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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

“Fearful Symmetry” by Cher Zimmerer

Submitted to Contest #221

This is the afterlife? Disappointment runs through me like a cold breeze creeping under my jacket (maybe I just spooked myself). I am standing in my kitchen and imagined the afterlife to be cleaner. But all I see are coffee stains on the countertop and the fucking dishes in the fucking sink. My dear husband sprays bread crumbs onto the table and licks some from the corner of his mouth. I cross my arms and think wow, yeah, this is paradise. My happy-go-lucky husband smiles his ridiculous smile while he reads the paper. ...

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“The Remains of a Story ” by Elise Keelyn

Submitted to Contest #221

I have many stories to tell, decades upon decades of lives that I could share. That I have shared. I see them all unfold one step at a time. I’ve whispered in the ear of poets and bards, seen pages printed that my haunting voice, settled in the mind of an author, spilled. Watching words come to life is the only way I feel connected anymore, so it’s all that I do. I don’t suppose I have any other choice. Death doesn't seem to be an option for me. I’ve told the stories of kings and queens, vikings and knights. I’ve watched kingdoms rise ...

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“Mr. Charles” by Corinne Headman

Submitted to Contest #221

Content warning* - Death of child, death of spouse At precisely 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Mr. Charles appeared in the third story window of his home with a scowl on his face. His wrinkled old eyes scanned up and down the street as if looking for something and, having not seen it, let out a grumbled ‘harrumph’ and settled himself onto a dusty old chair to wait. He watched as life outside his window went by; people going places, laughter and music drifting up from somewhere in the distance and the light patter of rain as it hit the windo...

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“A Haunting We Will Go” by Chris Jones

Submitted to Contest #221

“Pon my word, you rapscallions won’t get a wink of sleep if it’s the last thing I do!” I declared to the packed lobby, my refined accent at odds with the radical, chill vibe. With an aristocratic harrumph, I sent the concierge desk crashing to the floor, to the shock of trendy guests sipping their pour-overs. A wisp of ectoplasm myself these days, I was positively gobsmacked to manifest within the once grand interior of my family’s Victorian manor, only to find the place converted into a frightful den of hipster hogwash called “Hipster Ho...

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“I'm Red and I'm Dead” by Zakiya Lockett

Submitted to Contest #221

The day of my funeral was an interesting day. Can I even say “day” anymore? I’m dead so what is the term for dead if you’re ghost? Now that’s weird to say…I’m a ghost and yet I don’t feel like it. Let me Introduce myself I’m Red. That’s not the original name just the nickname and the only name I can remember right now. I’m dead. Was killed by my teacher, I think. I need to stop saying I’m dead. Anyway, let’s recap my funeral. “Momma? Come on momma it’s time to go inside the church.” “I know baby girl. Your daddy was a big part of my life.”...

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“Jasmin's House” by Betty Jean Ward

Submitted to Contest #221

Jasmin’s House The house had an eerie feeling as the thunderstorm roared outside. Lightning flashed through the windows as Jasmin walked around. She couldn’t believe her older sister and two younger brothers wanted to sell this place. She loved it here. However, since her mother passed away, they were talking about selling and splitting the profits. She had other ideas, she wanted to stay here. This house has always been her home. “Hello,” she yelled throughout the house. A smashing sound came from the kitche...

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“The Mind Remembers So Little” by Adam Pavlik

Submitted to Contest #221

Well this is odd. I’m not sure where I am or how I got here. It’s pretty dark right now, maybe I can find my way towards some light. I’m pretty sure I just spoke those words, but I can’t even hear myself. What in the world is going on? This is getting a bit terrifying. Let’s see if I can feel any door, wall, or even floor? WAIT! I can’t even feel!? I try to look around, but no matter how hard I strain, I can’t seem to gain any sort of notion of sight returning. I push my body to feel something, anything, but nothing comes. Am I in some sort ...

