scary story topic sentence

101 Terrifying Horror Story Prompts

Welcome to the story den of horror, scares, and the macabre.

Most writers are often asked, "Where do you get your ideas from?" A majority of the time, writers find it difficult to answer that question.

We get our ideas from a plethora of sources — news headlines, novels, television shows, movies, our lives, our fears, our phobias, etc. They can come from a scene or moment in a film that wasn't fully explored. They can come from a single visual that entices the creative mind — a seed that continues to grow and grow until the writer is forced to finally put it to paper or screen.

In the spirit of helping writers find those seeds, here we offer 101 originally conceived and terrifying story prompts that you can use as inspiration for your next horror story.

They may inspire screenplays, novels, short stories, or even smaller moments that you can include in what stories you are already writing or what you will create in your upcoming projects.

But beware! If you scare easily — and have active imaginations like most writers do — turn up the lights and proceed with caution...

1. A girl goes missing in the woods, and her parents find only a decrepit and scary doll left behind. They soon learn that the doll is actually their daughter. And she's alive.

2. New residents of an old neighborhood are invited by their friendly neighbors to a Halloween party. The neighbors are vampires.

3. A family dog runs away from home. He returns a year later to the delight of his family. But there's something different about him. Something demonic.

4. A girl goes missing. Fifteen years later, her parents get a call from her older self. But they listen in fear because they killed their daughter that dark night years ago.

5. A man reads a novel, soon realizing that the story is his very own — and according to the book, a killer is looming.

6. A scientist clones his family that died in an airplane crash — but soon learns the repercussions of playing God.

7. A man wakes up bound to an electric chair.

8. A man wakes up in a coffin next to a freshly dead body.

9. A woman wakes up to find her family gone and her doors and windows boarded up with no way to escape.

10. A man afraid of snakes is shipwrecked on an island covered with them.

11. Serial killers worldwide are connected by a dark web website.

12. The world's population is overtaken by vampires — all except one little child.

13. A woman afraid of clowns is forced to work in a traveling circus.

14. An astronaut and cosmonaut are on the International Space Station when their countries go to Nuclear War with each other. Their last orders are to eliminate the other.

15. A treasure hunter finds a tomb buried beneath the dirt.

16. A young brother and sister find an old door in their basement that wasn't there before.

17. Winged creatures can be seen within the storm clouds above.

18. A man wakes up to find a hobo clown staring down at him.

19. Residents of a town suddenly fall dead while the dead from cemeteries around them rise.

20. A doctor performs the first head transplant — things go wrong.

21. A man is texted pictures of himself in various stages of torture that he has no memory of.

22. A girl wakes up to find a little boy sitting on his bed, claiming to be her younger brother — but she never had one.

23. A scare walk in the woods during Halloween is actually real.

24. A bartender serves last call to the only remaining patron, who is the Devil himself.

25. Earth suffers a planet-wide blackout as all technology is lost.

26. A boy's stepfather is actually a murderous werewolf.

27. Something has turned the neighborhood pets into demonic killers.

28. A priest is a vampire.

29. A woman wakes up with no eyes.

30. A man wakes up with no mouth.

31. A monster is terrified by the scary child who lives above his bed.

32. An astronaut jettisoned into the cold of space in a mission gone wrong suddenly appears at the doorstep of his family.

33. A woman answers a phone call only to learn that the voice on the other end is her future self, warning her that a killer is looming.

34. A boy realizes that aliens have replaced his family.

35. A woman wakes up in an abandoned prison that she cannot escape.

36. A bank robber steals from the small town bank that holds the riches of witches.

37. A door-to-door salesman circa the 1950s visits the wrong house.

38. Deceased soldiers return to their Civil War-era homes.

39. Kidnappers abduct the child of a vampire.

40. An innocent circus clown discovers the dark history of the trade.

41. A homeless man is stalked by faceless beings.

42. A spelunker stumbles upon a series of caverns infested with rattlesnakes.

43. A group of friends is forced to venture through a chamber of horrors where only one is promised to survive.

44. He's not the man she thought he was. In fact, he's not a man at all.

45. Suburbia is actually purgatory.

46. Someone discovers that we are all actually robots — who created us and why?

47. She's not an angel. She's a demon.

48. An old shipwreck washes ashore.

49. A sinkhole swallows a house whole and unleashes something from beneath.

50. A man has sleep paralysis at the worst possible time.

51. A woman out hiking is caught in a bear trap as the sun begins to go down.

52. Naked figures with no faces stalk campers in the woods.

53. An astronaut is the sole survivor of a moon landing gone wrong — only to discover that the moon is infested with strange creatures.

54. A woman is wrongfully condemned to an insane asylum.

55. A mother's baby will not leave its womb and continues to grow and grow and grow while doctors try to cut it out but can't.

56. Friends on a road trip stumble upon a backcountry town whose residents all dress up as different types of clowns.

57. Tourists in Ireland retreat to an old castle when the country is taken over by greedy and vengeful leprechauns.

58. A boy on a farm makes a scarecrow that comes alive.

59. A figure dressed in an old, dirty Easter Bunny suit haunts the children of a town.

60. The abused animals of a zoo are unleashed and wreak havoc on a small town.

61. A deceased grandma's old doll collection comes alive.

62. Little Red Riding Hood was a vampire.

63. Somebody clones Hitler and raises him as a white supremacist.

64. A pumpkin patch comes alive — beings with heads of pumpkins and bodies of vines.

65. An endless swarm of killer bees wreaks havoc on the country.

66. Christ returns to Earth — at least that is who people thought he was.

67. A natural anomaly brings all of the country's spiders to a horrified town.

68. A woman finds old 16mm film from her childhood and sees that she had a sister — what happened to her?

69. Something ancient rises from an old pond.

70. A woman suddenly begins to wake up in somebody else's body every morning — each day ends with her being stocked and killed by the same murderer in black.

71. An Artificial Intelligence begins to communicate with a family online, only to terrorize them through their technology.

72. A family buys a cheap house only to discover that an old cemetery is their back yard.

73. Years after the zombie apocalypse subsides, survivors discover that the epidemic was caused by aliens that have appeared to lay claim to the planet.

74. A woman has memories of being abducted by aliens — but she soon learns that they weren't aliens. They were...

75. A boy has a tumor that slowly grows into a Siamese twin — the older they get, the more evil the twin becomes.

76. A cult that worships history's deadliest serial killers begins to kill by copying their methods.

77. Stone gargoyles suddenly appear on the tops of buildings and houses of a small town.

78. A family on a boat trip stumbles upon an old pirate ship.

79. A winter snowstorm traps a family in an abandoned insane asylum.

80. A little girl comes down from upstairs and asks her parents, "Can you hear it breathing? I can."

81. A town is enveloped in unexplained darkness for weeks.

82. A jetliner flies high in the sky as Nuclear War breaks out below.

83. Children discover a deep, dark well in the woods — an old ladder leads down into it.

84. A child sleepwalks into their parent's room and whispers, "I'm sorry. The Devil told me to."

85. As a woman showers, a voice comes from the drain whispering, "I see you."

86. A child finds a crayon drawing of a strange family — it's inscribed with the words we live in your walls .

87. All of the cemetery's graves are now open, gaping holes — the dirt pushed out from underground.

88. A woman is watching a scary movie alone on Halloween night — someone, or something, keeps knocking at her door.

89. Someone is taking a bath as a hand from behind the shower curtain pushes their head into the water.

90. A farmer and his sons begin to hear the laughter of children coming from his fields at night — no children are in sight.

91. Someone looks out their window to see a clown standing at a corner holding a balloon — staring at them.

92. Mannequins in a department store seem to be moving on their own.

93. What if the God people worshiped was really Satan — and Satan had somehow kept God prisoner?

94. A man dies and wakes up in the body of a serial killer — and no matter how hard he tries to stop killing, he can't.

95. A prisoner awakens to find the prison empty — but he's locked in his cell.

96. A woman jogging stumbles upon a dead, bloody body — she then hears a strange clicking sound and looks up to see a dark figure running towards her.

97. A girl hears laughter downstairs — she's the only one home.

98. An Uber driver picks up the wrong person — and may not live to tell the tale.

99. There's someone or something living and moving up in the attic — but it's not a ghost.

100. A child's imaginary friend is not imaginary.

101. The reflections that we see of ourselves in the mirror are actually us in a parallel universe — and they are planning to do whatever it takes to take our place in this world.

Share this with your writing peers or anyone that loves a good scary story.

For some more scares, check out ScreenCraft's 20 Terrifying Two-Sentence Horror Stories and 8 Ways Horror Movies Scare the S*** Out of Audiences!

Sleep well and keep writing.

Once you're inspired, take your idea to the next level and Develop Your Horror Movie Idea in 15 Days .

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout , starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

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101 Horror Writing Prompts That Are Freaky As Hell

Looking for some scary story ideas for your next writing project?

Sometimes, a good scary prompt idea is all you need to get started on a dark story your readers won’t be able to put down.

And that is the goal. What’s a horror story without white-knuckle suspense?

You want your readers at the edge of their seats, unable to stop though they know something bad is about to happen.

You also want to reward them for reading to the end and leave them wanting more.

So, how can this collection of horror writing prompts help with that?

What Are the Main Elements of Horror Writing?

List of most common horror themes and tropes to write on .

66 Horror Writing Prompts

Halloween Writing Prompts

Mystery writing prompts, psychological horror story ideas, “the monster you know” story ideas, ghost story writing prompts, funny horror story ideas, horror story ideas.

Every good story needs an idea that takes root in your imagination and doesn’t let go. Horror stories in particular need to affect you a certain way. If they don’t sound an alarm in your head, they won’t sound one in the heads of your readers, either.

They need to reach into your psyche, take a scrap of memory, and turn it into something that would keep you up at night.

And as you’ve no doubt read already, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

Look through the prompts that follow, and choose one that calls out to you and lingers in your imagination.

Paint a picture in your mind of the characters involved. Give yourself a reason to invest in them by giving each one some interesting backstory.

Then set a timer and write.

Since Earl Horace Walpole’s gothic horror The Castle of Otranto hit shelves in 1764, English readers have clamored for dark plots that excite primitive instincts and tickle our fear bones.

Many horror authors leverage shadowy impulses by sprinkling stories with uncomfortable happenings and gruesome fatalities.

But that’s not all it takes to write within the genre, begging the question: What are the main elements of horror? Traditionally, there are five: suspense, fear, violence, gore, and the supernatural.

Suspense : Creating anxious tension is a critical component of horror as it keeps the audience glued to the story. They need to find out what happens! Traditionally, suspense is valued as a sophisticated form of horror, and building it well is a skill.
Fear : Confronting fearful things is a powerful emotion with chemical reactionary consequences, making it a hallmark of horror writing.
Violence : Savagery is scary because it’s inextricably linked to death and pain — two of the four great human fears.
Gore : Brains and guts are a cornerstone of classic horror. For better or worse, our neural pathways light up when confronted with intestines, brain matter, and gushing fluids. Successful horror writers keep readers and watchers engaged by deploying gore effectively.
Supernatural: The main difference between “true crime” and “horror” is a supernatural element. While horror stories draw people in with realism, they usually feature an emotional detachment valve in the form of an explicit or implicit otherworldly presence.

Vampires, ghosts, zombies, and murderers are big-picture mainstays of the horror genre. But what are some other, more detailed tropes associated with scary storytelling?

Babysitter Alone in Big House: The naive babysitter trope is oft-repeated because it works. The sitter acts as a stand-in for the reader or audience in that, like you, they’re vulnerable. Horror-sitters are the character conduit through which readers and viewers can experience the impending fear.
Manipulative Vampires: Maybe it’s their piercing eyes, snappy attire, or mysterious penchant for the “nightlife.” Whatever the case, people stan vampires, and sensual and manipulative ones are an incredibly effective horror character trope.
Ghost-Haunted House: Ghost-haunted houses are a recurring horror motif. Whether you approach it from a traditional or modern angle is up to you. Both can work.
Creepy Kid: In real life, it’s kind to see all kids as precious and special, no matter their quirks. But when it comes to Horror World, creepy kids are a dime a dozen! Sometimes they’re the main attractions or “red herrings” (which we’ll get to more below); other times, they’re supernatural catalysts that serve as a story’s MacGuffin. Whichever the case, unnerving kids go a long way when devising a disturbing scene and fomenting suspense.
The Nonbeliever: Most horror stories have at least one character whose lack of fear or faith (in the story’s “supernatural” element) lands them six feet under.
The Red Herring: A “red herring” is a false clue. The term dates back to the 1400s to describe a culinary preparation for fish, but the first known use as a euphemism for “distraction” appeared in 1884.
Isolation: Few things frighten people more than being all alone while danger looms. As such, isolation can be a helpful trope when crafting horror stories.
Graveyard Chase: A well-conceived chase around a graveyard is another horror mainstay that continues to deliver. Try adding a twist to modernize the trope.
Distorting Mirrors: Whether a single reflecting glass or a full-on maze, using mirrors as a motif is a tangible and effective way to signal distortion.
Aliens and Cultists: The human psyche can’t resist rubbernecking when confronted with the possibility of aliens and the sociopathic underbelly of cults. Resultantly, they work well as engaging frameworks for horror stories.

101 Horror Writing Prompts

Whether you’re writing for a special occasion or just to experiment with the horror genre, any of the scary story prompts in the following groups should get you started.

Go with your gut on this one, and choose an idea that feels both familiar and provocative. Then give it a go!

1. A mysterious gift from an estranged aunt arrives on Halloween with a crystal ball and a note addressed only to you, her godchild.

2. One of the trick-or-treaters bears an uncanny resemblance to your departed sibling and repeats that sibling’s last words before picking your sibling’s favorite candy bar.

3. On Halloween night, you find a box at your door that contains a strange note and a little something from each of the people who have hurt you in the past year.

4. On this Halloween night, your guinea pig won’t stop running in circles, and your dog keeps staring at the door, emitting a low growl.

5. You run out for candy on Halloween afternoon to find the streets empty and the store abandoned. A single car cruises into the lot and pulls into the spot next to yours.

6. Every time you went to answer the doorbell, no one was there. The next day, you heard about the missing children. The worst part? Your kids spent Halloween with your ex and were supposed to come trick-or-treating last night.

