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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 – 69 stories

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

Angst – 45 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 – 40 stories

Stories

“The Question” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #275

How do you go about accusing a family you’ve never met of being murderers? That was a thought that tumbled through Fletcher’s head on the drive up to Weyauwega.He hadn’t trained to ask these sorts of questions to strangers. At any point, he could have turned around back to Milwaukee, but he continued ever northward. His destination, Weyauwega, was beyond where the farmlands of southern Wisconsin turn into the marshy forests of the north. The inhospitable land that Native American tribes were driven in order to free up farmland for immigrants...

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“The Leaf Collector” by Keleigh Hadley

Submitted to Contest #275

Every autumn, my sister collects dead things. She says they're not really dead, just sleeping, but I know better. I've watched her gather fallen leaves in her little red wagon since I was five, treating each one like a wounded bird. Now I'm twelve, and she's fifteen, and nothing has changed except the size of her collection and how far we have to walk up these mountains to find the best ones. "Look at this one, D.J.," Sade whispers, holding up a maple leaf the color of Grandma's candied yams. "It's still warm from the sun." Her dark eyes s...

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“Hagatha ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #275

I miss my shadow. I miss a lot of things, but at this moment, I long for my shadow. To say I’m envious of the living is an understatement. My name is Hagatha. It’s an ancient name, but then I guess so am I. It means child of the moon or something along those lines. Anybody who’d know exactly what my name means are long gone. I was born in the Scottish highlands or at least that’s what I’ve been told. Born there seven centuries ago. My body is just a mere shadow, but my soul is ancient Celtic. M...

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“Crossing: The Journey of a Soul” by Rufer Piavel

Submitted to Contest #275

The sun peeked shyly over the horizon, spreading its first rays across the immensity of the sea. A child awoke, feeling his face sink into the damp sand. His eyes still heavy with fatigue, he slowly raised his head, the fine, salty grains of the beach clinging to his skin. He took a deep breath, smelling the sea air mixed with the dry sweat that permeated his body. The waves came and went in a rhythmic, almost hypnotic movement, as if trying to calm the fear that was beginning to take shape in his chest.He stood there for a moment, unsure of...

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“Better late than not at all ” by Megan Kullman

Submitted to Contest #275

It had been so long, so why did I care so much? Four years ago the love of my life drove away and I didn’t think I would ever see him again. He left two years worth of memories, an engagement ring, and so many broken promises in his wake. And yet I never gave up hope. It didn’t matter how many breakup songs I listened to, how many sad letters I wrote but never sent, or how much I begged for the ache in my heart to end so I could let him go, Issac Kellan would always hold a pla...

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“The Attaway Curse” by Rebecca Hurst

Submitted to Contest #275

When Robert Marten saw the woman with the calf-skin box, he signalled for an assistant to take the counter as he extended a hand in greeting. She, surprised by this welcome, extended her own. “I recognise the case,” he said, by way of explanation. “It is the Attaway pendant, no?”“I believe that’s what it’s called,” she said, biting her lower lip. Robert led her into his office and offered her tea, coffee or something stronger. She chose the latter, so he poured a single malt. He noticed her hands were shaking when she took the glas...

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“David Summer and the Panel of Death” by Arora Gleans

Submitted to Contest #275

David Summer was a good man. He wore round spectacles and his few tufts of white hair always stood on his head, bestowing him a sweet old-age appearance, although he wasn’t quite as old as many thought. He had broad shoulders and stood at five feet six inches tall while his wife, Regina Summer, was slightly shorter. The two of them had a daughter as sweet as nectar, so the parents leaned towards an acceptable flower name—Lily. David went to work every day for the past thirty years and changed companies only twice. His family didn’t know what...

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“The Influencer” by Omar Scott

Submitted to Contest #275

People have no idea how deep my influence goes. No matter how many times they’re warned: they ignore the risk. They can’t wait to wrap their hands around me, and when they caress me, I take over. I infect their mind, body, and soul like a deadly virus. I breakdown all the barriers that keep their anger, hate, and vengeance bottled up, and I release it. Take for example Eric Chapman. Once he invited me in, he never had a chance……. Eric nervously slid into the armchair across from the president of the company, Chip Anderson. As Eric stare...

