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Tell a story in the form of a police report, news article, or journal entry about an incredible (or impossible) event.

Posted in Short Story on Aug 22, 2025

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✍️ 46 stories

Cab Driver from Nazareth

Submitted to Contest #317

I had gone to New York City on business, leaving briefly, my sleepy existence on the outskirts of Raleigh, North Carolina. I didn't want to go. My wife was on the verge of delivering our first child and I'd rather be by her side, than talking business 1,000 miles away.As business concluded, I stood in the lobby of the office building, suitcase in hand, watching it pour down rain, wondering how I would ever make it to the airport on-time.I ventured out to the curb, hoping, no praying; I’d be recognized as not being from these parts. I don’t k...

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The Blood Moon That Became Legend

Submitted to Contest #317

Incident Number: 25-0812-0147Date: August 23, 2025Time Reported: 12:03 AMReporting Officer: Sgt. Danielle Ruiz, Badge #211Location: 117 Old Quarry Road (Harrow House), Milford, ORWeather: Clear skies, full (blood) moonUnits Responding: 2 (Patrol Unit 14 - Ruiz & Officer K. Patel, Backup Unit 18 - Officer G. Miller) Incident SummaryJamie Carter, 16, reported strange red lights and screaming near Harrow House. She described being unable to look away, despite her fear.Patrol Unit 14 arrived at 12:09 AM. Red lights from the woods lit the pro...

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Epilogue

Submitted to Contest #317

Content Warning: This story contains themes of mental health struggles, emotional isolation, and implied suicidal ideation. Entry One — Monday Dear diary, I'm not writing for those men. I write because this is the only place that will not turn away and nod as one of those dashboard toys. They're all cordial. They nod and say my hoodie looks fine and if i'm "doing okay" with their smile dialed for pity, not for concern. They whisper softly enough to bruise. Then they loiter next to locker slots and car doors and bathroom sinks and make their ...

15 likes 0 comments 0
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The Police Report

Submitted to Contest #317

Department: Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, Maine Case #: 25-48812 Date/Time of Report: October 14, 2025 – 02:37 A.M. Reporting Officer: Det. Sgt. Laura Kent (Badge #4711) Incident Type: Disturbance / Possible Homicide / Unclassified Phenomenon Location: 11 Barrow Point Road, Owls Head, MESUMMARY:At approximately 00:41 hours, Rockland County Dispatch received a 911 call originating from landline (unregistered, no subscriber found in databases) at residence 11 Barrow Point Road. Caller provided no verbal information. A recorded line capture...