7. You arrive home on Halloween to a large package from your new boss, who’d bought every piece of your favorite candy from local stores. The note reads, “Save some for me.”

8. You’re watching TV on Halloween night when your show is interrupted by a faintly familiar someone declaring their love for you and saying they’ve watched you all your life.

9. You come home to find a stranger walking through your home, sipping your wine and admiring your collected antiquities. They startle at your approach and act as though you’re the intruder.

10. The night before Halloween, you have a dream in which you wake up to see a dark shape standing outside your closet. You wake up screaming with your hands around your spouse’s throat.

11. Election day looms, and Halloween feels more ominous than ever. You’ve kept the lights off, but that doesn’t stop one visitor from leaving a note: “Knew you lived here.”

12. Your best friend has gone missing, and someone keeps leaving small reminders of them in your mailbox. You see someone approach to deliver something else, and your heart nearly stops when you recognize them.

13. You’ve always wanted a dog, so when a rain-soaked mutt shows up on your front step, you let him in. Unfortunately, something else hitched a ride.

14. Someone moves into the apartment next door and starts playing loud music at night. You call the police, who find the guy dead holding a note with your name and address.

15. Someone keeps replacing items in your home with different objects that look vaguely familiar. No one else has a key to your home, and there are no signs of forced entry.

16. You bake some cookies to share with the new neighbor, but the terrified woman backs away from the plate, shaking her head. Someone from inside calls out, “I’ll have those.”

17. Someone at work has offered to do a tarot card spread for you, and you politely decline. You find a single tarot card in your mailbox when you return home.

18. You don’t remember wandering alone on a country road as a small child, but someone does. And he wants to make sure you’re not around to testify against him.

19. Someone has gotten to your laundry before you and left it neatly folded in piles on top of the dryer. A note reads, “For more TLC, knock on #303.”

20. The window of your apartment leads to a fire escape, but twice you’ve come home to find it open. Nothing is missing. But someone keeps leaving a ring on your kitchen table.

21. You order a Christmas wreath for your door and the company sends you a package with money instead. The note reads, “Keep half. I’ll pick up the rest in 72 hours.”

22. A child knocks on your door and tells you you’ll be visited by three people that night. One of them will show you your future. The child’s face reminds you of someone.

23. Your best friend is dating a woman who seems familiar to you — and not in a good way. Turns out, she’s got a bad feeling about you, too, and she warns your friend.

24. You receive a surprise delivery of a holiday flower arrangement with a note from someone who went to jail for assault. The message reads, “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

25. An abuser from your past has written you a long letter of apology, and you agree to meet them for coffee. You find your favorite coffee place deserted — on Black Friday.

26. You broke up with your sweetheart when he lied about taking you to the prom and begged you to run away with him so he could escape an abusive home. He’s back.

27. An old friend, who had tried to warn you about an ex-boyfriend years ago, has come back to town to run a diner. Within a week, known bullies start disappearing.

28. For the past three dates, the guy you met ended up dead and posed as if proposing. A note on each one’s empty chest cavity reads, “My heart belongs to [your name].”

29. You’re with a friend at the home of the guy she’s dating. In the bathroom, you find a box with jewelry for almost every birthstone. Yours is the only one missing. You hear a scream.

30. Everyone keeps telling you your memories can’t be trusted. You’re safe with them. They’ll protect you. But you haven’t left the house in years.

31. You thought it was cute when your little sister wanted to wear your aunt’s high heels and pose with a hand on her hip. But your sister had an uncanny way with accidents.

32. You never expected to win the ‘57 Chevy from the church raffle. Neither did the car’s owner, who immediately tried to buy it back. He didn’t respond well to “No, thanks.”

33. Every time you saw anything like “Tornado Warning” or “Flash Flood” in the news, you knew someone would end up dead. And your ex would blame the weather.

34. You come home to a dozen roses from a guy who’s been telling his friends you’re dating, and you get angry. For some reason, though, everyone you know is on his side.

35. Your “Secret Santa” leaves an expensive bottle of wine with a note, “Drink me.” You call a familiar number and hear the phone ring on the other side of your door.

36. Your dad has a secret known only to his twin brother, who mysteriously disappeared but left a note with a box of his belongings in the attic. You take it with you when you leave.

37. You just broke up with the person who’s catering your best friend’s wedding. They also made the cake.

38. Some of your in-laws have decided to deliver their sibling from you. When they cross the line, you make a promise to them and to your spouse. One by one, they disappear.

39. Your health is steadily declining, and you don’t know why. Neither do your doctors, who test for the usual health issues and find nothing. Then someone calls to warn you.

40. Your estranged father sends you a porcelain doll — the one he swears you told him you wanted. It has the face and hair of your missing mother. And her eyes are glued open.

41. You’ve just told your family you’re asexual, and they seem to accept it. Out of the blue, the handsome guy next door shows up to ask you out, and your parents quietly nod.

42. A cop pulls you over for driving a few miles over the speed limit, tells you to get out of your car, slams you against the hood and whispers in your ear, “This is from your ex.”

43. You emailed your fiancé for months before meeting him for the first date. Now, you’re getting strange phone calls from someone claiming to be his wife and telling you to run.

44. You stood numb at the coffin of a close friend and flinched when your father rested a hand on your shoulder. “Had to be done,” he whispered. “Remember the bigger picture.”

45. A small package bears the name of your sister, who died five years ago. It contains a pendant that matches her own and a note asking you to activate it by chanting, “Sisters Forever.”

46. Your elderly neighbors died on the same day of an apparent suicide pact. In their will, they left their pug to you, along with a small box of what they called “magical items.”

47. You receive a note penned by your best friend, who died in a car accident the month before, His parents had found it in his room and hand-delivered it, barely looking at you.

48. You pounce on a new opening in the apartment building close to your favorite coffee place. The first night there, you wake up to ghostly shapes surrounding your bed.

49. At your first slumber party, your friend’s older brother surprised you during a late-night run to the bathroom. He died a decade later in prison. Now you see him in your dreams.

50. Your home is the high-tech brainchild of your best friend, who bequeathed it to you (rather than to his wife). It anticipates your every need and desire.

51. You’ve been having dreams about a door that shows up in your room. In one, you walk through it and see someone you love being murdered . You warn them the next day.

52. You’re the lone survivor of a horrific train crash, and everywhere you go, you see the ghosts of some of the passengers. Some have told you the crash was no accident.

53. You’re looking through your mother’s possessions when a note slips out of the book she’d been reading, warning you about “the ghost who runs this house.”

54. Your new boyfriend is obsessed with ancient artifacts, but when something hitches a ride on his latest find, you witness disturbing changes in his behavior.

55. Your life is already complicated when your boss asks you to stay at his home to care for his dog while he’s away. You soon learn the house is as mischievous as the dog.

56. You’re an editor for the college literary journal, and you’ve been getting poetic hate mail from a student who’s angry you didn’t choose their poems for the latest issue.

57. Your favorite neighbor is a trans woman named Lani who looks out for you. She warns you about a guy down the hall, who keeps trying cheesy pick-up lines to get you to smile.

58. Your co-workers tease you about your weight gain. One is found dead in the bathroom, her mouth stuffed with candy. Everyone but the custodian suspects you.

59. An anonymous admirer sends you a singing telegram with a chilling question. Now you have less than 24 hours to sing your answer in a public square, with a flash mob.

60. You sign up for wine deliveries but are disappointed by the first bottle you open and taste. On the label, you find a crass, insulting note from an old enemy.

61. Your date finds out your BFF is asexual and starts asking intrusive and insensitive questions. When your friend shuts him down, he insults and warns you both.

62. You’re working the dinner rush, and a customer loudly insists on changing her order the moment you deliver it. Someone quietly follows her as she storms out the door.

63. You’re having an open house for your new shop, and you catch a customer shoplifting. She says, “I was told to come in here and take these. You’re being watched.”

64. You arrive at your new house, and the keys from the realtor don’t work. Someone answers the door with a disarming smile. “So, you’re here about the room? Come in!”

65. Your date is going well until you reveal that you have a dog. “I’m not really a dog person,” you hear. When you get a bad feeling and end the date, things get messy.

66. Your journal goes missing, and within a week, a goofy, adorable guy starts showing up at your usual stops. He seems surprised to see you, but something isn’t quite right.

Creepy Writing Prompts

67. The old tunnel had been blocked off for as long as anyone could remember, but late at night, you could still hear the faint screams echoing from deep within.

68. As you walk past the abandoned house on your way home from school, you notice one of the curtains move slightly in an upstairs window, but the house has been empty for years.

69. You wake up suddenly in the middle of the night and see two small handprints on the foggy bathroom mirror that are far too small to belong to anyone in your family.

70. Every night when you go to sleep, you feel an uncomfortable pricking sensation on your skin, yet every morning, you find strange symbols carved into your arms that you don’t remember making.

71. While exploring the attic, you find an old doll that looks eerily like you did as a child, and when you pick it up, its eyes suddenly open.

72. The scraping sound from the closet stops whenever you turn on the light, but it always returns as soon as the room goes dark again.

73. Every time you glance in the mirror, your reflection behaves slightly differently than you do – blinking at the wrong time or moving too late.

74. You wake up covered in mud and scratches with no memory of where you’ve been all night, and the soles of your shoes are worn through as if you had walked for miles.

75. Lately, your pets have refused to go into certain rooms of your house, but you have no idea what frightens them so badly about those areas.

76. You discover a trap door hidden under an old Persian rug in your basement and shining a light into it reveals a set of footsteps descending into the darkness below.

77. You wake up one morning to find all the mirrors in your home have been turned around to face the wall, even though you live alone.

78. Your television is switched on in the dead of night, the static slowly resolving into shapes, and what looks back at you from the screen makes your blood run cold.

79. You keep finding sticky notes around your house with messages written on them in unfamiliar handwriting, like “GET OUT” or “I’M WATCHING YOU SLEEP.”

80. Every time you look at a clock, the time is exactly 3 minutes slow, though all the clocks in your home are set correctly and keep perfect time when others view them.

81. On your way home, you notice a figure standing motionless at the end of the street, staring directly at your house with its face hidden in the shadows of its hooded robe.

82. Your dog comes running inside with its leash still attached but hanging limply, yet when you call the number on the leash’s tag, your own cell phone starts ringing from within your house.

83. Your computer camera activates unexpectedly while you’re working, and you see your own bedroom behind you from an impossible angle near the ceiling, suggesting someone is watching through the camera right now.

84. You hear your name called out softly in an empty room, and even though the voice sounds familiar, you live alone, and you know no one else is inside.

Spooky Writing Prompts

85. Every night when you lie in bed, you hear the floorboards outside your room creaking as if someone is pacing back and forth, but every time you quickly open the door to check, the hallway is empty.

86. While exploring the woods behind your new house, you discover a crumbling old stone well, and when you peer down into the darkness, you think you see pale faces staring back up at you.

87. Your reflection in mirrors and windows often moves independently, quickly looking away whenever you try to catch it, watching you from impossible angles that don’t align with where you’re standing.

88. An unfamiliar chat window opens on your computer screen with only the message “I can see you through your webcam” written inside it by an unseen sender.

89. Plants within your home have been dying overnight no matter where you place them, the leaves and stems drained of all color as if the life has been completely sucked out.

90. You wake up to find a pile of dead birds on your lawn, their wings broken and necks bent at odd angles as if they crashed directly into the ground from high altitudes.

91. The old paintings hanging on the walls of your recently inherited mansion seem to follow you with their eyes, and occasionally, you notice mysterious new figures added in the backgrounds that disappear by morning.

92. Turning on all the faucets causes blood to drip out instead of water, yet when others in your home check them, the liquid running from the pipes is perfectly clear.

93. You wake from a nightmare convinced someone was standing silently at the foot of your bed, only to find the imprint of two bare feet seared into your bedroom carpet right where the figure was standing.

94. Whenever you look in the bathroom mirror late at night, you see dead relatives standing silently behind you who disappear when you turn around to check if anyone is there.

95. The baby monitor in the nursery suddenly emits a strange crackling sound followed by a singsong voice you don’t recognize whispering your baby’s name over and over.

96. Your shadow appears to have a mind of its own, often following you more slowly or quickly than it should and reaching areas you know your body has not moved to.

97. Photos taken with phones or cameras in and around your home show blurry figures lurking in the background that do not match any of the people in the images.

98. Any writing you leave out overnight – from sticky notes to notebooks – has mysterious reoccurring symbols added in unfamiliar handwriting scattered among the existing text.

99. You wake in the middle of the night to the sound of your locked window being forced open from the outside, but when you jump out of bed to check, it’s closed securely as if nothing happened.

100. From your garden, you can see directly into your neighbor’s bathroom mirror, but instead of the neighbor’s reflection, you swear you sometimes see your own face staring back with an expression you don’t recognize.

101. While searching through the attic in your recently purchased Victorian home, you find an old portrait of a severe-looking woman whose eyes seem to follow you around the room; later that night, you wake to find the same woman standing at the foot of your bed, silently watching you sleep.

How Do You Come Up with Horror Ideas?

Coming up with fresh, frightening ideas is key to crafting an effective horror story. While horror inspirations can spring from ordinary events and observations, it helps to have strategies to unleash your most sinister creativity. Here are some tips for conjuring bone-chilling tales:

Mine your nightmares. Dreams often access our deepest fears. Pay attention to recurring nightmares or startling images from your subconscious, as these can inspire terrifying new monsters or situations.
Twist tropes. Take common horror archetypes like haunted houses, demonic possession, or slashers and put a new spin on them. Surprise readers by changing elements they assume to be familiar.
Extrapolate fears. Think about phobias you or others have, like darkness, insects, or tight spaces. Imagine those fears exponentially intensified to petrifying extremes.
Research real horror. Study disturbing historical events, murders, superstitions, or unexplained phenomena and fictionalize them in a new horror setting.
Observe people. Carefully watch those around you and look for small creepy details in their appearances or behaviors that could be expanded into something sinister.

With an observant eye and inventive mind, creators can find endless inspiration from both mundane moments and their most nightmarish dreams. Putting ordinary things in an ominous light or letting one’s imagination run wild with “what if” scenarios generate the kinds of situations and figures that fuel truly frightening tales.

Pay attention to the world around and inside you, and plumb the depths of your creativity, and you’ll never run short on horror ideas.

