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#221: Ghostly

With Halloween fast approaching, I find myself thinking about the different kinds of spooky stories we like to tell each other. Year after year, there’s one particular topic I gravitate towards when in search of a thrill: ghosts. Whether they’re friendly or vengeful, these haunting spectors represent more than just our fears and anxieties around our own mortality. They’re also symbols of the collision between the past and present, and the ways what has been can tangibly affect what will be. It’s no wonder, with the universality of these themes, that ghosts feature in folklore from all around the world.

This week, as the veil between worlds continues to thin, let’s dive into that liminal space between life and death, and see what it has to offer us.

🥇 Winner

“Clearance Aisle Libations” by Bay Colt

The worst part about being an amateur necromancer is that no one respects you, not even the dead. My older brother, Joseph, is practically crying over the phone, struggling to speak through great gasps of heaving, wheezing laughter. After way too many seconds of this, he finally manages to choke out, “Really? Goddamn—Mountain Dew?” Irritated, I switch the phone to my other ear, tipping my head a...

89 comments 89 WINNER 🏆

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“A Ghost's Testimony” by AnneMarie Miles

After the living and the dead decided to merge worlds, the supreme court was flooded with appeals. With “coexist” being a hot topic in the first half of the 21st century, most people thought it would be a great idea to create a union between the two worlds. They thought they’d get their loved ones back; they thought they’d get access to generational wisdom from their deceased elders back, and perhaps, some old family recipes could finally resurface. People could only think of the missing pieces in their lives that they want...

64 comments 64 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Unreliable” by Scott Christenson

Jake called the Windy City Ice hotline. His grandfather’s voice answered. “If your Windy City Ice machine is currently malfunctioning, leave your name and contact number after the beep. Our licensed service technician will contact you shortly. Windy City Ice is a family-owned company, and we care about our customers.”Jake hung up and returned to writing The Siren Under Highway D. Writing was an escape from his father. After grandfather's passing, the company's accountant made it clear that Windy City was heading toward b...

35 comments 35 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Shucked” by RJ Holmquist

Finally I was dead. This was the moment I had waited for my entire life. To be clear, I did nothing to hurry its arrival, nothing egregious anyway, despite the fact that my husk of clay wasn’t always what I’d call "amenable" to keeping itself alive. Nonetheless, I really did do my best as long as it was my duty. I fed it, exercised it, gave it multi-vitamins when I remembered and generally deferred from the things it craved that would clog its arteries, fog its brain and otherwise break down its fragile fickleness. But all along I knew ti...

33 comments 33 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“After the Fall” by Laurel Hanson

Smokey shapes hover over me in dark smudges I cannot erase. I try to push my way past the tangled grey, but icy claws grip my arms. The air, too hot, feels clotted. Between the pulsing shrieks that always accompany these dreams, an unfamiliar voice weaves its question over and over. “Remember?” I want to scream but fear locks my throat.When I open my eyes, it is to the green relief of my back garden and the woods beyond. I must have fallen asleep in my rocker on the porch. It’s bathed in afternoon sun, warm and soothing,...

35 comments 35 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Purgo Inc.” by Aaron Galassi

"Thank you for contacting Purgo, where we keep memories alive! Your call is very important to us and your loved one. We are currently experiencing longer than average wait times. Please hold, or if you know your parties extension you may dial it at anytime."Smooth jazz erupted after the automated message."If I didn't know better, I'd think I'm the one that is in hell," Logan removed his glasses and massaged his forehead with his fingers. When his father passed, he called every week after Mass. It was a fresh wound that was d...

20 comments 20 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“slug/salt” by Danielle Barr

Content warning: stillbirth, war She doesn’t know that I’m gone yet. I’ve never seen her before, not as anything but filmy shadows undulating behind creamy pink light, but I would know her anywhere. She’s beautiful; I knew she would be. I could hear it in her voice; the way it crackled with emotion as she sang the words of Taps to soothe the practice pains that washed over us both i...

10 comments 10 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“The Space Between Lines” by Jesse Glover

Every morning for 72 years, Len’s analog alarm clock beeped its staccato rhythm at precisely 5:00 a.m. He’d fold over the covers, careful not to wake Mary next to him, shower and don his suit for the day. Pants, shirt, tie, belt, socks and shoes in exactly that order.He steeped his tea for four minutes. No shorter, no longer. Add just enough honey to round the sharp edge of the bitterness. His toast popped and he cut the crusts off just so before sitting at the table and opening the newspaper, the world's messiness sprea...

