<![CDATA[Dark Side of the Holler: Waylon's Wailin']]>https://www.darksideoftheholler.com/s/waylons-wailinhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nzX7!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbced8f6b-48b2-48bd-a6be-0a3e194e4967_300x300.pngDark Side of the Holler: Waylon's Wailin'https://www.darksideoftheholler.com/s/waylons-wailinSubstackSun, 24 May 2026 21:12:19 GMT<![CDATA[The Jars We Broke]]>https://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/the-jars-we-brokehttps://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/the-jars-we-brokeMon, 20 Apr 2026 14:31:17 GMT

Our childhood is full of them. Shapes in the closet, something breathing under the bed, a figure standing just past the reach of the nightlight. We know they cannot be real, but that is hardly the point. They feel real, and that is not a mistake. They give form to the first fears we cannot explain. They are the first rough drafts of understanding.

Our mo…

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]]><![CDATA[Appalachia as Villain]]>https://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/appalachia-as-villainhttps://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/appalachia-as-villainTue, 17 Mar 2026 13:01:36 GMT

Once upon a time, I was in a job interview. When they asked me where I was from, their eyes went wide at the answer.

West Virginia.

Thanks for reading Graveyard, The Musings of Waylon Graves! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

In the imagination of coastal snobbery, West Virginia is a mythical place they aren’t quite sure where to…

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]]><![CDATA[Horror is Moral]]>https://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/horror-is-moralhttps://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/horror-is-moralTue, 17 Feb 2026 14:01:07 GMT

Horror has rules, even when it pretends it doesn’t. Break them and the story responds. Exploit something weaker than you. Open a door you were warned about. Treat people as disposable. The punishment is never fair. It’s proportionate in the way God’s wrath is proportionate. Horror is moral the way gravity is moral. It doesn’t argue. It demonstrates. Ste…

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]]><![CDATA[Blue Collar Horror]]>https://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/blue-collar-horrorhttps://www.darksideoftheholler.com/p/blue-collar-horrorTue, 20 Jan 2026 14:00:59 GMT

The other night I watched a film called The Substance. It bills itself as psychological body horror. The premise: a wildly successful Hollywood starlet ages out of relevance and gets discarded. Boo frickin’ hoo. She’s rich. She’s beautiful. She’s comfortably retired with a milquetoast love interest who worships the ground she walks on. A soft landing by…

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