Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

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 – 134 stories

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

Halloween – 138 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

“Separation” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #221

Kristen’s REM cycle crashed again into the guard rail. The one constant, morning to morning, was the heron.It was symbolic of nothing -- simply the last inhuman face she’d seen before the Miata and Tod simultaneously punched holes in Lake Springfield..Something clattered above Kristen’s head, followed by a disembodied curse. That, too, was part of the morning ritual, along with defoliation, granola, stout deep roast drowned in Hazelnut Coffeemate, the digital Journal-Register, the customized multivitamin, the Zoloft, the daily trailer for a ...

Read story

“Teddy” by Damien Exton

Submitted to Contest #221

My name is Teddy. I’m ten years old and a demon wants to eat me. I can see it but nobody else can. I can talk to it but nobody else can. The demon screams at me at night but I don’t get scared. Even when I see spit drip from its sharp black teeth as it tries to bite my head off I’m not afraid. I’m ten after all. I’m not a baby. I can’t tell my mom or dad about the demon and they wouldn’t believe me anyway. There are rules that you have to obey when a demon owns your soul, and one is that mom and dad can’t ever know. Nobo...

Read story

“Abraham's Dream” by Steffen Lettau

Submitted to Contest #221

His house was so quiet. Strange, he thought. At this time, not long after the crack of dawn, his younger children would be running around and giving the attendants a heart attack as he would be swarmed by a couple assistants with messages of importance. There would be breakfast coming up from the kitchen and through his bedroom doors, provided that the children didn't accidentally knock it over again. Even his wife would join in the fray, yelling at the boys to knock off the horseplay while keeping an ear on the daily hustle.Today, though, t...

Read story

“Phantom Farm” by Myranda Marie

Submitted to Contest #221

Norma peered out from behind the antique lace curtains, brittle and yellowed with age and nicotine residue. She suddenly wished she would have paid more attention to the upkeep on the second floor of the old farmhouse, silently fussing over the grimy windows, well-worn panels and dust covered sills. No one spent much time in those modest rooms, used primarily for storage over the past ten years or so; not since her nieces and nephew moved to the west coast and stopped spending summers and holidays on the farm. Now, the tiny space will be the...

Read story

“Aim High” by Paul Littler

Submitted to Contest #221

*Please note, this story contains adult themes including child death and suicide, please be aware“What is that damn noise?” Council Leader Clive Peters growled to no one. He was the only one in County Hall if you didn’t count the cleaners and Clive Peters didn’t. Jumping up from his desk and leaning through the open door he could still hear it, coming from the main staircase. Voices? Sounds like a kid, maybe? Whoever it was he’d give them something to moan about. He went back ...

Read story

“Eternal Unrest” by Brigitte Bennet

Submitted to Contest #221

I screamed as I fell through the floor of paradise for the 5th time that week. Once again, I landed in my old office, to see my replacement standing next to my old desk holding a candle that dripped bright red wax onto the floor. You'd think that by attempt number 5 she'd have thought of a candle holder that caught the wax, but she kept re-assuring me this would be the last time. Maybe at that point she actually believed it. "What is it THIS time, Dolores?" "Okay, no need to take that tone. You're dead, it's not like you have anything be...

Read story

“Halloween Horror” by Abigail Donaldson

Submitted to Contest #221

Joe was a ghost. If you want specifics, he was a poltergeist, but no one ever knew what that was, so, y'know, he just self-identified as a ghost. And he was anxious, because Halloween was coming up, and he had no plans. He debated scaring kids and stealing candy, but then again, he couldn't eat. He had started making a cursed VHS tape, but, heck it, who even had a VHS player nowadays? He even scripted spooky phone calls, but they had no effect, in a day and age where people hung up when they saw an unknown number. There was simply nothing Jo...

