Archive of the Odd Issue #2: A Supernatural History

By Cormack Baldwin

Archive of the Odd is a biannual zine of horror and supernatural stories told in unusual formats, including newspapers, emails, WikiHow articles, and abandoned flyers.

Stories include:

Avoiding Yesterday Best Look- M. Maponi (illustrated by Karolina Mochniej/Art from Cards)

Birdwatching Notebook Found on a Colorado Trailhead- Gabrielle Bleu (illustrated by Rieroo)

Channelsea- Sarah Jackson (Illustrated by Toeken)

Community Posting Board- Ellen Edwards (Illustrated by Alina Gottbrecht)

Field Notes on the Strawberry Sentinel- B. Myers (Illustrated by Will Taylor)

Notes on a New Cephalopod by Ephraim T. Foxxe-Grace, Naturalist- Nik Sylvan

Okami in the Bayview- Mary Salome (Illustrated by DS Oswald)

The Recovered Files of Threnody Lane Elementary- Daniel Simonson (Illustrated by Renée Elizabeth Clarke)

Seventh Page of the Heartwell Gazette- Kiya Nicoll (Illustrated by Alina Wahab)

Water Babies as Causal Factors in Female Family Annihilation- Angela R. Eder

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cormack Baldwin
• Release date: Sep 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005875572

Book preview

Archive of the Odd Issue #2: A Supernatural History

Edited by CM Baldwin

Archive of the Odd Issue #2: A Supernatural History

Edited by CM Baldwin

Anthology copyright 2022 CM Baldwin

Story and artwork copyrights remain with respective creators

Smashwords Edition

Note: This is a plain copy of Archive of the Odd, without extensive visual formatting. For a free copy of the fully-formatted PDF, here is a link to the full quality version, and here to a compressed version.

Please do not share these links without permission. Sales are what allow us to pay our authors and artists. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out to [e-mail]. Thank you!

Table of Contents

Letter from the Archivist

Seventh Page of the Heartwell Gazette

Kiya Nicoll

Illustrated by Alina Wahab

Warnings: Animal attacks, animal endangerment

Changes are afoot in the small town of Heartwell—perhaps not all of them appreciated.

Channelsea

Sarah Jackson

Illustrated by Toeken

Warnings: Death and disappearances

Come to Channelsea Island! Absorb fascinating industrial history, natural wonders, and perhaps more.

Birdwatching Notebook Found on a Colorado Trailhead

Gabrielle Bleu

Cover illustration by Morgan Versluys / Rieroo (internal by Gabrielle Bleu)

Warnings: Death (human and animal), deteriorating mental state

When birdwatchers think they're alone on the trail, the birds aren't the only ones being watched.

Avoiding Yesterday Best Look

M Maponi

Illustrated by Karolina Mochniej

Warnings: Death

Tired of being haunted? Follow these six simple steps to improve your survival chances against the famous skull-headed predator while looking astonishingly fabulous!

The Recovered Files of Threnody Lane Elementary

Daniel Simonson

Cover illustration by Renée Elizabeth Clarke (internal by Daniel Simonson)

Warnings: Child endangerment

Between schoolwork, tests, and setting wards, students take time for art and reflection at Threnody Lane Elementary.

Water Babies as Causal Factors in Female Family Annihilation

Angela R. Eder

Warnings: Child death and endangerment, genocide, racism, drowning

An investigation of an apparent attempted murder reveals a truth that runs deeper than than the lake it surrounds.

Field Notes on the Strawberry Sentinel

B Myers

Illustrated by Will Taylor

Warnings: Cannibalism (non-human), death (referenced)

Carl Linnaeus supposedly wrote, as one gazes at the shining colors of flowers, doth one become dumbstruck before the Kingdom of the Creator. Luckily, he never stood on the banks of the Strawberry.

Notes on a New Cephalopod by Ephraim T. Foxxe Grace, Naturalist

Nik Sylvan

Illustrated by Nik Sylvan

Warnings: Animal death, dissection, implied human death

When a natural historian finds a new life form in a pond in Central Park, he thinks his career is made. But is the hermit kraken more than just a dumb squid?

