Something Truly Dreadful

By: Matthew Salinas

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

On October 13th, Wes Andrews and his friends set out to explore the local, rundown haunted house. Despite it being geared toward children, they figured that, with nothing better to do, it might be fun to heckle the low-budget attraction. But after that night, no one ever saw or heard from them again. The haunted house itself vanished without a trace, taking Wes, his friends, and a significant portion of their town with it.

All that remained at the scene of their disappearance were scattered Polaroid photos, a shattered camera, and unsettling traces—teeth, strands of hair, and fragments of bone.

The events that followed unfolded over seven chilling hours...

©2024, 2025 Matthew Salinas (P)2025 Matthew Salinas

Creepy, grisly haunted house story

'Something Truly Dreadful' is a story about a group of friends who visit a haunted house attraction geared for kids. We are told at the start that none of them were heard from again so we know that things won't turn out well for them.

Overall I found this to be a creepy story. There's an element of found footage present (we are given descriptions of grisly photographs discovered afterwards) which gives the story a sense of foreboding that it might not have otherwise had. There's a variety of scares and it can get surprisingly gruesome at times; the story isn't recommended if you have a phobia of dentists.

The narrator does a good job reading the story and delivering the right amount of emotion and variations with the characters' voices. At less than two hours it's short enough that you can listen to it one sitting.

The ending was rushed

I am so sad to say This, but this story had way too much potential. The beginning was absolutely amazing. The middle was amazing. It sucked me in. I was addicted to it the ending. It fell completely flat. That’s the only reason why I’m giving it four stars. So much potential going to waste.

Short and sweet!

the author has a great grasp on characters, the flow of the story, and leaving the tale free of frills.

Something Truly Dreadful

Well, this was horrible in the most terrific way! Very uncomfortable and claustrophobic. It was GREAT! I look forward to reading/ listening to more from Matthew Salinas. And, as usual, Joe nailed the narration.

Nightmares come to life

Something Truly Dreadful by Matthew Salinas was a quick but effective non-stop thrill ride of a horror novel. With the audiobook clocking in at one hour and 45 minutes, you would easily be able to finish this in one sitting. At the speed I listen at, it was actually closer to 55 minutes.

When 5 friends are bored one day, they decide to go visit a pop up haunted house attraction. But when they enter they soon discover their worst fears come to life.

With the short run time the author was still able to bring the kids to life and to scare the reader with terrors from everyone's nightmares.

Narrorated by the incredibly talented Joe Hempel this audiobook is for anyone who has a commute or decent length drive. Hemple is an instant buy for me. If I see he is the narrorator for a book, it's already in my Audible cart.

Overall I give this story 4 stars.