George Watertower and Other Childhood Terrors

by Joshua Loyd Fox (Editor), Heather Daughrity (Foreword), Tobin Elliott

We all heard the tales growing up--the local haunted graveyard, mysterious happenings at that spot along that one certain country road, the creature that roams the nearby woods, the killer from decades earlier who may or may not still be hanging around.

In George Watertower and Other Childhood Terrors, fifteen Watertower Hill Publishing authors share the stories that stuck with them and scared (or intrigued) them most as children.

Enter the shadowy realm of childhood nightmares... if you dare.

Genres: Horror

295 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2025

About the author

Joshua Loyd Fox is the author of several novels including “I Won’t Be Shaken,” “Had I Not Chosen,” “Amongst You,” “To Build a Tower,” and "One Becomes a Thousand."

He is also the author of the upcoming "I Don't Write Poetry: A Collection," his first book of poems, and Book V of the ArchAngel Missions, "Unto This Mountain." His short stories, "The Book of the Tower and the Traitor" a companion series to The ArchAngel Missions, can be found on Amazon Vella.

​Joshua Loyd Fox is an old-fashioned boy from West Texas who now splits his time between northeastern Oklahoma, and the East Coast with his wife, author and editor Heather Daughrity, and their children, friends, and as many pets and books as they can surround themselves with. He is also the owner/publisher at Watertower Hill Publishing, LLC, and has started his own master class series titled "Joshua Loyd Fox's Mastering the Journey."

​Joshua enjoys cooking, hiking, the venerable hobby of pewter soldier casting, and can be found with a good Tabak cigar and an even better Kentucky whiskey, next to a wood fire, on most evenings. He lives for his family, his vision, and the journey God has led him to the last few years.

​He has been a soldier, a Master Aircraft Mechanic, a cook, an amateur MMA fighter, and most recently, has worked as an Engineer, a Technical Writer and a SME for the US and foreign militaries on missile defense systems.

Find all of his work, as well as public appearances and his master class series at www.watertowerhill.com.

Reviews

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually a whole lot of fun, for the most part. Like every collection of short stories (especially multi-author collections), there's always going to be some stories that just grab the heck out of you, some that are very good, and a couple that just don't quite hit.

Overall, though, this is a really well-written, really strong collection of urban myth stories, mostly (with the exception of one) fictionalized.

There were some standouts for me.
- Scratching at the Window - Jason Daughrity
- A Message for the Devil - Susan H. Roddey
- Birdie's Bridge - Caleb Jones
- The Tunnels - Jenny Toupin
- Arnold's Loop - Robert Edgar Walton
- The Missing Thirteen - Rebecca Cuthbert

Just a blast to read, and placing the stories with the map was kinda fun too.

This is a good one, folks.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love urban legends! I have even gone to the trouble of checking out some of them myself, and it's always proven to be a fun experience (don't ask!). "George Watertower and Other Childhood Terrors" was a real joy to read! It contains fifteen short stories, a foreword by Heather Daughrity, and a "Map Arcanum," pinpointing the places of the urban legends explored in the stories. Each story is prefaced by the author briefly explaining their selection, and how they came across the legend (most often in childhood), sometimes mentioning the real story behind the fictional one (usually the result of the author's own investigation on the occasion of the anthology).

The authors approach the urban legend horror trope in widely diverging ways, more or less fictionalizing or adding to the legend, most often in an adventurous spirit (appropriate for upper young adults as well) rather than in an outright scary or extreme one: Susan H. Roddey's tale, for example, "A Message for the Devil," about America's ostensibly first female serial killer, has a police detective stepping undercover right into the nest of snakes - the Six Mile House, where men keep vanishing - and a lot of action ensues; similarly, Jason Daughrity's story, "Scratching at the Window - The Story of George Watertower," has a full (fictional) explanation of the George Watertower urban legend (kid with a hook for a hand scratching the windows at night), a story that reads like a Huck Finn tale from hell! And Steven L. Schrewsberry's "Witch's Chair" (a stunning short full of heart, sorrow and gritty wisdom) is the chronicle of a kid growing up and discovering what his hometown legend was really all about, rather than a supernatural tale building on the folklore.

That said, some stories do try to be scary. My favorite story, Caleb Jones' "Birdie's Bridge" is quite unsettling, creepy, and ends on a very disturbing note; it's about what happens if you cross 'Elbow Road' with your headlights off at night. My second favorite story, Tobin Elliott's "The Ghost Cycle," takes on the legend of a motorcycle ghost haunting a road on Scugog Island, near Port Perry, Ontario; it's an intricate and engrossing tale of an aspiring journalist testing an urban legend, and discovering the truth; Rebecca Cuthbert's "The Missing Thirteen" was a YA tale of three kids invoking the ghost of a steamship's captain, and biting off more than they were prepared to chew; and Joe Scipione's "The Witch of Eastham" has witchcraft, pirates, young love, and deals with the Devil.

Most of the urban legends inspiring the volume's stories were entirely new to me, though it's easy to trace out common themes and patterns shared with the most familiar ones. There's no Vanishing Hitchhiker, Bloody Mary or Crybaby Bridge here, though there are ghosts aplenty, haunted roads, chainsaw killers, even creepy clowns before it was all the rage.

I wish I'd read such a book as a boy: it would have given me chills. As an adult (and a horror fan), I'm intrigued, thrilled, and always curious about an urban legend story, but certainly not terrified. So I went through the stories with some nostalgia, which was probably among the authors' intentions as well. To that extent, the volume is a huge success, and worth checking it out - plus it has amazing illustrations inside by Christy Aldridge, the one for the Jones story being my favorite!

So pick it up and prepare yourself for some spooky reading!

[ScarlettAnomalyReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I loved this.
Am I bias? At this point maybe, but I don't care, I haven't picked a book up yet by this publisher I haven't enjoyed.

So now for the good stuff.
Urban Legends? Sign me up, I'm that girl, tell me all the weird, creepy crazy ones.

I also have to give a huge kudos to Josh, as this was his first anthro he's put together, and oh my goodness I'm impressed, in my opinion it's not easy to put one together and make it cohesive, you have different authors, styles, the whole thing to figure out and it can turn into a jumble, but not here..

I loved how each story had a little, intro, where the author told you basically what sparked this story.
It gave each one a bit more depth and had me a little more invested then I would have been, I think, I just really enjoyed it, some people like the QR codes for play lists, I like the little intros.

My top picks, were hard to choose.

Birdie's Bridge by Caleb Jones
There hasn't been anything by Caleb that hasn't knocked me for a loop yet.
This one had me in a death grip, because I only one have true fear in life and that is bridges.
Usually that doesn't bother me in writing, because I'm not there, but this time, this story, I will admit, I was getting panicky. So mix that with, oh lets see what happens if we drive over this, at night, in the dark, with no headlights?
Nope.

A Message for the Devil by Susan H. Roddey
I wont say much other then, First Female Serial Killer and a detective ready to do whatever it takes to end the spree.

Scratching at the Window - The Story of George Watertower by Jason Daughrity
Sometimes I feel like its cheating if I really love a story in a anthro and its basically most of the title, but I don't care, this was so good. I actually for whatever reason was talking to a friend about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and this was that craziest mix of Huckleberry Finn, but make it crazy horror ?
I don't know, it was something so unique in how it was done, that I just loved it.
Before this story, I actually did not know the legend and had to look it up.


I loved this collection not just for my love of urban legends but the fact that there are so many of them in this book I actually didn't know about and loved learning about.

One thing I love about reading, is you always find something new, some niche piece of information that can open doors to so much more, and more interests and other books, and this anthro, gave me so many cool legends to learn about.

And to be honest, a few new authors to check into.

Thank you so much for letting me read this.

[Jenny Toupin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a contributor copy of this book before it came out, for my story, The Tunnels. Usually, anthologies aren’t my thing. There’s always some duds and stories that fall short, and some that just don’t fit.

However, every contribution in this collection had its own unique voice and legend. They all worked beautifully together, yet were different enough to make it a page-turner.

Types of horror elements to expect are visceral body horror, atmospheric dread, claustrophobia, campy banter, and liminal spaces. There are killer clown tropes, insane asylums, aliens, ouija boards, and camping trips gone wrong. These are just some points of variety in this collection.

My top 3 favorite stories in no particular order are:
The Road to Hell - Westley Smith
Dreamland - Lexx Christian
The Ghost Cycle - Tobin Elliott

[Joshua Loyd Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection, well put together, of childhood urban legends. lots of goosebumps, a few chills, and a fun interactive map seeing where the stories took place. 10 out of 10.

[Lisa Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Watertower and Other Childhood Terrors is a wonderfully engrossing anthology of urban legends, local lore, and persistent ghost stories. It includes 15 dark and intriguing stories, a map of where those stories originate, fun internal artwork, and a fantastic mood-setting Foreword by Heather Daughrity.

Each author prefaces their story with how they came to know of the lore, legend, or folktale, or its origin, or both. In some cases, that is as creepy as the story that follows! A few stories are completely fictionalized accounts, many only partly, and one not at all. But all are based on lore and legends and tales that have persisted over time. It makes for excellent, entertaining, and goosebump-raising reading.

So many of these stood out for me. “The Ghost Cycle” by Tobin Elliot is a compelling tale with a chilling end. “Scratching at the Window” by Jason Daughrity is a gut-punch of poignancy, but I am also familiar with that area and legend, so it was doubly impactful for me. “Dreamland” by Lexx Christian starts with ominous intrigue that turns smoothly to downright horror. And Joe Scipione’s “The Witch of Eastham” really spoke to me. It’s the author’s imagining of an ambiguous local legend, and although it perhaps takes many artistic liberties, it’s a powerful story.

Really, I enjoyed them all. There are some fantastic ghost stories, tales of suspense, and plenty of wicked folklore to titillate your psyche and entertain your mind. It’s a fun five-star read.

A Bibliophilia Templum review
https://bibliophiliatemplum.wordpress.com/2025/07/11/george-watertower-and-other-childhood-terrors/

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a collection of urban legends, of tales to tell around the campfire, this does what it says. Each author brings a known story from their childhood and adds their own particular twist to it, ensuring the tradition of these continually evolving tales.
Whilst all are of the same quality (there is not a bad one amongst them), I particularly liked Ghost Cycle by Tobin Elliott and The Missing Thirteen by Rebecca Cuthbert, whilst Joshua Lloyd Fox has the distinction of ensuring my sympathies lie with the serial killer in his The Accidental Chainsaw Murders.

[Angel Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun set of childhood terror stories. I'm sure we've heard a few when we were growing up. However, these are some of the best sets of stories I've read. Of course, with every collection of stories, there are a few that stood out. They were...

A Message For the Devil by Susan H. Roddey
The Accidental Chainsaw Murders by Joshua Lloyd Fox
The 23rd Annual Unauthorized Pukwudgie Run by John Cady
The Tunnels by Jenny Toupin
The Witch of Eastham by Joe Scipione
The Road to Hell by Westley Smith

Overall, a great collection that you should read if you're into urban legends.

[Shannon Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

With nearly a year of book reviewing experience, I can confidently assert that this anthology has been my most enjoyable read so far. The insights into the childhood fears of all 15 authors and their hometown urban legends were truly fascinating.