Read story

“Permanent Address” by Kathryn Kahn

Submitted to Contest #221

Hannah Abbott-Duarte, recently deceased, was arguing with her husband at the front door of their long-time home. “What are you still doing here, Fred? I thought you would have ascended a long time ago.”“Aren’t you glad to see me, Hannah?”“Well, of course, honey, but I didn’t expect you to get stuck here. I mean, there’s a sick thing in my family about haunting this old place, but you don’t have to. You weren’t born an Abbott.”“They gave me a job, Hannah. Didn’t you notice I was still around?”“But ten years, Fred? What job could have been so ...

Read story

“Little Sister, Little Sister ” by Diamond Keener

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #221

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 remember soon, I keep telling myself that. I’ve been dea...

Read story

“The Echoes Of Everglow ” by Chris'She'a Edna E.

Submitted to Contest #221

In the bustling city of Everglow, where the echoes of centuries past danced amid the neon-lit streets, a young artist named Amelia discovered herself teetering on the edge of an abyss, her nerves quivering with the weight of undiscovered truths. Her canvas, once alive with vibrant hues, now bore the ethereal brushstrokes of a spectral hand, leaving her grappling with a reality that wavered between the tangible and the intangible. Amidst the flickering city lights, Amelia’s restless soul sought solace in the abandoned theater nestled on the...

Read story

“The Letter” by Leigh Robinson

Submitted to Contest #221

The flames crackled, danced around the logs, blackened the paper’s edges. Lavinia, feeling every one of her eighty years, picked up another log, and fed it to the fire. Lifeline could have her furniture and her china, but the fire would get her photos and her memories. ‘Here you are.’ Lavinia felt her heart skip, then flip, faster than any eighty-year-old’s heart had a right to. ‘Johnathon, I didn’t hear you arrive.’ Her eyes darted to the white cockatoo on the veranda of the old Queenslander. ‘Sarge asleep at his post. Again. Never mi...

Read story

“Below and Above” by Tamarin Butcher

Submitted to Contest #221

Brecti smiled warmly at her father when he came to collect her, his ever-present scowl deeper and darker than usual. She, on the other hand, had perfected the art of warm smiles--scowls were for men, smiles were for women. "You ready then?" he barked. "And so it begins," whispered Hitieli in Brecti's ear. Brecti ignored her. Ignoring the ghosts was a skill one developed over time, especially when they chose to remain invisible. "Yes, father," Brecti said, and Hitieli screeched with laughter at Brecti's docile tone and calm expression...

Read story

“Red Boots” by Malcolm Twigg

Submitted to Contest #221

The caravan site is almost deserted now. From where mine is sited, I can see the lighting stanchions lining the access way like sentinels guarding the empty pitches, daring anyone else to pitch there this season. This part of the site is actually closed for camping now until the last of us goes - mine is almost the last here. It’s how I like it and why I only come in the shoulder months. There is just one more caravan on this part of the site, as far away from mine as it is possible to get, and not many others elsewhere as the site rap...

Read story

“Beyond Chat” by David Willett

Submitted to Contest #221

Derek had never been in a waiting room like the one at Beyond Chat’s research and training facility. Projected simulations of lush green rainforests interspersed with cascading waterfalls and trickling streams made it impossible to identify physical boundaries. Birds of all shapes and sizes undulated between the ceiling and the floor. The glittery slipstreams left behind in their flightpath were the only evidence of their true nature. Derek looked up in wonder as they danced gently in the air in time with the soft pipe music that echoed into...

Read story

“The Fall” by Nina H

Submitted to Contest #221

TW: Sensitive Content, death “It wasn’t supposed to be this way…” Becky whispered as she stood next to Connor’s hospital bed. Connor’s heart monitor beeped in rhythm, as Becky looked at his pale face. Nurses bustled around busily outside the door, and Connor’s parents sat in the room with their heads in their hands. “Why did this happen?” Kathleen asked the air. Dan put his arm around his wife, offering his presence, not answers. “The doctor thinks he’s going to be o...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

425

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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