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

I believe the mom wrote it, pretending to be her daughter cause she murdered her.

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

I thought that it was because the kid killed the mother and made it look like suicide and then wrote a note that they ran away so people would think that was why she killed herself. That was wrong

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

I was thinking that the daughter died and the mom was trying to make herself believe the daughter had just run away.

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Oliver/Toni G.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh wow... the amount of effort would have been enough for me to say f*ck it

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

At first I thought the daughter had passed away and she really missed her but now I she the mom killed the daughter!

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

oh gosh I actually think the mom might have killed the daughter and tied to get away with it.

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

OH c**p... took me several readings but you can take this a couple ways... A) the "mother" got it to look like the daughters handwriting so she won't be caught. B) the daughter made it like her mother's to frame her.

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

I IMMEDIATELY thought of the mom HERSELF! Didn't even think of anyone else whatsoever!!

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

What if it's the child's estranged father who's writing the note???

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

By the side of note lies a prescription from Phermacist that reads name of medicine, "clozapine". Dose for patient of Hallucinations. Poor mother cant believe she lost her child in road rage.

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

The abductor of a child is in the house writing a note to Mom, from the child, saying the child has run away, when in fact he or she is about to take the child away.

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

I think it is saying that someone killed this lady's daughter and the killer is writing a note and trying to make it look like the daughters hand writing so the mother doesn't think someone killed her.

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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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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!