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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#65: Spooky Season

What is it about Halloween that we find so deeply appealing? Is it the excuse to dress up and pretend to be something other than ourselves for a few hours? The exploration of all things creepy and macabre, of subjects normally too taboo to engage with? Perhaps it’s just the abundance of all our favorite candies at the same time.

Whatever the reason, there’s no denying the allure of this thrilling and chilling holiday. And while many people’s Halloween celebrations will need to be very different this year, there’s no reason why we can’t still enjoy a bit of spooky fun!

Whether you like horror, the creepy aesthetic, or just overloading on candy, this week’s prompts have plenty of inspiration to get you into the Halloween mood.

This week's prompts

Start your story with two characters deciding to spend the night in a graveyard.

Novel – 320 stories

Write about someone’s first Halloween as a ghost.

Halloween – 206 stories

Write about a group of witches meeting up on Halloween night.

Halloween – 135 stories

Write about a vampire or werewolf who moves into a quiet suburban neighborhood.

Vampire – 160 stories

Write about someone taking a child trick-or-treating for the very first time.

Kids – 87 stories

Stories

“The Pearls of Madeline Baker” by Grace Carey

Submitted to Contest #65

She had bright red hair that reminded me of the embers from a flame. I disappeared from her life but she never disappeared from mine. Although my soul floats free from my body I still remain right next to her, watching as she opened her music box that was painted with pink adolescent designs of flowers and fairies and twisted a piece of jewelry gently around her fingers, gazing at the pearls like they were poisonous. Those were my pearls. I used to where those pearls nearly everyday. The girl with auburn hair was sitting right in front of me...

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“Unrequited ” by Emma Rose

Submitted to Contest #65

There are 3 things you should know about me. My name is Leo. I like words. And I am dead. You’re probably wondering how exactly I died, but at this point it’s pretty irrelevant. Irrelevant. I like that word. Only one thing is relevant now, and that thing is named Emily. - She was crying again. Third night in a row since she’d moved in. Not just dainty little sniffles and sighs as she silently watered her pillow. No, this was full out ugly crying with sobs that shook the whole bed,...

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“Cempasúchil” by Sam W

Submitted to Contest #65

Cempasúchil have a particular smell; and it isn’t until you’re dead that you can appreciate how different it is from absolutely everything else. That’s what they say, anyway. I myself spent an absurdly short time in the lower world, so I wouldn’t know what cempasúchil smell like for the living. But to me, they smell like adventure. From far off they look like cotton bolls, perfectly round and full. But instead of cotton they’re packed tight with tiny orange petals, and the green stalks and leaves seem too skinny to hold the bright, round flo...

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“An Offering to the Ancestors” by Jessica Inman

Submitted to Contest #65

There are several reasons why the women in my family are considered to be witches. Firstly, they have a tendency to live for an exceptionally long time. Great-Great-Granny-Norma is 112 and still going strong. If I'm honest with you, she seems to be more all there in the head than the Mothers, Erica (35) and Zara (31). She runs up the stairs in her poky little cottage like a twenty year old. I expect she'll outlive me. Maybe she'll just keep on going forever.Secondly, they follow some beliefs and traditions that some may consider a kind of wi...

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“The Neighborly Coven” by D.M. Ravshanov

Submitted to Contest #65

The moon rises at approximately 6:44 p.m. in Murrells Inlet. It is All Hallows Eve, a day renowned for its invitation to tread the steps towards the otherworld. It's a cool, windy and damp evening; Contessa wraps her emerald green cloak tighter around her thin, shivering torso. She hurries along past an especially ominous looking Eastern hemlock, and past the American Holly and the Cabbage Palmetto casting eerie shadows at her feet. On her way through the woods, she passes Longleaf pines, hickory and sweet gum trees, Bottlebrush buckeye and ...

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“Best Halloween Ever” by Ken Coomes

Submitted to Contest #65

A cold wind blew down Cherrywood Lane, chasing stubborn leaves off nearly bare branches, whispering spooky sounds this Halloween night. The neighborhood was dark, almost as if the wind had extinguished all the lights. Even the street lights were out, except for a lone lamp, standing sentinel at the entrance to Derry Court. That single street light threw a faint blue fluorescent halo into the angry wind, trying to beat back the shadows. Until suddenly a jagged bolt of blue stabbed at the wind as the streetlight blew out. Dead leaves swirled ...

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“Eclectic Tendencies” by Xiomatli Diaz

Submitted to Contest #65

The itch is overwhelming, The moon is calling me home. To feel the pull of the moon is natural, for humans are made almost entirely of water and the moon is responsible for the tides. All witches know that during the times of a full moon, ocean creatures have interesting habits and routines. Perhaps we learned from them, perhaps the other way around. Either way, the end result is the same; beings gather at the sight of a full moon. The pull increased now by the thinning of the ethereal/ean veil causes cauldrons to stir...

