The Wood Hag's Lullaby

In the isolated logging town of Blackwood, children occasionally vanish from their beds in the dead of night. One boy miraculously survived. He told his parents: "A scary old lady climbed through my window and asked if I ever play in the woods. I said no, so she gave me a magic crystal and a candy bar!" Oliver, an ambitious true-crime podcaster, heard the rumors. Smelling a viral story, he hid in the bushes outside another child's window, tape recorder in hand. After nights of waiting, a grotesque, hunched figure finally crept out of the tree line and slipped into the bedroom. Moments later, she dragged a terrified, gagged child out into the dark. Thrilled by the scoop, Oliver silently followed them deep into the forest. He never returned. Days later, police found a shallow grave in the woods. The wooden cross bore Oliver's name. Beside it sat his own tape recorder, playing a distorted, haunting nursery rhyme on an endless loop.