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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

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

Posted in Halloween on Oct 20, 2023

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 138 stories

“Mistress” by Aureliano Giano

Submitted to Contest #221

Chapter I: Encounter I was never a party person. Drunk people were mainly irritating to me, and taking women home who were so drunk that they had no recollection of the previous night at best made me feel embarrassed. Being the 20-year-old idiot that I was, I still went along time and again. The fear of missing out was just greater than the constant feeling of having wasted numerous hours of my life again. Lonely together. I can't say today why I was at the party where I met Claudia. Maybe it was the pressure from my friends or my wish to be...

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“Loss” by Bill VanPatten

Submitted to Contest #221

Fog does not come on little cat feet. It snakes its way across the land, slithering down the San Joaquin Valley, a seductive killer cloaked in gray velvetiness prowling for victims. Silently it swallows everything in its path—a shopping center, a motel, a home. It creeps down highways and roads, obscuring the vision of lonely drivers, luring them deep into the mist. They know they should ease up and take their time. But many don’t. They fall to the fatal charms of the fog and wind up a statistic, a news item at eleven o’clock, a fatalit...

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“A Ghost Made of Gelatin” by Christa Dor

Submitted to Contest #221

It was both astonishing and delightful to see that Mr. Harper found out how to use emojis. It was a simple thumbs-up followed by a request to come over for tea. The text message, although brief, brought a radiant smile to Laurel's face when she woke up on her birthday. However, as much as she appreciated her eighty-five-year-old neighbor's newfound technological prowess, Laurel knew that she couldn't accept his invitation. There were two reasons why. Firstly, she had grown tired of being Mr. Harper's sole source of companionship, constantly ...

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“Don't Fear the Beeper” by Michael Novak

Submitted to Contest #221

Thunk! That was the sound of a long-awaited package hitting the concrete stoop of Ray Rosetti’s split-level house. He sprung out of his chair and dashed to the door, like a dog that had just heard its owner’s house key in the deadbolt. He flung open the door and eagerly snapped up a little cardboard box covered in tape. “Thanks Jim!” he called out to the departing mailman as he closed the door and ran back inside. He eagerly placed the box on his kitchen table, crowded with papers, contracts, and print-outs, and carefully opened it with ...

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“The Birthday Party” by Kathryn Minicozzi

Submitted to Contest #221

Dear Sister Hilda: I am submitting this for the English assignment you gave us, to write a story about something true. You are going to think I am making all this up, but I’m not. It really happened. My Mom will back me up, if necessary. Even my brother Patrick will back me up, because he won’t tell a lie to a nun. Theresa McMahon My parents love old houses. When I was nine years old, Mom and Dad bought a corner lot in our little town “for a song.” The lot had a peeling, two-story wood frame house with one of...

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“Mona” by Brooklyn Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #221

The night is brisk. Some nights I try not to sleep. Tonight. Tonight I'm trying not to sleep. I can't sleep. She will get me. She will do to me what she did to everyone else. She picks them out. One. By. One. I know I'm next. I must be careful. I must watch every movement I make, every breath I take. For if she catches me, I will no longer be moving. I will no longer be breathing. She will have me in control. So I must be careful. I can't let Nana down. She always protected me from her. Everyone protected me from her. That's why everyone is ...

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“Alone” by Debra Walsh

Submitted to Contest #221

Mental health, death.Her husband, Jim, lie dying in his hospital bed. He slowly took his wife’s hand in his and smiled.  “Maria, it will be all right.  You’re strong, you will get through this.”  He closed his eyes again.  He didn’t have much strength left in him and his breathing was shallow.“No Jim, I can’t get through this, not without you.  We always said we can get through anything together…not alone! Please Jim, don’t leave me.”Tears streamed down her face.  The thought of bei...

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“Haunted by my memories of you” by Eline Pols

Submitted to Contest #221

Mateo's husband got shot during an undercover mission, which is why he's sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, haunted by all the memories of him.He's absolutely restless and wishes there was more that he could do for Henry.Mateo may have gone undercover as a surgeon at one point but, he is in fact not a doctor. So there isn't anything else he can do for his husband other than lose his mind in this waiting room and make sure he's there to hold his hand when he wakes up.If he wakes up.Nope.No.He is not going to do this to himself.He's no...

