Title: The Curse of MarystownAuthor: Desiree Horton
First Published: December 21, 2025
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 91
Genre: Horror
Format: Ebook
Source: Purchased
Rating:
Synopsis:
1750, Marystown, Virginia. Jeremiah arrives in a dying town to begin his indenture for one of the last remaining families. Forced to adhere to bizarre rules and rituals for his own survival, Jeremiah is taunted by strange secrets from the land that it seems only he can see. Is the haunting because of a local witch, or is it a timeless curse on the land itself? Will it claim the last inhabitants, or will they survive the brutal, wild woods?
Get the Book: AmazonReview
The Curse of Marystown is a short folk horror story about a young Irish boy sold into indentured servitude to a struggling tobacco farm in the Virginia wetlands of 1750s British Colonial America. Marystown is dying and the remaining inhabitants believe the land to be cursed as crops failed to grow and people, particularly little boys, end up dying under mysterious circumstances. Even worse still are whispers of a witch that haunts the wild woods surrounding the town.
What the story gets right is the atmosphere: the farm felt claustrophobic, and Horton does a good job of instilling an overwhelming sense of dread throughout the narrative. I liked the main character quite a bit and could feel for his circumstances. Annabelle and the encounters in the woods were also quite creepy. The story ends just as it’s getting started, and I wished it would’ve been a bit longer. It felt to me like something was missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Being a historian that’s lived in Virginia for decades I have a particular interest in this area. The last recorded woman to be punished in a Virginia witch trial was indeed named Mary in 1730 before the Witchcraft Act of 1603 was repealed a few years later, though her crimes and punishment were quite different. I’m not sure if the naming was a nod to the real Mary or a coincidence. The folklore provided in the story seemed at least a decade too late, and I also struggled to believe that a poor farmer in the 1750s on a failing farm would be able to afford an indentured servant, nevermind two of them. If the story had been set a few decades earlier I might’ve found it to be more believable, but these are minor quibbles.
Quote
“He had never been much good at prayers, never given them much thought, but something about this land seemed to demand it of him. As if there was something here that required faith from even the faithless.”
Content Warnings
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About Desiree Horton
Desiree is a horror author and enthusiast. She can be found at home in the Pacific Northwest with her two dogs, two kids, and one husband. Her work can be found in numerous spooky anthologies, and she has three full-length novels out on Amazon now. You can find her working on her latest story in her not-yet-haunted house, much to her eternal disappointment.
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