5 comments 5 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“afterLIVE” by Claire Marsh

Three, Violet dragged her tongue across her top front teeth, last chance to remove any stray lipstick. Two, she straightened her posture, ‘shoulders back and bust to the judges,’ her mother’s pageant mantra clanging in her ears. And…“Well, hello there, you’re so welcome to afterLive, now let’s spend forever together! I’m Violet Misstep and this handsome devil is my co-presenter, and dearest friend, Benjamin Golightly.” Leaning across just enough to flash some well-scaffolded cleavage at camera ...

9 comments 9 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Little Sister, Little Sister ” by Diamond Keener

TW: References to self harm/suicide and sexual assault. It turns out that hell is real. Its physical location is in Ohio, go figure. The calendar on the refrigerator is the only thing that reminds me of how long I’ve been here. I'm not in the future, I'm in the past. My mother, who is the same age that I was when I died, keeps forgetting to tear off the calendar pages on weekends. She is oblivious to the torture this causes me. It’s been September 9th for three days. She will re...

7 comments 7 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Bella Ciao” by Eric E

Until I met the man with the accordion, I wasn’t the kind of person who believed in ghosts. * Who am I, you might be wondering? Well, the name isn’t important. But some details are. Yes, it is a ‘cardinal sin’ of storytelling to dump information in the exposition, but some sins are needed to live life effectively. I’m a 29 year-old English teacher who lives in London. Where I’m from is not important - what’s really salient here is that I’m not a nut-job. I don’t buy into c...

5 comments 5 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Feast” by Carol Stone

Feast It’s 2 a.m. Cassie’s mournful dirge drifts up from the pantry. I lie in bed staring at the moonlight through the open window, exhausted from the absence of sleep, pondering whether tonight is the night I start to set boundaries, feign ignorance to my daughter’s call for attention or go downstairs to take care of her needs as I have done every night since she ...

5 comments 5 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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This week's prompts

Write a story from a ghost’s point of view.

Halloween – 138 stories

Write a story about someone who is haunted. Whether by a ghost or something else is up to you.

Halloween – 145 stories

Write a story about someone trying to raise the dead.

Halloween – 50 stories

Write a story where ghosts and the living coexist.

Halloween – 72 stories

Set your story in a world where contacting the dead is as easy as making a phone call.

Halloween – 35 stories

Stories

“Clearance Aisle Libations” by Bay Colt

The worst part about being an amateur necromancer is that no one respects you, not even the dead. My older brother, Joseph, is practically crying over the phone, struggling to speak through great gasps of heaving, wheezing laughter. After way too many seconds of this, he finally manages to choke out, “Really? Goddamn—Mountain Dew?” Irritated, I switch the phone to my other ear, tipping my head a...

89 comments 89 WINNER 🏆

Read story

“Phoning Melinda” by Kevin B

The line is one block deep by the time I arrive. I always tell myself I’ll get to the shop early, but life intervenes with burnt toast or my landlord banging on my door asking about back rent. Sure enough, I don’t get to Marty’s until after eleven, and there it is--the line. “How’s it moving today,” I ask the woman in front of me. She gives me half a glance before taking an...

Read story

“A Ghost's Testimony” by AnneMarie Miles

After the living and the dead decided to merge worlds, the supreme court was flooded with appeals. With “coexist” being a hot topic in the first half of the 21st century, most people thought it would be a great idea to create a union between the two worlds. They thought they’d get their loved ones back; they thought they’d get access to generational wisdom from their deceased elders back, and perhaps, some old family recipes could finally resurface. People could only think of the missing pieces in their lives that they want...

64 comments 64 SHORTLIST ⭐️

Read story

“Unreliable” by Scott Christenson

Jake called the Windy City Ice hotline. His grandfather’s voice answered. “If your Windy City Ice machine is currently malfunctioning, leave your name and contact number after the beep. Our licensed service technician will contact you shortly. Windy City Ice is a family-owned company, and we care about our customers.”Jake hung up and returned to writing The Siren Under Highway D. Writing was an escape from his father. After grandfather's passing, the company's accountant made it clear that Windy City was heading toward b...

35 comments 35 SHORTLIST ⭐️

Read story

“JACK O'LANTERN: The story behind the legend” by Shirley Medhurst

This is the true tale behind the legend of Jack O’Lantern. But before I begin, I’d like to share with you, if I may, a few little-known facts about Halloween.Nowadays, many people believe that this is an American concept, although there is no mention made of it in U.S. history until after the arrival of over two million Irish migrants escaping the great famine at the start of the nineteenth century. Since then, many of the age-old customs the Irish brought with them have been modifi...

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“A Ghostly Discourse” by Tom Skye

Thomas and Giles were sitting at the kitchen table preparing for Halloween night. Though the boys were unaware of his presence, Arthur sat at the table listening to his two grandchildren.“No, the holes in the sheet aren’t the eyes, idiot!” Thomas exclaimed.“Well, what are they then?” Giles asked. “Is this more comic book knowledge?”“Listen. The reason a ghost looks like a sheet isn’t because they are white and wavy. It’s because they are invisible. They drape a sheet over themselves so...

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“Vanishing Point” by Howard Halsall

Time stopped for me one Saturday night a year ago, at eleven-thirty-five p.m. I’d no sense of danger as I meandered home in the dark and if there was an omen present in the stars, then I missed all the signs. That’s not surprising because I’m not superstitious and my attention was elsewhere as I approached the crossroads.Sylvie and I had argued earlier about my impromptu night out, and she’d sent endless messages to my phone expressing her annoyance. It was nothing to get upset about and I ought to have apologised rather than ...

Read story

“Shucked” by RJ Holmquist

Finally I was dead. This was the moment I had waited for my entire life. To be clear, I did nothing to hurry its arrival, nothing egregious anyway, despite the fact that my husk of clay wasn’t always what I’d call "amenable" to keeping itself alive. Nonetheless, I really did do my best as long as it was my duty. I fed it, exercised it, gave it multi-vitamins when I remembered and generally deferred from the things it craved that would clog its arteries, fog its brain and otherwise break down its fragile fickleness. But all along I knew ti...

33 comments 33 SHORTLIST ⭐️

Read story

“Over My Dead Body” by Jonathan Page

I sit in the corner of the embalming room watching as the mustached man drains the blood from my corpse. The corpse lies on a metal table, covered in a white tarp. And there is a faint choker of purple bruising and checkered abrasions around my neck. The blood in the tubes is purple-colored, with streaks of black.My irises are cloudy white films, my pupils are fading black lifeless dots. As the mortician hooks me up to the embalming machine with its pump and wires, and the cold fluid enters the veins of my body, I feel n...

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“Racing Shadows” by Rebecca Miles

TW: Grief and mourning Hoofbeats thunder across the dark plains of the sky. The clouds toss, revealing the white of the moon’s eye, rolled back in fright. I crane my head out of the window but my hair is flying wildly about my face and I can see little, only the deepest dark. It’s been waiting for me: banished by the city lights, the votive candles I burn, but gathering here: an army of shadows, massing, ready for the assault. Somewhere, in this impenetrable uproar, is our new house; it’s ...

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“Worst First Vacation” by Michał Przywara

Aiden took a steadying breath, downed the double shot of rum in the plastic cup, swiped his key card, and pushed the door open. He tossed the cup on the floor, and grabbed the shovel he borrowed from the groundskeepers, with both hands. Now or never, he thought, as he entered his hotel room. His flip flops squeaked on the vaguely sticky floor, and his heart hammered in his chest. And he was sweating. “Hello...

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“Your Words ” by Danie Holland

T/W: BereavementThose words you said before… they ate at me every day. They gnawed on my bones and swam like sharp knives in my veins. Did you know what you were doing when you said them? How they would hang on my shoulders like a weight dragging me down, down, down. That they would drown me in dark waters while I was awake. Then, how they would suffocate me with heaviness whenever I dared to sleep? They hunted me down in every moment I spent without you. You said them like they were a blessing. Why did they feel like a ...

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“The Waiting Room” by Chris Miller

A pot noodle is not an acceptable breakfast for a homeowner, but the cat’s got conjunctivitis and there might be a nuclear war. The diesel shudder of the crowded bus made a cocktail shaker of my nervous gut and my vibrating seat was mixing up the dirtiest of martinis. It took a super-human effort not to add a bellyful of rehydrated beefy noodles to the oily hair that spilled over the back of the ...

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“Just a Call Away” by Lynn J

Her best friend is horrified when she tells her the news.“Jenny!” Aria exclaims, “You- you can not be serious right now?!”Jenny rolls her bottom lip between her teeth. She knew Aria would react that way. Hell, it would’ve been odd if she didn’t. If the roles were reversed, Jenny probably would have reacted the same way, if not with more screaming and a couple dozen curse words.“Jenny, please,” Aria continues; Jenny swallows agains...

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“The Spooky Boogie” by Daniel R. Hayes

(CW: Violence, crude humor)Halloween is a holiday that everyone knows well because it’s the only time humans and spirits can co-exist. Every year on October thirty-first, the dead rise from their graves and walk among us. The demons crawl out from the shadows because the holy light holds no sway, and even the monsters come out to play.At first, there was bloodshed on both sides, but it didn’t take long for humans to adapt to the annual phenomenon by dressing up in silly costumes to...

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$250

Prize money

440

Contest entries

155

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 27, 2023 EST

Won by Bay Colt 🏆

Title: Clearance Aisle Libations

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.

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