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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.

6520+ 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 421 of 435

get out

Submitted to Contest #64

Get out It was unmistakable. Two distinct words. Whispered into her ear. Close enough to feel the soft puff of breath at the end of the last consonant. Sharon’s eyes refused to open. If she opened them she might see something. Something she didn’t want to. Her husband Jack was downstairs. A thousand miles away. Not right next to her. She held her eyes shut and could feel her whole body tremble. She waited in nervous anticipation. Every terrible possibility played in her head and she thought perhaps knowing would be better than speculatin...

11 likes 1 comment 1
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When can a ghost catch a break around here?

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...

39 likes 18 comments 18
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Murdered by accident

Submitted to Contest #64

 “We’ve been on this road for almost an hour.”Reeves snorted at his complaint. “You’re even drunker you look. It’s only been twenty minutes since we left the bar.”The old pot-holed, cracked tarmac road winds through a large field of dead, yet tall grasses, unwilling to surrender the surrounding dryness. Maurice kept his eyes bulging as he stared wordlessly at the road ahead which appeared to be whirling. “These damn grasses are getting in the way.” Reeves cursed under his breath, eyes on the road. “Heck, how can they be this damn t...

14 likes 1 comment 1
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Among Us

Submitted to Contest #64

The lights flickered for a few seconds and then died. “What’s up with your electricity?” Nick asked. “It’s been weird the past week or so. My parents said they’d get it checked out when they’re back from vacation,” Mark replied. “Still can’t believe they left you here alone for an entire weekend. Our parents would never,” Nick said.  Amrika listened to the conversation silently. She didn’t have anything to add and her brother Nick was the more social one. He hadn’t stopped talking since they arrived. She wondered if Nick even liked her....

9 likes 1 comment 1
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The House

Submitted to Contest #64

The day started like every other day. The drive from my house to work was about an hour. It's challenging most days, but I really love the area that we live in, the space and friendly neighbors made it worth the drive. Of course, on my way home from town, part of my drive was in the dark. I knew my car sounded different, but I refused to stop at a shop to have it looked at, knowing that my husband could fix it when I returned home. Just as the sunset behind the small hills, my car began sputtering before it completely gave out, coa...

9 likes 0 comments 0
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Halloween

Submitted to Contest #64

Halloween 31st of October 1999 Marissa had always lived a perfect life. She had a loving and supporting family, a good house which she had only moved into 3 months ago. She had a best friend to keep her company named Tiger. But she especially loved Halloween! She loved the life she led until this Halloween morning. The first strange thing Marissa noticed began on 31st of October 1999. Marissa awoke to a cold chill in the air. Her alarm clock had not woken her. She was an hour behind her strict schedule. She started to fret feverishly. S...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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The Widow in White

Submitted to Contest #64

Joyce had always known the consequences. One could not visit her great aunt’s manor house without the conversation eventually leading to its rich history of tragedy and loss. Each curved archway, squeaky floorboard, cool breeze, or faint rustling inspired a deluge of stories of phantoms lurking in the dark.  It had always been a thrill to spend time in the manor. There had been countless sleepless nights of anxious anticipation filled with watchful wide eyes and trembling huddles. Her cousin took a special delight in claiming she had s...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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Dearest Mother and Father

Submitted to Contest #64

Dearest Mother and Father,                                                                   Thanks be to you for sending me to live at the Gray Springs Boarding School for Girls. The sign on the outside reads ‘Buildi...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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The Wandering Medallion

Submitted to Contest #64

When Graham’s heart cancer had forced its removal, it was it for him, except for a last chance at life: a highly experimental prosthetic heart. And for four months, it has worked, constantly transmitting commands in response to his body’s natural nervous signals to a computer. It, in turn, would regulate the BPM. Monitors constantly beeped, showing the peaks and dips in his artificial pulse. Four months and one day since the surgery, the lock to the door of Graham and his Grandparents’ dwelling was picked. The valuables off of the shelv...

168 likes 50 comments 50
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Empty Eyes

Submitted to Contest #64

Undoubtedly, I’ve always been fearful of my parents, my own flesh and blood. Perhaps it was the innocence that they had chosen to wield as their outerly persona, the charming personality of a person that was once there, that was once cognizant of their own actions.Perhaps it was the silence that they had decided to make; the cold demeanour that they now utilized as a way of escape from who knows what.I was fearful of the secrets and dark mystery that roamed the halls of our dark, vast manor. The dry air in which I breathed in daily...

11 likes 1 comment 1
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Tales from a Dinner Party

Submitted to Contest #64

The sturdy door of the old library slides open and standing a metre inside is my silvery eyed boss. Her long hair sways in the aggressive breeze, and her porcelain skin, like fluorescent light, glows. Hidden inside her tailored suit is her curvy body. A figure of eight hugging her bones. Her face reflects her personality, a tattooed snarl pulling her lips upwards and her menacing eyes observing your every move. If you don’t meet deadlines, she will never scream, but she will, with those very eyes, insult you. Sometimes I pinch myself, I am s...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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Truth or Dare

Submitted to Contest #64

 Rue looked in the mirror at her Halloween costume, she had chosen to be the queen of hearts, she had a red knee length dress with cards on it and a crown made of cards placed on the side of her head, Rue’s brown hair was pulled back into a low messy bun and the dark red dress made her electric blue eyes almost seem like they where glowing. Rue slipped on her black heels and walked down the stairs to the kitchen her mom was there pouring candy into a bowl “ oh your costume is so beautiful!” said Rue’s mom with a smile on her face, ...

10 likes 0 comments 0
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Thomas and the Oddity

Submitted to Contest #64

Thomas felt all the blood in his body rush to his legs. The world went blurry there for a second until he was able to catch his breath again.        “Is- is that what I think it is?” he asked with a dry tongue.        Thomas jumped when Margret replied to him, “Yeah, that looks like the ghost of Elizabeth Thomas. Murdered in her bedroom forty-seven years ago on Halloween night.”        Thomas regained composure once again and averted his ...

13 likes 0 comments 0
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Shattered Glass

Submitted to Contest #64

Julie shivered and pulled her jacket closer around her. It was a warm summer night, but it wasn't warm in here. She wondered again why she had ever let Grant talk her into coming here. A ghost hunt in an abandoned asylum? Great. Grant elbowed her, knocking her out of her reverie. "Cheer up," he said, his voice bright but with a familiar dark undertone. "Isn't this cool?" Julie looked up and forced a smile onto her face. "Yeah, pretty cool," she agreed, and looked around again. They had ventured in through a broken window, and now stood...

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Fruitville

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...

27 likes 9 comments 9
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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