Adell Lashawn, Atlanta, GA (2026)

01/14/2026

🖤 WICKED WATCH WEDNESDAY

The VVitch (2015)

This isn’t a movie about jump scares.
It’s a film about isolation, faith, and what happens when fear is allowed to grow unchecked.

Set in 1630s New England, The VVitch follows a family pushed to the edge of society — and slowly, quietly, into something darker. Every choice feels small. Every silence feels heavy. Horror here isn’t loud. It creeps in through belief, guilt, and the pressure placed on women to carry blame.

Thomasin’s story is not one of sudden corruption, but gradual realization. The fear surrounding her becomes more dangerous than the wilderness itself. By the time the supernatural reveals its hand, the damage is already done.

This is horror rooted in atmosphere, folklore, and psychological unraveling — where faith becomes a weapon and liberation comes at a terrible cost.

If you like your horror:
• slow-burning
• folkloric
• unsettling rather than shocking

This one still holds its power.

🎬 The VVitch (2015)
Dir. Robert Eggers

01/14/2026

🖤 TWISTED TRUTH TUESDAY — BELLADONNA

Belladonna has never been just a plant.
It has always been a decision.

Known as “the beautiful lady,” it was used by women to dilate the pupils — an appearance once associated with desire, innocence, and beauty. The cost was rarely discussed: blurred vision, hallucinations, long-term damage, and sometimes death.

Beyond the mirror, belladonna carried another reputation. In European courts, it was whispered about as a poison that worked slowly. Subtle. Quiet. Easy to deny. Too much, and the body betrayed itself. Too little, and no one suspected a thing.

In folklore, it was said to grow at crossroads and graveyards, places tied to secrecy and unresolved acts. Some believed it screamed when pulled from the earth. Others swore it carried the spirits of the dead. Women were said to know where to find it — and how to handle it.

Whether beauty aid, poison, or omen, belladonna sits at the intersection of power and consequence. Not legend. Not myth alone. A reminder that what appears delicate can still be lethal.

🌿 Belladonna (Atropa belladonna)
Highly toxic. Historically used. Never harmless.

11/14/2025

Welcome to Derry is live, so here is the clean four book path in one go: start with IT for the full Derry blueprint, then Insomnia to peel back the town’s strange rules, skim the 1958 11/22/63 chapters for prequel energy, and finish with Dreamcatcher for the afterimage; if you only have a spare hour, add “Fair Extension” (in Full Dark, No Stars, 2010) and “The Road Virus Heads North” (in Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales, 2002) for fast Derry flavor and a cursed drive; save this list, tell me where you are starting, and subscribe at rationaldread.substack.com

11/06/2025

October Reading Wrap Up
Closed the month 4 for 4.

Hazelthorn by CG Drews
The green world heals and hunts.

The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens
Kindness pulls over. Terror climbs in.

The Devil Take the Blues by Ariel Slick
The swamp keeps receipts.

Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
My novella order today: Library Policeman, Secret Window, The Langoliers, The Sun Dog.

Had so many on my TBR, so I will try for November. What should I crack first
Subscribe: rationaldread.substack.com

11/06/2025

Wicked Watch Wednesday: The Vigil (2019)
One night keeping watch over the dead turns into a reckoning with trauma and something older that knows your name.

What worked for me
• Claustrophobic setting that squeezes tension
• Jewish ritual and folklore woven with care
• Sound and shadow doing most of the scaring
• A lead performance that carries real grief

Consider
• It’s intimate and slow burn by design
• Heavy themes: Holocaust memory, religious trauma

Content notes
Grief, PTSD, Holocaust imagery (archival/recall), possession themes, jump scares.

Adell LaShawn pull-quote
“Some vigils are for the dead. This one is for what the living refuse to face.”

Comment with your fear score from 1 to 5.

11/04/2025

Twisted Truth Tuesday: Wolfsbane (Aconite) — the herb behind werewolf lore

Wolfsbane. Monkshood. Aconite.
The flower that “keeps werewolves away” wasn’t just a spooky prop—it was real-world wolf poison. Hunters laced meat and arrowheads with aconite; a tiny dose can numb the mouth, slow the heart, and stop it. That tingling “bewitched” feeling? Classic aconite toxicity.
So the legend stuck: plant wolfsbane to ward off the beast. In truth, it wasn’t protection by magic—it was chemistry with teeth.
File this under dark botany and folk belief colliding.
Have you seen aconite growing in your area? Would you plant it if you knew the history?

Follow for more folklore x horror x herb lore. Subscribe to The Rational Dread for the deep dive.

Safety: Highly toxic if ingested or absorbed through skin. Do not ingest. Do not handle without gloves.

10/30/2025

Hazelthorn — CG Drews • 4/5
“The green world heals and hunts. Learn the difference.” — Adell LaShawn

Botanical body horror meets murder mystery. Lush prose. Q***r coming-of-age threads. A small town where the hedges whisper and the flowers remember more than they should.

Why read: gorgeous writing, creeping dread, a final act that cuts.
Notes: slow burn start. body horror elements.
Content notes: violence, blood, grief, manipulation.

Pull quote: “Beauty grows teeth.”
ARC via NetGalley. Opinions mine.
***rBooks

10/30/2025

Adell LaShawn quote: “Every bargain has a backbeat, and the beat always collects.”
Pull quote: “The swamp keeps receipts.”

Main characters: Beatrice Corbin. Agnes Corbin.
Setting: Azoma, Louisiana. 1920s.
Antagonists: The town’s secrets. Power in the wrong hands. A whisper about the Devil that sounds like a song.

Beatrice is trying to keep her store open and protect her newly married sister. The heat sits heavy. The music carries promises that feel like warnings. Slick leans into true Southern Gothic: family duty, church murmurs, juke joints after dark, and a past that walks like a man. The atmosphere is thick and the tension comes in slow, then bites hard.

Why it resonated with me
I love folklore that moves like a hymn. Beatrice reads as a protector who still has to choose herself. That tug between care and survival mirrors the line I talk about in my own work.

What worked for me
• Setting that breathes: cypress, river fog, porch light dread
• Music on the page that feels physical
• Sister dynamic with real stakes
• A final act that lands

What to consider
• Slow burn early
• Dialect and period details are rich; some readers may need a beat to settle in

Content notes
Violence. Domestic control. Religious zeal used as power. Racism and sexism of the era. Occult talk. Death.

Bottom line
A moody Southern Gothic that sings and cuts. I turned the last page feeling like the night air was still in my lungs.
ARC provided via NetGalley. This is my honest review.

10/16/2025

Oldie But Goodie: Four Past Midnight
An oldie but goodie. Four Past Midnight tonight. Four doors in one book. Which should I open first
The Langoliers, Secret Window, The Library Policeman, or The Sun Dog

10/12/2025

A grim object from European lore. A severed hand used as a holder for a candle. The claim says that when the light is burning a household falls asleep and locks fail. Some tales mention milk or salt to put the flame out, and doorway charms to bar it. Whether anyone ever used such a thing matters less than what the story reveals. People believed, and belief shapes behavior. The fear underneath is simple. Sleep may not be safe and a stranger might turn the home off like a lamp.

Herb note: rue and rosemary often appear at thresholds in household protection customs. Educational folklore only.

10/09/2025

Wicked Watch Wednesday. The Canal (2014)
A film archivist finds footage that stains his home and his marriage. The canal is a mouth in the dark. The story slides from suspicion to something older and meaner. I loved the damp, rotting mood and the archival thread that pulls you under. Final act hit hard.
My rating: 4/5
Why watch: relentless atmosphere, smart use of old film, a closing stretch that bites
Notes: violence, child endangerment, psychological abuse, brief gore
Main characters: David, Alice, Billy, Claire, Detective McNamara
“Water keeps secrets. It just waits until you lean over the edge.”

10/07/2025

Macabre Monday: Arc Review The Hitchhikers by Chevt Stevens

Adell LaShawn quote: “Mercy is holy, but it is not blind.”
Pull quote: “Kindness pulls over, terror climbs in.”

Main characters: Alice and Tom
Antagonists: Simon and Jenny

Alice and Tom take a new RV through Canada after a personal loss. They pick up two hitchhikers, Simon and Jenny. The choice looks kind. The cost arrives fast. The story shifts from roadside empathy to a tight survival puzzle that keeps closing around the leads chapter by chapter. The 1976 setting feels real and the pace stays sharp.

Why it resonated with me
Alice moves through grief with a caretaker mindset. She plans, watches, and listens to her gut, yet still has to learn where compassion ends and boundaries begin. That tug is the same line I talk about in my own work, trusting intuition while protecting your peace.

What worked for me
• Steady escalation with short, bingeable chapters
• Vivid sense of place and time
• Antagonists who feel human and dangerous
• Emotional stakes tied to grief as well as fear

What to consider
• On page violence and cruelty
• A few survival choices and coincidences that require buy in

Content notes
Violence, murder, captivity, threats of sexual violence, grief

Bottom line
A sharp, high tension road trip thriller that sticks the landing. I could not stop turning pages.
ARC provided via NetGalley. This is my honest review.

Adell Lashawn

01/14/2026

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