Ichor Falls: A Visitor's Guide: Short stories from a quiet community

by Kris Straub, Sarah Pharris (Contributor)

Don't visit Ichor Falls, West Virginia -- America's most haunted town -- without this collection of seventeen short stories culled from local legends, personal accounts and more.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

80 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2009

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of these stories were satisfyingly creepy, but the rest failed to capture my interest.

[Jeremy Maddux · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with Creepypastas is that, at least for a time, it seemed to have real potential to develop as a new form of literary storytelling. Unfortunately, with no figurehead or 'mouthpiece' to lead the revolution, it was forced to stagnate, thus leaving Creepypastas to remain in the instant gratification realm of internet meme. Kris Straub and Dathan Auerbach seemed capable of leading some sort of movement, but they both seem to be branching out to other opportunities, which is also a great thing.

There's a lot to like assembled in this collection. Most of all, there's the story I bought it for: Candle Cove. Candle Cove is a fascinating parable about what we remember of our childhoods and what we imagined, and how the two can often intersect in dizzying and contrary ways. It's the slightest kind of metafiction wherein a group of posters on an internet message board recall an old children's program entitled Candle Cove based around the shipmates of the Laughing Stock. As they begin to trade memories of the program, they begin to recall chilling details that seemed uncharacteristic of a children's show at all. It is definitely the standout effort in this collection, but it proves difficult for Straub to sustain such intensity through the rest of the stories.

This is not to say that there aren't stories just below the quality of Candle Cove, stories such as The Stillwood King, Lemon Drop Girl and The Gambler. Ultimately, I would say this was a nice stop for Straub on the way to realizing his true passion: web comics such as Starslip and Chainsaw Suit.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Kris Straub for years now due to his excellent webcomic Broodhollow and this collection of short stories and flash fiction is of his usual brilliant standard. All the stories are based in and around the unusual town of Ichor Falls and come together to paint an unsettling and macabre picture of this small town. I really enjoyed this effectively creepy collection and would recommend this to fans of Matthew Bartlett and Tom Breen

[OliveTree · Rating 5 out of 5]

spooktastic

[Sam Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first experience with Kris Straub was through his analog horror series “Local 58” on YouTube, which I thoroughly enjoyed. When I found out he wrote some horror shorts, I thought that I had to check them out. I was not disappointed. It’s really cool how much atmosphere and character and imagery he can put into that have such a small amount of pages. I also think it’s awesome that we don’t really know anything about all the monsters and such. Sometimes what you don’t know is scarier. I get the sense that Ichor Falls is deceptive because it has something evil lurking just beneath the surface. There’s also a great mixture of horror here. Some stories have a similar feel to the works of H.P Lovecraft, in that some inexplicable event happens to a character, and they try to explain it, but just can’t. There’s also a nice descent into madness type of thing. And some of the stories are pretty deep. Even though all of the stories were very short, and it was a very small one-sitting read, I was not disappointed, and you should go check it out. Certainly better than all the other abominable, unforgivable drek that dominates the majority of Internet horror these days, like Creepypastas and No-sleep posts. These stories and “Local 58” have shown me that Kris Straub is a talented horror author, and I hope to see more from him soon. One tiny complaint: I think these are the shortest short stories I have ever read. They’re actually flash-fiction. Because of this, I felt like some of the stories were a little too short. I was left wanting so much more of the concept after finishing a story. Only a minor complaint though.

[James Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific set of horror short stories, centered around the fictional town of Ichor Falls. The first 48 pages of the book are amazing stuff, fear- and wonder-inducing without resorting to cheap tricks. The remaining stories are slightly weaker than that first half, but still good overall. My particular favorites were "Curious Little Thing", "Lemon Blossom Girl", "The Hirsch Camera", "The Stillwood King", "Excerpts from A Room at Cedarspring", and of course the famous "Candle Cove". This also gets points for being very effective despite how short a read it is. (A-)

[Benjamin Uke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first started learning about Kris Straub from his comic Starslip Crisis, then his excellent webcomic Broodhollow.
When I was little, he introduced me to my creepypasta "candle cove", and the genre has been among my daily perusals to date.
All the stories are based in and around the unusual town of Ichor Falls. A former lovecraftian town, freshly bulldozed by a sterile corporation, its otherworldly residents with a charm and grace that belies its unsettling events and characters. I would recommend it.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half was closer to 5 stars, but the last few stories really brought the collection down.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kris Straub is best known for his online horror/adventure webcomic Broodhollow, and for good reason. He captures the town of Broodhollow through its quirks and traditions, its unusual tendency to not remember big, important things, and its otherworldly residents with a charm and grace that belies its unsettling events and characters. Fans of weird fiction who don't already know about the comic are missing out.

Kris Straub is also known for a short story he wrote that made the rounds on creepypasta forums, "Candle Cove". It's been made into a short fan movie on YouTube, and is the first story to be adapted for an upcoming TV show about creepypasta, Channel Zero. It's also included here, in a collection of short stories about a town called Ichor Falls, which is perpetually shrouded in fog and sits near a wood where time doesn't pass the same way as it does in the rest of the town.

The stories here are uneven, but the stories that stand out are good enough to overcome the weaknesses of the other stories. "Candle Cove" is the centerpiece, but "Curious Little Thing" (which found itself adapted into Broodhollow) is effectively creepy, as are "Lemon Blossom Girl" and "The Hirsch Camera (1870)". The stories mostly stand by themselves outside of the conceit of them taking place in a secluded town called Ichor Falls, but the first and last stories bookend the collection into this unusual town that wouldn't be out of place beside Dunwich or Innsmouth. The last story, "Shining One from Above the Clouds" (one of the two stories written by Pharris), gives us a possible origin to the town, and concludes the collection on a note of uncertainty.

