# Scary small towns



## little_red (Jan 9, 2013)

My book is about two sisters who get stuck in a small town and can't leave right away. I'm trying to figure out what the town would be hiding, why they'd be keeping them and what would make the town scary. I had an idea-tell me if it's stupid or not-that maybe there's a family there that murders travelers and the town knows it and to keep themselves safe they steer the lost souls there. Or maybe they know about the family but they keep quiet and the family somehow lures the travelers there themselves. Any thoughts or ideas about a small town or is this idea okay? Thanks!


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## Lewdog (Jan 9, 2013)

How about the whole town is related and they kidnap strangers to use them to breed with and keep the community from dying off?  So they basically use out of towners just for breeding purposes.  Maybe the town has an unfortunate genetic disease where they have to get out of towners to harvest organ replacements from?  Or they have to have out of towners they can harvest good blood from for transfusions?  The whole town is a Satanic Cult and they believe in human sacrifice?


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## ppsage (Jan 10, 2013)

Small towns are sometimes "owned" by a rich family. If they're bad, everyone has to go along. Think _Empire Falls_ on steroids.


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## Jeko (Jan 10, 2013)

I'd read Neil Gaiman's Coraline, to have a perspective on what it's like being young and trapped somewehre creepy in a non-cliche kind of way.

Also, I once read a fighting fantasy book called House of Hell, which slowly unravels the horrible truth about where you're trapped as you play through the book. The more times you play it (and get killed by those evil goat-head guys) the more you seem to learn as the reader, taking different paths. I think Steve Jackon wrote it - worth a look. He laid the clues that led you to your discoveries very well.

And the fight with the Master at the end is painful.


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## Foxee (Jan 10, 2013)

Things that would make a small town scary:
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A localized epidemic* of some new sickness that causes people to turn into zombie IRS agents who audit you before eating your brain (kidding, I hate zombie stories but there could be tons of outcomes to the sickness and lots ideas for causes).
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Weird customs* designed for the community to cover up/appease a problem. (_The Oath_ by Frank Peretti is one of my favorites that does this with a supernatural angle. I'm also thinking of an X-Files episode where the town buried the dead in clay for some kind of regeneration process)

*The Hotel California effect* there could be some kind of phenomenon that traps people in the town so that no matter how hard they try to leave they find themselves entering the town again. (Recent episode of Fringe used this)

*Old contracts or oaths* made by the town founders still playing out generations later, shaping where townspeople go, what they say to newcomers, etc.
*
Location, location, location* what if your town is built on an old Indian burial ground, spiritual faultline, or otherwise innately unusual place?

Hope this gets your brainstorming going. There are tons more options.


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