Review of A. R. Collins, “Robbie and the Birds”, in Myths, Monsters, and Mutations, edited by Jessica Augustsson (JayHenge Publications, 2017): 182-185. — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)
We’ve all read the ghost stories, read all the horror movies. We, like the narrator, all “know perfectly well that people who casually moved into haunted houses would always end up regretting it” (183). So reflects the narrator after she moves into a new house only to find dead birds upon her doorstep every morning, their throats broken or cut. Sometimes, though, the ghosts haunt not the house but the people who live in it.
Maybe it’s because I’m a parent myself, but I found this story of child possession exceptionally creepy. Thankfully (from my point of view), this creepiness was offset by a happy ending.
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