Use a personal memory to craft a ghost story.

Posted in Dramatic on Oct 25, 2024

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✍️ 72 stories

“A Haunting in Vietnam ” by Han Ly

Submitted to Contest #274

Author's note: The event of this story is true and happened to my parents when we visited Vietnam in 2006. Names have been changed for privacy.****I heard the knife before ever seeing it. The sound it made cut through the quiet night, sharp and clean. Sleep was settled in my bones, invisible strings tugging my eyelids, and I struggled to fight it—but something in my guts screamed at me to wake. I ripped the strings and opened my eyelids— rubbing at the blurriness.Strange noises teetered at the edge of my awareness, but lucidity hadn’t found ...

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“Renovation Ghosts” by Holly Gilbert

Submitted to Contest #274

This was based on a true story. Something that happened to me and my family. It was close to the end of the pandemic, and during the pandemic, we had to renovate a house for us to move in temporarily. I was sixteen, and my mental health wasn’t at its peak at the time. I mean, moving during the pandemic, it wasn’t pleasant. We all had to help with the renovations or with babysitting my baby sister. The house we were renovating wasn’t very creepy at first. It was an old Victorian house, with asbestos and cartoon stuffed animals, but it wasn’t ...

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“Deputy Dickle” by Zack Herman

Submitted to Contest #274

I was seven when we moved to Sandersville. That was back in 1977. My family, Dad, Mom, my little brother Josh, and me, moved to a double wide in what they called Printer’s Alley. It was next to the newspaper, The Saundersville Gazette on Main Street. The alley was a gravel drive, nowadays, I’d call it a cul de sac, that ran back a little ways and ended in a turnaround in front of a stand of pine trees. Our double wide sat on one side of the alley. A two story brick home was on the other side of the alley. An elderly couple named the Battens ...

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“My Ghost” by Judith Jones-Ambrosini

Submitted to Contest #274

My GhostJudith Jones-AmbrosiniI’d never been one to give much thought to ghosts. If someone had asked me if I believed whether they were real or not, I probably would have said no. Scary Halloween tricks and treats were about the extent of the paranormal for me. Then one October 31, something inexplicable happened. It was years ago when I was 25. Two friends and I left the city for a summer camping adventure in Canada. Our plan was to camp out in nature … cooking by the fire and sleeping in tents. But, as poet Robert Burns so elo...

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“Crossing Paths” by Angela Ewing

Submitted to Contest #274

Word Count 1330 CROSSING PATHS A true story The woods that encircle the old Cemetery in Jacksonville, Southern Oregon, are fast disappearing, but there are still...

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“The Candy Collector” by Keleigh Hadley

Submitted to Contest #274

There are two types of people in this world: candy corn fans, who are basically the human equivalent of a cheerful yet slightly squishy fruitcake—easy to point and laugh at. And then you've got black licorice enthusiasts, whose love for that stuff reveals a frostbitten heart that could suck the joy from a toddler's birthday party. Seriously, when they walk in, you can practically hear the horror movie soundtrack. I met one of those black licorice lovers last October, on All Hallow’s eve, right here in Los Angeles. It was a perfect week. I’d...

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“The Victorian Cupboard” by Jess Knaus

Submitted to Contest #274

The phone broke through the evening stillness like a foghorn, making Sarah jolt. She dropped the teacup on the bench with a delicate clatter. Confused, she spun around and peered towards the grandfather clock across the room, its stained timbers shining by the light of the lamp. The golden hands ticked gently, the small hand just passing the seven and the big hand about to touch the three. Besides the buzzing telephone, her living room was serene and dark, like a photograph. Who would be ringing at this hour on a Friday night? She dried her ...

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“Besides Babbit” by Amanda Wisdom

Submitted to Contest #274

Stark against the bark, like drips from a faucet they fall, down, down, down, bleeding in brilliant shades of red. He watches each droplet pool in a grassy ruin, as the late afternoon sun burns his back. She’s motionless, still as death. Until she’s not. Until her head cocks to the side and she lifts it towards him, flashing him a grin. He takes a step back, palms raised. You are of sound mind, you act with great virtue. You are here. You are here. You are—She stands now on shaking legs, the blue bow in her hair slipping ...

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“Ghost” by Leslie Mamola

Submitted to Contest #274

October 30, 1980 - The station wagon pulls up to our seasonal campsite around 6:00 p.m. Our trailer sits on a wooded lot overlooking a tranquil lake. Water laps against the sandy shore as crimson leaves drift in the breeze and rustle under our feet. My brother and I help mom unpack the car while dad starts a campfire. We sit around the campfire roasting marshmallows as the sunsets in the autumn sky. “Mom, can Todd and I go to the arcade?” “Yes, as long as you stay together.” We walk the short dis...

