As we step out of Christmas and into the quiet threshold of the New Year, it felt like the right time to share a ghost story — one drawn from the imagined coastal town of Hooks Cross, a place where the supernatural seems woven into the landscape itself. This story marks the beginning of what I hope will become a continuing series, all emerging from the same unsettling corner of my imagination.

Hooks Cross is a town that refuses to sit still. Its abandoned buildings, half-buried secrets, and lingering echoes suggest that the past is never quite finished there. While entirely fictional, it is a setting designed to feel familiar — the sort of place where strange things might easily go unnoticed, or quietly explained away.

This tale is only the first. There are more stories waiting within Hooks Cross, and I hope to return here often in the months ahead.

I hope you enjoy this story as you read into the New Year. If it lingers with you, unsettles you, or sparks your curiosity, please consider sharing it — and perhaps we’ll meet again in Hooks Cross.