May 7, 2025

I Love The Cold - A Winter Horror Story of Madness and Mystery

I Love The Cold -  A Winter Horror Story of Madness and Mystery

When a rideshare driver and his elderly passenger crash during a snowstorm, they find themselves trapped in a blizzard of dead phones, eerie sightings, and supernatural dread. But something out there is watching—and it wants them warm, compliant, and never to leave. A chilling psychological and paranormal horror tale set in the frozen dark.

I Love The Cold by Jonathan Lumpkin

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🎵 Music by Ray Mattis👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here!
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Mark Shields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
WEBVTT

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When a ride share driver and his elderly passenger crash

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during a snowstorm, They find themselves trapped in a blizzard

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of dead phones, eerie sightings, and supernatural dread. But something

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out there is watching and it wants them warm, compliant,

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and to never leave.

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What's that You want to be scared? Come with me?

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He will experience tales over opera, ghosts and death. It

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is not recommended for the week At Heart Heart.

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Listen, as in the dark, it's more fun at that

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way way. This is Weekly Speaking, Hello my Spookyes, it's Wednesday,

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and you know what that means. It's time for a

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little spooky in your Weekly. I'm your host and narrator,

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Enrique Kuto, and thank you so much for joining me

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on this soon to be very chilling evil. But before

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we get to that, I have something very exciting to

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share with all of you. A brand new Strickfield novel,

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an adaptation of our most recent Patreon series, is available

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now in a signed edition. That's right, for the first

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time ever, you can own a copy of one of

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Weekly Spooky's own Strickfield stories, signed by the author, Rob Fields.

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All you have to do is go to Weeklyspooky dot

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com slash April Fool. Copies purchased at that link come

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signed by Rob and myself, and it goes directly to

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supporting Weekly Spooky and keeping everything we have going going,

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So I do appreciate the support over at Weeklyspooky dot

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com slash April Fool. It's a terrifying story with a

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bit of a teen horror twist that I know you'll enjoy,

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and you can find out all that information and more

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at Weeklyspooky dot com slash April Fool. Get your very

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own signed edition while supplies last. But now, as for tonight,

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they say winter can be beautiful, silent, peaceful, pure, But

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sometimes the cold isn't just weather. It's a warning, a

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signal to stay inside, lock the doors and wait for

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the thaw, because in the deep snow, with no signal

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and no way out, you might not actually be alone.

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And when some ancient stirs in the storm, warmth may

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be the only thing keeping it away. So get cozy

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and get warm. We start the story after this I

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Love the Cold by Jonathan Lumpkin. It could be worse,

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the old woman said, I Love the Cold. Jared's styles

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couldn't see how that was possible. I hope, so he said,

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here a hundred pounds and didn't bring a jacket. Jared

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wanted to add that this might have been the first

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time Miss Durrick had been out of Florida for sixty years,

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but he was trying to hide his rising panic. The

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car could start, but it wasn't going anywhere. He felt

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the impact when the car hit something as it slid

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down the embankment, and maybe it was hard enough to

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explain the shattered axle, but he didn't understand how his

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car got off the road. There was a loud whoosh

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of wind. He felt the car dip slightly away from

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the wind, and the wheels slid a little towards the

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battered old guard rail. Then he felt a hard lurch

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towards the edge. Jared was in his mid thirties, insurance

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adjuster by day and giving strangers rides in his car

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in his spare time. There hadn't been another car on

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this road for fifteen minutes, and the only way to

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explain the lurch is if another vehicle hit him and

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all he had seen was an owl. It was sarcasm,

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said the old woman from inside the car. And I

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did bring a jacket. It just isn't thick enough. Jared

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had worn shirts thicker than what she was calling a jacket,

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and the snow had started up again. He was looking

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at his now useless rear passenger tire, remembering the impact.

