Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Menu

✕
CONNECT
Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites
BLOG
Success Stories
APPS
TOOLS
Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships
ABOUT
About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

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

Posted in Mystery on Jul 27, 2021

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 225 stories

“Preoccupied” by Maggie Deese

Submitted to Contest #64

Edith couldn’t sleep.The house was colder than usual. Frigid air blew in from the open window and tickled her nose, freezing her nostrils. She wiped at her nose and quietly rose to tighten the attic window. Edith pulled at the lock as hard as her weak arms allowed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.A noise sounded from below her. Edith’s ears pricked. She tried to remember the last time she heard clamor in the old house. A few years, maybe? Yes, that was it. She decided it had to have been at least a few years, fifteen maybe. The noise sou...

26 comments 26
Read story

“The Boy, The Ball, and The Shadow” by Janetra Waters

Submitted to Contest #64

The house looks normal, a carbon copy of the suburban houses on the street. Healthy green grass sits before the house. No peeling paint or falling shingle. A beautifully carved rocking chair sits on the porch.   But something is off about it, it's barely noticeable, like a slight shift in the wind. A weird feeling radiates from it, one I'm familiar with, creeping silently along my skin. A woman stands on the porch, arms crossed, trying to shield herself from the chill of the Winter air. Blonde hair whips about from the breeze. I ca...

10 comments 10
Read story

“The House of Inner Demons” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #64

It felt like there were spiders crawling all over me. The heavy glass door rolled open with ever such silence, like some kind of unseen force was standing there to open it. I was there. This was home now. The faltering daylight cast shadows in imitation of every shape of every object in the place. My throat twitched. The hanging lamp above the oval dining room table was gently swinging, I guess because the house was settling again. I pulled the chain to turn it on, my imagination expecting to see anything. I listened and held my breath.&nb...

21 comments 21
Read story

“A Watchman Lady” by Skyler Woods

Submitted to Contest #64

Lindsay McBride murdered her husband. She stabbed him to death while he was trying to leave the house with their son in his arms. If Lindsay could do it all over again, she would still kill her husband. Sadly, Lindsay’s husband, Dennis, wasn’t her only victim. Lindsay also murdered her 5-year-old son, Amari. The little boy didn’t suffer as badly as his father, but he still died. His father’s shielding arm took most of the stabbing blows. Amari died instantly when his mother stabbed him in the neck by accident. She was aiming for his fat...

14 comments 14
Read story

“Midnight” by Kylie Wallis

Submitted to Contest #64

Ashlyn Frost was dared to spend Halloween Night inside Baltimore Cove’s resident abandoned house. She also had to bring something out of the place, as proof that she’d actually been there. It was a crazy idea, thought up by her long-time friends. Rumors of hauntings had already been circulating around town.As the well-known sceptic of the group, Ashlyn accepted the challenge straight away. On the evening in question, it was a clear sky and the moon had become full. You could see the stars no matter where you were looking from.Ashlyn and her ...

3 comments 3
Read story

“The Hitchhiker” by L M

Submitted to Contest #64

The road was slick, and the sky was dark. The perfect combination for a car accident. Still, the young, reckless John went at full speed, desperate to get to where they were going on time. He didn’t bother with stupid things like saftey precautions, or seatbelts. Those were for losers, and overprotective parents. He was neither of those things. John never understood how risky the game of life was, and it could all be taken away in a flash. No, instead he lived only for the moment and carved a path for his own adventures in the small town of ...

11 comments 11
Read story

“The House on 45th Street NE” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #64

Ever since she was a little girl, Sandy loved driving down 45th Street NE in Salem. On the corner sat the house of her dreams. It was a two-story mid-century home with a big wrap-around porch. Sometimes she even parked out front, just to take a good long look. Though Dan and Sandy had been married for almost five years, it had never been the right time to buy a house. But when they both got raises in the same month, they decided it was time. Sandy was excited about looking for a house, but it was hard to give up her dream. So, when the h...

10 comments 10
Read story

“Banshees in the Attic” by S. Closson

Submitted to Contest #64

When kids at school ask me how it feels living in the most haunted house in Rock County, I generally give them a shrug and blow the question off. You may wonder why I don’t just tell them the truth about the whole thing. I understand it probably seems a little petty to keep the existence of what’s really going on behind those decrepit doors all to myself, but I’ve got enough on my plate as it is dealing with the paranormal. Adding school problems to the mix would be just asking for trouble.  Middle School is like that creepy live-acti...

5 comments 5
Read story

“Haunted” by Chelsea S D

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #64

Finding just the right haunted house is always a challenge. One cannot simply walk into any old house and find their match; there are specifics to consider. You are buying a house after all, and it is important to have the usual lists of needs and wants. You may want 4 bedrooms, but need a two story Victorian where a grisly murder took place. You might want a two car attached garage, but need a basement with the frayed and knotted rope still hanging from the pipes. You have to know your priorities, when hunting for a haunted house.Of course ...

13 comments 13
Read story

“Fruitville” by Molly Kelash

Submitted to Contest #64

(What’s the worst thing you can say to a ghost?I dunno. What?“I don’t believe in you.”Ouch! I admit I kinda’ love the irony, though. You can’t actually talk to ghosts because they don’t actually exist.You want more irony? You can’t actually talk to ghosts—unless you believe in them.) The night I found the doll…wait. Always ahead of myself these days, always so tired and caffeine jumpy. The house first. Three months ago, I bought this lacy, pumpkin and ochre Victorian house renovated to within an inch of kitschy in the middle of thi...

9 comments 9
Read story

“When The Clock Strikes Twelve” by Vinci Lam

Submitted to Contest #64

As the clock struck eight, little monsters were herded back to their warm beds, every one of them with a cheeky smile and a mind full of delicious candied thoughts. Danny and Jones were laying out tiny plastic cups on the kitchen island. Two bags of tiny cups needed laying out and three bags in the fridge holding green half jelly-half liquid concoctions. Orange and black streamers crisscrossed every inch of ceiling in a thoughtless mess. Jones had bought out the 52nd street dollarstore’s inventory of styrofoam spiders and scattered them onto...

11 comments 11
Read story

“1241 Drummond St” by Pratheeksha R

Submitted to Contest #64

The headlines read “48 year old man arrested for misbehaving with a female tenant.” On further reading, the address read “1241 Drummond St”. That was just down the road of my apartment. It’s a mansion on a really big fenced lawn. There’s no front yard or back yard or garage. It’s just a house with grass all around. It’s painted in light green color & has a brown color roof. The interiors are pale. If you’re wondering, how I’d know the interiors, well, my roommates and I had gone for its viewing 4 months before. We had rejected that pla...

9 comments 9
Read story

“666” by Ayushi Agarwal

Submitted to Contest #64

A glint,some distorted images and an impenetrable ache. My eyelids gradually opened up, with the melancholy sound of raindrops crashing the window pane. My head was still in a daze,while I stared the ceiling,nonchalantly.Sicily is accustomed to receive scorching heat during the months of July, the sudden arrival of rainfall was both unorthodox and eerily haunting.With an unsure state of mind, I peeped towards my left. '11 July 2011, 06:06 PM', flashed the clock on the side of the table. I let out a sigh and turned by head to the other side. ...

2 comments 2
Read story

“The Shadow” by Anagha Gavande

Submitted to Contest #64

Falling asleep has always been a difficult job for me. The cold night awakens my soul (at least whatever is left of it). Every night the same old dream which slowly starts haunting and becomes my only reality. I ask myself every night, when will this end? The only answer I get is another night full of misery. These constant thoughts ramble in my head throughout the day, and with these thoughts I dim the lights, close my eyes and let the horror consume me. “Good Morning Maa!” the daylight and her smile what else do I live for? After anot...

9 comments 9
Read story

“Are you still here, Olivia? ” by Rachel Cerbito

Submitted to Contest #64

I met her in the dilapidated house two kilometers away from our house. I usually passed by here every afternoon while riding my bicycle. It was ten past five in the afternoon. I felt the cold wind, my hair stood on end. Anyway, I was used to it and I didn't bother about that. I stared at the house for a long time. I was suddenly flabbergasted when my phone rang. "Kate! where are you? hurry, go home now!" I broke out into a cold seat. I immediately leaved the place.       I arrived home, but no one was there. "Mo...

6 comments 6
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a Gothic manor house.

Horror – 133 stories

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

Novel – 120 stories

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

Dramatic – 121 stories

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

Romance – 154 stories

Contest #64

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Out on the Moor

$50

Prize money

753

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 23, 2020 EST

Won by Mollie Rodgers 🏆

Title: The Girl in the Goethe House

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