BOOK REVIEW - AT THE CEMETERY GATES: VOLUME 2 BY BY JOHN BRHEL & JOE SULLIVAN

A man finds himself camping in the middle of a serial killer's burying grounds.
 
Two brothers uncover a secret more heinous than they ever imagined when snooping around in their neighbor's house.
 
A graduate student captures an urban legend on his school's famed 'Suicide Bridge.'
 
AT THE CEMETERY GATES: VOLUME 2 is a book for hellhounds, nostalgic crypt keepers, and creepypasta aficionados. It is a collection of 16 short spook stories inspired by urban legends and folklore.
 
This collection by John Brhel and Joseph Sullivan was a thrilling read for me.  There were a few of the stories that really resonated with me.  A few creeped me out so badly that I regretted reading them before bed!  All of the stories are written in an easy style with believable characters, so it was easy for me to snuggle under the blankets and get lost in them.
 
All of the stories were well-written, but some held my attention better than others.  I’ll include brief summaries of all the stories.  If you don’t read all of the stories, check out my favorite ones: With the Lights Out, The Payphone, A Hammock Camping How-To, and Death in the Family.
 
With the Lights Out - My first thought upon finishing this gem was “Holy shit!”  In a good way because it scared me so much.  In this story, Jillian decides to take a break from college dorm life and spend the weekend at her aunt’s cabin.  While she’s there she hears a news report of a hunt for an escaped convict assumed to be very near her area.  Then the power goes out.  And Jillian experiences a frightening evening that made me even want to scream just reading about it.
 
The Payphone - This story puts a sinister spin on what we may have grown up believing to be a harmless trick - prank phone calling.  I’m transfixed by the way the authors give you an idea that something bad is going to happen, but the ending was way beyond creepier than I anticipated.
 
Kara Finds Her Match - Poor Kara has a hard time finding love.  Her expectations of the “ideal man” makes it hard for her to be interested in most men beyond the first date.  Kara meets a man named Kevin who is everything she’s ever dreamed of in a man. I liked the ending of this story.  The main character got on my nerves but I’m guessing that was intentional.
 
Mixtape: Halloween ‘84 - Detective James Ribeiro pays a visit to his estranged father, a retired detective of the same police force.  James was working on a resurrected cold case and had some questions for his father, who had been part of the police force on the original case.  James’ father is unable to help, but James ends up putting a couple things together on his own.  Great story, great detail.  Gory and sad.
 
Spice of Life - This story was not scary, but it was an interesting read.  Nichole takes a yoga class to help her lose weight.  She’s often the target of snide comments or remarks in the locker room about her weight or plain-jane looks.  Nichole discovers a new store in the local mall that sold unique ingredients and items associated with white magic.  The owner turns Nichole onto a weight loss kit with powder, a black candle, and booklet.  Nichole sees some pleasing results after using the kit and soon the other women in the class are eager to try it.  But are there any side effects with this spell?
 
Neighborhood Flesh Eaters - Twin boys Zack and Sean take notice of their neighbor Mr. Farrell as he begins acting very strange after the tragic loss of his wife and daughter.  Neighborhood pets have gone missing, and the boys are convinced Mr. Farrell is taking them.  Then they spy a refrigerator delivery into wee hours of the night, and later they think they see the funeral home bringing Mr. Farrell a dead body.  The boys decide to sneak into Mr. Farrell’s house to see what he’s been up to.  A fairly predictable story, but good nonetheless.
 
Visiting Hours - the caretaker of the Sunshire Hill Cemetery was closing the cemetery for the winter and turned away a grieving mother who expected to visit her son’s grave every day, even in winter.  The mother vowed that she would be let into the cemetery, no matter what.  Soon enough, a cornstalk effigy was hanging on the cemetery’s front gate (check out the book’s cover illustration!).  As days wore on, the caretaker learns of a few witchy tricks up the old woman’s sleeve.
 
A Hammock Camping How-To - Anthony has a YouTube channel devoted to his camping trips into secluded areas in the Catskills.  He demonstrates tips and skills for the ultimate camping experience and also tries out new equipment on film.  In his latest camping trip, Anthony wakes up to strange sounds and then witnesses a murder and burial in a shallow grave.  I love camping, but nighttime is still pretty scary to me because my mind creates all these horrific possible violence.  Here is another scary thing that might keep me up during my next camping trip!
 
Ghosts of Thurston Avenue - Allen is a student at Cornell, a doctoral candidate in folklore and mythology.  He wants to impress his professor - which whom he’s having an affair - and have a killer thesis project by capturing proof of a ghostly urban legend on a trail cam.  There is a nearby bridge called “Suicide Bridge” because of all the people who’ve jumped to their deaths.  According to urban legend, ghosts of the jumpers can be seen at night, reenacting their suicides.  Allen becomes obsessed with capturing these ghosts, and ends up losing more than he bargained for in the process.  This story has a heart-wrenching, unpredictable ending.
 
The Staircase at Waverly Glen - In Waverly Glen Park, a staircase built into a hillside doesn’t appear to lead anywhere, but legend states that anyone who walks up the stairs disappears forever.  The staircase is difficult to get to, as it is fenced off with a deep moat around it to deter people from climbing the stairs.  Two 13-year old boys find their way to the staircase, and it’s super creepy.  What I liked about this story is that it describes a concrete staircase built into a hill at one of the dams I visited often as a child.  The stairs actually end on a road - one direction leads to the gated entrance of the creepy hydroelectric dam, and the other direction leads out of site.  Then you follow this footpath up this steep bern across from the top of the staircase, and you find yourself atop a steep hill that ends in the dam’s backwaters.  If you trip, you fall into the dam.  It’s cool and creepy, and this story reminded me of trips to the dam as a kid.
 
Pernicious Fictions - A commercially successful author of a local Speculative Writer’s Workshop group is found murdered.  Who in the writer’s group would be jealous enough to kill him off?  This one wasn’t scary to me, but if you like murder mysteries, it’s well-written.
 
Death in the Family - The main character’s father died from a stroke while she was at college.  He had worked at a local theater and she would visit the theater regularly to keep with their tradition of watching movies together, even after he’d gone.  She starts seeing someone in a green parka and sunglasses that seemed follow her whenever she was there, and eventually would leave cryptic notes for her.  This story stuck with me, and I found myself revisiting a couple times throughout the day after reading it.
 
Three-Course Scorch - The Buffalo Wing Emergency Room pub was famous for its spicy wing challenge.  If a customer could eat three plates’ worth of their spicy wings, he/she wins $1,000.  No one has ever won the challenge, but is there a reason why that is?  This story was just OK for me.
 
Danny’s Rock - Danny’s parents are divorced, and unlike his brother Keith, Danny looks forward to weekends spent with his dad.  On one of their hiking trips, Danny found a cool-looking rock with holes that might be a fossil.  He decides to bring it home to Keith, thinking its coolness would convince Keith to come along on the hikes instead of staying home on the couch.  But this is one gross little rock…
 
Father-To-Be - Elizabeth and her husband agree to let her aging father move in with them once he was unable to take care of himself in his own apartment.  The husband is leery about bringing the father in because he had abused Elizabeth when she was a child.  But they try to make the best of it, even though he constantly complains about and belittles them both.  How long can the young couple take the old man’s abuse?
 
The Devil’s Cabin - Two friends decide to rent a cabin in a beautiful state park.  A grouping of eight cabins occupy part of the park, and although there are a few other cabins rented while the friends were there, their occupants were quiet enough to where they weren’t at all bothered.  But they experience some strange visits throughout the night, and it’s not quite clear who the visitor is or where they’re from…
 
Overall, I very much enjoyed this collection.  Some stories creeped me to my core and other stories didn’t affect me much, which is typical since not everything one reads will be to their fancy.  But I enjoyed this second volume so much, I’m putting Volume 1 on my TBR, along with another of their collections, Corpse Cold:  New American Folklore.

 AT THE CEMETERY GATES: VOLUME 2 BY BY JOHN BRHEL & JOE SULLIVAN