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He remembered approaching a curve and heard wind so loud

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it drowned out nearly every noise in the car, including

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Miss Derrick screaming as they knocked over the guardrail and

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started sliding down the embankment. The ice on the road

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wasn't out of the ordinary, but how easily the guardrail

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failed was concerning. It was difficult to see through the snow,

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but one hundred feet up it didn't look like the

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wreck of twisted steel that he saw in cell phone

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pictures every day in the office. It looked more like

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when he tried to use a coat hanger as a

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makeshift door lock when he was a kid and bent

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it in one spot. The passenger side of the car

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also didn't look like it smashed through metal engineered to

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stop it. It looked like it knocked something out of

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the way. It hit the tree on that side, which

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broke the rear wheel, but that was a singular vertical impact.

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There's normally more horizontal indentation and linear scratching when vehicles

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hit guardrails. The only time of vehicles crumple zones shouldn't

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crumple is when they hit something significantly more crumply than

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they are. He didn't have a flashlight, and the only

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light he had was on the front of the car,

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but Jared was fairly sure there should be more damage.

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My phone doesn't work, miss Derrick screamed as she hit

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her phone against his dashboard. Jared checked his smart watch dead.

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He pulled out his phone dead. The car was still,

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which was good because his headlights were the only thing

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cutting through the darkness. I've got charging cables in the console,

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he said, keeping his voice very calm. Try plugging it in.

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Her flight from Jacksonville had landed very late, and she

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said that she did not trust her sister or brother

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in law behind the wheel, so she found Jared on

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a ride share group on Facebook. Booking clients and not

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giving a cut to Uber was pretty good when you

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could get the work. It's not working, she said, opening

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the car door to talk to him. How long before

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Uber sends someone to check on us? They won't, said Jared.

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I didn't think you'd want me wasting time picking up

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other people, so I'm not logged onto the app. Your

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sister will probably call someone when we don't show up,

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though she was quiet for a month, which was the

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first time she had stopped talking since he picked her

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up from the airport. They gave me their door code,

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she said softly. They don't get in until tomorrow afternoon.

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Miss Durrick closed the door, leaving Jared to his thoughts

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in a snowstorm. When he was stressed, he would flip

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the lid of his earbud case up and down. He

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didn't think a grown man should have a fidget toy,

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but sometimes he needed one, and it helped him think.

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Jared tried to steer his thoughts to something other than

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two dead phones, a dead watch, and a dead earbud case.

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In the forty minutes since Jared met Miss Durreck, he

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learned a few things. She was divorced, she wasn't any

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younger in spirit than she looked, and her favorite hobby

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was complaining. She complained about a vampire podcast. The podcast's

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host spent a whole episode trying to say that vampires

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drinking their victim's blood was missing the point. What mattered

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was that the victims bled to death, and Miss Drrick

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thought it was stupid and spent most of the car

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ride to this point saying so. He wished complaining could

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be his job, and she had to figure out a

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way for them to survive until morning. Guys don't stand

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in the cold very long before they start thinking about

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making a fire. The tree they hit sliding down was

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long dead, which had conveniently shattered when it fell over.

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Dead standing trees are about the best firewood you'll find,

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almost as good for fires as a lighter, but Jared

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didn't smoke. He got back into the driver's seat. Miss

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Durreck was having trouble opening a pill bottle. The car's

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heater was still working, although hot had been downgraded to warm.

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Jared suspected arthritis, and he held out his hand. She

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gave it to him, and he opened the bottle and

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handed it back. The old woman looked at him, not

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to see if he was going to steal her pills,

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but if he was going to judge her for needing them.

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Jared knew the look. My mom has bipolar, he said

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to the front windshield. She also takes pills. That have

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liths something printed on them, and she has fewer bad days.

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Feeling some sad coming up, Not this time, she said,

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swallowing one of the pills. But too much happy isn't

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going to help right now? What kind of happy? Jared

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felt the desperate procrastination rise between him and outside as

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he asked the question. Small talk in a warm car

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is infinitely better than a snowstorm that will kill them

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with no help. Cozy happy, funny joke, happy, accomplishment happy,

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he trailed off, nostalgic happy. She said something about the

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way she answered made Jared think she had not been

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asked that question before, specifically about dancing underdressed in the snow.

