Shortcuts by Willerby (a twisted alternate dimension story)
Haunted UK Podcast: History, Hauntings and the Unexplained
Steven Holloway
4.5 • 652 Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the two-minute walk home, Sally and Dan picked their starlit way back to their cottage and felt – at last – Willerby was home. There was a note pinned to their front door: Things don’t lie still in Willerby. You must be more careful. Here to help when you’re ready...
Hello and welcome, dear listeners, to Haunted UK Fiction – a sister podcast to The Haunted UK which features original flash fiction, short stories, and novellas with paranormal themes. All stories you will hear were written by a collection of talented writers, authors, and storytellers, both independent and professional.
In today’s episode we’ll be reading Jack’s Pool, another story hailing from the strange town of Willerby. We aren’t sure who, exactly, is behind these stories, or even whether they’re authored by one person, or many. We stumbled upon the Willerby website, which features a collection of stories about the town’s inhabitants, whilst in the early stages of planning Haunted UK Fiction and were able to reach the webmaster, who would not share their identity but granted permission to share these stories after we agreed to a number of bizarre conditions we aren't allowed to give any more details about.
We truly hope you enjoy this story from the eerie and mysterious town of Willerby, which seems as though it exists in a different plane to the rest of the world. If you would like to read some of these stories for yourself, visit Willerby’s website at WelcomToWillerby.co.uk and follow on Instagram @WillerbyVillage.
If you have an original story that would send a chill down our spines, and you would like to submit it for review, simply send it in to hauntedukfiction@hotmail.com
Until next time, stay safe, and take care.
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Enter the world of Haunted UK Podcast, where we explore ghosts, poltergeists, UFOs, strange creatures, and the unexplained from across the UK and beyond.
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Contact:
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm Hello and welcome, dear listeners to Haunted UK fiction, a sister podcast to the Haunted |
| 0:56.6 | UK, which features original flash fiction, short stories and novellas with paranormal themes. |
| 1:04.0 | All stories you will hear were written by a collection of talented writers, authors and storytellers, |
| 1:12.9 | both independent and professional. |
| 1:21.3 | We have something special to share today. We'll be reading shortcuts, a story hailing from the strange town of Willoughby. We aren't sure who exactly is behind this story. We stumbled upon the Willoughby website, |
| 1:29.3 | which features a collection of stories about the town's inhabitants, |
| 1:33.3 | whilst in the early stages of planning haunted UK fiction, |
| 1:36.3 | and we were able to reach the webmaster who would not share their identity, |
| 1:41.3 | but granted permission to share these stories after we agreed to a number of |
| 1:46.9 | bizarre conditions that we aren't allowed to give any more details about. So get comfortable, |
| 1:54.1 | grab a little something to sip on, perhaps cuddle up under a blanket to help offset the chills |
| 2:00.0 | coming your way. |
| 2:01.6 | "'And let's dive into the story.' |
| 2:04.6 | "'So which will you be?' asked Jim the first time we went to the Green Man, |
| 2:09.6 | the evening after the day we moved in. |
| 2:11.7 | "'The type who leave after a year or two, or the type who never leave. |
| 2:16.2 | "'It wasn't the sort of question that needed an answer. |
| 2:19.6 | We just smiled back. Those are the two sorts who move into Willoughby, said Jim, |
| 2:24.8 | those that fit and those that don't, visitors and lifers. Which sort do you think we'll be? |
| 2:31.4 | Rebecca asked him, grinning, face and hair dusty, |
| 2:35.5 | arms chaffed and scratched from lugging about our boxes and crates. |
| 2:40.0 | Jim gave an appraising look. You can never tell to begin with. |
... |
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