Community Posting Board

Ellen Edwards

Illustrated by Alina Gottbrecht

Warnings: Implied animal death, religious zealotry, attempted murder, food, societal collapse

A culture war ignites over more than just Lutheran community potlucks as a small town reckons with something bigger than itself.

Okami in the Bayview

Mary Salome

Illustrated by DS Oswald

Warnings: Police brutality, child death

La Loba, a teen coding prodigy from San Francisco's Bayview district, will do anything to make the world a better place. The world doesn't return the feeling.

Letter from the Archivist

Dearest Researchers,

I often think of the loved ones of those who choose to become naturalists. I imagine them weeping, opening and unrepentant, at the declaration. No doubt they had their suspicions already, the budding pinpricks of dread at finding a text on moths or some such tucked beneath a bed, coupled with a sinking heart as their dearest stares fondly into the dark folds of a forest. Yet that final assertion—I will be a naturalist—brings with it a pain I can only imagine.

Naturalists are not long for the world they love. It is inherent to their occupation. They take the walls humans tell themselves will protect them, then throw it all away. Instead, they willingly amble into the unknown. What drives them? Is it a sense of wonder, that misplaced cousin of fear? Is it the beauty that the universe uses to taunt those who know what lies underneath emerald leaves and blown-glass waves?

This dossier contains ten files discovered by our intrepid researchers. In some cases, they represent their authors’ final moments. Others are quiet reflections between death-defying attempts at naturalism. In each, we can find a truth deeper than the lakes, forests, and urban locales they peer into.

I hope this knowledge furthers your research. I hope you can bring us a greater understanding of the world around us. I hope you go home and tell those closest to you that you love them. I hope you can hide from the howling in the wind.

My sincerest gratitude,

CM Baldwin

Head Archivist, Archive of the Odd

Seventh Page of the Heartwell Gazette

Kiya Nicoll

Illustrated by Alina Wahab

May 11

[Continued from page 3]

Shucker wishes to be clear that any people who encounter a bear on a garbage can raid should not approach the animal. Use your brains, for God’s sake, the police chief said. Don’t tangle with them, leave them alone until they go home. Lock your trash cans up, and whatever you do, don’t feed wild animals!

Classifieds and Advertising

Missed Connection at the Heartwell Grille

You: sitting at the bar last Friday night. Tall, shy, light brown elegantly rumpled hair, I haven’t seen you around before. Still masking up but you have cute hazel eyes and a sweet growly voice.

Me: two barstools down with the onion rings, you heard me talking up the sauce and I foolishly let you dip one of your fries in mine without getting your number out of you first. Also me: hoping you aren’t scared of women who say hey, if you want to go for drinks, I’ll buy the first piña colada.

If this is you, drop me a message via the Gazette offices on Tavern. (And before you worry about it, I saw the tooth thing when you had a drink, and I don’t care. You’re a cutie and I’d love to get to know you.)

May 18

Mrs. Wilson’s Hero Rooster

A terrible ruckus Monday night brought Maryann Wilson, 63, of Harvest Lane, out to her coop to find that a coyote had broken in to menace the chickens. The noise started a bit after ten, after Mrs. Wilson had already changed for bed, but of course a responsible homeowner will see to trouble with the hens even in a nightgown.

It was bright enough, even with how cloudy it was, I could see something was coming for my hens, so I grabbed the varmint gun and went out in my slippers, Wilson told the Gazette. And sure enough there was something in there. Biggest damn coyote I’ve ever seen, and it’s got Jim attached to its face.

Jim — a prize bantam rooster — was doing his duty as protector of the flock, and Mrs. Wilson was unable to bring her rifle to bear without risking harming the bird. "And of course I didn’t want to shoot him, he’s a damn good rooster, and good with the hens, now. Some roosters, they get mean with the hens, and that’s when it’s time to make soup, but not our Jim. So I had to come down and have a yell at the coyote, fired a shot into the ground even, and I