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Aren't you from Florida? It didn't happen. It just feels nostalgic.

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She paused for a second. I'd kill for some cozy

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happy right now. Your mom teach you about the happies.

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Jared glanced at her and looked back out the windshield.

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Some She tried to keep me at a distance from

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her mental health, but she opened up. When I got older,

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I can't remember her mentioning nostalgic happy, though it's new

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for me too, She said.

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Did you hear that. Better check the locks on your

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doors weekly. Spooky. We'll be right back.

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After a minute of trying the dead radio, Jared spoke again.

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Besides the car itself, everything that uses a battery is dead.

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The heater might go pretty soon too. I think there's

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a blanket in the trunk, but I'd like to get

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a fire going if I can. Do you have a lighter,

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I don't. I have hand sanitizer which is flammable, if

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that helps. She pulled a small plastic squeeze bottle out

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of her purse and handed it to him. You could

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try jumper cables, but I doubt you'd get anything going

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in all this. Why is all are stuff dead? Jared

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thought for a moment. The only thing that makes sense

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is something killed them but wasn't strong enough to take

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out something as big as the car. Has to be

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something electromagnetic. But that's a problem I can't really worry

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about until I get a fire going. There had been

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folk tales in the area throughout the years of disappearances

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and dead batteries in the area. They went back to

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early settlers and demagnetized compasses, but conspiracy theories and ghost

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stories weren't going to get anyone home safe. I was

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kidding about the jumper cables. It won't work, and I

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don't want you to freeze to death or electrocute yourself trying.

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She was wrong, and Jared was drunk with accomplishment, happy

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and I told you so happy, which he thought were

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the best kinds it is. He'd taken a while and

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a lot of sticks, but he eventually managed to get

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a fire going. The trick is to put your larger

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logs at the bottom and get a bunch of sticks

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burned down to coals on top. Keep putting sticks on

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and the coals will light the wood. There was enough

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shattered tree that it should go for a few hours.

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The snow sizzled against his fire, and it was bright

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enough that he could see further into the darkness around him.

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He thought he saw a young woman until he blinked

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and she was gone. She was dressed exactly like the

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missing person Facebook post from a week before. A lawyer

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had driven home from a late night at the office.

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Her vehicle was in her driveway, with her phone and

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bag still in the passenger seat and the driver's door open,

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but she never made it to the ring doorbell snow

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had covered up the footprints, the phone had been factory reset,

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and the cops had nothing to go on. For a

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brief second, he thought he saw her, except that her

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hair and face were different. Maybe his mind brought up

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the missing person photo with the clothes she was wearing

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at the game. All that was there now was an

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owl staring at him from a tree. That's amazing, said

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a voice beside him. Jared jumped sideways. When he looked back,

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there was a tiny, one hundred pound old woman laughing

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at him. She pulled his blanket over her head, shook

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it with her arms, and made ghost noises at him.

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The woods are haunted, uber driver, beware, She trailed off.

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Oh shit, Miss Derrick said, you're bleeding. Jared looked down

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where he had landed. There was a rock about where

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his forehead hit the ground with blood on it. He

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knew head injuries bled a lot, and he could see

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it start to drip off his eyebrow. He felt the

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spot on his forehead where it hurt a little, but

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he wasn't going to die of blood loss. I'm fine,

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he said, as he got up. My fault for being

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so jumpy. Get warm by the fire, I've got a

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first aid kit in the trunk. He got to the

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open hood of the car and felt briefly like passing out.

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He heard the sound of a car approaching and saw

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the shadows from headlights on the road twenty feet up.

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The loud wind came again and drowned out his yells

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for help. As he looked up, he stopped yelling when

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the car's headlights hit the guardrail, he could clearly see

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that it had been repaired. He had hoped the driver

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would see the guardrail that he had crashed into, but

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it appeared to have been bent back to where it

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was before the crash. The driver would have no reason

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to check on them or call nine one one. Jared

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turned around, and that's when he saw her. She was beautiful,

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appeared to be in her late twenties, dressed exactly like

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the missing lawyer. This woman was taller and her shirt

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didn't quite reach her hip. Her complexion, was fair or

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darker hair, and was clearly an athlete. She had her

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hand on Miss Direck's cheek, and it was the most

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relaxed her body language had been since Jared met her,

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even letting the blankets slip from her shoulders and fall

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to the ground. You are tired, old woman. Kick snow

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on the fire and then we can rest. We don't

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need it anymore. Her voice was sweet, as if Miss

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Dirrick was a loved one she hadn't seen in a

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long time. Jared heard an accent, but couldn't identify it.

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Miss Dirrick leaned her head into the hand on her

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cheek and made a soft noise Jared couldn't interpret other

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than sounding happy. The woman met Jared's eyes, and he

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felt as if his head was a train that had

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been knocked from its track. He immediately felt the sensation

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of his knees being cold, and when he looked down

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he was kneeling in the snow. His brain felt broken,

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as if he was playing a video game that lagged.

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By the time he looked up again, he felt his

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face gently pressed into the woman's stomach as she ran

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a hand through his hair.

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You're not safe yet, weakly spooky, will be right back.

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She shushed him, brought her index finger to her lips

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and kissed it before touching the corner of his mouth.

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It was the last real thing he he felt as

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he drowned in the happiness of being loved. He opened

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his eyes. Jared thought he had woken up from a

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nightmare he couldn't remember. He was laying in a pond,

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looking up into a snowstorm. There was an owl curled

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up on his chest, and he had no other motivation

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in the world than to keep this creature warm. He

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knew it was the last of its kind, her family

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hunted to extinction by the bats of Europe. This owl

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could not make more like it because there was too

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much risk to be discovered. All around the shore of

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the pond were people dancing naked in the snow. He

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turned his head to the side and saw the water

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at the shore start to freeze and the ice coming closer.

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One of the dancers was the lawyer he recognized from

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the missing person flier. She had recently broken up with

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her boyfriend after he cheated on her, and had been

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planning to move closer to her parents. Jared knew that

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she was his sister. Now in a family brought together

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by this owl. There was an explorer who killed his

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family after getting drunk three hundred years ago. He lit

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his covered wagon on fire and used the heat to

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keep warm. He was now a brother in the owl's family.

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Jared could see the ice forming closer to him. It

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would touch him soon, but the cold would not get

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this owl. Something like a purr came from the bird

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on his chest, and it was the most beautiful thing

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thing he had ever heard. He reached out to his

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right and tried to touch the ice to keep it

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from getting closer. Miss Derrick's head exploded in pain. There

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was also a familiar sensation as the lithium kicked in.

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It felt as if the wires in her head were

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being torn out of something happy and violently reconnected where

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they were supposed to go. She looked down at a

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half smothered fire and snow on her feet. She looked

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up and saw her driver kneeling at the feet of

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a woman and hugging her tightly. As her brain rewired itself,

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primitive fear took over. She could see Jared's arms around

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this woman, and the way her brain reacted, she would

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have been less scared if the woman was a large bear.

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Jared's fingertips were starting to turn black, and she watched

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the gangreen begin to reach the knuckles of his right hand.

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The woman was whispering to him about getting warm and resting,

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Miss Derrick felt herself about to pass out. She stepped forward,

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picked up the only weapon available to her, and did

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the only things she could think of that might make

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a difference. She jammed the end of the jumper cables

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into the sides of the other woman's head. The headlights

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dimmed and the engine sounded as if it was going

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to die. The woman didn't stiffen up or jump away

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like she expected her to. As soon as the electricity

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sparked into her skull, the woman slumped and fell to

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the ground like a building collapsing. Her veins and arteries

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bulged against her skin. The skin above her veins charred

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and cracked before opening, and a green fire poured out.