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“Not A Word Spoken” by Matthew Turner

Submitted to Contest #65

They met in silence. It had to be silent. There was safety in silence. The first to the circle that night was Mary. It was in her basement so she made sure everything was in its place before they started. Even in this task she said not a word. The house above her was empty but the wall outside of her house were open to the world and the world had ears and ears were attached to mouths that whispered into other ears and that’s how you ended up at the end of a noose. A small black cauldron sat in the middle of the room. The fire would be low ...

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“The Meeting” by Felicity Edwards

Submitted to Contest #65

The eldritch screech reverberating around the peaks and valleys turned their blood to ice. Shaking uncontrollably, the boys looked at each other and wondered if this was such a good idea. It sounded easy sitting in front of the fire. No one really believed witches were real, did they? That’s what made this lark feasible but now? They were sure that it was not a normal human voice. What had they stumbled into now? They thought back. It was only yesterday when they had decided to prove that the stories of witches meeting in the area were ...

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“Secret to Share.” by Nasreen M

Submitted to Contest #65

Humans can be the most dangerous animals when it comes to making and breaking the rules, as the time demands. When someone forbids a person to go in a particular place, that person would definitely go there to see why is that place forbidden for him. And then he has to face the consequences of it. Life is unpredictable, you never know when your life would take a scary turn for breaking a simple rule. My life has been about migrating from one foster home to another. I don’t know who my parents are, I ...

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“We Don't Allow Their Kind in Our Neighborhood” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #65

The community meeting at Christine and Tom’s house was on the very of getting out of hand since the realtor informed Mrs. Tomlin that a pair of gentlemen had bought the old Kroger place at the corner of Wikkup and Strafford. Looking at the prospective neighbors, neither of the gentleman seemed particularly threatening, but past history had proved that their kind had proved problematic, but city ordinances did not allow discrimination of any kind. Tom Gehring stated it quite clearly, “We don’t allow their kind in our neighborhood.” Wh...

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“The Graveyard of Betrayal” by Lydia Hallquist

Submitted to Contest #65

Police sirens wail, while the person on the emergency line is screaming "she is dying, she is dying". It goes dead silent, a mysterious whisper says "your friend is dead and you are next". Terrified the woman on the line was silent and out of nowhere a shilling scream was heard, the operator said, " Ma'am, Ma'am are you okay?" The line cuts out and that woman Meredeth Ryder was never seen or heard of again. A young lesbian couple are going somewhere haunted. "Andromeda stop I'm driving!" Sydney says while giggling. Andromeda sa...

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“Chupacabra The legend begins” by Lea Vida DEL MORO

Submitted to Contest #65

“Chupacabra is a mixture of two enormous beasts. It is originated in Latin America and spread out in the whole world including New Mexico. It is believed that Chupacabra is a hairless dog-like animal with the strength of a werewolf and power of a vampire.” The sun was already high in the sky by the time I’ve given my cat food to eat and then suddenly I heard something howling from the neighborhood. Sounds coming from a dog so maybe he is hungry I decided to put two pieces of meat in the tin can outside of our house and close the front doo...

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“With great fun comes … something.” by Quin Parsons

Submitted to Contest #65

With great fun comes … something. So, yeah, let me tell you a little something about myself. The wife and I just moved here after we exsanguinated the previous neighbourhood. Haha, NO! I’m just kidding. We take care of our lovestock. That’s what we call them, our ‘lovestock’. Cuz’ we love’m, you know, our neighbours, I mean. So, yeah. Here we are … the hood seemed kinda dead when we first arrived, but maybe that was just a matter of timing. We love the dark, so we came in the middle of the night, you see. There was no one roamin’ the streets...

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“The Shack On The Hill” by Meer Jain

Submitted to Contest #65

"Halloween's coming!" cried Jasper as he glanced at the calendar on the fridge. "We can plan our costumes, draw a map, and-" "Yes," his mom said, "but Halloween's seven days away. No brainstorming right now." He slumped in his seat and ate his cereal. "Anyway, you're getting late for school.” Jasper took a sandwich from the table, and hurried with his bag on his shoulder. He grumpily walked to the bus stop. Suddenly a voice behind him shouted, “Heeeeeey, Jasper! A week from You-Know-What! What have you thought of by now?” “Hey, Liam. We’ll t...

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$50

Prize money

908

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 30, 2020 EST

Won by Joshua G. J. Insole 🏆

Title: Bridgemoss Guardians

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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