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“Being haunted by demons” by GRACE TIBBETTS

Submitted to Contest #221

Being haunted               As my husband Ben lay on the couch, I was filled with only bitterness and anger towards him. I had watched as he fell further and further into depression. At first, I had been sympathetic, but as time went on, it got worse and worse. As far as I was concerned, he was busy ruining my life too in the process. He lay on the couch, sleeping, sad and miserable. He stopped being a husband and a father. He said things like, “Why can’t I just die?”...

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“Anama, Anamam!” by Arvin Tavakkoli

Submitted to Contest #221

I was car-sick. That's why I asked my dad to stop the car so I could get some fresh air. It was so bad that I had started to hate everything and anything, the smells, the book I was trying to read and myself. I did not know what time it was. The silver and orange colour of the twilight gave news of a drowsy and dreadful dawn. The shadows were deep and menacing. The air was brisk and cold and felt like thin, yet heavy paper on my skin. I walked away from the car, the desert land was inviting. The pebbles crunched under my shoes. The...

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“Leave the Haunted Books Alone” by Lizee Newt

Submitted to Contest #221

There is mention of a dead body in this story, as well as one of the characters slicing her palm with a letter opener. Reader's discretion is advised. Lauryn watches her older sister as she scrambles around the living room, preparing for a long night of junk food and horror movies.  She’s a blur of black and pink, her bonnet flapping in the breeze as she zooms by.  It’s almost cringey to see her so excited to watch B-rated movies they’ve already seen way too many times.  Kris turns off the lights and uses her phone to guid...

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“Her Hauntingly, Heavenly Heart” by Marceline Snyder

Submitted to Contest #221

Memories exist in people’s heads like ghosts exist in graveyards. Faint, familiar reminiscence haunts the mind like poltergeist plague unsuspecting victims. However, just like ghosts, memories are only reminders of past failures and unfinished business. They can’t hurt you, not when they’ve already come to pass. That’s what I told myself anyway. I wouldn’t let my past preside over my mind anymore. So then why do I still see her face? I started going to therapy, since her accident. My therapist told me everyone grieves differently, that my ap...

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“And The Jingle of Keys” by Carina Caccia

Submitted to Contest #221

The elevator hiccupped up to the third floor, the light flickering on cue as though a stagehand had flipped a switch. Nora was used to the rattle, the hiccups, of dwelling in the throat of an unoiled tinman who would hock her up onto the third floor like phlegm. She grimaced at her pallid and ghostly reflection; her lips were a purplish blue from the cold outside, and the sterile light made holes of her eyes. She wiped at her smudged mascara with her free hand, a bag of crisps tucked under the other, and the doors screeched open behind her. ...

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“Shattered Reflections of Holloway Manor” by Brenda Wilson

Submitted to Contest #221

Death is a cruel mistress and became incarnate at Holloway Manor exactly 100 years ago. On October 13, 1923, James Holloway murdered his wife and two daughters.   Emily Claire stopped typing and closed her laptop with a sigh. The future of her career, at The News Room, hinged on this article’s success.  “Struggling?” Dorian asked beside her. Outside rain drummed against the hotel window and the wind howled at the trees. “I don’t understand his motive.” Emily pushed aside the laptop and scooted closer to her fiancé for comfort...

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“Scorched Earth” by Ian Grogan

Submitted to Contest #221

Benjamin set his shovel down and sat upon what was left of the loose dirt pile which remained around the earthen hole. He wiped his forehead with the back of his forearm, trying desperately to keep the sweat out of his eyes. The tattered overalls lay soiled and ripped upon weathered skin on his broad shoulders. His exposed arms glistened in the afternoon sun. He pulled out the flask he kept in his back pocket and took a few gulps from it. The misshapen ‘B’ that was etched into the sterling silver hand-me-down rested calmly in his palm; the a...

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🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story from a ghost’s point of view.

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Halloween – 50 stories

Write a story where ghosts and the living coexist.

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Set your story in a world where contacting the dead is as easy as making a phone call.

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Contest #221

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This week's theme: Ghostly

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Ended on 23:59 - Oct 27, 2023 EST

Won by Bay Colt 🏆

Title: Clearance Aisle Libations

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