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Her driver's body was as still as a statue. Tears

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mixed with the blood from his head in a bright

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red streak down the side of his nose to his chin,

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forming a crimson icicle. The wound had not scaped over,

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but it wasn't bleeding any more. His arms were still

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hugging someone that wasn't there. She tried to lift him

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to his feet, but he was so stiff that his

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knee came off the ground. She was crying now, knowing

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she was never getting rescued. All that was left of

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the woman was a burning pile of clothes and wispy

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green fire. It reminded her of the Northern lights, and

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the heat was intermittently and sporadically hot, but didn't seem

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to correspond to the dancing fire. There was a sweetness

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to the smell of the smoke that she could not identify.

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Miss Derrick looked from the dying fire to her frozen

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driver and knew she would join them soon. It was

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only getting colder. Her legs couldn't handle the cold and adrenaline,

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and her mind couldn't handle the death. She sat down

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with her back against the front of the car. The

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heat from the engine was nice. Panic was setting in

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and the woman's green, burning eyes kept intruding into her vision.

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The weight of knowing she wasn't going to survive the

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cold when straight to her stomach and she vomited. She

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heard what she thought was a bell and looked to

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the statue of her driver. There was a tiny glow

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coming from his wrist, and when she looked at it,

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she saw a new user welcome message on his smart watch.

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I hope you all enjoyed the story as much as

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00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:34.880
I did. This was actually the first story Jonathan Lumpkin

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00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:37.440
has ever had featured on the show, and I sure

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hope he submits some more in the future to share

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with all the spookies like me. And an extra special

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00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:47.119
thank you to Crystal Lumpkin for recommending Gary send his

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story in. Crystal is a true blue spooky and I

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00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:55.519
really appreciate and remember, my spookies. If you want to

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00:26:55.559 --> 00:26:59.000
get your very own signed edition of the Strickfield novel

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00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:02.640
The April, there's only one way you can, and that's

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00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:07.720
by going to Weekly Spooky dot Com slash April Fool.

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00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:11.599
The book comes signed by Rob Fields as well as myself.

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00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:15.480
Hopefully that makes it just a little extra special again,

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00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:20.920
only available at Weeklyspooky dot Com slash April Fool, and

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00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:23.400
my Spookies, I want to say such a big thank you.

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00:27:23.519 --> 00:27:25.200
This is the time of year when a lot of

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00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:28.839
people are not looking for their spooky fun content, but

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00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:32.680
you dear listeners tuning in right now are the spookies

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00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:36.240
who need the Halloween season all year long, just like me,

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00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:38.599
and I want to say an extra special thank you

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00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:42.480
to our Patreon podcast boosters, folks, who go to Weeklyspooky

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00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:45.400
dot Com slash Join and pay just a little bit

365
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:47.680
extra to hear their name at the end of the show.

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00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:51.680
And they are Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller, Johnny Nix,

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00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:56.000
Jenny Green, Amber Hansford, Brent mccaullaugh, Karen we Met, Jack

368
00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:58.920
Kerr and Craig Cohen. Thank you all so much. And

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00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:01.799
if you want to join almost one hundred other Spookies

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00:28:02.039 --> 00:28:05.319
in supporting the show and getting two bonus episodes every

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00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:07.079
single month, all you have to do is go to

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00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:11.079
Weekly Spooky dot Com slash Join. That's where you can

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00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:15.519
find over five years of exclusive audiobooks, creepy pasta readings,

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00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:19.000
and a whole lot more. That's Weekly Spooky dot Com

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00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:21.400
slash Join. But now, my spooky is it's time for

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00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.000
me to get out of here. I have to get

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to working on a brand new Poe reading for this Friday.

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But you didn't hear that from me, So for myself,

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for my executive producers Rob Fields, Markshields and Babbletopia dot Com,

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00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.920
my producer Dan Wilder, and my composer A Matis, talk

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at you next time. Thank you for listening.

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Make sure to find your way back next week weekly,

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but for now you are safe. Trust me.