Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of horror short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

6530+ Horror Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From hauntings and murderers to terrifying creatures from the deep, our collection of horror stories will have you breaking out in cold sweats. Take a look… if you dare.

Horror Short Stories – Page 343 of 436

Demons Inside Us

Submitted to Contest #93

Linda Dear Diary, I'm in the bathroom at the party, and nothing seems to be going right. Nothing seems Nothing is ok. Justin kissed Katlynn, not me. Trixie spilled her cola on my dress on purpose. I must- The door swinging open causes me to stop and look up from my journal. I can see just a little from the stall I'm in, and Justin had Kat against a wall. He's holding something sharp. A knife. I rush up to save her, but I stop in my tracks. Not a knife. A pen. Stupid. Stupid. Why would he have a knife? I've read too many horror stories. I s...

9 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

The Man in the Tall Tower

Submitted to Contest #93

‘Who did this?’ April whispered far too loudly, waving a handkerchief soaked in God knows what wildly in front of her as I attempted to shush her through a smirk. In the two years we had both worked for this catering business, I don’t think we had worked an event like this. We had walked up the seemingly never-ending gravel path through the grounds with all our equipment, only to be completely swamped in the shadow of the mansion. The outside was impressive on its own, period windows covered the three stories of maintained brickwork, but my ...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Ring Around the Rosie

Submitted to Contest #93

For the past week, I have seen sponsored social media posts and posters advertising for a new carnival coming to town. Scrolling through my feed, I stop on the ad to see if it is worth visiting. A ringmaster, juggler, and clown come into view and go through everything they have to offer. While the ringmaster is speaking, the juggler is behind him juggling and the clown is standing strangely still. The clown is staring into the camera with a huge smile and does not blink for the entirety of the sixty-second video. I replay the ad several t...

17 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

One Last Drink

Submitted to Contest #93

“There she is!” Julian goaded loudly, gesturing toward the kitchen. He could barely be heard over the deafening Blink 182 song “What’s My Age Again?” playing through the speakers and the crowds of already drunk people chit-chatting around them.Kathleen took another big sip of her drink. Her face began to feel hot. She didn’t know if it was the cheap can of beer or her nervousness. Through the many groups of partiers, she could see Bobbi making her way with some friends into the kitchen area. “I can’t do this.” Kathleen shook her head, w...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Moment in a Party Calamity

Submitted to Contest #93

Moment in a Party Calamity The scene around me stopped. The people around me froze in jovial conversation. In that fraction of time, the dangers around me bloomed in colour. Blazing red, in an aura of risk. I’m standing at the bar, a couple drinks and other poisons in, when the stream of lager pouring from the tap stopped mid flow. In a supernatural spectacle, colour drained from the scene. It didn’t disappear, it dulled like old paint on a wooden fence. One colour remained, it burned bright at the scuffed shoes of the balding bartender, r...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

A night to remember,

Submitted to Contest #93

1 am, Crestclove street In the dark of night, the moon shone down onto the empty street and the towering houses that lined it. Owls hooted and the nightly orchestra of unseen  creatures buzzed in the background of the otherwise silent vicinity.   In the far end of the road where the street thinned out, a lone house stood out like a sore thumb. The canopied roof touched the sky with bright light streaming from clouded windows. A faint bass of party music reverberated through whatever crack and entrance the house had. A girl lurk...

31 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

Submitted to Contest #93

It started long ago, back further then our memories can stretch, to when our two worlds were no longer one. In a kingdom, long ago, in a forgotten city, in a castle, long since torn down by time and nature, was a king. This king was not like the kings who had gone before him. They were wise and brave and merciful, but he was cunning and foolhardy and cruel. Yet, the kingdom prospered, the city grew and spread, like an ink stain on parchment, inching closer and closer to the forest, until it was only a stone’s throw away from the city walls...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The party everyone remembers

Submitted to Contest #93

University is nothing like in the movies or at least not for me. I stay confined in my dorm room if I’m not in class and the library is my escape from reality. My friends or let’s be realistic, my friend Cindy is the complete opposite. She is the life of the party at every party. She has so much life in her that I figured she could party on behalf of the both of us. As I sat in my dorm room working on my first assignment for the semester, I could hear voices of young girls giggling and I can smell the odor of our future NFL players a mile a...

17 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Operation Bucharest

Submitted to Contest #93

It's 4 a.m. in Sunnyside, New York, December 2nd. A restless blonde woman of small stature sits in an unmarked patrol vehicle with a detachable siren on the front hood, she had just previously received a call from her Sergeant regarding a "ten seventy-one", witnesses describe the alleged culprits as four men with long hair in a pick up truck fleeing from the scene of the crime. After a few more sips of caffeine she exits and walks towards the front door of a residential building in a wealthy gated suburban neighborhood. She is well dres...

13 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Mistake

Submitted to Contest #93

Warning: death, blood, murder, etc. “TURN THE MUSIC DOWN BRIAN!” Tiffany screamed at the top of her lungs in hopes the music won’t drown her words.            Loud footsteps followed her words, before her door swung open.            “Can you be any more annoying than this? It’s a party!”            “One that mom and dad didn’t agree to, and if the neighbors tell them about the...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

False Murderer, Dead Soldier, and Mr.Nobody

Submitted to Contest #93

(Copied and Paste, This work is mine I created this story for speech and debate class) (also any feedback is helpful) First Story Criminal… That's exactly what they think of me, around 3 months ago I was accused of second-degree murder, I now stand in court trying to be acquitted, my lawyer next to me. I saw the murder, but I didn’t do anything myself, but nobody believes me. Every day I see people looking at me disgusted I hear people whispering… Delinquent… Murderer…Put him in jail. The main reason people think it wa...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Party of the Century

Submitted to Contest #93

The party was finally over, but there was no time to wait. The clean-up was just beginning and it would be well into the mid-afternoon before they would be done. Jason, knee-deep in picking up the remains of the festivities, stepped lightly around the bodies of a couple of partygoers who would definitely not be driving home. In fact, none of the guests would be going anywhere, the sign of a truly great party. He smiled in relief upon seeing his partner, Michael, emerge from the kitchen carrying two perfect martinis: extra olives and dirty ...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Invitation

Submitted to Contest #93

Amy woke up on a Monday morning with lots of energy. It was the last week of high school. She would go to college shortly afterwards. She brushed her long red hair. She put on a long sleeve dark green button up shirt to match her sparkling green eyes with a black skirt coming down to her knees. She drove to school in her blue mini van. She got to school and talked to her best friend Lucy. Lucy followed Amy to her locker. Amy opened the door to her locker ro get her books for her first class. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a black enve...

11 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

No Regrets

Submitted to Contest #93

Bennie didn’t dare open his eyes. They throbbed with every heartbeat, and he genuinely believed that if he opened them, they might just burst out of their sockets. He groaned, and the sound rattled around in his skull like a ricocheting bullet. His whole body hurt. His arms and legs were dead weight. His tongue felt like a dusty, shrivelled bit of meat that had spent a few months down the back of the sofa. A hangover, he thought. Which means I was drinking last night. Thinking was too painful and too difficult, so Bennie left it at that and ...

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Mouths

Submitted to Contest #93

"Icarus, Jocasta, Isla, Leto, Taran and Odessa." I keep the names held tightly between my teeth as I descend into the mouth of the cave repeating them over and over.  I will not succumb to the will of the Mouth. I will not be consumed. I will not be swallowed like all the others.  I will find Odessa. The ground grumbles as I recite the names as though mocking my conviction.   "Just wait and see," I say as I slide down the slope of its tongue, down its rocky throat, and sink towards the belly of the beast, the light of d...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.