Okay, I need something Autumn related to make an article about. Fortunately, fellow horror author Grace Anderson recently released her Fall themed book, Fox Hollows, this past late October. While I reviewed it (you can purchase it and see what I wrote about it here), that isn’t what I will be talking about. Instead, I’m going to focus on some themes I noticed throughout the story. With that, potential spoilers are ahead.
First, a little background. After being rejected by multiple jobs, struggling college graduate, Loey finally lands an elementary school teaching position in the town of Fox Hollows. Upon arriving there, however, it’s clear the town holds a dark secret. One of the things that I enjoy about this story is even without the supernatural elements, the events would still be unnerving. Not only that, but they were also frustrating because it’s not uncommon for those exact scenarios to unfold in real life. Okay, maybe not exactly considering most towns don’t house murder cults (at least I hope not, unless you count certain political affiliations).
For Loey, two particular people make her feel the most on edge. The first is a woman named Anna Mae, who according to Tanner (the other unsafe person) is the oldest living person in Fox Hollows. Loey’s first interaction with her is far from cordial. By that I mean, she gets harassed by her during her first day in town, so not exactly a warm welcome and the first among many red flags. Speaking of, that’s where Tanner comes in who like Loey is a teacher at the local school.
This dude is someone you’d see in a post on r/LetsNotMeet or r/NiceGuys. He starts innocent, sort of flirty in a corny yet endearing way. Then it turns out that he’s just an entitled asshole. Loey does go on a date with him which he was late too. Later, the facade he put up cracks, and he shows his true colors. At this point, Loey rightfully decides to go with the “Fuck this shit” option and put in her two weeks.
Personally, I would have packed and left town the same night if I was dealing with some crazy cult nonsense. Loey, clearly having way more patience than me, instead informs the principal of her two-week resignation. The principal then tried to berate her into staying, telling her what has happened to her isn’t a big deal. Excuse my French, but bitch, what? By the way, that’s a gender-neutral insult so Tanner is a bitch too. Back on topic, here’s how the call would have gone between me and the principal.
“Let me see if I got this straight. You except me to stay in a town where I got accosted on my first day here, where you can’t even vet your staff well enough to keep narcissistic pieces of shit away from impressionable young minds, all on a teacher’s salary? You just lost the remaining two weeks you would have had with me. Fuck you, rot in hell. I quit immediately.”
Then after I packed my things, I would leave town and never look back. What keeps Loey from doing that is that she’s popular among the children at her school. I’m sure many of us have been in a similar position when it comes to work, not cult stuff or having to deal with people such as Tanner, hopefully. I mean, you’re well liked where you’re working, so even though you know it’s not the best environment for you, it makes it harder for you to move on. Not only that, there’s also an all-too-common issue for the US working class.
Remember when Amazon forced its workers to stay at a center during a tornado? If you don’t recall, it was back in 2021. Six workers lost their lives, and one was critically injured. What this shows is blatant disregard for worker safety, be they trying to make sure people who shop online get what they order in a timely manner or someone who has decided to guide young minds through education. It’s also a sad fact, that despite what some people try to yammer about how The US is the land of the free, the reality is your range of choice is directly tied to your economic status.
It’s a catch twenty-two of you needing more money to get another job that pays you better. As much as I would for this article to turn into an anti-capitalism rant, let’s talk about something else relevant to both Loey’s situation and unfortunately, US politics, cultism. In Fox Hollows, the entire town was founded by a cult. Long story short about that, apparently there was this whole deal when the would-be settlers got caught in a blizzard and most of the families ended up freezing to death. The key word here is most, because for the remaining ones, there happened to be a white magic witch among them named Abigial Gunner.
She was able to save the survivors, which caused them to see her as a sort of deity. Being only a child at the time, this attention caused her to grow into a power-hungry tyrant. Any defiance was responded to swiftly and brutally either through physical or supernatural means. Let me ask you something. When it comes to cults, what is the most dangerous aspect of them?
It’s that the leader can do nothing wrong. Abigail grew into the women she did, because she was raised in an environment where she wasn’t challenged. Therefore, when she inevitably does face it, she’s more prone to react with aggression. Let’s see, someone who spent most of their developmental years never facing adversity who grows up to have a dangerous amount of influence and power.
I’m sure none of us can think of any prominent political figures who fit that description at all. I want to draw attention to a particular line from the book.
“Cults never seem to die out so easily, even when the cult leader is long dead and buried.”
The influence persists, such as with religion. Arguably, this is when they truly become dangerous. The founder or founders are no longer around, so their words can be twisted to suit pretty much any narrative. There’s also a problem of egregious behavior within a group getting excused if the person committing it still supports the core belief. Take Tanner for instance. There’s no way Loey was the first woman who had bad experiences with him.
I’m also certain that the adults in Fox Hollows were aware of his actions. Yet, they looked the other way, because he towed the line and helped fulfill their goals. There are two examples of this happening in our current society that I think are the most prominent. The first is the Catholic church scandal. Everyone knows what happened, and yet one in four people still attend service each week and give away their hard-earned money.
The second is what Israel has been doing. I’m not going to pretend I’m any kind of geopolitical expert, but when the nation you support has followers laughing about slaughtering children, you might want to reevaluate your morals. For someone like Abigail, there’s at least some sympathy there. You understand she had to have experienced trauma from seeing her companions perish around her. Then after that, having to be the person, everybody else looks to for guidance.
Who wouldn’t have ended up the way she did? For the examples I gave, though and others similar to them, there’s no tragedy, no humanity to latch onto. It’s an unquenchable blood lust and sadism, nothing more and nothing less. Those who became part of mass graves in every major war, who were forced into concentration camps in Germany, who are being ripped away from their families in the US, and who were burned alive or drowned in Massacusetts will tell you that magic isn’t needed to commit evil. All it takes is unchecked ego with a little charisma and a population too cowardly to challenge it.
On that note, I hope this article was insightful. Be sure to check out Grace’s book and leave her a review.
If you want to support me, check out my Reddit’s pinned posts linked here (one of them has my tipping links) or join the writing Patreon I am a part of, linked here, where we post horror stories. Thanks, and happy reading.
