“The Pram” by Joe Hill

“The Pram” by Joe Hill is a story that is part of Amazon’s Creature Feature Collection which features spooky tales from various authors. The story is about a couple Willy and Marianne who went through a depressive episode after Marianne experienced a miscarriage. They decide to relocate from Brooklyn for change in environment. They move into a farmhouse in Hobomeck, a small town in Maine. 

Willy finds a lonesome bridle path near the farmhouse that connects to the supermarket. When the local man from the supermarket loans him a baby carriage to take home the groceries, things turn sinister. He strolls through the bridle path pushing the baby carriage around and starts to hear cooing noises coming from it. Is he hallucinating or is he experiencing some paranormal activity?

Willy had bottled up the resentment he had felt after the tragic incident and doesn’t express it for fear of doing so will seem selfish on his part. But, once he starts to like the stroll through the bridle path just to hear the cooing noises of a baby from the pram, he realises that he was hurt by the loss of their unborn baby more than he thought. Marianne, on the other hand suffers from the guilt and she wants to patch things up in their married life. Though Willy is the primary character and the story revolves around his desperation to have a baby, Marianne’s character is more relatable. 

Joe Hill

The story starts off slow with spooky descriptions of the atmosphere. But, it has a solid premise that keeps it alive. There is also a religious sacrament angle built into the story that blends well to suggest how religious rituals feed into people’s fear and grief. The analogy with Willy’s descent into depression and his stroll through the eerie bridle path with a fitting end in the climax is interesting. But, the unsettling climactic end with gory events that unfold doesn’t sit well.