Set your story in a Gothic manor house.

Posted in Horror on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 133 stories

“The Strange Tale of Windsor House” by Ashontae _B

Submitted to Contest #64

Before my grandmother died, she was sure about two things. One, that her knees would never give out, and two, there was something odd about this place that we call home. She could never seem to put her finger on exactly what it was. The thought of having to live in a manor didn’t sit well with her, as she had read one too many horror stories surrounding them. What can I say though, she was pretty much paranoid about everything. I usually disregarded her random episodes where she would leer out of her bedroom window, into the forest...

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“Scared to Death” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #64

The path was long and winding. “It has to be just around this corner” I offered, but I had thought that at least five times in the last twenty minutes.. It was growing dark and shadows lengthened across the dirt road from, thick trees growing on either side. Long spindly branches were waving us on, pointing us in the direction that we should go. Not a difficult task seeing as this was the only road for miles. Grasses swayed in the wind, the unlucky ones squashed as the tyres ran over them. Tim put the high beam on and a grey rabbit ran acro...

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“The black manor” by Allyssa Mina

Submitted to Contest #64

Contest 64 This weeks theme- Out on the moor Set your story in a Gothic manor house. They entered an ice-cold attic full of cobwebs and dust. The brown ceiling was low and the walls were pitch black. There was only one window through which the wind screeched. Old looking skulls, bones, rag dolls with names, eyeballs, and hands were hanging from the top. Books and boxes were scattered everywhere. She could see maps of the city. Some broken mirrors stuck on the walls. This was where people had spotted the criminal. He had to be found ...

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“The Barren Woman’s Child of Loch Awe” by Heather Ann Martinez

Submitted to Contest #64

Mists permeated throughout the highlands of Scotland. No one knew where the mists began or where they would end. The mists were the hiding places of ghosts, secrets and legends. For the residents of the manor house near Loch Awe, going out after dusk was forbidden. Everyone knew the ghosts played through the last stroke of midnight. A faint knock on the kitchen door surprised the man servant who was tipsy with ale dripping down the front of his shirt. He pushed over a chair and asked in a raspy voice who was there. The reply was more startli...

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“Trying to Get Her to Care” by Christine Hungerford

Submitted to Contest #64

I walked up the rickety, creaky front porch stairs, each step a groaning sound reserved only for stairs so old they would have to actually make a sound for them to prove themselves rickety and creaky. Anyway, I grabbed the brass doorknob and turned it, it whining and squeaking. Any second now, I almost pulled my light blue bracelet hand away—it would probably come off its connection to the huge brown wooden door if I turned it any more. This house, so-called a Gothic manor house for historical purposes, was so intriguing and worth searching ...

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“Ephemeral” by Adelaide Brenner

Submitted to Contest #64

Once there was a poet and an astronomer, and they did everything they could.The poet once wrote of love, as poets often do, writing of the things they think they cannot have. The astronomer looked to the skies, and saw the same white stars, cold and far away, ghostlike in their distance.And then they met each other.She was soft and warm, everything stars should be. He was kind and genteel, everything love should be. In each other, they found exactly what they needed.It was slow, at firstThe astronomer tried not to notice her. He ran from her...

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“Thicket” by Pandora D. Reams

Submitted to Contest #64

On a dreary moonless night, where the wind howled a sorrowful tune, the old Jolon Manor creaked amongst the barren trees that surrounded the property. The Prune colored walls were weathered and the black roof and the dark attic windows resembled a monster stalking in the night. But as monsters of the forest danced throughout the courtyard, and the Jolon household began their night routines, their youngest members, the twin heirs, wandered about the halls. Valadis and Lorelai Jolon had always been together in this dreadful home. They were bor...

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“Story Set in a Gothic Manor House” by Brenda Liddy

Submitted to Contest #64

Story Set in a Gothic Manor House Based on Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre Hate is a bottomless cup; I will pour and pour Today I heard a new voice in the house. It must be the new governess. I looked out of my attic window later that afternoon and I saw the new employee. She was quite small and not really that pretty. He had not picked her for her looks. She looked quite a composed person. She’s probably had a terrible life and now she has to live in this mansion and teach a petulant child who seems to be a little show-off. I fo...

