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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#117: All Hallows' Eve

October 31st: Halloween — or All Hallows’ Eve, to give it its spookier name. Just an excuse to wear a costume? Or, for one night a year, do spirits walk among us?

The Celts certainly thought so — and many of our own holiday pastimes stem from the methods they used to keep Halloween ghosts at bay. Others, like bobbing for apples, evolved from Halloween rituals for matchmaking and divining the future.

Personally, I prefer to spend the holiday with my nose in a spooky story rather than a bowl of icy water, which is why this week’s prompts are designed to put you in touch with your macabre side. Happy Halloween!

This week's prompts

Start your story with the words “Everything was ready for the ritual.”

Horror – 48 stories

Write about a character who uses a night where everyone’s in costume as cover for something sinister.

Horror – 34 stories

Write about a missing person nobody seems to know or remember.

Thriller and Suspense – 49 stories

Set your story at the boundary between two realms.

Halloween – 69 stories

Write about someone whose busiest night of the year is Halloween.

Halloween – 26 stories

Stories

“The Haunting Legacy ” by Will Russell

Submitted to Contest #117

All Hallows Eve… Time and Year - Unknown A lonely horse galloped and trod independently away from a squalid cave, carrying a figure across their back. Driscol had escaped with their life… though unconscious, they rode away from the caves glow. One rider on its back – its roped restraints had been torn by its powerful terrors, but the passenger fixated… to remain… indefinitely. It dashed in a certain direction… far and away from this dirty grotto. Soon another followed suit, then three more, each one striding with more unburdened frenzy tha...

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“Lost Memories Antique” by Rachel Bauer

Submitted to Contest #117

Hello, my name is Clara. I’m the third child out of five of Scarlett and Jeffery Caputo. When I became 21, they gave me their shop. I’m now the proud owner of Lost Memories Antique and I’m very happy with what I do. My older siblings were offered this chance, but business wasn’t their passion. Truth be told, it’s not mine either. However, that’s not why I took this place. I understood why it’s so special. There’s more to Lost Memories than just the little knick knacks. Before my parents gave me this little shop, they had m...

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“The Convocation of Baal Betwixt The Final Zenith of Osiris” by E Moss

Submitted to Contest #117

(trigger warning: acts of brutal, disturbing and esoteric violence bearing a ritualistic nature; iconoclastic imagery and allusions; cataclysmic terrestrial events potentially anxiety-inducing and evocative of certain environmental uncertainties) Everything was ready for the ritual. The owl would be plucked so the howling recesses of the drawing-room window would be opened to the applause of jade brilliant dappled across a baleful constellation, flaring saffron darkly from outermost the fall of the shadow over forests splintered with imp...

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“THE CLEANSING” by D G

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. It hadn’t been easy. There had been so much to do. It takes time to get it right. Being slipshod could be more dangerous than doing nothing at all. Getting the stuff had been a challenge because of the time issue. It was her fault. Things had been so crazy lately she hadn’t paid attention to the calendar, and now it was the day of the New Moon, a time for beginnings. And timing is everything. Transport had been another issue. Friends could help but people liked explanations and she didn’t have the ene...

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“The Butcher of Cedar Falls (Trigger Warning)” by Greg Kendall

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. Candles lit, the mirror pointed at the tombstone that read, Dennis Morgan 1925-1955, and five people holding hands in a circle. “Are you sure about this, Kristen?” Vanessa asked. “Yes, I’m sure. I practiced the words a thousand times,” Kristen said. Jason let out a loud belch and Charlie and Bobby began to laugh. “Okay, be quiet guys. This is serious,” Kristen said. “Yes mam,” Bobby said. Kristen began saying the words that were supposed to summon the spirit of Dennis Morga...

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“The Summoning” by Katie Lukes

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. My supplies were lined up in the sand like soldiers prepared for battle, and my hands shook with nervous anticipation. I was in way over my head, but I had to maintain my facade — to make them believe I was who (or what) I claimed to be. I knew she was watching, and if I let my guard down now, I’d be the laughing stock of the whole school. My entire reputation was in the balance this Halloween night.Here goes nothing, I thought, as I closed my eyes and turned my face upward toward the full moon…Before I r...

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“Exorcising Terry Gray” by Stevie Dotson

Submitted to Contest #117

My hair is a pink wig…an insult, certainly, but necessary. I am not the only pink-haired sexy witch crowded into the Bar and Shield, the local biker dive bar, for the Halloween festivities. Most everyone, elbow to elbow, beer in hand, has come in already drinking or already high, and the pot smokers’ table by the back fence continues to fill. Outlaw country pours from tonight’s band, Terry Gray playing and singing. Local never-would-be, Terry still melted my heart, in his blue flannel shirt that I used to sleep in, and hi...

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“The Master” by Shelley Blevins

Submitted to Contest #117

Trigger: CUTTING, BLOOD, RITUAL Each one of them had selected their costumes with great care. The costumes were well-tailored and made for each person with great care and precision. There were 12 of them in all. Nine men and three women had been granted the opportunity to wear these costumes for this one special night. The women’s costumes were elaborate, with linings of silk and velvet. The richness of the fabric felt soft against their skin. Their masks were of equal opulence, with real diamonds and other j...

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“Dead Mystery” by Kamesh G

Submitted to Contest #117

Dead Mystery Dear Diary, 10/29/2001 It was a normal day at school for me. I woke up, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, and ate breakfast. You know the normal things you do when you wake up. Except for today I d...

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“The Porchlight” by Cindy Joyner

Submitted to Contest #117

The Porchlight Ok, a story about an urban legend is nothing new. We’ve all heard them. We all know at least one. Every town has them. But sometimes they are more than just a tale passed down through the generations. Sometimes they are more than an urban legend. This is just that. And, not only that, This legend changed my life. Every Halloween in the working-class city of Pittsburgh there is a middle-class neighborhood of Brookline. It’s filled wi...

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“The Trade” by Anna Kratki

Submitted to Contest #117

Content warning: gore, violence“I’m looking for Pelagie.” No one on the veranda stirred. It was as if they were all trying to think, their eyes diverted up toward the ceiling fan above.“Pelagie?” repeated Samson.Koffi cupped his chin in his hand, rubbing the grey stubble of his beard back and forth. It was like sandpaper, three days post-shave. He winced: it was his mouth again.Angelica, next to him, let her feet dangle off her stool. Back and forth they went like pendulums. She breathed out long, as if she’d exhausted all her mental c...

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“When Alice Vanished ” by Kathleen Whalen

Submitted to Contest #117

On December 22 2001, Alice Murphy stepped off the school bus and walked home. Then, she completely vanished. No one on the bus claimed to know what happened. Joe Winston, the bus driver and all but the youngest children on board were questioned by police and said they saw nothing unusual. This was the last school day before the Christmas holiday and the kids were too preoccupied with outdoing one another, bragging about the awesome presents Santa would be leaving under their trees. Joe Winston had other things on his mind as well. He planned...

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“Painting in the Moonlight” by Pako Dunwhile

Submitted to Contest #117

Moonlight basked the entirety of the mysterious, oil painting through the castle tower windows. Its oak-carved, intricate frame towered over Lady Margaret. Her mouth hung in awe at its majesty. Tiny hairs on her neck stood tall. The oil artwork depicted a solid, wooden bridge spanning a broad chasm. A large, handmade sign in red letters indicating DO NOT ENTER had been painted near the bridge’s entrance. The backside of an identical sign stood on the chasm’s far side. Lady Margaret had waited for this moment after obtaining the dead king’s ...

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“The Escort” by Heather Wolverton

Submitted to Contest #117

Trigger Warning: Death and Afterlife I see you teetering in the space between. You are clinging to life and begging for death at the same time. Your body suffers. Your soul suffers. And still, you won’t let go. Is it fear of what lies beyond that holds you in this state of limbo, or is it desperation to hang on to what you had before? Perhaps a combination of both. It usually is. Death is not a simple matter. I know you fear it, Death. Everyone does at one point or another. But I know you’re almost begging for it, too. Your soul ha...

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“The Choice” by Amy Roseberry

Submitted to Contest #117

“Arrgg Alice, you tread on my toe again! And have you drank all the whiskey?!” “Oy, stop moving around so much or you’ll wake her up!” “I want to wake her up, we only have so much time let’s talk to her” “Are you mad? She will think she’s lost her mind! We can’t just start talking to her” The ancestors shifted around the bed in the small room where Anna slept. “Just look at her would ya? She gets that beautiful hair from my side” “As if! She gets it from mine!” They began to argue louder and louder until suddenly they...

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$250

Prize money

226

Contest entries

153

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 29, 2021 EST

Won by John Merino 🏆

Title: Sleep Story

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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