While Ichor Falls isn't perfect, it's a fine collection of eerie, unsettling stories. Most of the stories can be found online, but having them together in one place is handy. Plus, readers of Broodhollow may find that the small town they know in the webcomic might have been built on the ashes of Ichor Falls.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are stories I've carried with me for a decade at this point. I think Kris is brilliant, I've very rarely encountered an author with horror sensibilities so close to mine. There's been a clear development in his distinct writing style and there's no doubt he's honed his abilities as a writer from the time these books were written. With that said, pretty much everything in here is still pretty strong.

It's been neat to go back through these looking at it a little as Broodhollow's genesis. Not just the concept of the damned town but pieces (characters, concepts) plucked from some of his more well realized stories and iterated on or tweaked to work for a single, cohesive narrative.

I don't think I'll ever read another story that manages to resonate with me as much now as it did when I first read it in high school as Exceprts from A Room at Cedarspring. I've been down that road so many times with so many varied things over the past couple years and nearly every experience I'd rather have left well enough alone.

There's a couple moments in here a little half baked or that didn't quite manage to land the way they should have. Considering these were written more than a decade ago for a now cryogenically frozen (but still up) website and that the same could be said for at least a couple works in any great author's published oeuvre I'd say there's more than enough that's strong here to cut those a little slack.

[Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best known for the webcomics Starslip and Chainsawsuit, cartoonist Kris Straub is also a skilled writer of short stories, as he demonstrates in this slim volume featuring vignettes of life in the eponymous Ichor Falls, West Virginia, a small mining town with all manner of strange mysteries and local legends.

The stories within vary wildly, though all touch on some aspect of the macabre. Most could be classified as flash or micro fiction, taking up only a few pages. I enjoyed all of the stories, though my favourites were Candle Cove, in which the nostalgic users of a message board reminisce about a bizarre TV show from their childhoods, and the single-sentence Fulcrum. Both have become microfiction classics, regularly shared within the message-board based "creepypasta" movement. I'll refrain from saying much more about the individual stories themselves, so as not to spoil anything, but they are all worth reading.

The stories are all strong in their own right, and together they build a picture of a community where not all is as it seems (comparisons to Nightvale might also be apt, although Ichor Falls is not so overt or comedic in its weirdness). This is an excellent horror short story collection.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: this review applies only to the stories by Kris Straub.

Kris Straub is not only the creator of chainsawsuit, the most consistently funny webcomic since Nedroid, but also writes damn good horror microfiction. Some, like "Candle Cove" and "Indistinguishable" have become creepypasta classics -- it was nice to find out who actually wrote them.

"The Opossum Society" is the idea behind creepypasta "The Socratic Method" turned into an effectively chilling story. "Three Miles Down a Narrow Dirt Road" is more creepy and unsettling than scary, per se, but there's nothing wrong with that.

My favourite, "Twenty Minutes in the Dark", is like a horror story version of a chainsawsuit comic strip -- you think you see the punchline/twist coming because you've read something similar before, but Straub knows you've read something similar before, so he comes with a totally different ending that's not only surprising but also makes more sense in context than what you were expecting and is quite thought-provoking to boot.

All the others are definitely worth a look as well -- even my least favourite, "Excerpts From a Room at Cedarspring", which I felt was more of an idea than really a story, is, well, a really cool idea.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read, reminiscent of Lovecraft, except not quite as heavy on the supernatural (difficult to quantify as the book itself includes supernatural thriller elements). Anyways, all that said, it was a fantastic read.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern Lovecraft. Stayed with me for days after I finished it.

[Robotmatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best collection of horror stories I have read in a long fucking time.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a few really creepy stories in this. I felt uneasy reading it and I was glad I wasn't home alone. Well done!

[William Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

You’ve read “Candle Cove.” At this point, who hasn’t? Written by Kris Straub to emulate an online forum discussion between users sharing reminiscences of a childhood TV show, with each subsequent memory revealing forgotten details that hint at a deeper darkness hiding behind the television screen, it’s become one of the most iconic tales in the so-called “creepypasta” genre (essentially, short horror stories purporting to be real, shared via copy-and-pasting on social media, message boards, and email; think of them as internet-based contemporary urban legends). The only creepypasta more famous than “Candle Cove” is the saga of the Slender Man. So effective is Straub’s tale that it even went on to inspire the first season of SyFy Channel’s latest horror series, Channel Zero. All this despite Straub never intending it as a piece of “creepypasta” to begin with.

If all you know of Straub’s work is “Candle Cove,” though, you’ve been missing out. Straub is also a talented and popular creator of humorous and surprisingly dark webcomics like Chainsawsuit and Broodhollow, and he previously had a blog detailing the strange secrets of a perpetually foggy fictional town called Ichor Falls, West Virginia. With that blog long since shuttered, one of your best bets for sampling Straub’s signature style of short-but-sweet quiet creepiness in non-comic prose form is the collection Ichor Falls: A Visitor’s Guide. And, yes, it includes Candle Cove. Fans of Straub’s most well-known story will find lots of similar shadows prowling the streets of his invented locale, including houses haunted not by history but by its absence, punctuation marks that kill, a ghostly girl who keeps popping up in impossible places, an antique camera that takes pictures of things that couldn’t have been there, long-dead things that haunt your dreams for your entire life, and a riff on the old question of “If a trees falls in the forest but no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?” with spine-tingling implications.

Straub’s approach to horror is often sad, sometimes surprisingly funny, and always effortlessly chilling. It often eschews traditional third-person narrative format, but in doing so attains a kind of mythic quality that makes it seem like, yes, these could all be real pieces of folklore from a real region of the United States. Ichor Falls is sort of like the proverbial “nice to place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there,” though the real danger is not so much that you’ll get stuck inside the place, but that the place will get stuck inside of you.