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There’s an urban legend saying that the famous “For sale, baby shoes, never worn” story by Ernest Hemingway came from a $10 bet. Supposedly, he made it during lunch with other writers to prove he could create a scary story in just six words. After penning the famous line on a napkin, he passed it around the table and pocketed his winnings.

At least, that’s the popular version. Whether true or not, the average person is no Hemingway, so we need a few more words to scribble a captivating horror story. And a subreddit called r/TwoSentenceHorror seems to have found the perfect limit. Two-sentence horror stories. 

It’s still short, so readers get through the spooky stories really fast, yet it’s vague enough to give the writers space to work with. It turns out that quite a few Internet users have dark thoughts and the ability to express them. That or Stephen King made a lot of Reddit accounts.

And since we’ve mentioned Stephen King, the master of creepy stories believes there are three types of terror:

  • The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out or something green and slimy splatters against your arm.
  • The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out, and something with claws grabs you by the arm. 
  • The Terror: the worst one, when you come home and notice everything you own has been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there.

RELATED: 112 Stephen King Quotes On Everything That’s Life

According to novelist R.L. Stine, an author has to get inside their narrator’s head to be effective in all of these real horror fields. If we’re seeing through the eyes of a character in a scary situation, we start to feel like we are in a scary situation. 

“There’s no formula, I think you have to create a very close point of view. You have to be in the eyes of the narrator. Everything that happens, all the smells, all the sounds; then your reader starts to identify with that character and that’s what makes something really scary.” (via AdWeek)

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#4

Monster In A Closet

Reddit post of Monghostwriter about monster in a closet

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#5

The Horrors Of Uber

Reddit post of Thecoldflame about the horrors of uber

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TheExtremeSmell
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I mean wasn’t there just a case where someone got into a car thinking it was their Uber and was killed or something?

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#9

Short But Powerful Horror Story

Reddit post of katsudonlink, short powerful story

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#13

The Woods Are Full Of Horrors

Reddit post of luciferthecat about monster in the woods

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#15

Fade Into Oblivion

Reddit post of SapphireLycanrock about fading into oblivion

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#17

Perfecting The Handwriting

Reddit post of verticalmonkey about perfect handwriting

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#18

Drawing The X

Reddit post of BrianHotshot about drawing "x" on a map

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Rowlie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's freezing and dark, the constant movement is making me naseous, everything hurts, I'm lonely and scared. I wish I didnt' ask for my ashes to be spread into the ocean

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#19

Alien Horror

Reddit post of Mr7000000 about wife being pregnant with alien baby

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Dann999
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

think positive. self pregnant. some reptile can do that. oh wait, that’s even scarier..

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#23

Double-Sided Horror

Reddit post of Alfieski25 about homework

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#30

Scrambled Words

Reddit post of icelugger86 about scrambled words

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Parmeisan
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree with K. Blanchette, but just to put it another way: I think the idea is that your brain is trying to warn you that there's something wrong, but then the thing inside you figured out the "code" and how to intercept. Therefore, you won't get any further information about this. You have no idea what it is or how to stop it. Aaaand, you probably don't even really believe that your brain was trying to tell you anything, it's clearly just a joke / horror story anyway... right?

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Animus 2.0
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Did you know that even if letters are messed up as long as the first and last letters are in the right place, your brain still can read the word easily.

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Sadie Jayne
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like this one... I've had a strange ability since I was about 12 year old to read backwards ( like in a mirror) and to read scrambled letters in words like this as fast as I can read normal print. While it is fun for me, it is totally useless.... How sad is that?

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Jessica Russian Sifontes
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's not so rare or strange, a lot of people can do it, it's related to spatial perception and the way your brain organizes information. Funny thing, as long as the word is written with the first and last letters in the correct place, your brain will unscramble it quickly because we learn to decode text by the shape of the word, not letter by letter.

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Id row
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought bairn was referring to a baby. I struggled with this one for a bit.

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Jessica JD
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's the word after "it can't" in the second sentence? I get the joke but English isn't my first language and it's making me crazy thanks

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Keely Estep
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Don't panic, this is your brain, I don't have much time, it can't decipher scrambled words, get help, it's already inside of you."

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Iliana Nichols
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

so to explain, your brain nows their some "thing" or parasite inside of you. it can understand scrambled words so that explains the bold text. Then finally so the parasite won't kill you or realize that you know your brain tell you everything okay normally.

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Maeve Valentine
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Don't panic, this is your brain, I don't have much time, It can't decipher scrambled words, get help, It's already inside of you."

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Chloe_Macaroni
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually, there is a study saying that as long as the first letter and last letter of a word are the same you can still make out what the word is. Even if the other letters are totally screwed up!

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Wazeema
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have had this ability to read scrambled words easily

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Mannat Thakur
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

the ¨thing¨ took over your mind so to not make you sus it is saying everything is okay.yeaks!!!!

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Lavery Easter
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I didn’t relive the word were all jumbled until I read it for the second time. XD

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Candido Rodriguez
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't panic, this is your brain, I don't have much time, I can't decipher scrambled words, get help it's already inside of you.

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ツ_Itz_Your_Girl_ツ
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dno't pnaic tihs is yuor bairn i dno't hvae mcuh tmie it cna't dciepher scblramed wrods get hlep it's arleady insdie of you. Never mind, you're fine. Don't panic, this is your brain, I don't have much time, It can't decipher scrambled words, get help, it's already inside you. Never mind, you're fine.

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Note: this post originally had 89 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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There you have it, a collection of scary two-sentence stories to add a quick dose of fear to your day! Which short horror story freaked you out the most? Drop a comment and let us know. Feel free to upvote your favorites and, if you’re feeling brave, share your own terrifying two-liner. Let’s see if you can give these short spooky stories a run for their money!