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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

“Invasion” by John Lynn

Submitted to Contest #117

Invasion As Aubrey Bailey slowed to enter the town of Ballyfrack he was pleased to see a hotel sign lit by an overhead street light and made up his mind there and then if there was accommodation available he would stop for the night. The meeting with the solicitor had taken far too long which meant he’d been caught up in rush hour traffic along the canal, then there was a big tailback because of roadworks followed by a ten mile an hour tractor that wouldn’t move over. So now he was running almost two hours behind schedule, it was already ...

8 comments 8
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“Emergency” by Christina Marie

Submitted to Contest #117

“Full moon tonight,” nurse Mary Bennett remarked, tying the strings of her paper gown with raw cracked fingers. The rest of the night shift stirred uneasily. Louise kissed the delicate silver crucifix that hung around her neck and muttered a prayer to the ceiling. Michael re-tied his shoelaces three times. Shelley lifted her face shield to chug the remains of a Red Bull. Superstition always flicked its forked tongue in the face of science on nights like this.   Outside, the fluorescent EMERGENCY sign shivered awake. A splatterin...

4 comments 4
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“Fool Me Once...” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual, or so Deborah thought. As the sun rose in the east, she began to clean her room from the previous night’s escapades. I can’t believe that drunk did so much damage in such a short time. She righted an upturned table in the center of the room. I need to be more careful next time. I don’t want to be caught cheating customers while conjuring spirits. If some drunken old fool could see the thread attached to my lamp, then who knows who else could have seen it? She placed the lamp back on the table and inspecte...

2 comments 2
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“The Unquiet” by Caroline Eddy

Submitted to Contest #117

“This is kind of ballsy,” Davis McKenna said with an unkind smile. Eve frowned, arms crossed over her blouse. She’d always hated. “I prefer unorthodox.” “Uh huh,” Davis sniffed. His eyes drifted to the next chair over, where Henry sat still save for an anxious bouncing leg. “And you’re sure about this?” “You’ve heard Eve’s answer,” Henry said in a clipped tone. “So are you going to let us get a move on or are you gonna stand in our way for another quarter hour?” “Just for that, I should say no.” “Then say no, Davis. Quit wasting ti...

2 comments 2
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“Beautiful” by JanetthePlanet 66

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything is ready for the ritual; me, the nurse with the silver tray, and Dr. Edmund Powers. Everything is ready, but I have been waiting a full two hours to get inside the doctor’s office and get started. The nurse is bustling around, a crisp white vision of medical efficiency, carrying small metal trays, whose contents defy gravity and rattle without sound. She darts across the room and scurries into the labyrinth of unblemished walls the colour of lightly suntanned angels, and enters through a pristine, heavy glass door, then disappears...

9 comments 9
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“Lights Go Down” by H. Lee Russell

Submitted to Contest #117

"So, tell me what this is again?" Heidi asked with the crabby tone that was typical for her nowadays. She scratched at the messy bun atop her scalp, a frock of red hair barely held together by a pink scrunchie. "It's an event I get paid to do," said David, brushing his thumb over the laptop's trackpad. "What, did you forget all the gigs I've done over the last four years?" "If by gigs, you mean hitting play on a Spotify playlist, then no, I haven't forgotten." Heidi kicked at a blue pebble, watched it skip into the street. "Har de har har...

5 comments 5
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“A Chainsaw Masquerade” by Allie Guilderson

Submitted to Contest #117

 TRIGGER WARNING: Violence, Gore, Domestic violenceTravis slumps into the tattered recliner and kicks his feet up. Though the mud on his work boots will no doubt smear the fabric, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t have the energy to remove them. There’s a knock at the door, but he ignores it. They’re just trick or treaters, he saw them on his way home.He shifts, trying to find a comfortable position in the squeaky, decrepit chair, and gazes longingly at the sofa. The mustard yellow shams wink at him, begging him to come and lay against its un...

