#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
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133 stories
Write a story about someone who is haunted. Whether by a ghost or something else is up to you.
Halloween
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137 stories
Write a story about someone trying to raise the dead.
Halloween
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49 stories
Write a story where ghosts and the living coexist.
Halloween
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69 stories
Set your story in a world where contacting the dead is as easy as making a phone call.
Halloween
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35 stories
Stories
“A Knock at the Door” by Michael Dea
Submitted to Contest #221
“DEVOUR ” by Walter Bingham
Submitted to Contest #221
“Symphony to Chaos: A tale of Darkness” by Debora Carvalho
Submitted to Contest #221
“Forbidden Forest” by Joseph Douthit
Submitted to Contest #221
“Morgana the Necromancer” by Allana Dehart
Submitted to Contest #221
“The Fen Beast” by Noah Aylward
Submitted to Contest #221
“Leila's Big Idea” by Aditi Kumar
Submitted to Contest #221
“God Wouldn't Mind” by Ian Grogan
Submitted to Contest #221
“Mara, the Lady of the Dead” by Dan Pratt
Submitted to Contest #221
“At Any Cost” by Sarah Dean
Submitted to Contest #221
“A Town of Ghosts” by Blake Taylor
Submitted to Contest #221
“The Clam Digger” by Wendell Dennison
Submitted to Contest #221
“Darkness Has No Name” by Len Rely
Submitted to Contest #221
“Spirit Finds A Way” by Brenda Troughton
Submitted to Contest #221
“Don't Go Back” by Helen Anderson
Submitted to Contest #221
$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!