This was one of my early attempts at full-blooded horror.

I’ve always been interested in the paranormal and over the last 25 years, I’ve made an extensive study of it at the end of which I came to only one conclusion: there’s no proof. Plenty of evidence, most of it anecdotal and apocryphal, but no absolute, concrete proof.

The survival of consciousness after physical death is one of the most contentious areas. No, say the rational scientist, yes say those who have experienced ghosts and out of body experiences. Again, it’s a matter of having the proof for yourself. I’ve seen all the TV programs, the debunkers like James Randi, who also cannot offer proof only counter-theories and the haunted set ups, most of which are, to say the least shrouded in doubt about their authenticity.

And I came to no conclusions. I’ve had experiences myself, most of which can be explained by means other than paranormal, as a result of which I’m not 100% persuaded.

Out of all this, however, came the theory that if we could communicate with the dead, why can’t they communicate with us … on the Internet? And from that came The Dead Web.

Essentially it’s the tale of a transmitter engineer, Doug Cockroft, working in a remote, Cumbrian location who contacts the deceased on the Dead Web. But they have other ideas and after persuading him to up the power levels on the transmitter, they take over him and Charlotte Steele, his assistant.

Enter Ben Draper and Connie Steele. Connie is Charlotte’s twin sister, Ben is a troubleshooter for the transmission company. Both have made their way to the mast and encountered the dead Cockroft and Connie’s sister.

In the extract overleaf, they come face to face with the burned out shells of Cockroft and Charlotte and a fight follows.