132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas

Horror stories send shivers down our spines. They are gruesome, shocking, and chilling. Scary stories are meant to horrify us, and there are many ways to make a powerful impact on the reader. The element of surprise is crucial to make the readers’ blood freeze.

There are different types of horror stories. They often deal with terrible murders, supernatural powers, psychopaths, the frightening human psychology and much more.

Although many horror writing prompts and scary ideas have been written, the following 132 horror writing prompts can spark great creativity in aspiring writers of the horror genre.

A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river. His father jumps to rescue him. Somehow the boy manages to swim to the surface. The father is nowhere to be found. When the mother gets a hold of the boy, she can’t recognize him. She tries holding him, but the moment she touches his wet body, her hands start burning.
A young girl goes missing in a nearby forest. The whole town is searching for her. Her parents find her sitting and smiling in a cave. Her eyes are completely white.
A woman starts watching a movie late at night. The movie seems all too familiar. Finally, she realizes that it is a movie about her own life and that she might be already dead.
A house finds a way to kill every visitor on its premises.
A child makes her own Halloween mask. She glues a lock of her own hair on her mask. The mask comes to life and threatens to take over the girl’s body.
While digging in her backyard, an old lady discovers an iron chest. She opens it and finds a pile of old photographs of her ancestors. All of them are missing their left eye.
A priest is trying to punish God for the death of his sister. He is getting ready to burn down the church, when supernatural forces start to torture him.
Every year a woman goes to the cemetery where her husband is buried, and when she looks at his tombstone, she notices her own name carved in it.
A woman puts a lipstick on in the bathroom when she hears a demonic voice saying to her: “Can’t you see?”
A mysterious child psychiatrist promises parents to cure their children if they give him a vile of their blood.
A group of 10 friends decide to rent an old English castle for the weekend. The ghosts are disturbed and seek their pound of flesh.
A photographer travels to an Indian reservation for his next project. He starts taking photos, but there are only shadows in the places where people should have been.
A young married couple decide to renovate an abandoned psychiatric hospital and turn it into a hotel. Everything is going well until their first guest arrives.
Three sisters are reunited for the reading of their grandmother’s will. She has left them a diamond necklace, but they have to fight psychologically and physically for it.
An old woman pretends to be lost and asks young women to help her get home. She offers them a cup of tea and drugs them. When the women wake up, they are chained in the basement. The old woman gives them tools and boards, so that they can build their own coffin. If they refuse, she inflicts pain on them.
A mysterious stranger with a glass eye and a cane commissions a portrait. When the portrait is finished, the painter turns into stone.
A little girl’s sister lives with a monster in the closet. She exits the closet on her sister’s birthday.
The demons under the nuclear plant get released after an explosion and start terrorizing the families of people who work at the plant.
A woman gets trapped in a parallel universe where every day she dies horribly in different ways.
A cannibal hunts for pure children’s hearts hoping they will bring him eternal youth.
A politician hides his weird sister in the attic. She’s had her supernatural powers after their family home burned to the ground.
A 16-year-old girl wakes up on a stone-cold table surrounded with people in black and white masks. They are chant and start leaning forward. All of them carry carved knives.
A boy hears screaming from his parents’ bedroom. He jumps and hides under his bed. Suddenly, everything becomes quiet. A man wearing army boots enters his room. He drags the boy from under the bed and says: “We’ve been searching for you for 200 years.”
A husband and his wife regain consciousness only to see each other tied to chairs, facing each other. A voice on the radio tells them to kill the other, otherwise, they would kill their children.
A mysterious altruist gives a kidney to a young man, who has potential to become a leading neuroscientist. After a year, the altruist kills the young man because he proves to be an unworthy organ recipient. The following year, the mysterious altruist is a bone marrow donor.
A group of friends play truth or dare. Suddenly, all the lights go out and in those ten seconds of darkness, one of the group is killed.
A young man becomes obsessed with an old man living opposite his building. The young man is convinced that the old man is the embodiment of the devil, and starts planning the murder.
Concerned and grieving parents bring their 8-year-old son to a psychiatrist after their daughter’s accident, believing that the boy had something to do with her death.
A woman is admitted to a hospital after a car crash. She wakes up after three months in a coma, but when she tries to speak, she can’t utter a sound. When the nurse sees that she is awake, she calls a doctor. The last thing the woman remembers is hearing the doctor say: “Today is your lucky day,” right before four men in black robes take her out.
A small-town cop becomes obsessed with a cold case from 1978. Three girls went missing after school, and nobody has seen them since. Then one day, in 2008, three girls with the same names as those in 1978 go missing. The case is reopened.
After his parents’ death a cardiologist returns to his small town where everyone seems to lead a perfect life. This causes a disturbance in the idyllic life of the people since none of them has a heart.
A man is kidnapped from his apartment on midnight and brought on a large private estate. He is told that he will be a human pray and that ten hunters with guns will go after him. He is given a 5-minute head start.
A strange woman in labor is admitted in the local hospital. Nobody seems to recognize her. She screams in agony. A black smoke fills in the entire hospital. After that, nobody is the same. A dark lord is born.
A young girl finds her grandmother’s gold in a chest in the attic, although she isn’t allowed to go there by herself. She touches the gold and she starts seeing horrible visions involving her grandmother when she was younger.
An anthropologist studies rituals involving human sacrifice. She slowly begins to accept them as necessary.
A family of four moves in an old Victorian home. As they restore it, more and more people die suddenly and violently.
An old nurse has lived next door to a family that doesn’t get older. Their son has remained to be a seven-year-old boy.
A girl wakes up in her dorm and sees that everybody sleepwalks in the same direction. She acts as if she has the same condition and follows them to an underground black pool where everybody jumps.
A bride returns to the same bridge for 50 years waiting for her husband-to-be to get out of the water.
An old woman locks girls’ personalities in a forever growing collection of porcelain dolls. Parents of the missing girls are in agony and they finally suspect something. When they tell the police, their claims are instantly dismissed.
A chemistry teacher disfigures teenagers who remind him of his childhood bullies. One day, he learns that the new student in his school is the son of his childhood’s archenemy.
A girl starts digging tiny holes in her backyard. When her mother asks her what she is doing, the girl answers: “Mr. Phantom told me to bury my dolls tonight. Tomorrow night I am going to bury our dog. And then, you, mother.”
Twin brothers were kidnapped and returned the next day. They claim that they can’t remember anything. The following night, twin sisters disappear.
A boy has a very realistic dream about an impending doom, but nobody believes him until during a storm all the birds fall dead on the ground.
Room 206 is believed to be haunted, so hotel guests never stay in it. One day, an old woman arrives at the hotel and asks for the key to room 206. She says that she was born there.
A genius scientist tries to extract his wife’s consciousness from her lifeless body and insert it into an imprisoned woman who looks just like his wife.
Two distinguished scientists develop a new type of virus that attacks their brains and turns them into killing machines.
A woman steps out of her house only to find four of her neighbors dead at her doorstep. Little does she know that she isn’t supposed to call the police.
A bachelor’s party ends with two dead people in the pool. Both of them are missing their eyes.
A young woman wearing a black dress is holding a knife in her hand and threatening to kill a frightened man. She is terrified because she does not want to kill anybody, but her body refuses to obey her mind.
A strange religious group starts performing a ritual on a playground. The children’s hearts stop beating.
A woman discovers that her niece has done some horrible crimes, so she decides to poison her. Both of them take the poison, but only the aunt dies.
A man encounters death on his way to work. He can ask three questions before he dies. He makes a quick decision.
An older brother kills his baby sister because he wants to be an only child. When he learns that his mother is pregnant again, he decides to punish her.
A husband and his wife move to a new apartment. After a week, both of them kill themselves. They leave a note saying: “Never again.”
A man is trying to open a time portal so that he could kill his parents before he is ever conceived.
A famous conductor imprisons a pianist from the orchestra and makes him play the piano while he tortures other victims, also musicians. Every time the pianist makes a mistake, the conductor cuts of a finger from his victims.
A popular French chef is invited by a mysterious Japanese sushi master for dinner. A powerful potion makes the French chef fall asleep. He wakes up horrified to learn that he is kept on a human farm, in a cage.
A nuclear blast turns animals into blood-thirsty monsters.
A mysterious bug creeps under people’s skins and turns them into the worst version of themselves.
A kidnapper makes his victims torture each other for his sheer pleasure.
Four friends are invited to spend the afternoon in an escape room. A man’s voice tells them that they have won a prize. They happily accept and enter the escape room. They soon realize that the room was designed to reflect their worst nightmares.
Two sisters have been given names from the Book of the Dead. Their fates have been sealed, so when they turn 21, dark forces are sent to bring them to the underground.
A mother-to-be starts feeling severe pain in her stomach every time she touches a Bible. Despite the fear for her own life, she starts reading the New Testament out loud.
A literature professor discovers an old manuscript in the college library. He opens it in his study and suddenly a black raven flies through the window.
You are the Ruler of a dystopian society. You kill every time your control is threatened.
You are an intelligent robot who shows no mercy to humanity.
You are a promising researcher who discovers that all the notorious dictators have been cloned.
A nomad meets a fakir who tells him that he would bring agony to dozens of people unless he kills himself before he transforms into a monster.
A most prominent member of a sect goes to animal shelters to find food for the dark forces.
A man hires unethical doctors to help him experience clinical death and then bring him back to life after a minute. Little does he know that one minute of death feels like an eternity full of horrors.
You travel home to visit your parents for the holidays. Everything seems normal until you realize that demons have taken over their consciousness.
A mysterious woman moves into your apartment building. One by one, all of the tenants start hallucinating that monsters chase them and jump into their own deaths.
Divorced parents are kidnapped together with their son. Both of the parents have been given poison, but there is only one antidote. The boy needs to decide which parent gets to be saved. He has 30 seconds to make that decision.
A patient with a multiple-personality disorder tells you that you are one of six characters.
You wake up in bed that is a blood-bath.
The Government abducts children with genius IQ and trains them to fight the horrors in Area 51.
A woman who has just given birth at her home is told that the baby is predestined to become the leader of the greatest demonic order in the country.
A man signs a document with his blood to relinquish his body to a sect.
A woman enters a sacred cave in India and disappears for good.
A man opens his eyes in the middle of his autopsy while the coroner is holding his heart.
You look outside the windows in your house only to see that the view has changed and there is black fog surrounding you.
The gargoyles from the Notre Dame have come to life and they start terrorizing Paris.
Somebody rings your doorbell. You open the door and a frightened girl with bloody hands is standing at your doorstep. “You’re late,” you reprimand her.
You wake up in the middle of the night after a frightful nightmare, so you go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. You turn on the light and a person looking like your identical twin is grinning and pointing a knife at you.
A renowned book editor receives a manuscript elegantly written by hand. The title grabs her attention and she continues reading page after page. When she finishes, the manuscript spontaneously starts burning, and the editor is cursed forever.
The last thing you remember before losing consciousness is fighting a shady Uber driver.
You find yourself in a cage in the middle of a forest and black mythological harpies hovering above the cage.
A woman wants to quit smoking, so she visits a therapist who is supposed to help her with the use of hypnosis. She goes under and when she wakes up, she feels like a born killer.
Five hikers get stranded during a horrible storm. One of them kills the weakest and starts burning his body.
A mother goes in the nursery to check up on the baby and discovers that the baby is missing and, in her place, there is a baby doll.
A killer is willing to pay a large sum of money to the family of a volunteering victim. A cancer patient contacts the killer. The killer ends up dead.
The sacred river in a remote Asian village fills up with blood. The last time that happened, all the children in the village died.
A tall, dark, and handsome stranger invites a blind woman for a romantic date in his botanical garden. The garden is full of black roses in which women’s souls have been trapped. He tells her that she will stay forever with him in his garden.
A frightened man is trying to lead a werewolf into a trap and kill him with the last silver bullet.
An architect designs houses for the rich and famous. What he doesn’t show them is that he always leaves room for a secret passageway to their bedrooms, where they are the most vulnerable.
A man’s DNA was found on a horrible crime scene and he has been charged with murder in the first degree. He adamantly negates any involvement in the crime that has been committed. What he doesn’t know is that he had a twin brother who died at birth.
Every passenger on the Orient Express dies in a different, and equally mysterious way.
A magician needs a volunteer from the audience in order to demonstrate a trick involving sawing a person in half. A beautiful woman steps on the stage. The magician makes her fall asleep, and then he performs the trick. In the end, he disappears. People in the audience start panicking when they notice the blood dripping from the table. The magician is nowhere to be found. The woman is dead.
A mother discovers that her bright son is not human.
Specters keep terrorizing patients in a psychiatric hospital, but nobody believes them.
A man’s mind is locked into an immovable body. This person is being tortured by a psychopath who kills his family members in front of him, knowing that he is in agony and can’t do anything to save them.
A bride-to-be receives a DVD via mail from an unknown sender. She plays the video and disgusted watches a pagan ritual. The people are wearing masks, but she recognizes the voice of her husband-to-be.
A man turns himself to the police although he hasn’t broken the law. He begs them to put him in prison because he had a premonition that he would become a serial killer.
Jack the Ripper is actually a woman who brutally kills prostitutes because her own mother was a prostitute.
A ticking noise wakes her up. It’s a bomb, and she has only four minutes to do something about it.
After a horrible car crash, a walking skeleton emerges from the explosion.
A world-famous violinist virtuoso uses music to summon dark forces.
A philosopher is trying to outwit Death in order to be granted immortality. He doesn’t know that Death already knows the outcome of this conversation.
A beautiful, but superficial woman promises a demon to give him her virginity in exchange for immortality. Once the demon granted her wish, she refused to fulfill her end of the deal. The demon retaliated by making her immortal, but not eternally youthful.
A voice starts chanting spells every time somebody wears the gold necklace from Damask.
Three teenagers beat up a homeless man. The next day all of them go missing.
Thirteen tourists from Poland visit Trakai Island Castle in Vilnius. Their bodies are found washed up the next morning. They are wearing medieval clothes.
A group of extremists ambush the vehicle in which a head of a terrorist cell is transported and rescue him. They go after anybody who was involved in his incarceration.
A hitman is hired to kill a potential heart donor.
A man is attacked by the neighbor’s dog while trying to bury his wife alive.
A woman disappears from her home without a trace. He husband reports her missing. The police start to suspect the husband when they retrieve some deleted messages.
After moving to a new house all the family members have the same nightmares. Slowly they realize that they might be more than nightmares.
A psychopath is drugging his wife, pushing her to commit a suicide so that he could collect the life insurance.
A woman loses her eyesight overnight. Instead, she starts having premonitions.
A vampire prefers albino children.
A man commits murders at night and relives the agony of his victims during the day.
A black horse carriage stops in front of your house. A hand wearing a black glove make an inviting gesture. Mesmerized, you decide to enter the carriage.
Demons rejuvenate by eating kind people’s hearts.
People are horrified to find all of the graves dug out the morning after Halloween.
Men start jumping off building and bridges after hearing a mysterious song.
A voice in your head tells you to stop listening to the other voices. They were not real.
A severed head is hanging from a bridge with a message written in the victim’s blood.
A delusional man brings his screaming children to a chasm.
A 30-year-old woman learns that a baby with the same name as her died at the local hospital 30 years ago.
A vampire donates his blood so that a child with special brain powers can receive it.
A teenager is determined to escape his kidnapper by manipulating him into drinking poison. He doesn’t stop there.

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110+ Horror Writing Prompts (With A Twist)

Give yourself the chills with this list of over 110 horror writing prompts. From scary ghost stories to creepy stories about animals and monsters. Now is the time to write your own horror story , just like Goosebumps or The Haunting of Aveline Jones.

From the gory to the scary, from the monstrous to the supernatural, from the humorous to the wacky, we have it all! Use this horror writing prompts generator to get a random horror writing idea to write about:

Keep on reading for a list of horror story prompts.

Most horror stories are based on one thing, fear. And it’s always a good idea to have a bit of that in your own life. Fear makes us all think differently, it makes us do things we wouldn’t normally do. And it’s the same thing that makes horror stories so scary. It’s a good idea to think of something that scares you, and then write about it. As a starting point, we have provided you with this list of horror prompts. For some of these gory ideas, we have included a twist, while for others it’s up to you how the story goes! Feel free to use any of these prompts in your writing, and to expand on any of the ideas.

List of Horror Writing Prompts

This list of horror writing prompts will you give you the well-needed inspiration for a good horror story:

The Haunting Hospital: A small girl named Julie is walking down a country road when she finds a cemetery and realises it is her home town. She goes to her house and finds that it has been turned into a hospital. She finds her father and her mother there. Her father tells her that she is now a part of the hospital and that she must work to be paid. Julie and her mother go to work as nurses.
Chasing Shadows: A girl named Becky is walking in her neighbourhood when she sees a little boy playing in the street. Becky runs over to him and asks him what he is doing. He tells her that he is a little monster and that he will kill her if she does not leave him alone. Becky takes off running and the little monster chases her.
Park of Peril: A little girl named Melissa is walking through the park when she finds a little boy who tells her that he will eat her if she does not take him home. Melissa takes off running and the little boy chases her.
Claws of the Night: This one involves a kid named Angela. One night she goes to sleep and when she wakes up the next morning her hands have turned into the claws of a cat.
The Poisoned Harvest: A boy named Billy is walking down the street one day when he sees a homeless man. He notices some fruit by the man. When the homeless man is not looking, Billy steals the fruit. Later on, he goes home and eats this piece of fruit. The fruit is poisoned, and Billy goes blind.
Carnivorous Confrontation: A story of a kid who loves to eat the flesh of dead animals, but one day a man appears and tells him not to eat them.
Invisible Menace: Write a story about a young boy who is terrorized by an invisible monster.
Nightmare Room: The invisible monster is eating kids and it is in their room all the time.
Enchanted Chaos: A handsome prince on a quest to learn magic wants to marry the beautiful princess, but the kingdom is being attacked by demons, ghosts, and…his dad.
Insanity’s Feast: The whole little town goes insane. They start killing people with their mouths. They kill them in the most gruesome way.
Shuttered Nightmares: A serial killer is taking photos of their victims. He is telling them how he is going to kill them. And then he starts his killing.
Witch’s Chains: Two kids named ‘Bud’ and ‘Chip’ got separated from their parents. They live next door to a witch and are unable to leave the house. One day, the witch makes their parents get into a container, and leaves them in the backyard, chained to a tree.
Enchanted Camp: A summer camp where a powerful wizard casts a spell on the children to make them do his bidding.
The Weeping Specter: A ghost that follows you around and cries on your shoulder and if you get sad it gets angry and turns into a ghostly voice that spooks people.
Haunted Truths: The lead character is haunted by a ghost who knows the truth about their past.
Distrustful Shadows: A girl named Dana, who works at a daycare centre, doesn’t trust anybody. This causes her to make sure she does everything she can to stop any other person from ever entering her place.
Realm of Nightmares: One day, the princess wakes up in a terrible nightmare. She is being chased by something, she cannot see what it is. And then she hears the voice of her mother, telling her to run away. She goes to her room and sees that the covers on her bed are in a shape that reminds her of the monster she just saw. She knows she cannot sleep in this place. She goes to the other side of her room and sees a window. She goes to the window and finds that it is an opening to a new world…
Witch’s Wrath: A girl named Misty lives with her parents and their next-door neighbour who is an evil witch. One day her father and the witch get into a fight and the witch accidentally kills him.
Brief Awakening: A boy named Sam is suffering from a terrible disease and he only has days to live. He’s in a coma, and he’s not responding to any medical treatments. Until one night he starts to experience some new changes…
Vengeful Wishes: A little girl named Mina finds a genie. The genie grants her 3 wishes. Because Mina has been a victim of bullying, she uses all her wishes to punish her bullies with ghoulish consequences.
Jar of Horrors: One day, a boy named Marcus went out to take a walk, and he found a jar that he thought was full of gold. Marcus had also found a bag that was heavier than he could lift, but he drags it home anyway. When he opens to bag he discovers something disgusting…
Game Over: A creepy character named Nemesis is trying to kill Luke, who plays video games and lives in his basement. At night, Luke hears voices telling him to hide. He goes to the basement and a creature knocks him out. He ends up as a character in his gruesome game.
Bracelet of Resurrection: A boy named Josh loses his best friend to a freak accident. He finds the other half of a bracelet he gave his friend that day. He hangs on to it until one night the bracelet brings his best friend back to life.
The Ghost Writer: Write a story titled, The Ghost Writer. Write about the ghost of someone who haunts you.
Eternal Specter: Write a scary ghost story about a man who is cursed to spend eternity as a ghost.
Hidden World: A boy named Brody is having problems adjusting to life in his new home after his parents divorced. He tries to see his dad, but they don’t want him around. One day he discovers a secret passage to a hidden underground world where his father now lives.
Stuttering Shadows: A story about a young man named Kenny, who works as a garbage man. He also has a terrible stuttering problem that he has to deal with. One day he discovers that his stuttering is getting worse and worse and he becomes scared to death because of it. He thinks that the talking squirrel next to him is a demon.
Haunted Corner: Write a story about an object in your room that becomes haunted.
Ghostly Deception: A boy named Bryce has been hiding out from his abusive father. One day his father is gone and his dad’s new girlfriend walks into the house. He thinks it’s the ghost of his dead mother. The ghost shows him that his dad’s new girlfriend has been lying to him about how his birth mother died.
Trapped in Terror: A young boy named Spencer and his sister Sarah, are on a camping trip when they find a box of mysterious objects. When they open it, one of the items shoots at them, striking Sarah and trapping her in a pod inside a tree. While locked inside the tree, Sarah meets an evil doll named Alice.
Possessed Playtime: A young girl named Cassandra is babysitting her neighbour’s two kids. One day the kids eat some forbidden foods and a demon spirit possesses one of the kids and turns him into an evil creature who haunts the neighbourhood.
Eyes of the Bunny: A little girl named Hayley discovers a secret house that no one in the neighbourhood knows about, and is welcomed inside by a red-eyed white bunny. One day when Hayley goes to a party, her newfound friend kidnaps her and traps her inside this mysterious house.
Eternal Echo: Write a horror story about a horrible accident or a nightmare that has haunted you your whole life.
Drowning Destiny: A boy named Joshua falls into a river and is about to drown when he gets rescued by a beautiful mermaid. She tells him that he will die the next day because that is his destiny.
Keys of Madness: A young boy named Alex finds a set of glowing door keys and uses them to enter a huge abandoned mansion. When he explores the mansion, he is visited by a dark spirit who attacks him and drives him insane.
Alien Abduction: A boy named Sam wakes up one day to find that his parents have been missing for over a year. The day he discovers them, they tell him that he was kidnapped by aliens, and they built an experimental human brainwashing machine.
Dreams of Stella: A young boy named Toby starts having strange dreams of a girl named Stella. One day, he sees Stella when he’s on a roller coaster, but it turns out to be a ghost who is trying to take over his mind.
Eye of the Leaf: A little boy named Ben is playing outside one day when he finds a strange leaf. When he picks it up, it turns into a leaf with a red eye and starts to follow him.
Vengeful Spirit: Write a horror story about a ghost who just wants to kill the person who called him a monster when he was alive.
Nightmare Adoption: A young girl named Annabelle is adopted by a family that lives in a very old house. One day when is playing outside, she is kidnapped by a scary man named the Nightman.
Stuffed Shadows: A young boy named Jack gets lost in the woods and finds an old abandoned house. He enters the house and finds a huge stuffed animal. When he touches it, it wakes up and attacks him.
Depths of Fear: Imagine your worst fear and write a scary story about it.
A Rude Awakening: Write a horror story titled, A Rude Awakening. What would you do if you woke up in a place that you weren’t familiar with?
The Mysterious Case: What happens when someone goes missing and no one knows where they’ve gone?
Dreamstalker : Write about a monster that might be stalking you in your dreams.
Write a story titled, When The Wind Blows. This story could be about a sudden change in weather that comes with a new problem.
Mirror Demon: Continue the following story: Suddenly, the demon in the mirror reappeared and she began to scream.
Doctor’s Dread: When the doctor gave her the news, she screamed out loud and ran in circles.
Safekeeping Shadows: In her final hours, she told me to be thankful that I had done my best to keep her safe. That I had made sure no evil would ever hurt her again.
Camping Secrets: Continue the following horror story: As I was growing up, every year our family went camping in the woods. My grandfather passed away a few years ago. He was a rich man, and I wanted to visit his grave at the cemetery.
Forest of Shadows: While walking around the forest, I came across a monstrous-looking creature. I was scared and ran back home. The next day, I decided to go back and see what the monster was doing.
Echoes of Dread: Write down your biggest fear. And then write a story based on this fear.
Silent Stalker: When I looked in her file I saw that she had gotten five serious stab wounds. But, I could not see any sign of her attacker. Her wounds were all over her body and all over her arms.
Arachnid Terror: After discovering that a spider was sleeping in her bed, a young girl named Amy screams and runs away, locking herself in the bathroom.
Electric Fury: A scientific team is doing research on electricity. They find a very strong cell that could create many things when it is exposed to electricity. Suddenly the electricity static comes alive. It gets angry and attacks the scientists.
Imaginary Friend: A little girl named Amber loves to play with her new imaginary friend. She calls him “Giant” and she makes up stories about him. She believes that he is her friend for real.
Melting Nightmare: Continue the following story: As it continued attacking, it even caused my teeth to start to melt off of my jaw. My skin would start to burn, and my hair would become brown.
Friday Night Terrors: It’s Friday. The TV is on, and you are wide awake. As you lie there listening, you begin to feel tired. And just as your eyes begin to close, you hear a creak of the floorboards. Your eyes snap open. What you see scares the living hell out of you.
Blood Dawn: You wake up one morning to find your entire body covered in blood. What do you do?
Room of Despair: How would you react if you were locked in a room and told you could never leave?
Haunting Memoirs: What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you? Can you explain this in great detail?
Chilling Chronicles: Make a top ten list of the creepiest books or stories you have ever read.
The Gruesome Creation: Describe the most gruesome and disgusting creature you can imagine.
Zoo’s Menace: Write a horror story where there is a threat of animals getting out of the zoo.
Red-Eyed Pursuit: Continue the following starter: A red-eyed man of tall and dark build looms over a bus stop on a lonely, deserted country road, staring at me intently. I run like hell to get to the other side of the street, but it’s too late…
Homebound Horror: A strange animal has been following you through your home. Have you been doing anything strange or dangerous that has made it freak out?
Midnight Messages: Someone is leaving you messages in the dead of night. What’s the creepiest message you’ve received?
Ghostly Watcher: Create a ghost story about a creature that watches and waits in the corners of dark, abandoned places.
Jack and Jill’s Nightmare: Jack and Jill went up the hill, but they never came back down. Will they ever make it to the bottom? Write a horror story based on this idea.
Dark Secrets: The history of your town has a long dark secret that nobody wants to talk about. What is it?
Mutated Reality: Reality show participants get kidnapped and sent on a dangerous mission, where they must learn how to blend with mutated creatures.
Beastly Intrusion: In a small community in Japan, a supernatural force enters the community through a sewer. To beat it, the village must learn to work as a team and think like a beast.
School of Shadows: School kids don’t believe in ghosts until they’re suddenly being terrorised in their school at night.
Vampiric Genesis: Someone is using a contaminated strain of bat DNA to create vampires in real life. And it’s up to a group of scientists to put an end to it.
Promised Souls: The dead walk, and all they want to do is get what they were promised. Will you figure it out?
Spellbound Silence: An aspiring rapper, who always dreamed of singing in front of an adoring crowd, becomes the target of a spell that makes him unable to sing, his most cherished talent. Will he survive the consequences of his initial desire to be a star?
Mirror Man: Continue this story: You look into the mirror and see a man in black standing in the corner…
Cryptic Chronicles: Imagine that you stumble upon a really creepy story in your local library and it leads you on a very strange and frightening journey.
Lost in a Strange World: When night falls, people get teleported to an area far away, in a very different world! The only way to return home is by combining body parts with the different elements of the land.
Wicked Takeover: A small town gets taken over by a wicked witch, who’s on a mission to suck the souls of all the inhabitants.
Soul Seeker: When someone posts an ad online about finding a soul and bringing it home for a price, things get really interesting.
Human and Beast: What would happen if human DNA was spliced with that of a deadly monster?
Unknown Beyond: A guy receives an advance warning from his friends in the afterlife to get ready for the afterlife, or something worse may happen…
Death’s Present: A girl gets a letter that someone wants to give her a present before they die, but the present comes with a very specific clause. What happens when she follows the instructions?
Dark Diary: As a local woman is trying to recover from the death of her husband, she discovers an old diary, in which she discovers something that happened in her past that has led to events that followed.
Christmas Carnage: It’s beginning to look like Christmas! But there’s more to Christmas than Santa and presents. A deadly secret is hidden away in a child’s bedroom. And with a massive killer about to make an appearance, it’s a race against time to track him down.
Empire of Evil: A ship sets sail for the distant colony of the Empire, but its mission becomes a mission to find the source of evil.
Hell Town: Using a sinister new machine, a small-town mayor is convinced to turn his town into a hell-like world.
Wild Dogs: A group of four friends are lured into an abandoned house by a pack of wild dogs.
I Went To A Party: Complete the following sentence in three different spooky ways: I went to a party and…
Sea’s Claw: The captain was anxious to get home, but the sea was so rough that his ship could not make it. Suddenly, from the fog, a giant black claw appeared. The giant black claw grabbed the ship and then brought the ship to the bottom of the ocean.
Dybylu’s Awakening: A monster named Dybylu wakes up one morning, alone in her room. She can feel it in the air; her pet cat is afraid. She goes to look in the mirror and see’s a human staring back at her.
Murdered Spirit: A little boy is asked to help a spirit of a man who was murdered, but as he hears the story, it sounds weird and a bit confusing, and he begins to wonder if the story is even true.
Playground Horrors: In a playground near an orphanage, there are many playgrounds where kids play. The best playground is found next to an abandoned asylum.
Barn Cat’s Secret: A drifter named Mick goes to a farm with his friend Sam, and the owner of the farm is a creepy scientist. Mick climbs a barn ladder and sees a strange cat in there…
Cape Creature: A sweet girl named Annie and her sister, Charley, are having an adventure in their neighbourhood. Suddenly, Annie spots a strange black cape creature lurking in the distance. It was the most feared and horrible creature Annie has ever seen.
Island of Souls: The main character goes to an island that no one has visited before. He is enjoying his vacation, but one night he finds out that his home is being invaded by creatures who want to steal his soul.
Spookie’s Nightmares: A witch known as ‘Spookie’ causes horrible hallucinations to victims of her nightmares. Her victims can’t scream or cry or run. All they can do is panic.
Stick’s Mischief: A girl named Paige finds a stick that attracts a mysterious creature that will play a sick joke on her.
Black Blood: One day, a girl named Robin started having problems in school. Her parents, who are very smart and caring, see something is very wrong with Robin so they take her to the doctor. The doctor makes her go through a lot of tests, and everything is okay except for one last thing. Robin has black blood running through her veins.
Mirror’s Curse: A teenage girl named Sarah who is obsessed with her appearance starts turning into an old, ugly witch every time she looks into a mirror.
Bee Killer: When bees start dying suddenly out of nowhere, the lead detective in a bee colony must find the culprit.
Demon’s Puzzle: A strange jigsaw puzzle holds a horrific secret… In it, a grinning demon holds a girl’s head in its giant mouth.
Forbidden Drawing: A little boy sees a drawing of him in a forbidden book he had found. He is then transported to a never-ending forest, lost forever…
When the Past Comes Back: An adult is being haunted by their younger self.
Beast of the Woods: A reporter goes into the woods where there was a fierce animal attack. In this attack, five women and a little boy were killed. He decides to search for evidence on who this killer creature might be…
Letters of London: A man lives by himself in a flat in London. A mysterious person starts sending him letters which talk about how scary things will happen if he doesn’t leave his flat.
The Ghost in Her Friend’s Mother: A 7 year old girl is having a sleepover at her friend’s house. Her friend’s mom leaves them alone, but they soon find out that she was poisoned, and that a ghost has taken over her body.
Creepy Crawlies in Your Kitchen: The first animal the kids see is a snake that eats people’s brains. It sneaks around in people’s kitchens.
Revolving Nightmares: The story starts off with a character telling the readers about the night he and his parents got stuck in a revolving door. The night would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Tommy’s Window: A long time ago there was a man named Tommy, who was lost in a forest. Tommy thought he heard a ghost calling him. Tommy went in the direction of the noise and found a scary-looking house that has windows that never opened. Tommy finds out that the house belongs to a witch and that if he opens the windows, the witch will turn Tommy into a puppet.
Tommy the Dog: This is a story about a little boy and his dog. The little boy goes to a big park, and he sees a dog that is alone. He walks over to the dog, but it just barks and then runs away. The next day Tommy starts turning into a human-sized dog.