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An Interview with Bigfoot

Submitted to Contest #317

~~~~~~~~~The Times Intelligencer Journal~~~~~~~~Thursday, August 28th, 2025 BIGFOOT FOUND How a Hiking Disaster Turned into First Contact Described as “Humble, Peaceful, Intelligent Creatures” The Back-channel Treaty with the US Government In Lifestyle: a Conversation with the Bigfoot at the Center of the Story By James Spektator and Edith Afix Around 9:00 AM on May 27th, 2025, a lone backpacker named Jim was walking the Horseshoe Trail in Redwood National Park. The path is a strenuous one, with several uphill stretches, and on this cool, mi...

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Dear Journal

Submitted to Contest #317

June 9th 2022 2:44 pm Graduation is only a couple of days away, and after that? EUROPEEE BABY!! I haven't started packing yet, hell, I haven't even started shopping yet, but isn't that all part of the experience? Last minute packing, getting to the airport with the feeling that you're forgetting something, but shaking it off as jitters, getting on the plane, closing your eyes just to immediately remember you forgot that super expensive camera you bought for pictures. (Which reminds me to pack said camera) I originally had a couple of differ...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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Keeping Up with the Olympians, Season One, Episode I

Submitted to Contest #317

Author's Note: I decided to use all three suggestions in the prompt. AND... I used my 37-year-old daughter as the inspiration for Athena. As a teenager, everything was SO gross and SO lame. Enjoy! *** Olympian Police Department Case File: 2025-08-04-001 Reporting Officer: Chief Daniel Mulligan, Badge #47 Date of Incident: August 04, 2025 Time of Incident: 0911 hours Location of Incident: Mount Olympus Headquarters, Cloud Level 7 Nature of Incident: Unusual Loss of Divine Power; Potential Public Disturbance; Possible Inter-Pantheon Implicatio...

10 likes 13 comments 13
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63 Days

Submitted to Contest #317

Day 63They give me a new world.A small blue stone, river-veined and cloud-bright, threaded by one pale moon. The comet is already visible in the observatory mirrors, a chalk mark scrawled across the firmament. Trajectory holds. Impact in sixty-three rotations.Routine mission: survey, catalogue, keep the ledger. I sign my name where signatures go, accept the seal, and step through the gate.The portal opens on a river bend.The water is winter-cold, iron-clear. The air smells of smoke from peat fires and the sharp green of frost-bitten nettles....

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Hazardous Device Team Responds to Local Store

Submitted to Contest #317

Hazardous Device Team Responds to Local Store By Charlene Brubaker, North County Register The Marsten-Whitlow department store has long been hailed as the anchor of downtown Greenwood. It survived the collapse of the local coal industry in the 1960s. It was somehow left untouched as three successive hurricane-driven floods left rival stores permanently closed in the 1970s. When shopping malls became the center of retail and social life in the 1980s, Marsten-Whitlow remained unfazed, prompting some locals to joke that time moves differently t...

9 likes 4 comments 4
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The Report of Murder

Submitted to Contest #317

This is the story of a report that was never to actually be seen. It was the account of all that happened on a rainy day in August. This is how the story will be shared with those who were able to dig it up and the horror involved in what they read. August 5th, 2102 8:26pm questioning suspects in the libraryA mansion at the edge of town where the murder took place at and trying to piece together the various clues and evidence presented by the detectives and police officers. As told by most who were present and accounted for, it was more than...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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The Ocean Splash Gazette—Front Page

Submitted to Contest #317

Deep Secrets Surface: The Break-In That Shook Subversa By Mariana Dorsal – Atlantica Investigations Desk Sydicate of The Ocean Splash Gazette Dateline: March 25, 2030 Subversa, Undersea Atlantic Ridge, TuesdayThe currents in Subversa have always carried whispers. They coil between coral domes and echo down basalt corridors, gossip that the surface world does not hear. Last week, those whispers became shouts when officials confirmed that the Records Department of Subversa’s government had been breached in the dead of tide. The intruder—or int...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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The Deading Planner

Submitted to Contest #317

The prickly remnants of my Boulder Canyon Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper chips cascade onto my hoodie as I grab for the remote and crank up the TV volume. “…that Cathy Miller has more than made her peace with. She calls herself the ‘Deading Planner’—a title she describes as being a modern twist on our long-held cultural ideas about death and the undertaker. Her morgue isn’t for the faint of heart; it’s for those who want to go out with a real bang. “We met with Cathy at her place of business to talk with her about the way our outlook on life an...

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Unidentified Object - Police Report

Submitted to Contest #317

On December 5th of 2053, at 1345 hours, I was dispatched to 27 Walburga Place to evaluate a disturbance in the occupants' backyard. Upon my arrival, I met with Officer Lupus, who had already been on the scene for five minutes, and Reg A. Black, the owner of the flat. Mr Black stated that approximately an hour before our arrival–he estimated it was 1230 hours–he had heard a loud ‘buzz’ coming from outside, and then a small ‘boom’ like something had fallen. He had then gone outside to investigate and found an abnormal, blinding circular object...

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Out Of Phase

Submitted to Contest #317

The room was colder than expected, the basement lights were harsh and too white, buzzing with the steady hum of tired fluorescent tubes. They hummed faintly above the lone metal desk. I adjusted the chair, the steel scraping against concrete and sat down. The man from Records hadn’t stayed long—just dropped the thick beige folder onto the desk and muttered something about “not everything belongs in daylight” before he left.The folder was marked CLASSIFIED / CONFIDENTIAL, stamped in red across its face. The weight of the folder sat between my...

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The Vanishing

Submitted to Contest #317

When 28% of the world’s population vanished overnight, theories spread faster than officials could contain them. Some citizens suspected a conspiracy. Law enforcement initially considered the possibility of a hoax or a cult-orchestrated mass disappearance. Governments labeled it The Vanishing. Many religious groups declared it the Rapture. But when the missing reappeared—unharmed, bewildered, and unsure why they had returned—the questions multiplied. Over the past eighteen months, this reporter has interviewed both the vanished and those who...

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