A TEEN GHOST STORY ANTHOLOGY
HAUNTED BY THE 90s
SPARTANS! is a coming-of-age supernatural drama with strong elements of literary fiction, and a touch of psychological horror. Think “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” meets haunted mixtapes and 90s nostalgia.
The series is rooted in realism, but haunted by the uncanny—ghosts, monsters, and the lingering presence of the past.
WELCOME TO MAPLEWOOD-SPARTA
Where suburban streets are lined with shadows.
Some say the 90s are dead and gone.
But here, they linger . . .
On one side of town, quiet subdivisions stretch toward open fields and country roads. On the other, neighborhoods press up against the railroad tracks. At the local high school, sheltered suburban kids rub shoulders with teenagers who've seen a little more of the world. Friendships form, worlds collide, and the boundaries between belonging and being an outsider are never quite clear.
In the 1990s, life here looks ordinary enough. Football games and homecoming dances. Bonfires, mixtapes, late buses, and long walks home. Teenagers fall in love, betray one another, make promises, and break them.
But before and after the tragic death of a sixteen-year-old boy in 1994, strange things begin to happen. Wishes and curses take on lives of their own. Ordinary objects pass from hand to hand, carrying extraordinary histories. And the dead have a way of turning up, too.
In Maplewood-Sparta, some things are never quite over.
— THE STORIES —
9 objects. 9 holidays.
9 interconnected stories.
HOMECOMING.
A leather jacket, a haunted mixtape, and the strange magic of being seen.
HALLOWEEN.
Old World magic and a friendship bracelet that bound more than anyone ever intended.
THANKSGIVING.
A good Catholic boy with a beastly hunger and a hayride to hell.
WINTER SOLSTICE.
A Chanel double-chain belt and a mean girl’s Krampus curse.
VALENTINE’S DAY.
Secret love and a princess with two faces.
SAINT PATRICK’S DAY.
High school baseball and a magic ritual that lets you pull from your well of luck ... with a catch.
HOLY WEEK.
A cross necklace from the 90s and the secret under the church cemetery.
SPIRIT WEEK.
A borrowed flannel and one girl's journey through the dark tunnel of freshman year.
MABON.
Ethan’s Zippo and the graveyard witch.
— FACES FROM MAPLEWOOD-SPARTA —
ETHAN.
“Don’t let them get to you.”
NOAH.
“But in Ethan’s flannel, I belonged.”
WENDY.
“Are you metal?”
BRANDY.
“I hear there’s a gateway
to hell around here.”
TONY.
“Thanks, Crypt Keeper.”
GABRIELLA.
“You don’t know everything about me, Jenny.
JENNY.
“Costumes come off, Gabs. Personalities don’t.”
LAURA.
“I wasn’t cheating.
I just needed extra notes.”
COURTNEY.
“What did you do to us, Jenny?”
ALISON.
“Jenny, that belt is OFF THE CHAIN!”
KRISTINA.
“I don’t want no ghost a teenage boy watching me undress.”
KEVIN.
“But here in the dim woods, it felt like even God couldn’t see.”
GABE.
“Damn. That choker’s doin things.”
PATRICK.
“I suppose, like Jenny, I was jealous and wanted attention.”
MIKE.
“That’s how it’s always been.
I get what I want.”
BABA.
“If no light is given,
the soul will wander.”
THE SQUATTER.
“Feed the dark, but don’t
let it eat your light.”
RICKY.
“You expect me to believe you kept me waitin for an hour cuz you saw a ghost?”
THE WAGON DRIVER.
“You kids ever hear the story
of the Wendigo?”
THE WENDIGO.
“Roarrrrrrrr!”
— LISTEN TO THE STORIES —
9 stories. 9 voices.
To get a taste, press play.