Psh, that’s not scary. Let me tell you a real scary story.
My aunt Tabby was driving through the Midwest alone. This was like twenty years ago. She was on some big trip to see America before she settled down or something. And she drove through this weird town. It looked like it had never left the 1900s. There are no cell towers, no chain restaurants, no Walmart. Women are walking around in skirts down under their knees. She was sure it was some religious cult town.
So just at the county line, Aunt Tabby spots an antique shop. And she always brakes for antiques. She goes inside, and she finds this red tea kettle. It’s in great shape, there’s no rust. It’s so shiny it looks brand new. So she gets it.
That night she’s at a motel, and she can’t sleep. The people in the next room are just the worst. They’re screaming at each other, throwing things around. And they’ve got a baby that’s just wailing. Who could blame it?
Aunt Tabby didn’t want to get involved. So she decides instead she’ll just make a cup of tea with her new kettle on the hot plate.
So she starts boiling water, and the couple next door just will not shut up. But when her water starts boiling, she hears someone scream. I mean, really scream. And then Aunt Tabby hears a new voice. It sounds like a teenage boy, yelling shut up over and over. Aunt Tabby was just starting to think she was going to have to call the motel manager when she hears two gunshots.
Tabby called the cops after that. She was watching out the window when they took the bodies out of the room. The cops took away a teenage boy wrapped up in a blanket. But she didn’t see anyone carry out a baby.
The next morning Aunt Tabby was so tired that she got completely turned around and ended up driving through that weird old town again. Only this time, it looked completely different. It looked modern, just like any other small town. Like it had gone through a century in one night.
Aunt Tabby always says it was like time was trapped in that kettle, the time that should have passed for that town. And when she boiled water in it, she let the time out. Maybe some other people got caught up in all that time escaping.
Aunt Tabby makes tea in that kettle every day. She says it’s the only way to keep time moving at the right pace. And yeah, most of the family think she’s a little nuts, but we all believe her about that kettle. Because if she misses a day, well, time just seems to slow down.
Jennifer Weigel
August 21, 2022 at 4:11 am
Been there… Hard Times, Indiana. It was still a depression era shantytown when we passed through. Not even quite sure where it is – we got off the highway one or two exits too soon and were driving a bunch of back roads before we found ourselves again so it may have been a legit time warp. 😉
David Davis
August 21, 2022 at 4:43 pm
This one was very fun and I enjoyed the mysterious nature of that kettle.