A Ghost Chases the Horizon

by M.L. Mallow, Mike Mallow

In 1999, urban spelunker Brittany Loughry has a paranormal encounter in the Weston Hospital. The event begins to unspool a thread of mysteries affecting the past, present, and future of the shuttered mental facility. Unknowingly braiding Brittany’s story are Henrietta Tidewater, a Black patient with a newborn falsely committed to the asylum in 1905, and Eugene Spangold, a ne'er-do-well farmer who self-commits in 1935 with delusions he has orders from the U.S. President. In the years beyond, Neil Hutchence, an adrift divorcee, tries to piece together their stories as the distinction between what is real and what is an illusion erodes his sanity.

What part of ourselves do we send into the future? These stories explore the relationship between time and spirit through the lens of the community surrounding the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. The hospital has gone by many names throughout its history, and its troubled past is retold from the memory held by its thick, limestone walls.

394 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 3, 2025