Fear no more! Just use this list of horror writing prompts to start writing your own fantastic horror story! Use any of these scary prompt ideas to take the story from your mind to your computer screen.

Looking for more creepy horror prompts? Check out this list of Halloween writing prompts , as well as this scary Halloween picture prompts .

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the 5 elements of a horror story.

Every good horror story contains the following five elements: Character, Setting, Action, Horror and Resolution. You can’t write a good horror without these elements.

How do you write in creepy writing?

To write in creepy writing, you need to immerse yourself in the world of horror. You think to think exactly like your main character or antagonist. Imagine yourself as a ghost, a demon, a monster, or a murderer. You can be a ghost who haunts people in their dreams or a monster who stalks them in the real world. Use extreme details to describe scenes of horror with gory and disgusting elements.

How do you get inspiration for horror?

Most horror stories are based on fear. Think about the things that scare you or haunt you in your nightmares. You can also get inspiration from watching scary movies or reading about scary stories. Finally, horror stories can also be inspired by real-life situations. For example, a girl who is bullied decides to take revenge on her bullies in a gruesome way. Of course, you can also use this list of horror writing prompts to inspire you too!

What are common horror themes?

Horror themes can be based on personal experiences, fears, or nightmares. Here are some common horror themes to explore:

Stalker: Someone who stalks you in your dreams or in the real world.
Monsters: Someone or something who appears to be human, but isn’t.
Revenge: Someone who is still haunted by a past event, and needs to seek revenge to overcome it.
Secrets: A deadly secret that could shake the lives of anyone involved.
Psychopaths: People who just kill or hurt others for the fun of it.

Did you find this list of over 110 horror writing prompts useful? Let us know in the comments below.

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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115 Horror Writing Prompts To Inspire Your Spookiest Stories.

As with any genre, writing horror can be challenging. Readers expect a certain kind of frisson when they crack open a horror book, so coming up with ideas that are chilling and fresh can be tricky. This article contains 115 spooky and sinister writing prompts that you can use to inspire your next piece of horror fiction . They’re mostly left-field and weird, because the best way to come up with scary ideas is to think in an unconventional way.

These prompts are split into three sections: general, monster, and traditional. The general section will offer prompts related to the human condition in general and not any one specific trope or theme from horror fiction. The monster section will offer prompts related specifically to monsters as a whole rather than one type of monster like vampires or werewolves. Lastly, the traditional prompt will offer prompts related specifically to conventions from the traditional canon of horror literature .

A fortune teller reveals that you are evil.

A group of friends takes on the zombie apocalypse.

A scary doll comes to life.

A scene from a nightmare comes true the next day.

All the cats in a small town vanish in the middle of the night….and all that remains is a set of big, scary teeth smashed into a car door.

Days go by, and your parents don’t come home.

Every time you wake up, you’re a different person.

Everyone knows the new neighbors are vampires, and the kids invite you over for a sleepover.

Someone follows you home, and it’s your exact double.

Someone is living in your mirror.

Strange things start happening after the grandfather clock starts to speak.

The teacher is a monster, but no one will believe you.

When a local police officer goes to investigate the haunted house down the street, he finds a young girl who died decades ago.

While reading a scary book, you realize that you’re a character in it.

You feel yourself slowly becoming a monster.

You finally meet your child’s imaginary friend. Who turns out to be a serial killer.

You find a diary that tells the future.

You have no reflection in the mirror.

You hypnotize your brother, and you can’t snap him out of it.

You know someone is watching you day and night from the house across the street.

You realize you are shrinking.

You’re inhabited by a ghost that controls you and makes you do crazy things.

You’re lost in the woods, and you don’t know how you got there.

Your friends start to disappear, and no one else notices.

Your parents explain that you are actually an alien from another planet.

A 16-year-old girl wakes up on a stone-cold table surrounded with people in black and white masks. They are chant and start leaning forward. All of them carry carved knives.

A 30-year-old woman learns that a baby with the same name as her died at the local hospital 30 years ago.

A bachelor’s party ends with two dead people in the pool. Both of them are missing their eyes.

A beautiful, but superficial woman promises a demon to give him her virginity in exchange for immortality. Once the demon granted her wish, she refused to fulfill her end of the deal. The demon retaliated by making her immortal, but not eternally youthful.

A black horse carriage stops in front of your house. A hand wearing a black glove make an inviting gesture. Mesmerized, you decide to enter the carriage.

A boy has a very realistic dream about an impending doom, but nobody believes him until during a storm all the birds fall dead on the ground.

A boy hears screaming from his parents’ bedroom. He jumps and hides under his bed. Suddenly, everything becomes quiet. A man wearing army boots enters his room. He drags the boy from under the bed and says: “We’ve been searching for you for 200 years.”

A bride returns to the same bridge for 50 years waiting for her husband-to-be to get out of the water.

A bride-to-be receives a DVD via mail from an unknown sender. She plays the video and disgusted watches a pagan ritual. The people are wearing masks, but she recognizes the voice of her husband-to-be.

A cannibal hunts for pure children’s hearts hoping they will bring him eternal youth.

A chemistry teacher disfigures teenagers who remind him of his childhood bullies. One day, he learns that the new student in his school is the son of his childhood's archenemy.

A child makes her own Halloween mask. She glues a lock of her own hair on her mask. The mask comes to life and threatens to take over the girl’s body.

A delusional man brings his screaming children to a chasm.

A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river. His father jumps to rescue him. Somehow the boy manages to swim to the surface. The father is nowhere to be found. When the mother gets a hold of the boy, she can’t recognize him. She tries holding him, but the moment she touches his wet body, her hands start burning.

A family of four moves in an old Victorian home. As they restore it, more and more people die suddenly and violently.

A famous conductor imprisons a pianist from the orchestra and makes him play the piano while he tortures other victims, also musicians. Every time the pianist makes a mistake, the conductor cuts of a finger from his victims.

A frightened man is trying to lead a werewolf into a trap and kill him with the last silver bullet.

A genius scientist tries to extract his wife’s consciousness from her lifeless body and insert it into an imprisoned woman who looks just like his wife.

A girl starts digging tiny holes in her backyard. When her mother asks her what she is doing, the girl answers: “Mr. Phantom told me to bury my dolls tonight. Tomorrow night I am going to bury our dog. And then, you, mother.”

A girl wakes up in her dorm and sees that everybody sleepwalks in the same direction. She acts as if she has the same condition and follows them to an underground black pool where everybody jumps.

A group of 10 friends decide to rent an old English castle for the weekend. The ghosts are disturbed and seek their pound of flesh.

A group of extremists ambush the vehicle in which a head of a terrorist cell is transported and rescue him. They go after anybody who was involved in his incarceration.

A group of friends play truth or dare. Suddenly, all the lights go out and in those ten seconds of darkness, one of the group is killed.

A hitman is hired to kill a potential heart donor.

A house finds a way to kill every visitor on its premises.

A husband and his wife move to a new apartment. After a week, both of them kill themselves. They leave a note saying: “Never again.”

A husband and his wife regain consciousness only to see each other tied to chairs, facing each other. A voice on the radio tells them to kill the other, otherwise, they would kill their children.

A kidnapper makes his victims torture each other for his sheer pleasure.

A killer is willing to pay a large sum of money to the family of a volunteering victim. A cancer patient contacts the killer. The killer ends up dead.

A literature professor discovers an old manuscript in the college library. He opens it in his study and suddenly a black raven flies through the window.

A little girl’s sister lives with a monster in the closet. She exits the closet on her sister's birthday.

A magician needs a volunteer from the audience in order to demonstrate a trick involving sawing a person in half. A beautiful woman steps on the stage. The magician makes her fall asleep, and then he performs the trick. In the end, he disappears. People in the audience start panicking when they notice the blood dripping from the table. The magician is nowhere to be found. The woman is dead.

A man commits murders at night and relives the agony of his victims during the day.

A man encounters death on his way to work. He can ask three questions before he dies. He makes a quick decision.

A man hires unethical doctors to help him experience clinical death and then bring him back to life after a minute. Little does he know that one minute of death feels like an eternity full of horrors.

A man is attacked by the neighbor’s dog while trying to bury his wife alive.

A man is kidnapped from his apartment on midnight and brought on a large private estate. He is told that he will be a human pray and that ten hunters with guns will go after him. He is given a 5-minute head start.

A man is trying to open a time portal so that he could kill his parents before he is ever conceived.

A man opens his eyes in the middle of his autopsy while the coroner is holding his heart.

A man signs a document with his blood to relinquish his body to a sect.

A man turns himself to the police although he hasn’t broken the law. He begs them to put him in prison because he had a premonition that he would become a serial killer.

A man’s DNA was found on a horrible crime scene and he has been charged with murder in the first degree. He adamantly negates any involvement in the crime that has been committed. What he doesn’t know is that he had a twin brother who died at birth.

A man’s mind is locked into an immovable body. This person is being tortured by a psychopath who kills his family members in front of him, knowing that he is in agony and can’t do anything to save them.

A most prominent member of a sect goes to animal shelters to find food for the dark forces.

A mother discovers that her bright son is not human.

A mother goes in the nursery to check up on the baby and discovers that the baby is missing and, in her place, there is a baby doll.

A mother-to-be starts feeling severe pain in her stomach every time she touches a Bible. Despite the fear for her own life, she starts reading the New Testament out loud.

A mysterious altruist gives a kidney to a young man, who has potential to become a leading neuroscientist. After a year, the altruist kills the young man because he proves to be an unworthy organ recipient. The following year, the mysterious altruist is a bone marrow donor.

A mysterious bug creeps under people’s skins and turns them into the worst version of themselves.

A mysterious child psychiatrist promises parents to cure their children if they give him a vile of their blood.

