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.
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Winner Of Short Horror Stories
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.
A Pop-Up Horror
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)
Hearing Into Future
Monster In A Closet
The Horrors Of Uber
I mean wasn’t there just a case where someone got into a car thinking it was their Uber and was killed or something?
Somebody's There
Shivers Down Your Spine
Short But Powerful Horror Story
A Scythe For Protection
Biblical Horrors
Creepy Stalker
The Woods Are Full Of Horrors
Take Your Meds
Fade Into Oblivion
Life After Death
Perfecting The Handwriting
Drawing The X
Alien Horror
Fishing Story
Deep Dark Secrets
Disabling The Security
Double-Sided Horror
Living Dead
Life Flashing By
Alien Entity
Short Horror Story
Real Life Horror
Scrambled Words
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!
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That's interesting, because there's a couple of movies where this happens with 911, where basically the helper calls back, the invader notices the call and kills the 'last girl'. I'm very curious on what the official guidelines say.
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This one's sad bc it's reality based - Alzheimer's is way scarier than a zombie invasion.
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it makes me so sad that there are so many stories related to school shootings.
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This is told from a dog's perspective as he begs to be released from the shelter.
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The golden idol sent him a human to eat. It is funny because it's a joke on Reddit's gold system as people say "thanks for the gold, kind stranger" when you get a gold medal.
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When we finally managed to establish radio contact with an alien civilization in our own language we were eagerly waiting to receive their first full message. Their radio message only said, "BE QUIET OR THEY WILL HEAR YOU". (Idea borrowed from reddit user bencbartlett.)
So kind, polite and correct of you to give the credit to the reddit guy.
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One I read years ago. A group of scientists gathers around the worlds newest, most powerful computer. They ask it the ultimate question. Is there a God? A blinding flash and the computer replies; There is now.
It's Fredric Brown's short story "Answer" - http://www.roma1.infn.it/~anzel/answer.html
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I watched as the husband who abused me was taken away in handcuffs. the policeman said they'll take them off after the coroner completes the autopsy.
BP is the perfect place for these because you can read others' opinions and discuss them. Definitely hoping for another round of these.
He has his father's eyes. He won't tell us where the rest of him is.
I got a good one: My roommate said he saw a ghost. That's so silly, because I've been living here for centuries and nothing has happened.
oh god....it's night here and I love to read scary horror stories at night and these scared the sh- out of me
At the end of the articles, you'll see a line similar to this one (Note: this post originally had 89 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.) It allows you to see the rest of the posts after truncation.
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When you were relaxed and looked at the table to find the homework and assignments pending....
Everyone thought they were okay, until one day a man dug in his arm and found a small microchip. The government never spoke after that. -Raven
“HELP HELP” cried the mothers daughter. She froze in shock. She never had a daughter. Her son had passed away 2 days ago saying the same exact words. Later The passed away son wakes his mom up in the middle of the night demanding her to see something. She says “Wait You’re My dead son”. Outside, the son reveals there's been a girl living under her bed. The one that yelled help.
oh god.....there's night here and i love to read scary horror two sentence stories at night these scared the sh- out of me
This was an awesome article. Please do another one like this. I love scary scenarios.
One night she loved me the next not...but I still have her heart in my hand.
One night she loved me. the next? no, but I still have her heart in my hand.
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She waved and pointed at him as his ship was leaving the port. He had no idea his wasn't the only wave she could see.
"He fought, struggling to regain his breath to ask for help. 'Stop resisting' they said" #RIP #stop sponsored gang violence
A bit annoying that most of these were jokes rather than actual horror stories.
A lot of these were legitimately creepy, but I agree that many of them rely on this frustrating trope and many of them are just plain sad!
Load More Replies... When we finally managed to establish radio contact with an alien civilization in our own language we were eagerly waiting to receive their first full message. Their radio message only said, "BE QUIET OR THEY WILL HEAR YOU". (Idea borrowed from reddit user bencbartlett.)
So kind, polite and correct of you to give the credit to the reddit guy.
Load More Replies... One I read years ago. A group of scientists gathers around the worlds newest, most powerful computer. They ask it the ultimate question. Is there a God? A blinding flash and the computer replies; There is now.
It's Fredric Brown's short story "Answer" - http://www.roma1.infn.it/~anzel/answer.html
Load More Replies... I watched as the husband who abused me was taken away in handcuffs. the policeman said they'll take them off after the coroner completes the autopsy.
BP is the perfect place for these because you can read others' opinions and discuss them. Definitely hoping for another round of these.
He has his father's eyes. He won't tell us where the rest of him is.
I got a good one: My roommate said he saw a ghost. That's so silly, because I've been living here for centuries and nothing has happened.
oh god....it's night here and I love to read scary horror stories at night and these scared the sh- out of me
At the end of the articles, you'll see a line similar to this one (Note: this post originally had 89 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.) It allows you to see the rest of the posts after truncation.
Load More Replies... When you were relaxed and looked at the table to find the homework and assignments pending....
Everyone thought they were okay, until one day a man dug in his arm and found a small microchip. The government never spoke after that. -Raven
“HELP HELP” cried the mothers daughter. She froze in shock. She never had a daughter. Her son had passed away 2 days ago saying the same exact words. Later The passed away son wakes his mom up in the middle of the night demanding her to see something. She says “Wait You’re My dead son”. Outside, the son reveals there's been a girl living under her bed. The one that yelled help.
oh god.....there's night here and i love to read scary horror two sentence stories at night these scared the sh- out of me
This was an awesome article. Please do another one like this. I love scary scenarios.
One night she loved me the next not...but I still have her heart in my hand.
One night she loved me. the next? no, but I still have her heart in my hand.
Load More Replies... She waved and pointed at him as his ship was leaving the port. He had no idea his wasn't the only wave she could see.
"He fought, struggling to regain his breath to ask for help. 'Stop resisting' they said" #RIP #stop sponsored gang violence
A bit annoying that most of these were jokes rather than actual horror stories.
A lot of these were legitimately creepy, but I agree that many of them rely on this frustrating trope and many of them are just plain sad!
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