Semi-hiatus. Mostly wrestling . Maker of low quality gifs. Gif requests, requests for content tagging, asks all welcome. Header image of Stevie Richards from instagram @toofastforblood
So, to the surprise of very few of my generation and disposition, I subscribed to American Girl magazine throughout the '90s--and I would wager a large swathe of Tumblr's Premiere Book Club for Strange Women and Unusual Folks did to. I loved American Girl and looked forward to the bi-monthly issues. Whenever a new issue arrived, I would do a quick skim of the entire magazine before turning back to the beginning and going through and savouring each article. And one of my favorite recurring features was the yearly short story contest. (I always entered, but I never won.)
In the July/August issue of 1994 was a short story that scared the ever living shit out of me, so much so that I hid the magazine in my closet until my mom realized and threw it away. Years later, I tried to find the magazine in the library archives, but they didn't have it. I tried again sporadically over the years, wondering if the story was as scary as I remembered. And then, tonight, I found it.
Behold: The Girl Who Became a Ghost by Erin Donaghue
WHEN I TELL YOU THIS DAMN STORY HAS HAUNTED ME SINCE 1994. Thank you, Erin Donaghue, 11 years old, of Connecticut. You have populated my nightmares and my ghost stories with evil ghosts who drown their would-be rescuers for 29 years now.