Museum of Oddities Beckons

After a painful divorce, Kara, a thirty-something graphic designer, moves into her eccentric Uncle Earl's "Wonder Museum" in Hog Chapel, North Carolina. The museum is a chaotic jumble of taxidermy, curios, and oddities, reflecting Earl's open-minded, conspiracy-loving worldview. Kara finds comfort in the familiar weirdness, hoping to rebuild her life among the relics of her childhood.

Divorce, Doughnuts, and Dead Things

Kara settles into a routine: cataloging the museum's bizarre collection, bonding with her uncle, and reconnecting with Simon, the quirky barista next door. The museum's oddities—albino raccoons, a giant otter, and a "corpse-otter" carving—set the stage for the uncanny. Kara's emotional wounds from her failed marriage begin to heal in the museum's strange, loving environment.

Settling In, Unsettling Discoveries

Kara receives a shipment containing the corpse-otter carving, which feels unsettling from the start. As she catalogs the museum, she notices oddities and a sense of something lurking beneath the surface. Uncle Earl's health declines, leaving Kara in charge. The museum's comforting weirdness starts to feel more ominous.

Hole in the Wall

When a tourist accidentally damages a wall, Kara and Simon discover a hidden corridor that shouldn't exist. The hallway is made of concrete, impossibly long, and leads to a sealed metal door. Their curiosity overcomes their fear, and they decide to explore, suspecting a secret history or architectural oddity.

Impossible Corridors, Uncanny Doors

Kara and Simon enter the corridor, finding a circular room with graffiti in unknown languages and a rusted, bolted door. The space defies the building's layout. Their investigation is interrupted by the realization that the wall is concrete on one side, drywall on the other—evidence of a breach in reality.

The Bunker and the Body

Behind another door, they find a small bunker with a mummified corpse on a bed. The room is untouched by time, and the body's presence is both tragic and terrifying. Simon's criminal past makes them reluctant to call the police. They realize the corridor is not just a hidden room, but a portal to somewhere else.

The Willow World Revealed

Kara and Simon open the rusted door and step into a foggy, alien landscape: a river dotted with grassy islands, each with a metal door. The sky is wrong, the light is wrong, and the world is eerily silent. They realize they are not in North Carolina anymore, but a place ruled by willows and haunted by emptiness.

School Bus of Shadows

Exploring the willow world, they find a half-buried school bus. Inside, the seats are filled with the ghostly impressions of children trapped beneath the upholstery. The bus driver is a presence just out of sight. Kara and Simon flee, shaken by the supernatural horror and the sense that the world is thin, fragile, and hungry.

Lost Among the Islands

The fog lifts, revealing endless islands and doors. Rain and rising water erase their landmarks, and they become lost, unable to find the portal home. They encounter a silent boatman and see evidence of other visitors—graffiti, bunkers, and signs of violence. The world feels like a trap, and the willows seem to be watching.

Boatman and Bunkers

They spend a night in a bunker, reading warnings scratched on the walls: "They Can Hear You Thinking" and "Pray They Are Hungry." The willows come alive in the moonlight, revealing shifting, godlike forms. A monstrous boatman, part human, part willow, stalks the river. Kara and Simon realize that thinking about the willows draws their attention.

They Can Hear You Thinking

The pair learn that pain and distraction can hide them from the willows, who hunt by thought. They find a journal from a previous expedition, describing the same horrors and the futility of escape. The willows are not just trees—they are the soul of the place, and their light animates the dead and draws in the living.

Sturdivant's Warning

Kara and Simon meet Sturdivant, a park ranger who entered the willow world through a kudzu "cathedral." He is half-dissolved, his lower body a tangle of exposed organs, kept alive by the willows' power. He warns them: the willows are a trap, and the things that hunt here are worse. The only safety is in the bunkers, but even that is temporary.

Sleepwalking and Summoning

After escaping back to the museum, Kara and Simon are haunted by nightmares and begin sleepwalking, drawn back toward the portal. The corpse-otter carving, which Kara had cataloged and dismissed, is revealed to be the key—an object from the willow world trying to return home, opening the way for the willows to invade.

The Corpse-Otter's Secret

The corpse-otter carving animates the museum's taxidermy, using them as vessels to move and act. The carving's will is alien and relentless, seeking to open the portal wider. Kara and Simon realize that the carving is a seed or key for the willows, and that their world could be next if they don't act.

Taxidermy Comes Alive

The museum's stuffed animals come to life under the influence of the willowlight, some attacking Kara, others defending her. The giant otter, now possessed by the carving, becomes the primary threat. Kara, injured and desperate, must outwit the animated taxidermy and the otter to prevent the willows from breaking through.

Battle in the Museum

In a climactic struggle, Kara is aided by the spirit of "Prince," the elk she loved as a child, and her loyal cat, Beau. Together, they battle the possessed otter and the willows' influence. Kara lures the otter back through the portal, using pain and distraction to evade the willows' attention, and barely escapes with her life.

Closing the Portal

With the help of Simon and advice from the artifact's original sender, Kara fills the portal with concrete and patches the wall, hoping to permanently close the way. The willowlight fades, and the museum returns to normal. Kara and Simon are left with physical and psychological scars, but the immediate threat is gone.

Aftermath and Analysis

Kara reflects on the ordeal, her changed relationship with the museum, and the nature of the willows. The Wonder Museum, once a place of comfort, is now a site of both trauma and resilience. The story ends with Kara choosing to stay, finding strength in the love and oddity of her chosen family, and a wary hope that the willows will not return.

Characters

Kara (Carrot)

Kara is a recently divorced graphic designer who returns to her uncle's museum seeking refuge. Her journey is one of psychological resilience: from emotional numbness to terror, and finally to hard-won agency. Kara's humor and practicality ground the story, even as she is drawn into cosmic horror. Her relationships—with Uncle Earl, Simon, and the museum's oddities—reveal her longing for belonging and her capacity for courage. The willow world tests her sanity and will, but she emerges scarred and stronger, choosing to stay and protect her new home.

Simon

Simon is Kara's friend and neighbor, a barista with a mysterious past (including an outstanding warrant and a "chimera" eye). His wit, queerness, and resilience make him both comic relief and emotional anchor. Simon's unique vision allows him to perceive the willow world's strangeness, and his loyalty to Kara is unwavering. He is both a survivor and a caretaker, helping Kara face the supernatural and her own trauma. Simon's presence highlights themes of chosen family and the power of friendship in the face of horror.

Uncle Earl

Uncle Earl is the heart of the Wonder Museum: a conspiracy-loving, open-minded, deeply kind man who believes in everything and judges no one. His museum is a sanctuary for the weird and the wounded. Earl's faith in people and the power of forgiveness shape Kara's worldview. Though sidelined by illness, his influence is felt throughout, and his legacy of acceptance and wonder is what ultimately saves Kara.

The Corpse-Otter Carving

The corpse-otter is both object and antagonist: a carved effigy from the willow world, imbued with a will to return home. It is the seed or key that opens the portal, animates the dead, and nearly brings destruction to Kara's world. Its motivations are alien—neither evil nor good, but driven by a need to return. The carving's presence raises questions about the boundaries between worlds and the dangers of curiosity.

The Willows / Them

The willows are both landscape and sentient force: a world of endless islands, haunted by godlike entities that hunt by thought. They are indifferent, hungry, and curious, unraveling the living for food or amusement. The willows' power is in their ability to make the familiar strange, to thin the walls between worlds, and to draw in the unwary. They represent the terror of the unknown and the limits of human understanding.

Sturdivant

Sturdivant is a park ranger who entered the willow world through a kudzu portal and was transformed—his lower body a tangle of exposed organs, kept alive by the willows' power. He is both victim and prophet, warning Kara and Simon of the willows' true nature. His fate is a glimpse of what awaits those who linger too long in the willow world.

The Boatman

The boatman is a figure encountered on the river: part human, part willow, with roots instead of feet. He is a warning of what happens to those who are changed by the willows. The boatman is always hungry, a predator and a tool of the willows, but not one of Them. His presence adds to the sense of inescapable danger.

Prince (the Elk)

Prince is the mounted elk head in Kara's bedroom, named and loved since childhood. When the taxidermy comes alive, Prince defends Kara against the possessed otter, embodying the power of love and memory even in the face of horror. Prince's intervention is a turning point, suggesting that kindness and connection can resist even cosmic evil.

Beau (the Cat)

Beau is the museum's cat: massive, grumpy, and fiercely competent. He is both a practical asset (keeping vermin at bay) and a symbol of ordinary life's resilience. Beau's refusal to be cowed by the supernatural, and his role in the final battle, provide both comfort and comic relief.

Woody Morwood

Woody is the friend who sends the corpse-otter carving to the museum, believing it to be harmless if kept away from willows. His actions, though well-intentioned, set the events in motion. Woody's knowledge and regret help Kara and Simon understand the nature of the threat and how to close the portal.

Plot Devices

Portal as Breach in Reality

The central device is the accidental discovery of a portal—an impossible corridor in the museum wall that leads to the willow world. The portal is both a physical breach and a symbol of psychological vulnerability: the thinness of reality, the dangers of curiosity, and the permeability of boundaries (personal, emotional, cosmic). The portal's existence is tied to the corpse-otter carving, which acts as a key or seed, and to the willows' hunger for new worlds.

Animating the Familiar

The museum's stuffed animals, usually comforting or comical, become vessels for the willows' power. This device inverts the familiar, making the safe strange and the beloved dangerous. The animation of taxidermy is both a literal threat and a metaphor for the way trauma can haunt and transform the ordinary.

Thought as Vulnerability

In the willow world, thinking about the willows draws their attention; pain and distraction can hide the mind. This device externalizes anxiety and trauma, making the act of thinking itself dangerous. It also provides a unique survival strategy, forcing characters to use pain and banality as shields.

Nested Narratives and Found Documents

The story uses found objects—journals from previous victims, graffiti warnings, and the Bible from another world—to build lore and foreshadow danger. These devices create a sense of history, inevitability, and the cyclical nature of the threat, while also providing clues for survival.

Psychological Horror and Unreliable Reality

The narrative constantly questions what is real: is Kara sleepwalking because of trauma, or is she being summoned by the willows? Are the animated animals truly alive, or is it a hallucination? This ambiguity heightens the horror and grounds the cosmic threat in personal experience.

Analysis

The Hollow Places is a masterful blend of cosmic horror, psychological suspense, and dark humor, using the trappings of folk horror and the uncanny to explore themes of trauma, resilience, and the search for belonging. At its core, the novel is about the thinness of reality—how easily the familiar can become strange, and how trauma can open portals to personal and cosmic darkness. The willows are both literal and metaphorical: they represent the inescapable, predatory nature of grief, anxiety, and the unknown. Yet the story is also about the power of kindness, memory, and chosen family to resist even the most alien threats. Kara's journey—from wounded survivor to reluctant hero—is a testament to the human capacity for adaptation and hope. The novel warns of the dangers of curiosity and the costs of opening doors best left closed, but it also celebrates the weird, the loving, and the resilient. In the end, The Hollow Places suggests that while horror may be inescapable, it can be faced—and sometimes, the things we love can fight for us, too.

Last updated: May 15, 2025