The Eyes

Summary

Ethan Culwin spent decades shaping fortunes, careers, and lives from the summit of Silicon Valley power.

Now semiretired and worshipped by a younger generation of ambitious tech founders, the legendary venture capitalist joins several protégés for an intimate evening of drinks and conversation at an elite private club. When the topic turns to the supernatural, Ethan reluctantly shares a disturbing secret he’s kept hidden for years.

Twice in his life, after deeply personal moral failures, he became haunted by a strange phenomenon: Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw a pair of luminous eyes staring back at him from the darkness. Glaring. Accusing. Unrelenting.

Psychological implosion transforms into supernatural horror as Ethan describes the eyes’ devastating impact on his life and the extreme measures he took to survive them.

As the evening continues, hidden anxieties surface among the younger men listening to his story, and a disturbing theme emerges: Some hauntings may not remain confined to the past.

Adapted and modernized by Matt Dorff from Edith Wharton’s 1910 story “The Eyes,” this emotionally charged contemporary gothic reimagines Wharton’s supernatural morality tale in the world of Silicon Valley money, influence, and manipulation. “The Eyes” explores guilt, power, conscience, and the alarming possibility that certain forms of judgment are inescapable.