Swamp Season Séance, Ep. 8: “The Hunger Below”

Swamp Season Séance, Ep. 8: “The Hunger Below” as told by Dale T. Doll You ever wonder how much you can really know about something until y...

as told by Dale T. Doll

You ever wonder how much you can really know about something until you pull on the wrong thread?

I’ve been wondering that a lot recently. You know, it’s easy to brush things off, pretend the creaking walls and the shadows crawling under your feet are nothing more than the house settling. But when the house stops settling and starts breathing—when it starts swallowing up the silence like it’s starving—you know you’ve made a mistake.

I’m not sure how long it’s been since I closed that door. It feels like days, but the walls haven’t stopped shifting. The air smells different, thicker, like moss that’s grown too long and sour. Even Barry noticed it, though he pretends he doesn’t.

“The house is off, man,” he said, trying to rationalize it as a draft, but I know. The walls are no longer just walls. They’re moving. They’re watching.

Last night, I woke up to the sound of scratching again. At first, I thought it was just the wind, but when I opened my eyes, I realized the sound wasn’t coming from outside. It was coming from below. From the floor. From the foundations of the house itself.

I felt it under my feet, this gnawing hunger. It was like something deep in the earth was waking up.

I’ve been in this house long enough to know that’s not normal.

So, I did what any reasonable person would do: I grabbed a flashlight and a pair of tongs (because you never know) and went downstairs into the cellar. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t what I found.

The cellar smelled like old damp wood, like rot and mildew. Same smell as Lucinda, but worse. Much worse. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

The ground itself had shifted, the floorboards buckling upward as if something beneath was pressing up, wanting to escape. And right in the center, beneath the dirt and dust, was a hole. A black, endless hole that seemed to stretch deeper than any cellar should have.

I stood there for a while, flashlight trembling in my hand, because I could feel it. Whatever was in that hole was awake, hungry. It was like a thing from the deep, from the very bones of the swamp itself. And I knew—somehow—I had let it in.

Before I could get any closer, I heard Lucinda’s voice again. But this time, it wasn’t just a whisper. It was inside my head.

“You shouldn’t have opened it.

You were supposed to stay away.

It is the one who’s been waiting.

The house doesn’t want you anymore. It wants him.”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. The scratching, gnawing hunger from below grew louder, almost angry, like the walls themselves were starting to lose their patience.

I turned to leave, but I didn’t make it far. The air in the cellar got thick, heavier, until it was hard to even think. That’s when I felt it—the ground shifted beneath me, pulling at my feet like something was tugging me toward the hole.

I barely made it back to the stairs before the floor gave way beneath me. I had to claw my way up, and when I finally made it out of the cellar, I slammed the door behind me and locked it—except…

I’m not sure the door actually locked.

The house isn’t just haunted anymore.

It’s alive.

And I think whatever’s been slithering underneath it has been waiting for me.

Lucinda’s warnings were just the beginning. What she didn’t tell me is that the house isn’t just cursed by her presence. She wasn’t just a victim of some tragic event. No, Lucinda is a part of this. A piece of whatever is crawling beneath the house, waiting to come out.

I can’t help but wonder if she was never trying to help me at all. Maybe she wanted me to open the door. Maybe she was guiding me to the thing that was waiting.

Barry has noticed how quiet the house has gotten, but he doesn't know why. He just keeps asking about the air conditioning, about whether the swamp water is rising again. He hasn’t heard the scratching yet. He doesn’t know what it’s like when the house starts to hunger.

But I do.

Coming Soon in Episode 9: “The Last Whisper”

Dale faces the full force of the house’s hunger. Lucinda’s lies unravel as the truth comes crawling from beneath.