(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.)
“Knock on Wood” by Leigh Kenny invokes the elemental fear of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Amityville Horror by blending a terrifying boogeyman with a haunted house. It transported me back to the best old-school horror of the ‘70s and ‘80s as Kenny delivers nonstop terror once bedtime arrives for a loving family of five.
“Knock on Wood” is one of the standout stories in the Urban Legends collection. Released May 9, Urban Legends is Book 20 in Crystal Lake Publishing’s Dark Tide series. It features a foreword by Clown in a Cornfield author Adam Cesare and two other stories: “Nesting” by Dan Franklin and “Poltergeist Password” by Nick Roberts.
In “Knock on Wood,” Kenny sets the stage with an ominous opening paragraph: “The only thing that stood out about that Tuesday was how well the rain held off for that time of year. By morning, most of the Abbott family would be dead or disappeared, but for now, all was as it should be in the creaky, old house on Hawthorne Avenue.”
The story then introduces Dennis Stanley, a long-term mental patient at the nearby Rayner Jones State Hospital. Dennis is a mostly quiet man who murdered his wife and child almost 20 years ago, but he lays the blame on someone called Mister Upside Down. The murders happened at the aforementioned Hawthorne house. Mister Upside Down is the local boogeyman that parents use to keep their children in line. Today, the normally docile Dennis is on the verge of a violent episode that foreshadows a dark night ahead for the Abbott family who just moved into his old home.
The Hawthorne house has a history filled with rumors of terrorized families and missing children, giving life to the legend of Mister Upside Down. However, the rumors are not to enough to deter the Abbotts, along with their three children and cat, to buy the house for a steal of a price.
I immediately liked the Abbott family. The husband/father Ian adores his wife and children. The teenage son Lucas is grateful for the stability provided by his parents. Just a normal everyday family about to have their lives turned “upside down” (sorry, but I had to do it at least once).
Kenny’s storytelling ability is clicking on all cylinders as she effectively uses mundane activities like opening a closet door, petting a cat, taking a shower, or looking into a mirror to unnerve the reader. The story taps into the fear that children feel in their bedrooms at night when they believe pulling the covers over their heads protects them from the boogeyman. “If he couldn’t see the monster, it couldn’t hurt him.”
“Knock on Wood” definitely challenges that belief.
Once the lights go out on the Abbotts first night of sleeping in the Hawthorne house, the story ramps up the fear by a factor of ten. From an absolutely chilling baby monitor moment to the elevated trepidation of simply checking on your children, “Knock on Wood” transforms from spooky to bloody faster than you can say “knock-knock.”
If you like classic horror and boogeyman tales, “Knock on Wood” is as solid as Australian buloke.
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LIONEL RAY GREEN 