6 comments 6
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“New Born Spirit” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #117

“Here. Take some before it’s gone.” Don shoved the flask into Greg’s ribs. “I’m good.” He gently pushed the bottle away and continued walking along Bayshore Boulevard overlooking Hillsborough Bay. Don held the bottle up and announced, “Everclear… Highly recommended by nine out of ten Neanderthals…” He guffawed and took another swig. “This stuff kicks ass!” He shook the pint bottle in Bill’s face. The clear liquid danced in the light from street lamps lining the water front. Bill took little notice. He spent his energy staying upright, and ...

2 comments 2
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“Nurse Sandy ” by Kaylee Aleece

Submitted to Contest #117

The center was quiet for a seasonal afternoon. Usually, the residents sat around playing bingo, cards, or dominos. The other residents plopped themselves in front of the television for entertainment. But today, everyone seemed to be in their rooms, patiently waiting for the day to end, so the cycle continued. Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened; some staff remarked that every day was groundhog’s day. Nothing ever changed, just the visitors that came and went. Although the residents would never know if anything did happen, and when th...

3 comments 3
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“The Village of Samhain” by Mira Night

Submitted to Contest #117

Samhain (sow-in); a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season, the origin of the holiday known as All Hallows' Eve.It is cold, tonight. The wind sweeps raindrops and flame-coloured leaves over the street, the air is filled with the brightness of lanterns and chatter. Trick-or-treaters dart joyously from door to door. I can see them well from my perch. My, it is a sight, all of those costumes. A little red fire fighter splashes through a puddle beneath me, calling to his mother with excited impatience. I love kids. I might have ha...

1 comment 1
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“The Dance of Corpses” by Writers Pond

Submitted to Contest #117

She sang, and he drank it up greedily. Never before had he felt so… complete. The feeling scared the life out of him. What if he lost it? It would be like losing an arm or a leg. Like never being able to walk again. A chill ran down his back, and he shook his arms a little as if to check that they were still there. The hum of the city grew more and more distant as the forest swallowed him. The images of the people who needed him swam in the back of his mind. Their hungry eyes, begging. He forced the pictures away, and let his legs float f...

5 comments 5
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“All Hallow's Eve” by Harken Void

Submitted to Contest #117

October thirty-first, Halloween. The one night of the year when the ethereal and material realms come so close their boundaries collide. The one night people should stay indoors, surrounded by a circle of salt and warding symbols, praying that the wickedness did not find its way into the safety of their homes. Yet for the five, it was the one night in the year they got a break from being themselves. Five kids stood on the edge of a sidewalk late at night, staring down an empty street. Lights shone from most houses, laughter, and music comi...

2 comments 2
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“Hel” by Shiloh Ord

Submitted to Contest #117

Trigger Warning: Mentioning of death. Parentage is and has always been an important factor in who you are and who you will become. For some, having a "high-class" father would give them comfort and riches. However, for myself and my siblings that is not exactly the case. Living in a deep cavern, with dripping water and cold rock and dirt floors is not something one would expect with our parentage. Feeling like a hidden secret as your mother and father come and go as they please, not allowing you out of your own desolate space. That's ...

0 comments 0
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“The Ghost of Happy Jack McGee” by Patrick OMasters

Submitted to Contest #117

In central Montana, just east of the Continental Divide lies the remains of a boomtown that during the area's gold rush was abustle with merchants, a few settlers, and hopeful sourdoughs dreaming of a rich strike. Locals tell stories of one "Happy" Jack McGee, a man who left his home in Virginia for the goldfields of the California Gold Rush where he had a very successful claim that netted him a small fortune in gold nuggets. As all successful claims eventually do, his played out so he took his poke and was heading east toward home when he h...

2 comments 2
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“When Love is Sin, Become the Heretic” by Vince Salamone

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. The incense was lit, Binding wraps anointed in the proper oils and dusted with unfirth bone-ash. She’d taken care in preparing the room, clearing it of furnishings before drawing out the containment channels with the strange metal shavings she’d taken from the Belfrost mines—what felt like a lifetime ago now, though only a few years had passed. Mounds of marrow candles fought to hold back the darkness suffocating the corners of the room; unnecessary for the binding, but paramount to Ahmelia’s peace of mi...

0 comments 0
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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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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