My Search History Is a Cry for Context

Every horror writer is exactly one browser history away from a very awkward conversation.

Most people use Google to search for vacation ideas, dinner recipes, or how to get tomato stains out of a shirt. I use it to answer questions that would probably make a detective raise an eyebrow.

If someone opened my laptop without knowing I write horror novels, I'd like to think they'd give me the benefit of the doubt.

Realistically, they'd probably just slowly back out of the room.

My FBI Agent Deserves a Raise

One of my favorite parts of writing horror is the research. Readers are incredibly good at spotting when something feels fake. Ghosts can ignore the laws of physics. Human beings can't.

That means I spend an unreasonable amount of time researching subjects that would make perfectly normal people question my sanity.

My browser history has included searches like:

• Speed of decay of the human body in different environments.
• Why temperature changes decomposition.
• What a decomposing body actually smells like.
• Why decomposition smells different indoors versus outdoors.
• What insects arrive during each stage of decomposition.
• How quickly blood dries under different conditions.
• How much blood loss causes physical symptoms.
• What starvation and dehydration actually do to the body.
• What poisonous plants grow throughout North America.
• Which mushrooms are harmless... and which absolutely are not.
• How long abandoned cabins remain structurally sound.
• Why forests sometimes become eerily quiet.
• How far sound actually travels through dense woods.
• What scavenger animals typically arrive first.
• How long bones weather when exposed to the elements.
• Why abandoned houses develop strange odors.
• The psychology behind feeling like you're being watched.
• Sleep deprivation hallucinations.
• Real missing-person cases that remain unsolved.
• Appalachian ghost stories and regional folklore.
• Why humans are naturally afraid of the dark.

Mixed in between those are searches for dog toys, coffee makers, thriller novels, and whether my plants are beyond saving.

Algorithms must think I'm either incredibly wholesome or deeply concerning.

Reality Is Weirder Than Fiction

The funny thing about horror research is that I rarely find exactly what I'm looking for.

Instead, I discover that reality is almost always stranger.

Old buildings have smells you can't quite describe.

Forests don't behave the way horror movies say they do.

Weather changes everything.

Human psychology is capable of terrifying itself without any supernatural help.

Some of the most unsettling moments I've written weren't invented at all. They were inspired by real history, real folklore, or real science.

Horror isn't scary because it's impossible. It's scary because enough of it could be real.

The Research You Never Notice

Readers probably don't realize how much research disappears before a book is finished.

I might spend three hours reading about abandoned cabins only to use one sentence.

I'll dive into regional folklore for an afternoon just to mention a local superstition in passing.

Sometimes I answer a question that ends up being cut entirely during revisions.

That's part of the job.

The goal isn't to show off research. It's to make the world feel authentic enough that readers stop questioning it.

If I did my job well, you won't notice the research at all. You'll simply believe the story.

Please Don't Judge My Browser History

So if anyone ever gains access to my search history, I'd really appreciate the opportunity to explain first.

I'm not planning anything.

I'm just trying to write nightmares that feel believable.

There's a surprisingly important difference.

If you'd like to see where all of this wonderfully questionable research eventually ends up, my upcoming survival horror novel, The Last Hike, throws its characters into the wilderness where nature is just as dangerous as what's hunting them. You can learn more here: The Last Hike and take a look at the first few chapters.