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“Fly Away Little Bird” by Kyla Davis

Submitted to Contest #274

The diagnosis was grim. They gave me a year, maybe two. My life was already in disarray, and I couldn’t even process this news. My health became just another item on an endless to-do list. I had no idea how to cope. The past year is mostly a blur now, but one thing was clear—something was terribly wrong. It felt like the thin veil separating the physical world from the spiritual had ripped apart, leaving me stranded between realities. I couldn't tell which level of hell I was living in. What curse had fallen upon our small family? Were the s...

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“Spirits of the Moonlit Snow” by Thomas Crawford

Submitted to Contest #274

(Warning: contains depictions of blood, violence, mental health, substances and suicide. Discretion is advised.) They stood at the trailhead, a weathered ex-soldier and a carefree hippy with a contagious laugh. They were an odd pair. Because of a few too many joints, they had gotten a late start. Making them scramble, to catch up with the sun. “Alright,” Rick’s husky voice held a hint of nervous energy, “let’s do this.” Shivering, he pulled his worn Army jacket tighter around his hunched shoulders. The early spring air, that chill afternoo...

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“Vanishing” by Ivana Pavićević

Submitted to Contest #274

On my wedding day, everything pointed to it being the happiest day of my life, one with a future that held endless promise. Green rakija was served, and guests danced as if in a wild, uncontrollable swirl. The band played "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash, though I didn’t recognize it as a sign at the time. The groom was late and passed me off to his younger brother to walk with me. People whispered about how sweet he was but that he seemed a little young for me, which I found more funny than worrying. The groom forgot to bring the...

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“Being Saved!” by Wendy Wilsonoconnell

Submitted to Contest #274

I’m not a superhero. I couldn’t fight him and I couldn’t hide from him. He walks through the walls. But for us plain basic humans, there is hope. There is God. I was saved in the baptismal waters of a small Southern Baptist Church. Many people think I was somehow brainwashed because I was so young. Eleven and thirteen days is at the cusp of adolescence making adulthood only a short hop away. Besides, salvation is only understood through grace. Grace occupied at least 40% of my soul and with that in mind grit didn’t matter. I was not brainwas...

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“cemetery ghost ” by James Mckinley

Submitted to Contest #274

The worn path through the woods was covered with newly fallen leaves. The trail was known to many who took the short cut. It was a quick way for you to shave at least a mile off of your walk. Instead of traversing the main road, you could cut through woods behind an old church. The trail was marked and used year-round by bird watchers, nature lovers and hikers alike. Some people claimed that it felt unwelcoming at certain times of day. In the early morning when mist would rise from a small creek between the trail and the church where an old ...

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“The Shadow” by Rebecca Dickson

Submitted to Contest #274

I am 80 years old in two weeks’ time, my mind returns to this story, like an abscess in your mouth, you know you should leave it alone, but you can’t stop tonguing it. My mind returns, casting over it, worrying it, considering it from different angles, as though the passage of time might cast light on it, when infact the opposite is true. It just gets more and more shadowy. Willow Way, Willow Way, Willow Way. So satisfying to say, at 8 yrs old, I took to repeating it whenever I heard it said. After my mum on the phone to a friend – ‘Willow W...

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Use a personal memory to craft a ghost story.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 72 stories

“A Haunting in Vietnam ” by Han Ly

“Renovation Ghosts” by Holly Gilbert

“Deputy Dickle” by Zack Herman

“My Ghost” by Judith Jones-Ambrosini

“Crossing Paths” by Angela Ewing

“The Candy Collector” by Keleigh Hadley

“The Victorian Cupboard” by Jess Knaus

“Besides Babbit” by Amanda Wisdom

“Ghost” by Leslie Mamola

“Fly Away Little Bird” by Kyla Davis

“Spirits of the Moonlit Snow” by Thomas Crawford

“Vanishing” by Ivana Pavićević

“Being Saved!” by Wendy Wilsonoconnell

“cemetery ghost ” by James Mckinley

“The Shadow” by Rebecca Dickson

🌟 Similar prompts

Center your story on a character filled with love and fear in equal measure.

Write a story that includes the line “Fate is resourceful.”

Write a story where a creature turns up in an unexpected way.

Center your story around a childhood fear that – as much as you try to shake it – still resonates in adulthood.

Contest #274

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

406

Contest entries

120

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: