Set your story in a Gothic manor house.

Posted in Horror on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 133 stories

“The Return Of The Prodigal Son (The Chadwick Saga - Part 1)” by Melissa Hassan

Submitted to Contest #64

Sarah ran from room to room, frantically, searching for her child, with tears streaming down her face. Her long auburn hair, soaking wet, hung loose about her shoulders. Her pale skin glistening in the candlelight she was holding. Her long blue satin dress dripping with water, clung to her slender form. The sound of her son crying had woken her up in the middle of the night. When she went to check on him, she found, to her horror, an empty crib.The storm was still raging outside. The rain coming down in torrents. The wind howling like an inv...

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“Warwick House” by Zilla Babbitt

Submitted to Contest #64

I arrived at Warwick House too early. Jude looked back at me when I checked my watch—9:10—as we drove under great iron arches toward the looming manor. “You okay, Bethe?”“I’m fine. I’ll wait outside. Thanks for driving me, Jude. I owe you one.”“Anything for you, Bethy.”“Shut up.”He laughed.Gravel crunched and spat under my feet as I rolled my suitcase over the driveway. Jude turned in an ungainly circle in the white driveway and the car disappeared from view. He was proud of that car, a nice little 2017 remodel.I went all the way u...

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“December 6th, 1941” by Robert Grandstaff

Submitted to Contest #64

December 6, 1941 A bright blue sky for a hundred miles west ended the day. Cool mountain breezes, from the snowcapped Sierras, blew across the lowlands. A short hike to the edge of town, Alex and John searched for the house known as “Decay and Splendor.” Hidden among a neighborhood of pines, the gothic manor sat empty and foreboding. Boarded-up windows and tangled vines hid a once beautiful home fallen from glory. Dead leaves scented the air and swished along a buried sidewalk as they approached. Statues and figurines of white marble pe...

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“An Ambury Haunt” by Jessy Glazewski

Submitted to Contest #64

The glare from the sun bounced off the shattered glass of the first-floor window in fragmented beams. The late afternoon, nearly evening, breeze blew, red and brown, leaves, dead, and fallen from the autumn struck trees. Swooped in swirling patterns in front of the old Ambury House. A wheeze, resonated from within the dilapidated house as the wind blew against the broken wood siding, threatening to topple it over with every gust. The Ambury Manor House stood, corner lot, like a looming gargoyle; perched on a mound of earth protrudi...

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“Him and Her” by 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚢𝚜𝚝 ~

Submitted to Contest #64

~Her~I walked into one of the many giant hallways, where a big banquet table was loaded with food. No one was coming to eat with me, because I lived by myself in this manor. I inherited it from my sister, who disappeared a few years ago. The manor had magnificent turrets, like an English castle. It took up a million square meters, the biggest in the world. I haven’t explored much of it, as I have heard that this place is haunted. It’s quite good for someone like me; shy, doesn’t like people, and likes having a big living space. I looked over...

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“Call of the Raven” by Amiable Sorceress

Submitted to Contest #64

The raven spirit hadn’t been called to light in a century, but yet here it stood, perched on the highest rooftop of all the houses in Stratensborough. Some of the rumors were true; the ones you chose to believe at least. The raven hadn’t been around for a while, but those who caught sight of it knew it’d be best to stay home the whole day. Today, it scratched at the already fallen apart shambles of Stratensborough mansion, abandoned since 1844 when Sir Isacc passed in his quarters, blood spread thin over the ground like a blanket or icing on...

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“The Secret Room” by Julia Boddie

Submitted to Contest #64

They were at war. The king, the princess, the villagers, the guards. No one expected this madness to come. King Ghas had always been a good king. ~~~~~~~~~~ Zephera heard gunshots from behind her. She hoped the soldiers wouldn’t find her. If they did, it would be all over. Everything she and her uncle worked for. The villagers deserved freedom but now, her uncle, King Ghas outlawed them. They were fugitives, criminals, and it was all because of one creature. Zephera knew where she had to go. She had to hide in the one place that ...

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“Cleansing” by Dalyane Deblois

Submitted to Contest #64

Content warning: self-harm Author’s note: I hesitated before posting this story, but here it is. This is fiction, but the issues treated in the story are very relatable for many people. I hope the ending will bring the realization that there can always be light even when everything seems hopeless. The goal is to encourage people who need help to seek it and to discourage bullying, for “words cut deeper than any blade”.The Gothic Manor seems to have stepped right out of a fairytale. It towers above the trees to reach out to the Heavens. The l...