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“The Apparition of Shadewoods Manor” by Markee Jones

Submitted to Contest #64

The Apparition of Shadewoods manor by: Markee Jones My dearest sister, The journey was long and tiresome, but as I stepped out of the carriage and faced the manor that would be my new home I felt my spirits soar and my bones rejuvenate. Shadewoods Manor stands nestled deep in the hills making it quite an adventure to get here, though I do hope you will muster up the courage to visi...

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“The Preserved Portrait” by Polina Kim

Submitted to Contest #64

For as long as anyone could recall, the house has always stood there. Entitled ‘The House’, seldom a night went by without whispered ghost stories, and nightmares that excluded it. It stood at the outskirts of the small town of Spirit, yet there always seemed to be at least one curious passerby milling around. Never strangers. The town was a tiny point on a map. Not so much a point, as a miniscule pinprick, as if several map makers with tuberculosis coughed, and a tiny droplet of blood had landed on a million maps. Everyone knew each other...

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“The Makings of Reedside Manor ” by Sarah Chet

Submitted to Contest #64

Reedside manor loomed large and empty at the end of the lane. Detached from the rest of the town and surrounded by vast expanses of fields on every side, it could have very easily been picked out of a Gothic novel and willed into life by an avid reader. There it had stood for centuries, in all its ominous glory and many agreed it was the stuff of ghost stories, a place where nightmares might take root. There was only one problem with Reedside manor - for all its pomp and character, it was, in reality, surprisingly unexceptional in subst...

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“Not Whoth It” by Serious Sri

Submitted to Contest #64

Manor, manor here I come. I repeat the phrase in my head, preparing myself for what was ahead. The line seemed to be something taken out of a children’s rhymes book, I thought with a chuckle.I struggled my luggage out of the adorable yellow auto with an “oomph,” and placed my suitcase on the path. I opened my mouth to bid the driver farewell, but the young man didn’t seem to care much for formalities. Having enough of my tardiness, he pulled the reins and trotted past me on his horse. The next thing I know, there are mudd...

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“The Dark Story” by Jovan Ivančević

Submitted to Contest #64

After the disaster at Balaton Sea, my owner was furious and that wasn’t good for me either. However, I was happy as some turtle that has finally reached its destination, since I was absolutely sure we were heading home. There wasn’t anything else to do. The trailer finished in the sea, I mean lake. Whatever where, it wasn’t drivable anymore. It should be a new home for shells, clams and fish. Instead, we finished in some huge city, but I recognize the river – not so blue anymore. I didn’t mind jumping and refreshing a little bit, scaring sev...

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“Caroline” by Pearl Williams

Submitted to Contest #64

It is the day I died, or I didn’t. The knowledge is in depth and I can’t confirm. I remember the man being consumed in an engulfing fire all over him, staring at me, not screaming, his arms outstretched. Rooted to the spot, in a mixture of fear and adrenaline, an undeniable urge to run and help. The dog (Harry) is barking wildly, this is to be a peaceful walk through the woods, an unchartered terrain before I saw the huge Manor house in the middle of nowhere along the unpaved road, gates wide open, an eeriness surrounding its existence. I ra...

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“Grandfather's Will ” by Pamela Berglund

Submitted to Contest #64

We gathered in the library; the darkest room in the ten room mansion that belonged to my grandfather. There were seven of us in all. We were strangers to each other, but we would soon learn that we shared a genealogical relationship with each other; all but one of us. The man sitting next to me was my first cousin, Bruce. He was the son of grandfather's oldest son. He was quite distinguished, and was in charge of a large shipping conglomerate in Pennsylvania. Although we never met, I knew a lot about him through stories t...

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Set your story in a Gothic manor house.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 133 stories

“The Strange Tale of Windsor House” by Ashontae _B

“Scared to Death” by Valerie Preston

“The black manor” by Allyssa Mina

“The Barren Woman’s Child of Loch Awe” by Heather Ann Martinez

“Trying to Get Her to Care” by Christine Hungerford

“Ephemeral” by Adelaide Brenner

“Thicket” by Pandora D. Reams

“Story Set in a Gothic Manor House” by Brenda Liddy

“The Apparition of Shadewoods Manor” by Markee Jones

“The Preserved Portrait” by Polina Kim

“The Makings of Reedside Manor ” by Sarah Chet

“Not Whoth It” by Serious Sri

“The Dark Story” by Jovan Ivančević

“Caroline” by Pearl Williams

“Grandfather's Will ” by Pamela Berglund

🌟 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: