"The Yellow Carousel" - Chilling Tales for Dark Nights

Chilling Tales for Dark Nights — A Horror Fiction Anthology and Scary Stories Series Podcast

In the West Virginia mountains, a retired miner named Silas discovers a mysterious, glowing yellow carousel in a nearby field. The carousel

Key takeaways

• Silas finds a carousel featuring carved deer instead of traditional horses in a remote depression.
• The carousel emits nostalgic aromas of cotton candy, kettle corn, and fried dough.

Main topics

• Supernatural phenomena
• Marital secrecy

Notable quotes

He felt if he could look in a mirror, he would see an eight-year-old boy whom he hadn't known in too many years.

Conclusion

A haunting tale about the destructive power of nostalgia and the terri

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) It was a warm September evening in High Point, West Virginia, when Silas first saw the Yellow Carousel. A retired surface miner, he and his wife Emma lived near the top of this ridge for most of their 52 years together. The land behind their modest home sloped gradually into a flat, wide depression, before rising again to its piney crown. Speaker 1 (0:30) Silas and Emma had made it their custom to sit on the back deck and watch the sun go down behind the pines as many nights as the weather was comfortable. Emma had turned in early that night, complaining of a headache. So Silas considered the fading twilight in solitude. Venus opened her diamond eye on him, then gathered her star children to come watch the field with her and the man below. Katie Dids, chanted as a chorus of other insects, added their harmonies to a summer's evening song. A barred owl questioned him from the edge of the pines. Silas's tea was nearly empty, and his bladder full. He walked down the steps and leaned his shoulder against the railing. He peed in the grass, craning his neck back to study the Milky Way. It shimmered, a movement of heat overhead. Speaker 1 (1:32) The air changed, Speaker 2 (1:34) suddenly very dry and charged with static. Speaker 1 (1:39) Silas shook off the remaining drops and stowed himself back in his sweatpants. Time to go. He swung his gaze once more across the hill. His eyes halted on a large shadow hunched in the depression. A nebulous, black figure. Larger than any animal. Smaller than a house. Even in its vagueness, its silhouette was familiar to Silas. He peered into the night, his eyes hungry for light. Must be playing tricks. A chimera of his imagination, desperate to make sense of these shadows. Yet his Speaker 2 (2:22) eyes were well adjusted, and Speaker 1 (2:25) though the moon was not full, he could see silver grass waving in the cool breeze sweeping the ridge. Emma, he said, half choking on the name. He repeated it again, louder. She did not respond. Even if she could have heard from inside, she was probably asleep. He hiked up his pants and walked down the hill towards this apparition. Though it was a gentle descent, his breathing grew heavy. A high-pitched, ear-splitting buzz stopped Silas for a moment. He chuckled when he realized it was only a conehead katydid calling for a mate, probably hanging on to that sassafras sapling a few feet ahead. He carried on. As he passed the sassafras, his ears confirmed the plant as the location of the sound, but he was no longer troubled by this. The thing's outline was solidifying. He saw now, again. How could he believe it? He must be mistaken. It Speaker 2 (3:43) was a carousel. Speaker 1 (3:45) His pace quickened, despite a creeping feeling that the thing watched him from where it crouched in the field. Yes. Yet it was certainly a carousel. A big one. And as if its impossible appearance wasn't enough to make Silas wonder, another breeze, seeming to emanate from the object itself, brought to him aromas that sparked the memories and emotions of affairs he had been to long ago. Kettle corn, cotton candy, fried dough. A childlike giddiness overtook his fear and disbelief. He ran to it. Speaker 2 (4:28) It lit up, Speaker 1 (4:28) beautiful and welcoming, shutting out the rest of the surrounding field. Graceful, playful curves adorned its crown. Wide, pointed petals painted sunflower yellow radiated from its base. Instead of horses, all its animals were deer, varying in shades of brown skewered by gilded poles. Speaker 1 (4:55) A tear slipped down Silas' cheek as he breathed heavily in its nostalgic atmosphere. He felt that if he could look in a mirror, he would see an eight-year-old boy whom he hadn't known in too many years. But there were no mirrors in the center, only a blank, black wall. He was sure now that this was a dream. Afraid this knowledge might soon bring awakening, he hurried to its edge. He gently knocked on a pedal. carved in painted wood, not fiberglass, solid. They were chest high, so that instead of stepping up, he was forced to climb, awkwardly leaning his torso over the edge, grabbing the nearest pole and swinging his legs up. He rolled onto his back and caught his breath, a dream in which he felt like a child, yet the fullness of his age all at once, strange. Speaker 1 (5:59) But if he wanted to ride this thing before he awoke, he knew that he must not waste time. Grasping the heel of a nearby doe, he pulled himself up and mounted it. There was a sound of gears meeting as the ride began to turn. The deer rose and fell, rose and fell. The carousel revolved. Silas was known by his wife and friends as a somber man, but he could not repress the grin that stretched his lips. Nor did he want to. He gripped the gold leaf pole with his right hand and rubbed his left palm against the wooden doe's muzzle, patted its neck. Good girl, he murmured. Good girl. He rode for hours, all the while wondering how long this would last until he would open his eyes, still sitting on the deck beneath the stars as tea spilled next to his foot. The carousel stopped turning at last. He dismounted the deer and sat on the base, his legs resting on the flower petals. He held a trembling hand in front of his face. Speaker 2 (7:12) He must be Speaker 1 (7:14) dreaming, but this felt all too real. Confused, scared, and delighted, he scooted off, dropping the remaining few feet to dewy grass. The carousel's lights shut off, leaving him to walk up the field in the dark. Coyotes yipped and howled. The sound chilled him. Emma snored softly, her bedside lamp still on. Silas stood at her feet and watched her, still trying to understand what had happened. He was no longer sure if it had been a dream. He would have awakened by now. Was there something wrong with him? He slid open the door to the small balcony above the deck and walked out. If there was anything out there, the lamp had ruined his chances of seeing it. But on his way up the hill, while the coyotes were singing, he had turned back. Like Lot's wife, for one last look. A pillar of salt he had not become. And there was nothing left in the depression but a bobcat slinking across the field. He returned to the room, shutting only the screen so that the fresh air could circulate. Emma opened her eyes and smiled. Speaker 3 (8:42) Hi, honey. Did you have a nice seat? Speaker 1 (8:47) She glanced at her clock. Speaker 3 (8:49) Wow, it's late. You been out all this time? Speaker 1 (8:55) Yeah. Speaker 3 (8:56) Oh, fell asleep in your chair. Speaker 2 (8:59) He looked away and nodded. Something like that. You feeling better? Speaker 3 (9:06) Yeah, sleepy though. Speaker 1 (9:09) She rolled to her side, tucked her hands beneath her pillow. Speaker 3 (9:13) You're coming to bed now, right? Speaker 1 (9:16) Uh-huh. He stripped off his clothes and sat on the mattress. Emma. She grunted. Nearly asleep already, Silas wondered how she did that. Just turned off at will. It took him at least twenty minutes to drift away. Don't forget the light, honey. Speaker 3 (9:35) Oh, okay. Speaker 1 (9:38) She fumbled around for the switch for a couple seconds, half awake. Soon, all was dark. Speaker 3 (9:45) You smell like cotton candy. Speaker 1 (9:52) Emma muttered. Rain kept them indoors for the next few days. Silas had started a new Zane Grey novel, but thoughts of the yellow carousel distracted him. In three days, he had only made it through a few pages, and even then, he wasn't sure what was going on in the story. He knew he should talk to Emma about what he had seen, but he was too afraid. Not that she would think him crazy. Speaker 2 (10:25) Maybe I am. Speaker 1 (10:27) An unreasonable weight of guilt hung onto him, as if something that gave so much pleasure must be inherently dirty. So he kept his secret from her. He wasn't used to hiding anything from his wife, and as much shame as it brought him, it also thrilled him. The gray blanket finally moved on. Cool, clean sky made him overwhelmingly impatient for twilight. At last, the sun grew heavy. He brewed some tea and settled into his chair on the deck. Emma looked at him with amusement as she sat next to him, but he hardly noticed. His gaze scoured the landscape for some sign of the carousels coming. What if it was a one-off thing, he thought? What if it... Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it didn't return, or if it had never appeared at all. He could live the rest of his life marveling over that night, free from this continued compulsion to hide it from his wife. Speaker 3 (11:35) What's wrong, Silas? You seem so... I don't know... uptight. Speaker