If you live in Morro Bay, you know the Museum of Natural History. It sits up on White Point, overlooking the estuary, a sanctuary of order, smelling of lemon polish and old dust. It’s a place where time is trapped behind glass, where the mountain lion is frozen in a leap that never lands, and the great blue heron stalks a fish it will never catch.
We think of it as a place that preserves the past. But in the Fog-Mythos, I started to wonder… what if something was trying to preserve the present?
In Shadows of the Coast (Book 2), the invasion moves inland. The fog isn’t just content with the water anymore. It wants our landmarks. And it wants new exhibits.
Here is an exclusive teaser from one of the most terrifying stories in the new collection.
Excerpt from The Museum of the Mist
Spence Wellesley did not guard the museum; he curated the silence. He loved the stillness. Until the Tuesday of the “Wrong Fog.”
It happened in seconds. One moment, he could see the marina lights; the next, the windows were pressed black. Not grey. Black. It was a fog so dense, so heavy, that the glass of the entrance doors bowed inward with a sharp creaaak, as if a physical weight were leaning against them.
The silence that followed wasn’t the peaceful quiet of a library. It was a vacuum.
Spence turned his back on the doors and walked toward the Estuary Wing to polish the glass. He sprayed his cloth and wiped the case of the “Predators of the Sky” exhibit.
He froze.
Inside the sealed case, the Great Horned Owl was watching him.
That wasn’t right. The taxidermy owl was mounted facing the painted mural of the moon. Its glass eyes were fixed on the fake horizon. Now, its head was turned a full ninety degrees. Its yellow eyes were locked onto Spence.
And they weren’t glass anymore. They were wet.
Spence looked closer. Condensation was trickling down the pane. But it wasn’t on the outside, where he had just sprayed. It was on the inside.
The fog had gotten into the hermetically sealed diorama. Wisps of bruise-colored mist curled around the owl’s talons.
“Hello?” Spence called out, his hand gripping his heavy flashlight. “Is… is someone in here?”
CLICK-CLICK-CHITTER.
The sound came from the ceiling. It was the sound of dry bones rattling in a bag. A drop of cold, viscous liquid hit his cheek. It smelled of ozone and rotting kelp.
He backed away, moving toward the central rotunda. Usually, this was home to the Geology exhibit. But the agate and jasper had been pushed aside.
In the center of the room, rising from a swirling pool of knee-deep fog, was a new exhibit. A series of pedestals, arranged in a circle, lit by a soft, pulsing, blue light.
Spence walked toward it, drawn by a terrifying curiosity. The pedestals held trophies. A broken camera. A tarnished locket. A silent wind chime.
But the final pedestal… the largest one… was empty.
There was no glass case. Just a velvet platform, waiting. And a placard. Spence leaned in, his flashlight trembling, to read the text etched into the brass:
THE CARETAKER. Species: Humanus Custos. Description: A specimen of solitude. He kept the dust. Now he keeps the mist.
And then, the doors to the Taxidermy Prep Room swung open. They didn’t step out. They flowed out. The Takers. And they were holding needles and thread.
Author’s Note: Next time you visit the museum and stare at the glass eyes of the exhibits… make sure they aren’t staring back.
Keep the lights on and stay out of the fog.
Pamela Beach
The invasion has begun.
Shadows of the Coast is coming in 2026. But to understand the origin of the threat, and to survive the fog right now, you need the field guide. Get Book 1: The Morro Bay Fog-Mythos in Print
The best way to know when the next story emerges from the mist is to subscribe to my newsletter!
As a thank-you for joining, you’ll get a free download of the story that started it all, “Where the Fog Settles First,” a spooky tale that will leave you breathless.
Pamela Beach is a multi-genre author, poet, and lyricist who writes from her home on California’s foggy Central Coast. She is the creator of the “Morro Bay fog-mythos” and author of The Unstoppable You. You can read more of her work and explore her complete “fog-mythos” collection at her blog, Beyond the with Pamela Beach
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