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40 Short Spine-Chilling Stories For Those Who Like To Be Spooked, As Shared Online
Interview
As you all know, horror can materialize in many forms during the course of one’s life. You might’ve encountered it as early as in the innocence of your childhood by breaking your favorite crayon - a ghastly thing, indeed. Later on, you might’ve had the staple nightmare thwarting your sleep where you seem to go to the classroom clad in your birthday suit. Still, a bit later, there’s the bills, the job hunt, and the bi-annual visit of your mother-in-law. See, there’s a pattern here - a good horror story is one that’s believable, relatable, and violent to its core. And while reading a story about student loans wouldn’t be so desperately entertaining as reading a paranormal ghost story, you can always imagine the loan as the spooky poltergeist that’s troubling the heroes of the tale. Now, we all know that not many of you have the time to invest in a 500-page story written by Stephen King, or decipher ye olde English of H.P. Lovecraft’s novels (or even submerse yourself into Shirley Jackson’s eerie feminist dread), so we’ve gathered a list of short horror stories for you to project your adult life fears onto. Some of these stories are as short as two sentences, so we gather that you’ll find the required fifteen seconds to read it and to get properly spooked.
As you will see very soon, these two-sentence horror stories are not only frightful but also pretty inventive. Okay, I might’ve had an idea that the virtuous snow-white fridge over yonder might actually be a monster (because I hear it call my name every now and then, more often than I would like), but have you thought of it? Or, have you ever caught yourself thinking that your fluffy slippers are there to nibble at your fingers? Or even that your blanket will wrap around you like a boa constrictor and won’t let you go when your alarm rings? Just living is horrifying as hell, but it does get even more creepy with these scary stories!
Now, I double-dare you to voluntarily and calmly scroll down below. There are 203 of these scary stories, so a triple-dare would be to read them all, at night, all alone, by candlelight that’s flickered by a suspicious draft. I admit that after reading the first ten of these horror stories, I’d be hiding under the bed, so it won’t be hard to prove that you are braver than me! Anyway, check out the tall tales for yourself, vote for the ones that gave you the largest goosebumps ever, and share this article with your gutsy friends.
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#1
Now be careful, that line of rock salt is the only thing keeping them out," the man said, welcoming my group into his refuge. "Sea salt," I clarified, "sea salt keeps us out."
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#2
All my life, my parents have told me not to open the basement door, but I got curious and disobeyed them. What is that glowing ball in the sky and why does it hurt my eyes?
Pink kitty 3 years ago
This is clever. You automatically think of door down into basement not door up
#3
For my last wish, I wished my dad to be alive again. I stood atop his grave and smiled, imagining him screaming and clawing at his coffin lid as he did the two previous times I wished him back.
Bored Panda contacted one of the moderators @Legioneer of the subreddit TwoSentenceHorror. The user revealed that it was unexpected to see the subreddit that now has more than 800,000 members gain so much attention. The moderator shared one important thing they take from this: “I’m just glad to have played a part in creating a space where anyone can simply have an idea, write two sentences, and make a successful post. It seems like most other horror literature subreddits have such a large barrier to entry, having to have to write stories that are several pages long just to get noticed. Making horror literature more accessible for readers and writers just means that more people are able to engage with it, and I’m happy that we have helped a genre that I love to grow.”
#4
After I asked the crystal ball to tell me how to escape death, I was very confused as it read, 'No thanks honey, I'm full.' However, something clicked in my head when my wife offered me cake after dinner.
#5
I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, 'Daddy, check for monsters under my bed.' I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, 'Daddy, there's somebody on my bed.'
#6
At the expense of the last of their ammunition, the lumbering beast collapsed. Too bad the hunting party couldn’t spare a moment while patting each other on the back to notice it’s mother had witnessed the whole display.
It seems that a lot of people are fascinated and encouraged by the idea to create short horror stories. Having this in mind, we asked @Legioneer how the idea to create this subreddit was coined. It grew out of an AskReddit thread where people were asked to create a horror story that would be only two sentences long. It turned out to be a great success and so a subreddit was created. The moderator also added: “As for why we liked the idea of two-sentence horror stories enough to make the subreddit, we believe that having certain constraints in how you are able to write can help inspire creativity, and we wanted to see just how far we could push the writers’ limits while still allowing them to write a full story.”
#7
Please, take me instead! I scream, grabbing at the two men who took my child. “Sorry ma’am, children only” they said, as they continue loading up the last lifeboat on the ship.
#8
As I slit her throat, I looked in her unblinking eyes and realised too late that she wanted to live. I knew it to be true because mirrors don't lie.
#9
My brother and I sit down with the Ouija board, and we both place our hands on the planchette. He says, 'Cole, are you here with me?' and I move the planchette to 'yes.'
