell May Come & the sci-fi novel Across the Wounded Galaxy as well as several fiction novellas and short stories with a mystical paranormal theme. He is also co-host of the weekly radio show Write On SC. Catch up with him at and his YouTube channel - TeamThac0

An Interview with the author, Rex Hurst.

How did you get started writing?

Like most authors it all began when I was young. I was naturally drawn to scary thrillers filled with suspense. Then I picked up I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, an almost gothic story about a man surviving in a chilling world filled with vampires. It gave me nightmares. After that, I was hooked on horror.

What are your favorite types of literature?

At this point I am still in a horror state of mind. Some of the classic stories -- Dracula, Frankenstein, The Haunting of Hill House, anything by Lovecraft -- have a deep place in my heart. But lately, I’ve been reading a lot of horror anthologies filled with ghoulish monsters, creepy ghosts, and haunted houses. I’ve also gotten into psychological ghost stories for adults. When done right, they are thrilling, fascinating, terrifying. I can’t get enough of them.

What was the first scary film you ever watched?

The film that first scared the hell out of me is not classified as horror. It was Watership Down, specifically the scene where the rabbit’s warren is paved over and they all suffocate in the most blood-curdling manner. It just scared the hell out of me. I’ve only watched it once, but I remember every detail.

How has your early reading experiences influenced your writing?

Going back and looking at those novels which grabbed me as a young person and a teen, I am not able to analyze how they affected me so deeply. The Exorcist taught me how to slowly build an eerie atmosphere. The Shining showed me how to create a world dripping with fear and dread. “The Rats in the Walls” by Lovecraft demonstrated how even the simplest things can be maddening to some people.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 26, 2024

About the author

Originally born in Argentina to German immigrants, Rex Hurst was kidnapped by narco-terrorists and sold to a Satanic drug cult in Matamoros, Mexico. There he was subjected to various humiliations and would have been sacrificed in a blood ritual if not for the timely intervention of the Mexican police. He was evacuated to family in Montana, where he obtained his bachelors in Fermentation Sciences and a masters in Philosophy. When not writing, he runs a small vineyard with his wife and six children.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oookay ...... this author is most definitely NOT FOR ME! The horror/paranormal side of the novel was great but the graphic underground abortions on often under-age children was too much. Then "locking" what amounted to demons to unborn foetuses before aborting them and putting them in Mason jars??? Nooooooo!! Big fat DNF at 22%.

[Megan Wintrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a creepy supernatural book.

Aiden finds a jar with a shriveled creature inside an old house. Filled with Witchcraft, evil forces, magic and ancient rituals.

The book contains short stories from different years.

What will Aiden do, what path will he take?

[Emily Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jar

Albert is a doctor caught by a demon. The demon promised to fix everything if Albert does one job over and over. How long can Albert keep on?

[Wendy Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one interesting, weird story written in two parts.

Part one. Albert Speaker, who is a doctor, teams up with a man who has been dead for ten years, to rid the world of evil spirits which have been let lose unintentionally. They manage to eradicate most of them but are being hunted so it is up to the Albert to rid the world of the last evil spirit. He does this in an unexpected way.

Part two. Six years later, whilst camping in the cemetery with friends, Aiden Sullivan finds a jar with a shrivelled creature in it. The creature offers Aiden all kinds of wonders.

This is a fantasy, supernatural, horror story and begs the question - what decision would we make if we had the same choices as Aiden?

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[destiny · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started off great back in the days when abortion was illegal you have a backstreet doctor performing illegal abortions until he's approached by a creepy 'man' that he recognises from his past, To solve the problem at hand this 'man' asks him to do one job a job that he's 'good' at, All was great UNTIL it started babbling on about feathered lizard creatures and traveling through cosmos in search for answer and the truth. That was what really killed the book for me, It DRAGGED... I felt as I had to drag myself through the story and almost DNF it, it started to get easier to read the last chapter but for a short story it felt like it was never going to end.

[Shannon B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild fun book. It goes all over the place and is a great ride. Dealing with a character like Aiden, watching his slow seduction into evil and his introduction to a world beyond ours which is more wonderful, more alive, than ours, shows how he could easily give up his life on Earth and treat people like things. It's a little experimental in its approach, but I think it all comes together with one story complimenting another.

[Joseph Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great pair of stories that revolve around a haunted graveyard, a demonic possession, and a a boy who is tempted into great evil by a strange spirit. There are bleak parts of this book, but it is not graphic, and the overall writing is very strong. Good for those who want a higher level of reading.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy reading it.

[Mieke Janssens · Rating 2 out of 5]

it started out strong, but about half way through I got completely lost in the supernatural stuff and DNF'ed it