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“Desert Ghost” by M.R. Simon

Submitted to Contest #221

Somewhere in the hot summer desert, Mark's walking slowly dried up under the desert blue sky. Wearing just a T-shirt and jeans. Flip flop on his sore feet, no hat, no water, only a briefcase in one hand. His skin begins to burn like a turkey in the oven. After being stranded in the desert for hours, seems like he's going in a circle. With no water and no food je as comes to his last effort, His last breath of air. He walks for hours and comes at his last effort. He fell on his knees. He looks up and sees something odd, Takes a long breath an...

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“Victoria” by Allen Wilkinson

Submitted to Contest #221

I’d always been proud of the view from the den. The large bay window overlooked the slope which ran from the house to the fence in a long, grassy sweep and from there the wooded hillside fell away to the village a mile farther down. The road wound its way to the village from the other side of the house and left the green view unmarred from the glass enclosed seat which dominated the room’s western wall. Victoria loved to sit there in the afternoon sun reading, which in my eyes made the sight all the more beautiful. Today t...

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“"Spectral Reconciliation"” by Anna Alcott

Submitted to Contest #221

Andrew paced through the aging rooms of the old house, his steps echoing off the worn-out wooden floors. The place had been his family home for quite a few years, but lately, he'd been growing weary of its creaky stairs and leaky roof. Also, living alone was exacerbating his usual feelings of depression. "I need to move. I will look for a modern condo with its sleek, shiny surfaces and easy, low-maintenance living, ideally near a beach, although I'd rather not have sand between my toes. Mountains are a beautiful option, but I'm concerned ab...

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“Just another one Halloween” by Tetiana Baida

Submitted to Contest #221

* Tomorrow is Halloween. And I wait for this day all year long. It doesn't matter if it's sunny and bright or gloomy and rainy. I love the smell of fallen leaves and the pitch black fog. Houses covered in cobwebs, scary faces carved in pumpkins and dozens of eaten candies. Joy, sweet anticipation, and... fear of everything supernatural that only slightly tingles nerves. Still, it's more of a day of fun. You might think I'm a child getting ready to trick-or-treat or perhaps a mother of a family who can't wait to arrange an unforgettable decor...

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“Couldn't Be a Stalker If I Tried” by Lucia Thompson

Submitted to Contest #221

You know that feeling right before you sneeze, when your whole-body courses with tingles and you can’t really breath for a second. The airways in your lungs come to an abrupt halt, if it lasted any longer, you’d think you were dying. If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to travel through a wall, that’s the best way I could describe it. That’s the feeling shooting up my… not so body at this exact moment. The only part of me that doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode is my face, just enough to allow me to see what Cassie Baker is doing...

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“A Final, Desperate Entreaty” by Piper Jenne

Submitted to Contest #221

This house was mine first, don't you see? My husband built it from nothing, and together we made it a home. We brought up our children here. We fought here. We made love here. And yes, I died here. It was a mistake, truly. My husband wasn't like that all the time. He had had been laid off and it was the depression, no one was hiring. The stress of having four hungry mouths to feed weighed on him so heavily you could see the bow in his back deepen every day. The odd jobs he managed to pick up here and there weren't enough to pay the bills and...

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“October Surprise” by Paul Brassard

Submitted to Contest #221

October Surprise by Paul Brassard My eyes popped open at the familiar double-chime of the front doorbell. Must be more trick-or-treaters. I shot right up from my recliner. No inching forward. No propping myself up on the arms to get into a standing position. I figured I must have had one hell of a sleep. I felt better than I had in months—rested and light on my feet. Colbert was on TV, the sound so low I could barely hear it. Evie probably turned it down when she went to bed. The doorbell rang again, this time in three insistent...

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“A Ghost?” by Morgan Cochran

Submitted to Contest #221

"Pardon me," a woman says as she tries to navigate her way through a crowded sidewalk to her cab. “Pardon me,” I say mockingly, pretending to do the same. “O, why do you even go the lengths to mock these people, they can’t even hear you!” Sheldon said. “Well, some can,” I say smiling big. Sheldon rolls his eyes and we both continue down the busy city street. “I mean seriously, who talks like that; no one.” “Why do you always have an attitude,”? Sheldon responded with annoyance, “This has been an everyday thing and...

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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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