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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#275: The Witching Hour

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ReedsyBewitched to share your stories (and potentially get featured on our social accounts)!

Throughout my childhood, I was terribly afraid of the dark — especially after learning about the “witching hour,” the time of night when supernatural events are supposedly most likely to occur. Between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m., you’d find me either sleeping or hiding under the covers, trying my best to ignore every unfamiliar sound and looming shadow.

While I’m no longer afraid of the dark, I still think about the witching hour every now and then, especially around this time of the year. Could there really be a veil between the spiritual and physical worlds that somehow gets thinner at night, making it easier for spirits to cross over?

For this week’s contest, let’s write some stories inspired by time, witchcraft, and the supernatural. Will you conjure up a cozy, heartwarming tale or weave a darker, more sinister story? The choice is yours!

This week's prompts

Write a story from the point of view of a witch, spirit, or corpse.

Short Story – 129 stories

Start your story with a character being led somewhere by a black cat.

Dramatic – 70 stories

Write a story about someone who’s running out of time.

Angst – 46 stories

Center your story around someone who’s being haunted — by what or whom is up to you.

Dramatic – 100 stories

Write a story that includes the line “Better late than never.”

Short Story – 41 stories

Stories

“THE GRUMPY HITCHHIKER” by Darvico Ulmeli

Submitted to Contest #275

I hate cats. There, I said it. They're furry, lazy, and think they're too good for the rest of us. And you know what? They get away with it because people think they're cute. I, however, am not so easily fooled. Cats are little emperors, rulers with invisible crowns who seem to think the world revolves around them. I can't stand them. So why, you ask, was I following one? Why did I skitter behind this black ball of arrogance, kicking up dust and muttering under my breath? Well, better late than never, right? Let me tell you how I ended up...

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“Neptune the Psychopomp” by John Rutherford

Submitted to Contest #275

Was it a coincidence it happened on All Souls’ Night? No. The old lady always had perfect timing, panache and style. Maybe the scene was a prophecy from the famous Yeats poem of the same name, or conversely; was the scene an inspiration for his beautiful poem. Life has a habit of deceiving order, like the debate over the sequencing of the chicken or the egg. Neptune’s role was the spirit handler leading the old lady’s spirit to the next realm. While others would be putting the old lady’s body to her final resting place, the candle lit a...

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“The Black House” by Susan O'REILLY

Submitted to Contest #275

Oh, how I love The Black House it captivates me, fun and debauchery abound, a den of indulgence and excitement. Every Friday I find myself drawn here, and my dastardly actions always go unheeded until I have had my fun and I’m well gone, then there is all hell to pay, I have left chaos in my wake. I am nestled as usual in a secluded corner, my little nook, where I secrete myself with a book until an interesting or exotic bird of the female persuasion catches my eye. I never actually read the book, but I find if you frequent any bar book in h...

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“Club Life” by Helen A Howard

Submitted to Contest #275

Club lifeTW: some swearing and mentions self harm.Aren’t you a bit old to go clubbing?Why do you say that?Well, look at you!What do you mean?You’re hardly love’s young dream!Maybe not, but…But what????But…But, but, but….Don’t be mean.Isn’t it time you started facing facts? You’re too old to be dressing like a…Like a what? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?Wearing clothes that are meant for the young and gorgeous. Exposing your midriff. Tuck it in for fuck’s sake.Stop swearing! You know I hate it. Mum and dad hated it too. I like wearing the...

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“A witch's guide to magic in a hurry” by Ben Heard

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #275

I checked my phone again. 12:13. Shit. I was twenty minutes away from home, twenty-five if I was being realistic. Not good. I was going to run out of time. For fuck’s sake. The twitch in my right eye that had been bugging me all day was constant now, locking me in a permanent squint. Even worse, my stomach was starting to gurgle, and I could feel myself starting to bloat. I had spent the last thirty-six hours at Izzy’s because her ‘boyfriend’, Dan, had told her that he couldn’t see her that weeken...

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“Rest in peace” by Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #275

Rest in peace. Warning! Mention of child abuse, rape, miscarriage, and revenge. The fifth step from the top on the main stairs has chewing gum stuck in the left corner as you come down. In the south wing, in front of the second-floor girls’ room, a couple of the tiles are cracked. A section of baseboard, just outside the chem lab, has a mysterious stain with a lingering sulfur odor. Two of the ceiling tiles in the boy’s locker room are broken. A budding Peeping Tom fell through when trying to get to the girl’s showers, where in the last...

