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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#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.

This week's prompts

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

Halloween – 133 stories

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

Halloween – 137 stories

Write a story about someone trying to raise the dead.

Halloween – 49 stories

Write a story where ghosts and the living coexist.

Halloween – 69 stories

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

Halloween – 35 stories

Stories

“The Haunted Minstrel” by Hezr Hodn

Submitted to Contest #221

The Haunted Minstrel ...

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“Give Me My Crown” by Isabel Kizer

Submitted to Contest #221

“I can’t get the blood out of my floor.” On the other line, Georgie was a mess. Mason could hear her sniffling and blubbering every time she opened her mouth. “Just– just use bleach or– fuck, I don’t know Mason– this is insane.” “It could be worse,” Mason answered, balancing the phone between her shoulder and her ear and she scrubbed at the carpet. The threads were bright red, and her towel was smeared with crimson. “He could’ve tripped on his shoelaces or something. Can’t imagine he’d live that down.” “He won’t be living shit down, Mason...

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“The Glyph” by Christopher Morrow

Submitted to Contest #221

Master dreadtrician Nadia Chu followed her team down the stone steps to the catacombs. The steps were not dusty, neither was the stairway dark, it was well-lit and clean. The dead were citizens in Rothgan and were given appropriate respect. The stewards kept the catacombs as livable as the rest of the estate. It was clean, well-lit with oil lamps, and free of rodents. It still smelled damp, that couldn't be helped. As the retinue reached the final resting place of Queen Agnol the Belligerent (as she was known to all but herself), the apprent...

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“A Pinch of Salt” by Austin Baker

Submitted to Contest #221

“A pinch of grave soil freshly turned, the feather of a raven… or was it a crow? Three pinches of salt, or to taste… uhm…” “You’ve no idea how to do this, do you?” The question was punctuated with a thud, the tip of the spade biting deep into earth. The gravekeeper paused there, planting the heel of his boot against the wooden haft. “Grave soil, check. We got plenty of it. And that’s a raven’s feather, so I hope that’s what you wanted. But salt? Really? I always heard it was supposed to keep away ghosts.” “I wasn’t aware I hired an expert to...

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“The Lady of Harrow” by Dan Ward

Submitted to Contest #221

14 November 1902Dear ThaddiusI thank you so kindly for your last letter, as well as the wreath you so thoughtfully sent. The staff and I were sorry to not have the pleasure of your presence during these solemn times. Of course it would be unforgivable to have asked you to make the journey back from America, even under such grave circumstances. The memorial was as pleasant as such things can be. It was an unusually bright and clear day here in London, and we were fortunate enough for the Harrow council to suspend the church service for A...

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“Revenants” by Kyle Meyer

Submitted to Contest #221

August 30, 1752 My Dearest Isabella, After a long uneventful journey I have finally reached the shores of Acadia. I already miss you more than words can describe. I can only hope that this endeavour proves fruitful and brief. So it appears this small plot of land, endowed to my family on behalf of my grandfathers service to King and country, seems pittance; hardly worth my leaving Massachussets, leaving my medical practice, leaving you… Yet I find myself hoping s...

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“The Obsession of Dr. Gemmel” by Gavin Gifford

Submitted to Contest #221

Friday, January 11th, 1985 Ned stood still, watching Eliza wheel in the newest cadaver. The diminutive assistant worked with expert efficiency, using the hydraulic pumping mechanism on the gurney to raise the body up before undoing a latch and sliding the cadaver onto the rubber coated metal table at the center of the room. At the far wall, Dr. Gemmel sat hunched over a keyboard in front of a wall of monitors, checking all the programs and sensors, an almost frantic and frazzled air about him. It was a cramped and cluttered laboratory, wit...

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“Old Friends” by Josh Ziegelbauer

Submitted to Contest #221

This story contains some swearing and brief horror. “There’s been many tools that were meant to raise the dead, but there is one sure fire way you can.” Bill says in his Texan Twang. Bill is what you picture when you hear ‘cowboy.’ Six foot five with a muscular frame, he is never afraid to shoot from the hip and ‘give it to ya straight.’ He never goes anywhere without wearing his cowboy boots and a ten gallon hat, they’ve just become part of him. He is sitting around a small table with two similar ‘cowboys’ who usually take everything he ...

