This week on Fearsome Fiction we're sharing a rare gem. "The Judge's House" buy Bram Stoker follows Malcolm Malcolmson, a student who rents a remote, cheap old house in the fictional town of Benchurch to study for exams in isolation. Locals warn him the house has a bad reputation, but he ignores them and moves in.

The house once belonged to a notoriously cruel hanging judge. As Malcolmson settles in, he notices strange things: a persistent rat that keeps drawing his eye to an old alarm bell rope, and an oppressive sense of being watched. Eventually he realizes there's a chair in the room that seems to move on its own toward the fireplace whenever his attention lapses.

The story builds toward a chilling climax involving the judge's portrait, the bell rope, and Malcolmson's fate. It's a classic "isolated scholar in a cursed house" setup that plays well for a horror reading, with Stoker's knack for slow dread. And now, The Judge's House.

It's another True Crime Tuesdays on Fearsome Fiction. This episode heads back to the turn of the last century, to a farmhouse at the end of a quiet road in La Porte, Indiana — where a Norwegian immigrant named Belle Gunness placed lonely-hearts ads in the newspaper, invited her suitors to bring their savings and "come prepared to stay forever," and made sure they never left. This is the story of the Black Widow of La Porte.

A walking stick. A skull. A bullet. A curse.

Buried in the Pennsylvania woods, something has been waiting. When a young boy uncovers what's been hidden beneath the leaves, he sets loose a curse that's about to find its way back into the world — and into the hands of a man who has no idea what he's just brought home.

Enter the Devil's Wood.

Two new entries drop every week, exclusively on the Fearsome Fiction Podcast — subscribe so you don't miss the story as it unfolds.

Discover more of the mythology, characters, and world of Devil's Wood at TheDevilsWood.com

This week's case comes with an element of dark humor, although nothing's funny about a stranger breaking into people's homes. Nobody died in this story. Nobody was even hurt, not at first. What we've got instead is something stranger—a criminal whose weapon of choice was a pair of scissors, whose target wasn't a wallet or a life, but his victim's hair. And for one summer in 1942, an entire Mississippi town lived in terror of a man who broke into bedrooms in the dead of night for no reason anyone could explain. And there's more: even after an arrest and a conviction, people still aren't sure the right man ever paid for it.

In the lonely grasslands of southeast Kansas, a small roadside inn offered weary travelers a hot meal, a warm bed, and a canvas curtain separating the dining room from the family's living quarters. What guests couldn't see was the trapdoor beneath their feet, or the hammer waiting behind that canvas.

Between 1871 and 1873, the Bender family ran one of the most chillingly efficient killing operations in American frontier history. At least a dozen travelers vanished after stopping at their door, seated at the table of honor directly over a hidden pit, never to leave again. When suspicion finally caught up with them, the Benders disappeared into the night, leaving behind an inn full of buried secrets and a manhunt that has never definitively ended. This week on True Crime Tuesdays, we step into the Bender Inn, where hospitality meets murder.

Long before the term "serial killer" existed, Herman Webster Mudgett—better known as H.H. Holmes—was quietly perfecting the art of murder in plain sight. This week's True Crime Tuesday episode takes listeners inside the infamous "Murder Castle," the Chicago building Holmes constructed and outfitted with hidden rooms, trap doors, and a body chute, all disguised behind the bustle of the 1893 World's Fair.

We trace Holmes's path from small-time swindler to one of the most prolific killers in American history, examining how his charm and cunning allowed him to hide in plain sight for years. It's a story of ambition, deception, and horror that laid the groundwork for how we think about serial killers today.

Tune in to this episode of the Fearsome Fiction Podcast to hear the full story.

Listen to Entry 4 in the Devil's Wood Journal as the anonymous author takes us on his own journey into the heart of darkness. A mysterious retreat, 7 strangers, and a story so terrifying it must be true. Where is the Devil's Wood, and once you've entered, can you ever leave? Find out for yourself at TheDevilsWood.com.