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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

“A Knock at the Door” by Michael Dea

Submitted to Contest #221

The day was a chill winter one, with snow coming down in the steady way that covers a city street in a thick comforter of childhood memory. There were few people outside, with most shoveling or running some errand that couldn’t wait for the storm to clear. I, like most sensible people, preferred to stay inside. There’s something about the cold that always made me happy as a child; it might have been the holidays or the way the cold air allowed a person to swaddle themselves like a baby. I used to think it made one feel more alive, an...

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“DEVOUR ” by Walter Bingham

Submitted to Contest #221

Swaying to a carefully selected mix of songs from Toni Braxton, Kenny G, Sade and The Isley Brothers, Camryn Lewis strolled through the mansion, holding a glass of cabernet she had purchased at a local farmer's market. She turned it up loud on the home audio system, the mellow music filling the house with the vibe of a downtown jazz bistro. If she hadn't gone to Yale for archaeology, one might think that she would have been a disc jockey. However, Camryn was distinctly familiar with quality, soulful music. Her pride sprang from that one ca...

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“Symphony to Chaos: A tale of Darkness” by Debora Carvalho

Submitted to Contest #221

The wind howled in despair, whistling like a runaway train. A symphony of fear penetrated the bones of the living beings forced to cross the line, making them vibrate at the same frequency until they turned into dust. The darkness was thick, like a heavy, impenetrable curtain, and no star dared to lend its brightness to illuminate the path. At the foot of the highest mountain, a faint greenish light indicated that the final destination was approaching. The wooden hut profaned the air with its poisonous thorns embedded in every wall. They ha...

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“Forbidden Forest” by Joseph Douthit

Submitted to Contest #221

The forest floor was drenched with the mist that hung in the air, the sounds of the creatures dwelling inside sounded both far away and close by. Luna walked cautiously under the low-hanging branches, pressing her hand into the mossy trunks to keep her balance as she placed one soggy boot in front of the other. She could feel eyes on her at all times as she moved as silently as possible through the muck, twigs, and saturated rocks of the forest floor. The mist that hung in the air was thick, dense, and heavy, almost weighing everything...

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“Morgana the Necromancer” by Allana Dehart

Submitted to Contest #221

This story includes descriptions of blood and rotting flesh and tortured souls as well as physical pain. Morgana stood in the catacombs, both hands on top of a stone coffin, her head was bowed, her long dark hood covering her pale and cracked face. Years of magic had not been kind to her but she was determined to accomplish her goals before the dark magic circulating through her veins killed her first. The body before her was less of a body and more of a skeleton, the bits of rotting grey flesh still clinging to its ribcage and face the on...

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“The Fen Beast” by Noah Aylward

Submitted to Contest #221

The frigid night sky was alight with a living sheen of deep blues, sanguine crimsons, and greens as deep as the densest jungles of Lon Dar. In the silver moonlight, the snow pouring down in great torrents seemed to be of the finest powder, but not a speck of it fell upon the cowl of the sorcerer Yonar Helthris. In better days, Yonar Helthris had been a court magician to the emperor of Herud Hiti, but the coming of Mal Char-Nal had wrought an evil doom for the wizards of that city. Not with all their strength combined could they have put up e...

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“Leila's Big Idea” by Aditi Kumar

Submitted to Contest #221

As soon as Leila heard the phrase, groaned in exasperation by Mr. Ray to Mr. Joby when the end-of-recess bell rang for Little Flowers Nursery, she knew what she had to do.Leila raced all the way back to her classroom, heart thumping in her tiny chest. The idea flashed in tandem through her mind; it was clear and beautiful, like the perfectly formed hibiscus Mummy had once pointed out in their garden. Leila imagined her idea sprouting, then growing into leaves and stems and petals as soon as she told the others.Her squeals startled everyone w...

