I’m excited to announce that after a long year in waiting, my short story “The Well” is now available to listen to on The NoSleep Podcast Season 21, Episode 17.
“The Well” written by Caleb James K. (Story starts around 00:53:45)
Produced by: Phil Michalski
Cast: Narrator – Reagen Tacker, Theodore – Matthew Bradford, Glenn – Dan Zappulla, Unknown Man – Xalavier Nelson Jr., Unknown Woman – Danielle McRae, Unknown Woman 2 – Wafiyyah White
I originally wrote “The Well” around five years ago. The premise was something that had been on my mind since I was a child. Growing up, there was an out-of-service well at my Dad’s house. Unlike the creepy well in the featured image above, this one was (and still is) a concrete slab covering a giant hole in the ground. In the center of the slab, there is a carved out circle that allows you to peer into the well’s murky depths.
While a creepy well is certainly apt to spark a young boy’s imagination, it’s the lore surrounding that particular well that has always fascinated me. Now, as an almost 38 year old man, I don’t remember who first told me about the tunnel at the bottom of the well, but there has always been talks that a tunnel runs through the bottom of the well, under the house, and possibly to the neighbors house.
The reason for this supposed tunnel has been said to be anything from an old bootlegger’s tunnel, a way to hide slaves who escaped the south into the north, and even a place to hide treasure. Of course, these sound pretty farfetched now, but when I was a kid, the tunnel was REAL. Its uses were up for debate, but there was no doubt that the tunnel was real.
30-plus years later and my brother (who inherited my Dad’s house and the defunct well) and I still speculate on the existence of the fabled well. The notions of an underground freedom tunnel or a place to transport illicit hooch are mostly behind us, but the tunnel seems just as real now as it did when we were kids. We’ve even discussed lowering a camera on a rope down there numerous times.
Regardless, the idea for the story stems from a childhood mystery and an overactive imagination. Being a fiction writer, I used that general premise and turned it into one YouTuber’s descent into the depths of Hell. All told through a police report and found footage.
I only ever submitted this story to a few publications, but they didn’t have a place for it. A major horror magazine editor was actually the one who told me to submit it as a screenplay or as an audio play. His notion was that it would make a good movie. I didn’t have the desire to rewrite the story as a screenplay though. Fortunately, I happened to stumble upon The NoSleep Podcast a few years later (I had all but forgotten about the story by then), and realized The Well was written in the exact style they were looking for in stories.
I’ve been wanting to announce my acceptance for over a year but had to wait until the episode came out first. I honestly thought it wasn’t going to come out. As a writer, most of us suffer from imposter syndrome, and I’d figured they’d accepted me by accident. Especially since it was (and still is) my highest earning story I’ve sold thus far, and at the time of acceptance I hadn’t even been published in print yet.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. I’ll probably publish the full story on here in the near future. Until then, give it a listen and tell me what you think. I love hearing from all of you fine readers (and listeners)!
Cheers,
Caleb
Caleb James K. 