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“The Old Well” by Zilla Babbitt

Submitted to Contest #275

It’s a late summer day, now. Spiders die and are carried off, and the sun is stirred by breezes from the south, and the oak leaves begin to look downward, tired and bleached. The squirrels know no statelier or longer days than these here, and run through the afternoon accompanied by mournful robins whose feathers are always a little duller each passing year. And yet the window does not change; it never does. Through it she can see the old well, the rounded limestones flaked with age and the ever-present steam rising from wherein the wa...

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“Judgement Day ” by Linda Kenah

Submitted to Contest #275

Sitting in the waiting room was nothing like I expected. Then again, I’m not sure what I had imagined. I had never experienced anything like this before. The room was bright, and the seating was comfortable, but it was stark. No pictures, no reading material, not even a clock. The sign over the entry door was marked “Waiting Room.” There was no reception area. The only other door was at the far end of the room. That door had a sign saying, “No Entry.” There was one more sign over the large mirror, and it d...

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“Where Shadows Dance ” by Hannah Anderson

Submitted to Contest #275

I returned to the stage our shadows haunted, and I closed my eyes. Bringing it all back, but trying not to let the memories take me over, I thought of the last day I spent with her. My sister moved with passion, more than I ever had at her age. The stage lights reflected onto her skin and brown hair creating an almost translucent glow contrasting the stark red of her ribbon. Our minds became intertwined and connected to the music which filled the room with completeness. Before I knew it, our dance came to an end. Her ribbon fell to the groun...

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“A Pocketful of Glowsticks” by Carol Stewart

Submitted to Contest #275

CW: references to drug use/death and attempted child abduction, strong language throughout.With a backward swing of his rucksack, and a purposeful length of stride, Jez Laurie got off the twenty past midnight bus. Lights out behind him and a grudged cheerio from the world-weary driver who thought he knew him from somewhere and had spent much of the two-hour journey grumbling about the state of the nation and a mix of personal and work-related matters. Was it even worth the company’s while to have him carry a single passenger? Did the overtim...

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“Grave meditations” by Daniel Ward

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #275

Neither dark nor light, blissful nor scary, embracing nor aloof. Here it just is. Cold but not uncomfortable, I rest on the earth, not a cloud above. The smell is of soil, millions of years old. It’s easy to imagine my space shared by spiders, snakes and other things that slither in the dark, but I’m calm and don’t fear them. Inches above, a ceiling of old oak, itself serving an afterlife here. This capsule made by man is comforting, if claustrophobic. To consider spending an eternity here conjures a terror just beyond my consciousness; I ke...

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“Running out of Thyme” by Vladimir Stefan

Submitted to Contest #275

Who visits on a Sunday evening? I have work tomorrow, and the last thing I want is to spend time with people who likely hate me during the hours when I contemplate my purpose the most. I slice the carrots with the precision of a samurai, and with each cut, I make sure to land hard on the wooden board so she can sense my frustration.“When you’re done acting like a child, bring me some flour, and I will deal with the cake.” says the love of my life, my current enemy.“Anything else?” I reply, letting out a sigh of visible inconvenience. She dro...

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“Observe the Dead” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #275

I don’t see what the fuss is all about, to be perfectly frank with you. Never did I see this many people going out of their way to engage with me when I was alive. Now, I’m dead and laid up in my poor daughter’s kitchen and suddenly the whole neighborhood’s out in their Sunday best. Margaret Walsh showing up in the dress she wore to her own father’s funeral as though I was as close to her as he was. That woman hasn’t said two words to me since we got off the boat in America, because she tried cutting in front of me, and I told her that I’d h...

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“The Death Father” by Calum Mathison

Submitted to Contest #275

It felt her shift on its shoulders. “What’s the matter, little one?” The girl’s small voice cut through the silence of the road. “Can you tell me a story?” “A story?” it repeated, its voice a dry rasp. A long, thoughtful pause hung in the air before it finally began, “Once upon a time…” “No, not like that!” she protested, scrunching her nose in dissatisfaction and leaning over its skull from atop its shoulders. “Your story.” “Ah… my story.” It shifted as it walked, as if turning the thoughts over in its mind. “I don’t remember most of it.” “...

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“Witchy ” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #275

Witchy “Here they come…” To Freya, they were the proverbial mob carrying torches and pitchforks. Objectively, they were trick-or-treaters doing what little kids do on this iconic day. They toured the neighborhood in fanciful costumes toting pillowcases and plastic buckets laden with sweets. Not wanting to harsh their sugar buzz, a few vigilant parents followed at a distance.Freya hated that Samhain, her holiday, had become the cartoonish Hallmark holiday, Halloween. Samhain’s magic had gotten trampled by a vast commercial enterprise dedicat...

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$250

Prize money

386

Contest entries

168

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 08, 2024 EST

Won by Eliza Leonel 🏆

Title: Just Another Dead Girl Underwater

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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