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“God Wouldn't Mind” by Ian Grogan

Submitted to Contest #221

The smell of sulfur filled Emily’s nostrils as she struck the matchhead on the side of the box. The light from the flame caused her to temporarily see spots every time she blinked. She extended the match to the fresh wick resting atop the blood red candle she had found in a drawer in the house and lit it. The wax instantly pooled and ran down the sides of the beacon before dripping onto the grass. Emily rested on her knees next to the freshly filled hole with her Bible in her hand and optimistic thoughts on her mind. She needed her Henry t...

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“Mara, the Lady of the Dead” by Dan Pratt

Submitted to Contest #221

In the land of Ocitta, everyone knows that the dead do not rest easy. From old wives' tales and children’s bedtime stories to sketchy first-hand accounts and scholarly discussions, the land was full of stories of animated skeletons, shambling corpses and the dark forces that commanded them. Although many of these stories have become embellished or exaggerated over the years, they often have a basis in truth. This is one of those stories - the story of Mara, the Lady of the Dead. Mara was a young woman of wealth and fortune fr...

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“At Any Cost” by Sarah Dean

Submitted to Contest #221

Jameson wasn’t the best necromancer out there by any stretch of the imagination. Her Nan had told her so many times that he should leave that to her brother. ‘Necromancy was a man’s art,’ she’d say. ‘Women create and deal with giving life. Healing, for example. Not death and certainly not bringing the dead back.’ Thinking back, maybe Nan had been trying to look out for her, attempting to get her to let it go so she would lead a normal life. She certainly would’ve benefited from a little bit of normalcy from time to time in the past thirteen ...

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“A Town of Ghosts” by Blake Taylor

Submitted to Contest #221

It was a literal ghost town. Yasu could see the apparitions gliding along their day thanks to the sturdy steampunk-looking goggles over her eyes. Children came out of their burial plots and skipped to the playground next to the cemetery. The bottles lying around, which were empty before, were filled with a glowing substance. Yasu didn’t want to think about how there could be ghost liquid. Next to her, her friend was in awe. “I didn’t know the afterlife could be like this,” Michael drawled in his Southern accent. “Makes death feel lik...

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“The Clam Digger” by Wendell Dennison

Submitted to Contest #221

I grew up in Cutler, Maine. My great grandfather, Vincent Dennison, used to own the only store in town, but its no longer in operation. I think there is an unwritten ordinance in this town that all school aged young men are required to dig clams. My family lived on the Little Machias Road and across the street from our home was a narrow dirt road that led down to the shore called, “The Schoolhouse Road.” So named because it used to be the location of Cutler’s one-room schoolhouse. The small building was torn down long before my time, but I ...

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“Darkness Has No Name” by Len Rely

Submitted to Contest #221

Far out on the sea of Yblisi there are two islands connected by a river. That’s right, a freshwater river that comes from an enormous spring on the first island flows across the ocean’s surface a short distance becoming an inflowing stream on the second island. This is because the change in elevation is greater than the curvature of the sea itself; the first settlers released the spring from the high mountains and constructed a dam that keeps the tide out but allows the freshwater to leave. Millions of fish and seabirds are attracted t...

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“Spirit Finds A Way” by Brenda Troughton

Submitted to Contest #221

Ever wake up having the feeling today is the last day you’ll live? That’s what happened to me. I felt the warm sun penetrating the curtains, telling me it’s time to get up. Then it happened. As I sat up on the edge of the bed to stretch, I saw my spirit was no longer just outside myself. It was standing across the room trying to break the tether that binds us. That’s when I realized today will be my last. I know you think I’m crazy, don’t you? You’re thinking, no one sees their own spirit, especially when they are still very much aliv...

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“Don't Go Back” by Helen Anderson

Submitted to Contest #221

Don’t Go Back Trevor was up early that day, just like he was every other morning. He threw on his hi-vis shirt and long, blue work pants. You know the type, with the yellow reflective strips around the bottom. His steel-capped boots were stained with the undeniable evidence of years of hard work. The logo on his shirt read … “Thomas Constructions.” After brushing his teeth, he crept silently into the kid’s rooms and planted a loving kiss on each of their foreheads as they slept. I waited in the kitchen wearing my dressing gown and slip...

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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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