The Witch in the Cellar

By Jean Marie Bauhaus

"There's a witch buried in the cellar."

So begins this tale about a local legend, a curse, and a creepy storm cellar.

A boy and his family move into a double-wide trailer on a plot of land in rural Oklahoma on which they plan to build their dream home, where a loan storm cellar is all that's left of the house that once stood there. What happened to the house--and all who've tried to build there since--is the stuff of legend. But when things start happening that are hard to explain, is the neighbor boy playing creepy pranks to support his story? Or is something more sinister at work? Something evil--and deadly.

Previously published as Weather Witch

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jean Marie Bauhaus
• Release date: Feb 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386147862

Jean Marie Bauhaus

Jean Marie Bauhaus is a traditionally-published and indie author of five novels and counting, as well as a number of novellas and short stories. She also writes freelance articles about dogs for a living.Born and raised in Oklahoma, she currently makes her home in the middle of the woods deep in the Ozark mountains with her own dog, a fierce and mighty Chihuahua named Pete, her husband of 13 years, and a gaggle of other four-legged dependents. When she’s not writing about ghosts, zombies, vampires and other things that go bump in the night, she can usually be found hiking the side of the mountain or trading her keyboard for knitting needles and curling up with a mug of tea and a horror podcast.Or at the microwave, re-heating her tea because she forgot to drink it before it got cold. #writerproblemsJean has a Bachelor of Science in Social Science, Psych/Soc emphasis, which means she’s smart enough to finish college but not smart enough to choose a major that’s actually useful. But it comes in handy for building psychological character profiles and developing post-apocalyptic societies.Easily spooked by ghost stories as a child, teen Jean faced her fears by forcing herself to watch horror movies and read Stephen King until she fell in love with the genre. As a grown-up (more or less, depending on who you ask), her tastes expanded to include a broader range of speculative fiction and romance, but she keeps coming back to the supernatural and paranormal. She has a strong affection for all things zombie-related, which is a good thing considering she’s currently writing a trilogy in that genre. Watch for Desolation of the Damned, the third book in her Walking Dead/ True Blood mashup Trilogy of the Damned, to come out in the summer of 2020.Sign up for Jean’s mailing list at jeanmariebauhaus.com so you never miss a new release, and come chat with her on Twitter @jmbauhaus or follow her at fb.com/JeanMarieBauhaus.

Book preview

The Witch in the Cellar

Jean Marie Bauhaus

Published by Jean Marie Bauhaus, 2018.

The Witch in the Cellar

Jean Marie Bauhaus

Copyright © 2021 by Jean Marie Bauhaus. All rights reserved.

Originally published as Weather Witch in 2016.

First Edition

Book & Cover Design: Jean Marie Bauhaus

Weather Witch

There’s a witch buried in the cellar.

I looked over at the doors in the ground that opened into the storm cellar, then back at Randall. I’d only known him for about three days, but already I had figured out he was often full of bull. Nuh-uh.

No, really, he said, his face earnest. You can ask my dad if you don’t believe me. He’ll tell you.

I hadn’t met Randall’s dad yet; just his mom when she’d brought us a basket of cookies on the day we moved in. I had no idea whether Randall’s dad was as prone to making stuff up as Randall, but this was the first time he’d suggested that I verify one of his stories with an adult, so he must’ve been serious.

We were parked at the end of my parents’ driveway, straddling our bikes and munching on leftover welcome cookies. The cellar sat in the middle of the big, grassy yard, about fifty yards from the double-wide my parents and I now called home. It looked innocent enough, surrounded by puffy white dandelions, the metal doors gleaming in the late spring sunshine. My mom had been relieved when she’d seen it. This was tornado country, and she hadn’t been thrilled about the prospect of living in a mobile home, even though it was only supposed to be temporary, until our real house was built. The cellar promised us safety.

How’d she get there? I egged him on, eager to hear what kind of wild story he’d come up with this time. A wiry, freckled kid, tall for his age, Randall was the first kid my own age I’d met there, and with summer vacation just starting I figured it’d be three more months before I had a chance to make more friends. I’d decided it was better to go along with his stories rather than risk being friendless all summer.

His face lit up at the question. He gobbled the rest of his cookie and wiped his fingers on his shorts, then scooted his bike closer to mine and leaned forward, resting his arms on the handlebars. There used to be a house here, he said in hushed tones. A two-story farmhouse, built there, over the cellar. He jerked his chin toward the cellar doors.

What happened to it?

He held up a finger. "I’m gettin’ to that part. So anyway, this lady lived here, all by herself. This was a long time ago, before we were even born. Way back in, like, the ‘Eighties. Her name was Juanita Crabtree.