A mysterious stranger with a glass eye and a cane commissions a portrait. When the portrait is finished, the painter turns into stone.

A mysterious woman moves into your apartment building. One by one, all of the tenants start hallucinating that monsters chase them and jump into their own deaths.

A nomad meets a fakir who tells him that he would bring agony to dozens of people unless he kills himself before he transforms into a monster.

A nuclear blast turns animals into blood-thirsty monsters.

A patient with a multiple-personality disorder tells you that you are one of six characters.

A philosopher is trying to outwit Death in order to be granted immortality. He doesn’t know that Death already knows the outcome of this conversation.

A photographer travels to an Indian reservation for his next project. He starts taking photos, but there are only shadows in the places where people should have been.

A politician hides his weird sister in the attic. She’s had her supernatural powers after their family home burned to the ground.

A popular French chef is invited by a mysterious Japanese sushi master for dinner. A powerful potion makes the French chef fall asleep. He wakes up horrified to learn that he is kept on a human farm, in a cage.

A priest is trying to punish God for the death of his sister. He is getting ready to burn down the church, when supernatural forces start to torture him.

A psychopath is drugging his wife, pushing her to commit a suicide so that he could collect the life insurance.

A renowned book editor receives a manuscript elegantly written by hand. The title grabs her attention and she continues reading page after page. When she finishes, the manuscript spontaneously starts burning, and the editor is cursed forever.

A severed head is hanging from a bridge with a message written in the victim’s blood.

A small-town cop becomes obsessed with a cold case from 1978. Three girls went missing after school, and nobody has seen them since. Then one day, in 2008, three girls with the same names as those in 1978 go missing. The case is reopened.

A strange religious group starts performing a ritual on a playground. The children’s hearts stop beating.

A strange woman in labor is admitted in the local hospital. Nobody seems to recognize her. She screams in agony. A black smoke fills in the entire hospital. After that, nobody is the same. A dark lord is born.

A tall, dark, and handsome stranger invites a blind woman for a romantic date in his botanical garden. The garden is full of black roses in which women’s souls have been trapped. He tells her that she will stay forever with him in his garden.

A teenager is determined to escape his kidnapper by manipulating him into drinking poison. He doesn’t stop there.

A ticking noise wakes her up. It’s a bomb, and she has only four minutes to do something about it.

A vampire donates his blood so that a child with special brain powers can receive it.

A vampire prefers albino children.

A voice in your head tells you to stop listening to the other voices. They were not real.

A voice starts chanting spells every time somebody wears the gold necklace from Damask.

A woman disappears from her home without a trace. He husband reports her missing. The police start to suspect the husband when they retrieve some deleted messages.

A woman discovers that her niece has done some horrible crimes, so she decides to poison her. Both of them take the poison, but only the aunt dies.

A woman enters a sacred cave in India and disappears for good.

A woman gets trapped in a parallel universe where every day she dies horribly in different ways.

A woman is admitted to a hospital after a car crash. She wakes up after three months in a coma, but when she tries to speak, she can’t utter a sound. When the nurse sees that she is awake, she calls a doctor. The last thing the woman remembers is hearing the doctor say: “Today is your lucky day,” right before four men in black robes take her out.

A woman loses her eyesight overnight. Instead, she starts having premonitions.

A woman puts a lipstick on in the bathroom when she hears a demonic voice saying to her: “Can’t you see?”

A woman starts watching a movie late at night. The movie seems all too familiar. Finally, she realizes that it is a movie about her own life and that she might be already dead.

A woman steps out of her house only to find four of her neighbors dead at her doorstep. Little does she know that she isn't supposed to call the police.

A woman wants to quit smoking, so she visits a therapist who is supposed to help her with the use of hypnosis. She goes under and when she wakes up, she feels like a born killer.

A woman who has just given birth at her home is told that the baby is predestined to become the leader of the greatest demonic order in the country.

A world-famous violinist virtuoso uses music to summon dark forces.

A young girl finds her grandmother’s gold in a chest in the attic, although she isn’t allowed to go there by herself. She touches the gold and she starts seeing horrible visions involving her grandmother when she was younger.

A young girl goes missing in a nearby forest. The whole town is searching for her. Her parents find her sitting and smiling in a cave. Her eyes are completely white.

A young man becomes obsessed with an old man living opposite his building. The young man is convinced that the old man is the embodiment of the devil, and starts planning the murder.

A young married couple decide to renovate an abandoned psychiatric hospital and turn it into a hotel. Everything is going well until their first guest arrives.

A young woman wearing a black dress is holding a knife in her hand and threatening to kill a frightened man. She is terrified because she does not want to kill anybody, but her body refuses to obey her mind.

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15 Haunted Halloween Writing Prompts

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BOO! Halloween is right around the corner—what better day to write some spooky stories? Sharpen your pencil and take a stab at one of these Halloween writing prompts !

Scary Stories Connect With Readers in Big Ways

You write to get a reaction out of your readers. No matter the genre, you want your reader to feel something when they read your writing.

For horror writers, that feeling is fear. But it's also so much more.

Great horror stories take the everyday creepy and turn it into something even more creepy (and often become a condemnation of injustices in society). The great thing is, horror stories teach you that those creepy things can be beaten. That's what keeps bringing the readers back.

And that's why horror writers keep churning out the fear.

Maybe you love writing scary stories. Maybe you don't, but I hope you'll give it a try, just for practice (we're fans of that around here!).

Just like reading outside your genre is valuable to mastering the writing craft, so is writing a scary story .

This story doesn't have to be long, it could be a short story . Try for something you can write in one sitting, like 1,500 words.

To get you started, use one of the Halloween writing prompts suggested in this article. Then let loose, and have fun!

Creepy Story Writing Prompts

1. It's late at night, and you hear footsteps in the cellar, but you're definitely home alone…or so you thought.

2. You've put that doll in the cabinet, in the closet, in the attic, but no matter where you tuck it, it always shows back up on the sofa. On Halloween night, you find it watching you…

3. A bad-tempered businessman is driving home after a long day of work. He thinks he sees his kids trick-or-treating and stops to pick them up but those aren't costumes.

4. It's Halloween night and you and your friends think it would be fun to visit the local town's annual corn maze. But when you're inside it, someone inside the maze doesn't look like an actor in a costume. And shortly after, your friends start to disappear one by one.

5. You don't believe in the rumors that say a certain scary book is cursed—and that anyone who reads it will meet their maker by the end of the week. So naturally, you read it. And then things start going wrong…

Monster/Ghost Story Writing Prompts

6. A young woman goes to her grandmother's house for tea on Halloween night. They have a wonderful time together, sharing stories, joy, and the best times of family. The next day, the woman learns her grandmother has been dead for a week and no one could get ahold of her to tell her.

7. A little boy is lost in the woods, but at least his faithful dog is with him. As they look for the way out, the dog defends his master against terrifying monsters and animals. But the closer they get to the escaping the dark forest, the more apparent it is that they'll need to face the person, or thing, releasing these monsters in the first place.

8. A farmer who dreams of being a scientist experiments on this year's pumpkins, hoping to enlarge them. He has a lot of success, until one of his potions is tampered with, and the cute pumpkin in his patch morphs into a monster that eats anyone who stumbles over its vines.

9. Your girlfriend/boyfriend brings over your favorite treat on Halloween, but when you eat it, you transform into a giant, poisonous snake that kills anyone who touches you. What do you do next?

10. You wake up on Halloween night, look outside your window, and see your sister sleep walking away from the house. You chase after her but can't catch her until she plunges into a dark lake, where there's a mysterious song that starts to pull you deep below the surface.

Not-So-Spooky Story Writing Prompts

Not all people love scary stories. If this is you but you'd like to try to write a scary story—and have a fun time writing it—try tackling a (not-so) scary story prompt that could turn a potentially scary tale into something that is fun (even funny):

11. You hate clowns, which makes it even worse when your husband secretly decides to hire a clown for you son's birthday party—which just happens to be on Halloween.

12. Aliens have just landed on Earth and boy, did they pick a weird day to come. How do they respond to Halloween, supernatural or otherwise? Do they decide this place is just too bizarre and get the heck out, or do they stick around and join in the fun?

13. On Halloween night, lovers get to come back and spend the evening together one more time. One couple from the Roaring Twenties decides to come back from the grave to help their extreme nerd great-grandchild or the kid will never get married.

14. You decide that this year you're going to crash the ten top costume parties in town—and prank each one while you're at it.

15. A mad scientist determined to destroy the world falls hopelessly in love with a not-so-wicked witch. As hard as he tries, he can't impress her.

Write Your Spooky Stories

Writing a scary story can be a fun exercise to give your students (regardless of age, elementary students to college graduates) around this time of year. It also can stir some exciting writing ideas in any writer, whether or not they're part of an entire class or their personal writing group.

As mentioned above, writing scary stories can also push you to better your creative writing skills, even if it's not normally in your genre lane. Bestselling author Neil Gaiman has some great insight about why this is true:

Fairy tales are more than true: Not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

You don't have to love horror stories to write one, but you will learn about protagonists who face trialing, often life or death, situations when writing them. Challenge students or writers to become better at their writing craft by pushing them to write a short scary story with one of the writing prompts in this article.

Sit down with your favorite candy or flavor of candy corn and get ready to write. Pluck it from the list, and let your imagination free!

What is your favorite Halloween writing prompt from this list? Why did it stand out to you? Let us know in the comments .

Abigail Perry

Abigail Perry is a Certified Story Grid Editor with professional teaching, literary agency, and film production experience. In addition to writing Story Grid masterwork guides, she works as a freelance editor and is the Content Editor for The Write Practice. Abigail loves stories that put women and diverse groups at the center of the story—and others that include superpowers and magic. Her favorite genres include: Smart Book Club Fiction, Women's Fiction, YA Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and unique memoirs. She also has a B.S. in TV, Radio, and Film and loves working on screenplays that are emotionally driven and/or full of action. You can learn more about Abigail on her website.

Ruthanne Reid

Best-Selling author Ruthanne Reid has led a convention panel on world-building, taught courses on plot and character development, and was keynote speaker for The Write Practice 2021 Spring Retreat.

Author of two series with five books and fifty short stories, Ruthanne has lived in her head since childhood, when she wrote her first story about a pony princess and a genocidal snake-kingdom, using up her mom’s red typewriter ribbon.

When she isn’t reading, writing, or reading about writing, Ruthanne enjoys old cartoons with her husband and two cats, and dreams of living on an island beach far, far away.

P.S. Red is still her favorite color.

10 Comments

“Damn, I hate those busy bodies. Auditors, they call themselves. Pains in the ass is what they are.” said Joe aloud to no one who could hear. The radio blasted the nightly news and told a grisly story about three kids poisoned by bad candy. Joe, shaking his head from side to side and mumbling,

“For crying-out-loud. They’re just kids. Who in their right mind would do that to kids?”

The traffic became lighter and Joe took the off ramp to his street. As he drove toward his house, he saw his children walking down the sidewalk trick or treating. After hearing the news about the poisoning, he wanted his kids to go home. He stopped the car and walked over to them.

“Jeremy, Julian, why are you out here alone. Your mother was supposed to wait until I got home?”

He stood over the children waiting for an answer. When none came, he grabbed an arm, one child in each hand, and marched them to the car. He opened the back door and demanded they get in.

“In the car. Don’t stand there, get in… I’ve had a rough day, keep this up and you’ll get a Halloween to remember.”

Jeremy, the cutest little goblin, turned to Joe, jumped on top of him, opened his enormous mouth, and swallowed Joe whole. Julian, danced around Jeremy singing

“Remember, remember, a Halloween to remember, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down”

To the children passing by, the song sounded familiar. They started to sing,

“Ring-a-round the rosie, A pocket full of posies, Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush! We’ve all tumbled down.”

William – I enjoyed your story. Nicely developed in such a short span.

Great lead-in to the story as a way to introduce taking his kids home. One suggestion in the first paragraph … not sure you need “from side to side” after “shaking his head”, and you could modify it to ” Joe, shaking his head, mumbled, …” or “Joe shook his head and mumbled, …”

While it could be viewed as too abrupt (I didn’t think so), I love how Jeremy “the cutest little goblin” got right down to business and “jumped on top of [Joe], opened his enormous mouth, and swallowed Joe whole”, with Julian dancing and singing along. Those two lines plus Julian’s clever integration of “Remember, remember, a Halloween to remember” made for a ghoulishly delightful twist.

Thanks for the Halloween treat.

– Susan

Thanks Susan. I already made the change (Joe, shaking his head, mumbled). It reads much better. William

Hi thanks for writing this story it gave my students some ideas to write about since halloween is coming up

Thanks for the Halloween treat, Ruthanne. Great prompts.

I love prompt #4 with the grandma, I was devastated when my grammy died…. this will be good to write about.

