There’s a room in Eldmere where the cradle never stays still.
It sits in the centre. Empty. Cold. Always swaying.
And every week, someone new takes their turn.
They come in quietly. The grieving. The lost. The ones who wake up feeling like something’s missing but can’t quite say what. They hum lullabies with tears on their cheeks and hope in their hearts, because the group’s founder tells them it will help.
And Ruth…
Ruth is always right.
***
In The Cradle’s Call, one of twelve unsettling tales from Welcome to Eldmere, we meet Miriam—an outsider drawn in by a flyer she never remembers picking up. All she knows is that when she steps into that room, she feels something. Something deep, ancient, and terribly familiar.
There are no easy answers in Eldmere. Only rituals. Only rules. Only the slow, creeping realisation that maybe you were never meant to leave.
This story blends quiet folk horror with maternal grief and shared delusion. Or perhaps not delusion at all. Because in Eldmere, absence is never quite empty—and once the cradle starts rocking, it doesn’t stop.
If you enjoy:
- Haunting support groups with too much history
- Atmospheric horror rooted in emotional trauma
- Stories where the line between healing and horror is paper-thin
…this one will stay with you long after the lullaby fades.
***
There are just three weeks left until Welcome to Eldmere launches.
Twelve short stories. One haunted town. Endless ways to lose yourself.
If you’re ready to explore the places best left forgotten, you can pre-order the anthology now and be among the first to enter the fog.
Want to stay up to date with launch news, future releases, and eerie extras from the Eldmere archives?
You can sign up to the newsletter here.
Remember, the cradle is calling.
Are you brave enough to answer?