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“The End of the Line” by Sherri Moorer

Submitted to Contest #275

“You’re the end of the line.” I remember my brother’s comment the day we picked Dad’s burial plot. It seemed that our squares were filling up with grandparents gone. Now another generation was passing from this world. My brother and I never had children, and as the youngest, I was the end of our family line. Now another generation has passed. This world is fading away and growing dim. I’ve bid them all farewell and now, in my brother’s self-fulfilling prophesy, I follow. I see the light beyond, but I’m not ready to go. I’m tired of th...

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“The Reckoning” by Kate Simkins

Submitted to Contest #275

As I followed down the street, the road wet beneath my feet,I crossed my heart and on the street I spat,For to follow behind a cat, A black one, at that,Was crazy, but then she looked at me and sat. I met her eyes and they were green, the strangest I’d ever seen,She looked at me, right into my soul,And I knew that I must follow, That my pride, I must swallow,And face my past if I was to be whole. She lead to the garden of graves, and I knew that I must be brave,And face the demons that I held within,And so as she began to pur...

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“The Weight Of Stones” by Richard Hall

Submitted to Contest #275

Mr. Johnson Cutter, his face covered in a black bag with holes cut into it, asked her awkwardly if she was comfortable with the ropes where they were. “I suppose so,” she said flatly. Little towns popped up regularly along the paths the great migration west took as America came to fruition. People’s manifest destinies stopped driving them on, or they had too many people die of the droop during travel, or they ran out of supplies and money and time and love for adventure, or maybe they just got plumb tired, so they decided to...

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“Sabastian” by Evangelist Wright

Submitted to Contest #275

I remember the day that changed my life forever. It was the day my cat led me to the truth. One I never expected to find in a million years. Sabastian was a black cat with green eyes and a no-nonsense attitude. He was what folks called an ally cat and most of them believed -BLACK CATS- were bad luck. But not me after all Sabastian was my furry baby boy. My husband found him in a discarded box near our trash can when he was 6-week-old. Sabastian was a helpless little thing that could barely open his eyes. He was so small that he fit in the pa...

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“La Mort des Apparences (The Death of Appearances)” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #275

“I feel like I’m running out of time,” Jacques said with the utmost conviction, concern etched across his brow. “How can you say that, Jacques? You and I have plenty of time,” Zelda, his fiancé responded as she reached to touch his arm. Lovingly, she caressed his forearm in an attempt to assure his despondency was from nothing more than the gloomy, rainy weather filling the Parisian streets. “We have plenty of time to do all the things you want, dear. In a month, we’ll be married. We are young and on the precipice of so many possibilities, s...

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“Buried Secrets ” by Cindy Calder

Submitted to Contest #275

Gabriela had known ever since she’d moved into the house a week earlier she wasn’t alone. The home she had purchased was an old one and one she was sure was packed with memories of many. This fact, among many, only added sustenance to her being an empath and a bit of a conduit for spirits. Gabriela could not only sense the emotions of living humans but was also able to receive an understanding of feelings emitted by souls on the other side. It was nothing new and something she’d experienced early in her life since the age of five, a gif...

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“NINE LIVES EMERGENCY SERVICE” by Darvico Ulmeli

Submitted to Contest #275

A chilly gust swept through the foggy alley, carrying the distinct scent of "you're about to regret this." Like "panicked floated," I hovered through the shadows, ducking behind dumpsters, clinging to walls, and praying Death's Reaper would lose interest in this undead goose chase. Time was running out, and each second felt like it brought the scythe closer to my neck."Oh, for the love of the Underworld, stop hiding and come quietly!" Death's voice boomed, the tone holding the same level of annoyance you'd expect from a DMV clerk with a 4 p....

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$250

Prize money

383

Contest entries

163

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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