Harold Saggerbob loves Halloween. Has his very own Pumpkin Club. But while the ‘pumpkins’ on his shelf, might be round, they are certainly not orange. And every Halloween, several kids disappear near his home…

It’s not really creepy but I tried it with my characters. English isn’t my first language so if you see any mistake, please let me know:

“Aymeric was eating alone in the kitchen. He didn’t have much appetite and spent more time looking at the dark sky through the window than eating. He sighed. He wished he had company. But that wouldn’t happen. Rose was back to his home and was probably already sleeping – flowers go to sleep with the sun, after all. The sky was covered in dark clouds so thick he couldn’t even see the Moon – and it was definitely up somewhere. He could feel it. It felt as if he had a knot in his throat. He covered his plate and put it in the fridge. He would eat it later, when he’d be hungrier. Suddenly, he stilled. He had heard footsteps. He closed the fridge slowly, careful not to make any noise. It wasn’t some kind of rodent. They were scared of lycanthropes. And Aymeric was able to recognize footsteps from rodents. With a hearing like his, no one could fool him. He put his fork and his knife in the sink, shrugging. It wasn’t as if the intruder could mess with his stuff unnoticed, anyway. What bothered him was that he didn’t heard the intruder enter. It was definitely strange. He didn’t know what or who it was but he’d better be careful. He grabbed a dagger and followed the noise. It definitely came from the cellar. He barged in there, determined to end all this quickly. The moon was rising and waxing, anyway, so he shouldn’t have any problem dealing with whoever it was. What he saw still surprised him. A tiny body in the middle of the room. Thick wavy blond hair, long ears, big grey eyes. Aymeric recognized the child immediately. When the little elf saw him, he rushed into his arms. “Hey, what’s wrong, champion?” He didn’t expect the kid to reply. The elf only hugged him tightly. Aymeric could feel his relief and his fear. The ability they had to travel between spaces and times was really something he couldn’t get used to…”

Noah was waking up. He had been knocked down while he was chased by a group of teens. It was Halloween. Noah left his home with Oscar his dog. He headed to park across the street where his friends were waiting for him for trick or treating around the neighborhood. As they got treats from the third house Noah and his friends headed for the next house. Suddenly a huge dark figure appeared and almost grabbed one of Noah’s friends. The group was actually chased by teenage boys who looked hideous beasts in their costumes. Noah and his friends were dispersed. Some managed to stick together, some made it back home. Noah lost the sense of direction and was running for a while now. Suddenly he stumbled and tripped over. He knocked his head hard on something and passed out. After he got up he could see dark figures with blazing eyes staring down at him. Noah jumped to his feet and fled into the woods that were the only easy hideout he could access fast. Oscar was behind him growling and barking at the dark figures that followed them into the woods. As he went farther it got more and more dark. The only thing that kept him going was Oscar who was right behind him keeping the dark figures at a distance. Noah saw bushes and managed to hide within. Oscar had stopped barking now and there was a deadly silence. Noah was panting and was trying to calm down. He was about to lie down when he saw a huge hand trying to grab him from within the bushes. Noah screamed in panic when Oscar jumped in between just in time to save him. Noah was running fast when suddenly he saw light piercing through the darkness. He ran towards the light fast. When he came near he couldn’t believe his eyes. The sun shone bright and there were beautiful flowers and trees. Far away he could see children playing. He quickly entered the garden as he had no better choice to escape the dark figures. Oscar slowly paced back and ran all the way home where Noah’s parents were mourning his death.

great Helloween

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50 Spooky Writing Prompts and Horror Story Ideas

If you’re looking for scary story prompts or horror writing ideas, you’ve come to the right place! These are great Halloween writing prompts, and some of these could also be used as suspense story prompts or dark fantasy story ideas.

These are all from my book 5 ,000 Writing Prompts: A Master List of Plot Ideas, Creative Exercises, and More . The book has 100 additional spooky writing prompts and horror story ideas, as well as master plots and idea starters for all kinds of writing.

If you are easily scared and have an over-active imagination, just skip this one. And anyway, just remember it’s all nonsense that I made up while I was exercising on the treadmill or sitting in bed.

Some of these are skeletal (ha) plot ideas, while others are images or suggestions. And if you’d like a spooky soundtrack to inspire you, be sure to check out my scary music playlist for writers ! Be sure to pin or bookmark the post for future reference. After all, when autumn rolls around, you might find yourself looking for Halloween writing prompts!

A musician practices. When she finishes a piece, she hears someone clapping for her, although she lives alone.
Frightening events in a small town lead its citizens to dig up the grave of a deceased inhabitant.
Someone gets on the elevator by himself and is never seen by his friends or family again.
The Furies—the vengeance deities of classic mythology—are back in business again.
A collector buys an unpublished manuscript by an obscure writer that describes a terrible historical event a year before it occurred. The collector learns the writer wrote many unpublished stories…
Creating a hybrid of a human and this particular animal turns out to be a bad idea.
A person has the ability to make other people very ill.
The dead walk out of the sea.
An individual begins seeing and hearing from someone who looks just like her – and learns she had a twin who died at birth.
A killer places an advertisement for a willing victim and finds one.
A basement contains jars filled with unusual specimens.
A person finds new photos of herself on her cell phone that she didn’t take.
The spirit of a brutalized slave or prisoner of war wants revenge on his tormentor’s descendants.
A couple vacationing in a remote area begins having the same nightmares.
All of the circus performers were killed in the train wreck.
The television switches to another station of its own accord and plays footage of something horrible that happened long before the technology existed to record it.
A spouse or sibling dies. He or she begins to take over the body of the surviving spouse or sibling.
Weekend adventurers explore a cave and can’t find their way out again. Then they encounter something terrible…
Authorities go through the cluttered apartment of a deceased man who lived alone with no known friends or relatives for decades and find something disturbing.
A group of teenagers trolls everyone else in an online group by telling made-up stories about terrible things they’ve done. Things then get out of hand.
It’s bad luck in the theatre to call the Shakespeare play Macbeth by name, but someone in the company keeps doing it anyway… and the superstition proves true.
Every exhibit in this carnival sideshow is fake. Except this one thing.
An individual develops a terror of water – drinking it, touching it, or even being near it. There’s actually a good reason why.
The grandfather clock starts running backwards.
People in this neighborhood begin having freak accidents that involve normal appliances and machinery, such as blenders, weed whackers, and garage doors.
The cure for a new deadly epidemic is almost scarier than the disease.
He locked the doors and shuttered the windows; it came in through the roof.
A woman is happy when her dead loved one comes back to life… but he’s changed.
This centuries-old beauty secret is effective but horrifying.
A killer toys with his victims by orchestrating a series of false hopes for them.
She wakes up in the middle of the night and runs out to a certain tree.
Tourists on a ghost tour, along with their guide, fall into the hands of an evil presence.
A young woman is impregnated by her handsome new boyfriend, who turns out to be something other than human.
The empty swing is swinging.
A bride on her honeymoon discovers she’s not her new husband’s first wife… not even close.
Long ago, when he was a baby, a man’s parents made an unwise deal in order to bring him back from the dead.
Members of a family or people in a town begin sleepwalking and doing strange things in their sleep.
A young man confesses to a killing that hasn’t happened. The murder he describes takes place while he’s in custody.
Grisly events happen after the arrival of a hypnotist in Victorian London.
An author’s fictional villain stalks him.
Fraternity hazing goes way too far.
It always happens when he’s alone in the car.
A patient in a mental hospital encounters a malevolent ghost, but nobody believes her.
A mother’s young child may or may not be a changeling.
Swarms of insects appear in various places in a town, always followed by an untimely death.
The ghost at the movie theater wants everyone to watch one particular snippet of film.
A child’s imaginary friend starts to cause real trouble.
When putting together a slide show for a wedding or funeral, someone notices that for decades, the same man, dressed in the same fashion, has been appearing in the background of photographs taken in public places.
A politician, religious leader, or celebrity exerts mind control over the will of his or her followers.
The fairy godmother isn’t the good kind of fairy.

Okay, I creeped myself out a little with these spooky writing prompts! If you’re writing a novel and want a step-by-step guide to planning, writing, and editing, be sure to check out my book 5,000 Writing Prompts .

5,000 WRITING PROMPTS: A Master List of Plot Ideas, Creative Exercises, and More | BRYN DONOVAN |

Do you have questions or suggestions about horror story ideas? We’d love to hear them in the comments section! And don’t miss future posts about writing. Follow my blog, if you aren’t already — there’s a place you can sign up below. Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!

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The best horror writing prompts

A locked door, a creaking house, a shadow under the bed — horror can come from anywhere. It’s all about being able to tap into your own fear. But you know what’s even more scary to writers than screams, blood and gore? The terror of a blank page. That’s where our horror writing prompts come in.

Our prompts are here to give you inspiration, whatever type of horror story you’re writing. Whether your looming threats are demons, ghosts, monsters, witches, zombies, or simply something unknown lurking in the darkness, we’ve got the right ideas to spark your imagination and fuel your nightmares.

With that in mind, here are our top ten horror writing prompts:

Start your story with a character looking out of a window in the middle of the night.
An apparent coincidence occurs. Write a story about a character who suspects paranormal, spiritual, or criminal causes.
Write a story set in a city where the power suddenly goes out, leaving everyone in darkness.
Write a story that involves a reflection in a mirror.
Start your story with the arrival of a strange visitor in a small town.
The phone won't stop ringing, but it's not plugged into the wall.
You hear the crash of plates and a bloodcurdling scream coming from the kitchen.
It’s 3 am and you don’t know where your children are.

Looking for more help to get your horror writing started? We've got you covered. Check out some of our free resources, handpicked to help you write a story that goes bump in the night.

How to Master the 'Show, Don't Tell' Rule (free course) — To write a story full of suspense and mystery, you need to get the atmosphere right. Use our Show, Don't Tell course to master immersive storytelling, and make your readers feel like they're right there.
Character profile template (free resource) — Whether your protagonist is a scaredy cat or misguidedly bold (do they not realize this is a horror story?), you'll want to know exactly what makes them tick. That's how you scare them! Use our character profile to create three dimensional characters, whether they're man, woman, child, or ghoul.
How to Write a Horror Story: 7 Tips for Writing Horror (blog post ) — Our horror writing bible. No matter what kind of story you're working on, you'll find the answers here.

Want more help learning how to write a short horror story? Check out How to Write a Short Story That Gets Published — a free, ten day course guiding you through the process of short story writing by Laura Mae Isaacman, a full-time editor who runs a book editing company in Brooklyn.

Ready to start writing? Check out Reedsy’s weekly short story contest , for the chance of winning $250! You can also check out our list of writing contests or our directory of literary magazines for more opportunities to submit your story.

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40 Scary Writing Prompts to Give Your Readers Nightmares

There is something primal and deeply satisfying about being scared. The rush of endorphins that pumps through your body while you’re reading something terrifying (and then again later that night every time your house creaks or groans) is strangely exhilarating.

Or is that just me?

Probably not, since you’re here to check out more than thirty different writing prompts to help you write something spooky.

Not all of these prompts are just for horror stories, either. There are other genres where a dash of fear or suspense are needed. To that end, we’ll be looking at:

How to use these scary writing prompts
Scary writings prompts for horror stories
Creepy writing prompts for fantasy tales
Spooky writing prompts for sci-fi
Stressful writing prompts for real-word fiction (aka literary fiction)

So grab your favorite blanket, dim the lights, and ignore the scratching noises coming from the closet as we dive into these prompts.

How to Use These Prompts

Before we get into the (grotesque) meat of the prompts, let’s take a second to talk about how you should use them.

If you already know you want to write something scary, take any of these prompts and just run with them. Even if a dozen different authors choose the same prompt as the basis for their story, we’ll end up with a dozen unique books.

Maybe you know the general plot of your story. Use these prompts as inspiration for a particular scene or subplot. Maybe one will make you think of an entirely new way to approach a character arc or theme!

You can use these scary writing prompts for practice, too. Writing something that scares someone is totally different from any other form of writing. The pace, the tone, the level of detail you need to put into it—all of these and more must be fine-tuned for an audience that is primed to experience terror.

The first time I tried my hand at a horror novel came after years of writing dark fantasy. When I was revising what I had, I realized I wasn’t capturing the essence of a scary story. My scenes were fast-paced, like my fantasy writing. There was less build-up and tension than I needed.

So, regardless of where you are in your writing journey, grab any one of these prompts and write a short story. Hone those scary writing skills to become the best, most terrifying author you can be.

Scary Writing Prompts for Horror

The most likely place you’ll use scary writing prompts is for writing horror. The horror genre ranges from slow-burn dreads to haunted houses to splatterpunk killers, with a bunch of things in between. The goal is to make your reader feel uneasy, unsettled, or uncomfortable.

For a complete guide to writing horror, click here . It dives into a lot, but one of the best takeaways is how effective horror is when you combine two phobias that force the protagonist to choose one of them. Keep that in mind when thinking about these prompts.

A woman wakes up in the middle of a swamp, a severed arm handcuffed to her wrist.
Three teens use a ouija board and contact the spirit of a murdered witch.
A father is convinced one of his twins is possessed, but he can’t tell which one.
A cannibal that only eats other cannibals.
A single mom who looks after her child, unaware that she already died protecting that child.
An Antarctic expedition that gets stranded in a bay that shouldn’t exist.
A serial killer who murders and impersonates the new sheriff in a small town before that sheriff can meet anyone.
A house full of ghosts who are living (as best they can) a normal life when a non-dead couple moves in.
A cult leader trying to con people out of their life savings only to unleash an ancient evil.
A woman discovers a spot on her skin that slowly grows every day. As it grows, it looks like words that describe how she’s going to die.
On a road trip, a family finds an abandoned car on the side of the road. With no service, they can’t call for help so they decide to keep driving, only to have their own car break down a few miles later.
To try and help with their trauma, a grief counseling group goes on a weekend retreat. But their hosts turn out to be practitioners of some ancient religion.
Trying to save his family from losing their home , a man signs up for a gladiator-style bloodsport hosted by wealthy families.
In the wake of a global plague (too soon?) a woman wakes up from a coma and must find her children in a city filled with criminals and virus carriers.
Someone volunteers to donate a kidney to their best friend, but didn’t sign up for whatever they put in its place.

Creepy Writing Prompts for Fantasy

Like I said before, it isn’t just horror that amps up the scares. If you’re writing fantasy, horror elements might be ingrained in your story, like in the dark fantasy subgenre . Or maybe you just want to change up the pace and tone by adding some suspense.

It’s a great way to force your reader to keep turning those pages!

Fantasy can range from epic tales to urban adventures, which means there’s a lot of room to play around. So here are some prompts to get you thinking about ways to creep out your fantasy readers.

The party must dive into the pitch-black, claustrophobia-inducing hive of monsters to slay the monstrous queen.
A necromancer is kidnapping people from the nearby village, stitching their body parts together with magic to create unspeakable monstrosities.
In a clan of vampires, one human child tries to survive a family that would drain them if they discovered the truth.
Two thieves must journey through a cursed tomb to find a magic amulet.
A strange traveler wanders into a village, somehow knowing and exposing a shocking number of secrets held by the villagers.
A plague has swept through the land, turning the afflicted into zombies.
A cleric must exorcise a monarch while demons from all across the kingdom try to stop them.
Centuries ago, a country was cursed by a witch. Since then, everyone born in the country has carried a birthmark representing the curse. Our protagonist gives birth to a baby who doesn’t have the birthmark.
A good witch is pursued by witch hunters, forcing her to seek refuge with an evil coven.
A walled town has lived for decades with werewolves prowling the lands beyond their gates. But resources are running out, and the townsfolk must brave the wolflands to find a new place to settle.

Spooky Writing Prompts for Science Fiction

While sci-fi can be a great place for large-scale space operas and grand displays of technology, it also presents a massive sandbox filled with the unknown and potentially horrifying.