There are numerous great stories that people have created through time and the moderator stated that it’s hard to pick just one favorite, but the one that stuck with him the most was the one that could be found here. According to @Legioneer, this story is “very good representation of what the subreddit aims to do, setting you up to expect something and then hitting you with a twist that you never would have seen coming but that still makes sense now that you know the full story.”
#10
It's been 315 days since the global outbreak, 187 days since I realized I might be the only survivor, and 3 days since the two of us found each other in the wreckage of the world and regained hope. I'd been alone so long I almost forgot that hallucinating imaginary companions is the first sign of infection.
#11
I think I might be the most successful serial killer in history. The best part is telling their loved ones we did everything we could.
#12
No matter how much we fight, my wife will always prepare my coffee in the morning. Though this time, it did taste a little like almonds.
The moderator also added that their whole team is very thankful to all people who are contributing to the subreddit in every way possible: “We could not be where we are without everyone who volunteers their time to write, read, moderate, or otherwise interact with the stories on our subreddit. I am lucky to have so many talented people around me contributing to TSH, and I want to make it clear that I (and everyone else in the mod team) are extremely thankful for everyone who partakes in our subreddit,” shared @Legioneer.
#13
The world was thrilled with the announcement that the first mission to Mars would be an all-female crew. One year later, the world was terrified when they all returned pregnant.
#14
So it turns out you can feel everything that happens to your body after death. I suppose I should be flattered my husband still finds me attractive after all these years.
#15
Tinder is completely useless, and I don’t have a single match. If I don’t find another way to start a campfire tonight, I’ll freeze to death.
#16
I have a recurring dream I’m murdered by a man I’d never met. I thought it was stupid until I went on a blind date and saw him at the table.
#17
The principal of my sons school called me at work today to tell me my son pushed another kid while on on a school excursion. I initially thought that this hardly warranted a phone call, until I remembered that my sons excursion was to the Grand Canyon...
#18
My daughter's smiling face greeted me from my driveway as I returned home from a hard day. Where is the rest of her?
#19
My four-year-old said he wished that people didn't have to knock. I told him about doorbells, and he asked me to install one on his window.
#20
Yesterday I wrote the number 69 on my wrist as a joke. Today it's 68, and now it's not washing off.
arlos dream of delusion 3 years ago
update: its been two weeks, the number says 55, and i swear the ink is getting redder...
#21
I always thought my cat had a staring problem, she always seemed fixated on my face. Until one day, when I realized that she was always looking just behind me.
#22
I was starving and lost in the woods until I found a hiker. I'm full now, I just wished she hadn’t screamed so loud.
#23
When the kidnapper made me guess where he kept my daughter, I went for the basement and he said "Correct!" allowing me to see her. But when I found her severed head in there, I learned that every other choice would have been correct as well.
Fred Burrows 3 years ago
This little piggie went to the attic, this little piggie to the couch. . .
#24
If you get scared at night, don’t keep your eyes closed for too long. There’s a reason you’re scared, and now you can’t see it approach.
#25
I like to sing in the shower sometimes. When I got out of the last one, the fogged-up mirror read “YOU HAVE A LOVELY VOICE” — I live alone.
#26
The dog sits at my gate every morning and night when I leave and come home from work. Even after all this time, she can still smell her owner’s blood on my hands.
#27
Did you know that there's no such thing as a 'left-handed' person? There is your kind, and then there are those of us who escaped from the other side of your mirror.
#28
After working a hard day I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child. I didn’t know which was more frightening, seeing my dead girlfriend and stillborn child, or knowing that someone broke into my apartment to place them there.
#29
When the tsunamis hit, most people were evacuated. Feeling the trickle of water rise to my chin, I let go of the prison bars in bitter resentment.
#30
Spend 24 hours locked in the old insane asylum and win a million dollars. It's been 26 hours, so why is the door still locked?
#31
Us being twins, my brother and I often share experiences and sensations. I only wish he had warned me before getting open-heart surgery.
#32
After years of research and hard work, we'd finally done it. We'd made it contagious.
#33
I once had a girlfriend named Jill, I buried her under that hill. But sometimes at home, when I’m all alone, I find that she sleeps with me still.
#34
I love these clap-on lights! Just one problem with them: When I clap to turn them on, something under my bed claps to turn them off.
#35
I can’t move, breathe, speak or hear and it’s so dark all the time. If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead.
#36
Being the first to respond to a fatal car accident is always the most traumatic thing I see as a police officer. But today, when the crushed body of the little dead child boy strapped in his car seat opened his eyes and giggled at me when I tried to peel him out of the wreckage, I immediately knew that today would be my last day on the force.
#37
There's a girl standing outside my window. The only problem is I live on the seventh floor.
#38
I texted a stranger by accident. But when they texted me back, they used my full name.
#39
Alone in my room, I sneezed softly. 'Bless you,' someone said.
#40
It’s nice that my grandmother calls to check on me, but if she wants to communicate from the other side I wish she wouldn’t scream so much.