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“Primum non Nocere” by Richard Griffths

Submitted to Contest #221

“Look alive, guys, we got another code blue coming in five minutes.” The doctor screamed through the still swinging doors. His scrubs were still stained with the blood of his last patient. “Jesus, what happened out there? They just keep coming.” Mary asked, dark bags hung under her eyes like sickly plums. “A lady told me a semi drove on the wrong side of the inters...

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“Until our Souls meet again” by Rya Johnson

Submitted to Contest #221

“It has to be on the full moon tomorrow night, Saanvi.” Mia Kimmons explains as she hands Saanvi Khaliid the beautifully wrapped little box. “All the components and instructions are inside. Are you sure about this?” “You have known me my whole life Mia, have I ever done anything spontaneously?” Saanvi responds quiet as she holds Mia’s hesitant stare; her hands tightly gripping the red satin cloth wrapped around the box. “I know but you know the trade. And it’s fo...

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“Chapter 25” by Danielle Azoulay

Submitted to Contest #221

The February sky hung over my shoulders like a velvet cape. Frosty tidbits of clouds tiptoed eerily across its surface, seemingly collaborating with the nipping winds and threatening a terrible storm.I grinned. My favorite weather. The Broken Horse was bustling with the usual Saturday night crowd. Young hipsters decorated with gold-rimmed glasses, glittery girls with pleather pants that looked painted on, and the occasional shifty-eyed couple, completing an unspoken trust exercise with their partners near a busy, horny crowd.I slinked r...

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“Hollywood Undead” by Sabrina Rose

Submitted to Contest #221

It was a calm, dark night, calm before the storm as they say, which was reported for that evening, which also happened to be Halloween. The clouds hung thick in the air of the Hollywood cemetery as Colin, Stefi and Jimmy walked through, passing beautiful mausoleums and weeping angels. Colin took a deep breath. “I love the smell of stormy night.” “I love that white hue of the moon peeking through even though its half hid by these clouds.” Stefi admired the reflection in the pool of water nearby. “It is nice...

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“Please Resurrect Me” by Malcolm Carter

Submitted to Contest #221

Please resurrect me. The prompt for this story is: “Write a story about someone trying to raise the dead”; but if you’re me, and I am, you’re writing this prompt: “How to be pretentious in 1000-ish words with roughly 15 minutes to spare before the deadline". My cat, Lucy, died last November. She was close to 10 years old. She wasn’t doing so well, and it got to the point where she didn’t want to eat, so I took her to the emergency vet, who told me they thought she had cancer and that it had spread. I made the choice to have her euthanized....

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“The Church and the Chatty. ” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #221

"You can do magic," Cheerful Charlie from the church practically moaned in orgasmic delight. Why was this? He had been summoned by Chatty Cathy to be her assistant, and try her latest concoction. These two were no Spring chickens. Absolutely not. Nothing to get too serious about these days. Longstanding pals, they sat in the back pew on Sunday, devoutly saying their prayers. They were doing a great job for their community all those years. A few Sundays prior, their religious leader had been preaching to the converted and the choir. The messa...

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“Ghost Friend: A Miller South Teens Halloween Story” by Tori L. Day

Submitted to Contest #221

It was late fall in Akron, Ohio. Mason, Finn, Lexi, and Xenna were in town, visiting the Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens. Inside the manor, they were touring the hallway and viewing out the paintings. "This place is booorrrriinnnggg," Finn groaned. "Come on, man. It's not that bad," Mason reassured. He placed his arm around his friend's shoulder. "Remember, we use to visit this place when we were at Miller South." "That was when we thought old stuff was cool. Now, it's just dull and gross." "Like our vice principal, Ms. Allen," L...

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$250

Prize money

423

Contest entries

148

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.

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

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