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“Shades of Wednesday” by Scout Tahoe

Submitted to Contest #64

It was Wednesday when the painting of a man in spectacles at his desk told Micayla that a family would arrive at sunset that day. She considered his words, clapping her hands twice to the rhythm of life, but didn’t say anything because there was nothing to be said. The man in the painting rolled his eyes at her joy, sat back in his chair, and smoked his pipe. He was the painting that she disliked the most, but she wouldn’t admit anything because her father had painted them all. The first step to prepare for visitors was to make the...

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“The Manor of a Dream” by Yolanda Wu

Submitted to Contest #64

The young lord lived in the manor atop a cliff. The manor was big with winding stairwells, crouching and thorn-clad like a great, dark wolf. Trees grew around it with elongated trunks, boughs, and limbs thin as twisted wire. Witches’ fingers that reached, casting long, thick shadows on the scaly roof.The manor had been built by his father, a thin, studious man who wasn’t afraid of the creaks in the night. Or how the wind moaned when it was dark like the howls of a fair maiden. He slept soundly because of the roaring of the waves as it broke ...

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“The Ultimate Escape” by Malz Castell

Submitted to Contest #64

Trigger warning. There were eighteen of them, huddled up in different corners, not making eye contact with each other.The younger ones tried to move closer to the older girls seeking refuge. Their immature minds told them that they could trust the older girls. They weren’t bad like the men who prowled free outside the tiny, windowless room. No, these girls were victims like them, but they were older. Surely, they would know what to do.Kiara was once just like them. A child who waited for the older girls to take her in their arms, tell her e...

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“When can a ghost catch a break around here?” by Lina Oz

Submitted to Contest #64

I am exhausted from haunting.It gets rather old.At first, it was enthralling––I’ll certainly admit to that. Perhaps not the inception, when my father butchered me in cold, agonizing blood because his auditory hallucinations advised him that I was possessed by a demon. Those memories are particularly distressing, and ones I shall choose not to elucidate; no amount of persuasion will convince me otherwise.Memories, locked. Check.But after that pleasant little episode, things became...interesting. Yes, I couldn’t leave the walls of the manor. A...

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“I’M A GEEK’S GEEK!” by P. Jean

Submitted to Contest #64

(Set your story in a gothic manor house) I suppose there isn’t a kid alive in Great Britain who hasn’t been dragged along on a school outing to a castle ruin or a moldy, old albeit elegant, manor house. Today our group is touring the Gaggafield Moated Manor, complete with a late lunch on the extensive estate grounds. The fields and forests , fox hunting and all of the games horse people like to play in their leisure. If I sound a bit sarcastic it is because this is beyond a “yawner”. ...

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“All in the name of love” by Radhika Diksha

Submitted to Contest #64

The winter is literally stinging my eyes, it appears to be that the winds are carrying arrows with them. The fog has blinded me everything seems to be swallowed by white blanket. Have I lost the path to the village or I travelled myself further in the black forest. Suddenly I heard a rustle behind me, is it a bear?Jesus Christ I don't have my gun with me, I slowly turn my horse to face the predator. There is no one there then, what was the noise about?In the dense fog I see a slight outline it is a man on a horse, and was approaching me now....

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“Manse Dracule” by Jacques Humanité

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #64

He stood with wine in hand, for hours regarding that portrait hanging above the hearth. The light and shadow rippling across the study as the fire danced bent the face painted in dozens of variations, some kind, some stern, some emotionless, and one that would appear only as the light waned and darkness descended: a monster. He set the glass down and made his way along the winding cobble corridors of Manse Dracule. He passed his family’s banners hanging along the walls, and empty rooms from which the firelight of hearths kindled by phantoms ...

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Set your story in a Gothic manor house.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 133 stories

“The Return Of The Prodigal Son (The Chadwick Saga - Part 1)” by Melissa Hassan

“Warwick House” by Zilla Babbitt

“December 6th, 1941” by Robert Grandstaff

“An Ambury Haunt” by Jessy Glazewski

“Him and Her” by 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚢𝚜𝚝 ~

“Call of the Raven” by Amiable Sorceress

“The Secret Room” by Julia Boddie

“Cleansing” by Dalyane Deblois

“Shades of Wednesday” by Scout Tahoe

“The Manor of a Dream” by Yolanda Wu

“The Ultimate Escape” by Malz Castell

“When can a ghost catch a break around here?” by Lina Oz

“I’M A GEEK’S GEEK!” by P. Jean

“All in the name of love” by Radhika Diksha

“Manse Dracule” by Jacques Humanité

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a ghost story where there’s more going on than it first appears.

Write about someone who’s been sent to boarding school.

Write about a family attempting to hide their secrets from someone new.

Write a romance that involves one partner saving the other from a fire.

Contest #64

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

753

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: