Jollyland

A holiday thriller short story

YouTuber Annabelle Cole is known for chasing the strange, the abandoned, and the downright unsettling for her channel Dark Corners with Annabelle. So, when she stumbles on a wintery midwestern town hiding a forgotten Christmas theme park, she knows exactly where her next livestream will be.

Jollyland
once promised magic—twinkling lights, carols in the air, and family memories wrapped in holiday cheer. Now it sits silent and decaying, its gates locked, its history whispered about but never confirmed.

Determined to give her viewers a festive thrill, Annabelle and her best friend Jacob slip inside for one night of exploring. At first, it’s everything she hoped creepy nostalgia, frozen rides, and enough eerie holiday atmosphere to make her audience lose their minds.

But as the night deepens, something inside the park begins to shift.
The air grows colder.
The shadows feel heavier.
And the livestream chat picks up on things Annabelle can’t see.

What starts as a fun Christmas special slowly turns into something darker—something watching, waiting, and far from finished with Jollyland’s past.

One night.
One abandoned park.
And more secrets buried under the snow than Annabelle ever expected.