Us human beings love knowing stuff. So, when we’re presented with something we don’t know or can’t understand, it fills us with unease. And that’s exactly what we’re going for.

A newly discovered moon is thought to have resources a planet needs for energy production, so it sends a mining team. Unfortunately for that team, the moon is also home to a breed of feral aliens that doesn’t take too kindly to visitors.
A company developing a new A.I. has a security breach, unleashing the malicious program through the company’s campus and employees.
A spaceship breaks down near a strange star, and the radiation from that star is slowly eating away at their minds as their oxygen starts to run out.
A peaceful alien race is systematically hunted by human colonizers who want to terraform their planet.
An archaeological expedition in another solar system uncovers remnants of a society and a religion that promises immortality… at a price.
While visiting the matriarch of an alien species, a diplomat is infected by a parasite that connects them to the aliens’ hivemind.
A man addicted to augmenting his body is implanted with something infected by a computer virus that makes him see ghosts.
In the near future, violent solar storms disrupt and destroy technology, plummeting society into an age without electricity.
Scavengers find a ruined ship floating in space and decide to strip it for parts. There, they find a crew that looks exactly like themselves still in cryosleep.
In a dystopian society, burglars no longer break into your house but hack into your mind.

Scary Writing Prompts for Real World Fiction

Bringing it back to (our current) reality, sometimes the scariest things are those we face every day. These can range from stories about natural disasters to debilitating illnesses, common fears to unthinkable tragedies, and everything in between.

When adding scary elements to real-word fiction, you want to keep it realistic. Make the readers think these dreadful events could really happen tomorrow.

On vacation, a family learns a tsunami is approaching and they can’t find a flight to safety.
Friends on a backcountry hiking trip suffer an accident, stranding them days away from help.
In the middle of a bustling town fair, a child is taken.
A stay-at-home mom is delivered a letter claiming her partner has died. She can’t reach them and they never checked into their hotel.
Woken by their alarm, a family finds the front door of their house open.

What Scary Story Will You Write?

Don’t forget, these prompts can be used to inspire a new story, help you with your current story, or get you writing a short story to buff your scary writing skills, use them in whatever way works best for you.

And, if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out the Story Craft Café. It’s a community of writers who support, encourage, and motivate one another. There are writers from all genres, at every stage in their writing journey.

So head on over and say hello. Share what writing prompt spoke most to you. And, when you’re ready, post the story you wrote with one of these prompts and celebrate with your fellow authors!

Doug Landsborough can’t get enough of writing. Whether freelancing as an editor, blog writer, or ghostwriter, Doug is a big fan of the power of words. In his spare time, he writes about monsters, angels, and demons under the name D. William Landsborough. When not obsessing about sympathetic villains and wondrous magic, Doug enjoys board games, horror movies, and spending time with his wife, Sarah.

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Horror Writing Prompts: 61 Ideas to Write Your Next Maniacal Masterpiece

Introduction: what are horror writing prompts.

Horror writing prompts are ideas or suggestions to stimulate creativity and develop better spooky stories. They can be anything from a word or sentence, or even an emotion that you might need to portray in your story. Anything creepy or disturbing to come up with jump shocks or slow-burn creep.

When you are writing horror stories, be they six word wonders or massive novels, then horror writing prompts will help kick-start your inspiration.

The Best Horror Writing Prompts You Should Be Using for Your Next Story

Horror is one of the most popular genres in literature and film. It has been around for centuries, and it will continue to be popular. Horror stories are also a great way to explore the darker side of human nature, which can often be more interesting than the light-hearted fare that dominates much of our media.

There are many ways to write a horror story, but one of the most popular ways is with horror prompts. These prompts are short pieces of text that help writers get started when they don’t know how to start their story or when they’re looking for inspiration.

The best horror writing prompts can be found by looking at your own fears.

What scares you the most?
What is your secret phobia?
What is your personal nightmare?
What keeps you awake at night?

Look deep inside yourself to uncover the horror.

What makes a story super scary?

A horror story makes the reader feel fear and unease. It is designed to frighten, scare, or shock its readers. It can make them feel terror or great suspense. It is usually in the form of a fictional, supernatural, or science-fiction story. Horror stories usually have a villain or monster that is threatening to harm the protagonist. The horror may come from the presentation of disturbing events, such as violence and murder; it may also come from an atmosphere of extreme suspense and tension.

Some people say that what makes a story scary is when there are ghosts, monsters, or other frightening things in it. Others say that what makes a story scary is when it’s about someone who gets hurt or dies or when something bad happens to them (such as getting kidnapped). Some people prefer the suspenseful element of it. There are many suspenseful scenes in horror movies and novels that make them scary to watch or read. Suspenseful scenes usually involve some kind of threat or danger, like a killer hiding in the closet.

If something makes your skin creep or crawl, that’s horror! Now lets get to the horror writing prompts.

Start Writing with These Never-Fail Horror Writing Prompts .

Horror stories explore our deepest fears. It is the ultimate form of suspense, and it’s one of the most popular genres in literature. Horror stories can be found in novels, short stories, movies, comics, video games, and even some poetry.

In this section, you will find 61 horror writing prompts to help you get your creative juices flowing or to just have a little fun this Halloween!

The house was old and decrepit with peeling paint that seemed to be coming off in flakes. It looked as if it had been abandoned for years with no one living there since the last decade. But there was a light on inside – so someone must be inside.
You’re walking through an abandoned house, when you see something moving in the shadows.
A woman wakes up in her bedroom with no memory of the last few hours before she went to sleep. She looks around her and sees that her dresser drawers are open and clothes are strewn all over the floor
A man takes his dog for a walk in the woods and has an eerie feeling he’s being followed by someone
You’ve been invited to spend Halloween night in an abandoned house on the edge of town, but you soon realize that there are things inside that house that don’t want you there
Your child says they are being bullied at school but a kid called Tom, but when your speak to the principal she says there is nobody called Tom at the school.
A man wakes up in a hospital bed after being knocked out for days with no memory of what happened to him
What would happen if your nightmares were coming true right before your eyes?
You’re sitting at home alone one evening when your doorbell rings – you don’t have a doorbell.
A person wakes up in a room that is unfamiliar to them and they can’t remember why they’re there.
You come home and find that your house has been ransacked.
You wake up in the middle of the night to someone screaming your name from outside your window.
The protagonist is lost in an unfamiliar place and suddenly realizes they can’t find their way back home
You’re walking home from school when suddenly, without warning, everything goes black.
If you could see one person’s thoughts before they died, who would it be and what would they be thinking about right before they died?
A child’s room is full of blood, but nobody knows why.
What would happen if you were told that everyone had been given a second chance at life?
What’s the scariest place you’ve ever been to?
A man wakes up from a coma after being in a car accident. He realizes that he has amnesia and can’t remember anything from before his accident, but he also notices that his body is covered with scars and wounds.
Have you ever dreamed about something so scary that it woke you up and left your heart racing and your skin feeling like it was crawling with bugs?
You wake up in a room without any furniture or windows. The walls are completely white and there is nothing else around you except for an old-fashioned phone on the floor next to your feet. What do you do?
What if your neighbour was always watching you from their window?
What if you went to sleep as usual, but couldn’t wake up?
What would happen if all of the clocks in the world suddenly stopped working?
A man is driving down the highway when he feels something moving on his leg.
What if you found out your worst fear was real?
An object that has been in your family for generations and is now haunted by its past.
The doctor tells you that you have a terminal illness and only has a few months to live.
What if your family was killed in front of you?
A man takes an old family photo album out of his closet to reminisce about his childhood memories and realises he’s not in any of the pictures.
A man wakes up in the middle of the night to find his wife missing from their bed. He searches the house and finds her in the kitchen, holding a knife.
Your past has come back to haunt you
The protagonist lives in constant fear of death
You’re sitting in class, when suddenly you see your teacher’s thoughts – they’re planning on murdering every student in the classroom!
You’re walking home from school and see a person dressed in all black walking towards you.
What if you saw your reflection in the mirror and it wasn’t your own?
You find out that someone close to you was trying to kill you?
You wake up in the middle of the night and see someone standing at the end of your bed staring at you.
The protagonist wakes up after being asleep and discovers ten/one hundred/one thousand years have passed.
What if you were living alone in an old house and noticed something odd about the fireplace.
The protagonist has a recurring nightmare where they’re being chased by something terrifying, and that day, they see the thing in daylight.
You’ve been invited to your old best friend’s house for dinner, but when you arrive they don’t answer the door. You walk around looking for them and find their back door broken open.
What would be the absolute worst way to die?
You’re in the countryside, and you find a barn with a strange light coming from inside.
A man has been following you for days, what should you do?
You’re at home alone when you hear something outside your house. You go out of your front door and see someone standing there
You find out that your new neighbour is a serial killer.
You notice friends go missing one by one.
You’re trapped in a dark tunnel with no way out.
A person wakes up from a dream only to find out it was not just a dream
You were walking home from school when you saw a man running from your house.
A man wakes up in a room, he doesn’t know where he is and he can’t remember anything about his life. He reaches for a cup of water and suddenly everything comes back to him at once – what happened last night, who he is, what his name is…
Your roommate has been acting weird lately and is doing strange things at night while you’re asleep.
Your uncle was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was younger, but he seems perfectly normal now.
A woman goes into a room and sees her dead husband on the bed.
Someone finds out your darkest secret.
You’re in a dark alley and hear footsteps coming closer and closer.
You seen an alert on your cell phone – there’s a serial killer loose in your neighbourhood.
Your favourite toy came alive while you were playing with it.
You’re walking home from work late one night when suddenly an animal jumps out from behind you.
You hear strange noises coming from your attic at night and think there might be a ghost living there.

Six Word Horror Stories as writing prompts

Horror stories don’t have to be thousand-page tomes from the likes of Stephen King. You can write a six-word horror story in just six words. These tiny little micro fictions make perfect horror writing prompts. Use the technique to distil your ideas before diving into a longer piece of fiction.

If you want even more ideas, why not try this handy horror plot generator?

Examples of Six Word Horror Stories to use as horror writing prompts

Unlocking the cage, she stepped out. Man… in the walls… is watching… I smiled. My reflection did not. Darling, this tea tastes of almonds… In bed, I hear IT breathing. Each fingernail was slowly peeled back.

Conclusion: Making the Most of Our Horror Writing Prompts

We all have a dark side. It is time to unleash it.

Horror stories are a great way for us to let go of our inhibitions and explore our deepest fears. The best horror stories are those which deal with the human condition and not just jump scares. Hopefully, these horror writing prompts will kick you off with some new scary stories.

And if you write a really great six word horror story, whether you used these horror writing prompts or not, why not enter it in our FREE contest?

Do feel free to add your own preferred horror writing prompts in the comments section!

Free Horror Story Generator: AI-Powered Horror Story Ideas

In the shadowed corners of creativity, where the flicker of inspiration meets the pulse of the macabre, crafting a horror story becomes an art form. If you’re looking to harness the chilling power of narrative without delving deep into the abyss of writer’s block, a horror story generator might be your ally in the dark. A horror story generators, digital cauldrons bubbling with prompts and eerie scenarios, offer a bridge to the unknown, providing a foundation upon which your own tales of terror can rise.

Using a horror story generator simplifies the initial steps of your writing journey. Imagine standing at the edge of a vast, haunted forest—each tree a story yet to be told, each shadow a character waiting to breathe. The generator acts as your guide, offering a path through the dense undergrowth by suggesting plots, settings, characters, and conflicts infused with the essence of horror. Whether you’re weaving a tale of ghostly apparitions in a forsaken mansion or crafting the lore of an ancient curse plaguing a sleepy village, the generator plants the seeds of dread that you’ll cultivate into a full-grown narrative.

Table of Contents

What is a Horror Story?

A horror story is a narrative designed to evoke fear and suspense, immersing you in a world where your deepest dreads come to life. When you dive into the horror genre, you’re exploring a realm filled with horror story ideas that tap into the fear of the unknown, creating an atmosphere so chilling it crawls under your skin. This genre thrives on your ability to create characters and settings that resonate with relatability yet harbor dark secrets and vulnerabilities, driving the plot with their complex natures.

To craft a compelling horror story, you’ll need to meticulously build suspense, carefully pacing the narrative to keep the reader teetering on the edge of their seat. The art lies in how you use descriptive language and sensory details to construct an environment that’s both oppressive and immersive, making the readers feel as though they’re part of the terrifying journey.

Horror stories also excel in addressing societal or cultural anxieties, weaving in symbolism to convey deeper meanings, and engaging with universal fears that resonate on a profound level. Remember, the goal is to not just scare but to leave a lingering impact that haunts the reader well beyond the final page.

How to Write a Horror Story?

You’re about to embark on crafting your own horror story, and there are a couple of approaches you can take. Whether you prefer the hands-on method of manually constructing your tale or you’re curious about leveraging a horror story generator, each has its merits.

Let’s explore how these tools can help you create a spine-chilling narrative.

Manual Technique to Write a Horror Story

To kick off your horror story, you’ll need to brainstorm gripping story ideas that unsettle and captivate. Focus on fleshing out characters who aren’t only complex, but also relatable, adding depth to the narrative.

Then, meticulously craft your setting and pace the unfolding terror to keep readers hooked, while weaving in universal fears that resonate on a deeply human level.

Generating Story Ideas

Before diving into the eerie depths of horror story writing, it’s crucial to master the art of generating spine-chilling ideas that will captivate and terrify your readers. Consider using a horror story generator or draw inspiration from folklore.

Explore classic horror tropes, delve into psychological horror, and maybe set your tale in a haunted house. These elements can provide a solid foundation for your horrifying masterpiece.

Developing Characters

Creating captivating horror stories hinges on developing characters who aren’t only complex but also deeply relatable. They anchor the narrative and drive the plot with their fears and vulnerabilities.

Crafting an emotional connection ensures readers care about the characters. This heightens the tension when danger looms. As your characters are forced to confront their deepest fears, the horror becomes palpable.

This approach makes the story unforgettable.

Crafting the Setting

Having established characters who resonate with readers, it’s crucial now to focus on the setting, crafting environments that amplify the horror and engage the senses.

To write a horror story that chills to the bone:

Choose a creepy location with descriptive language.
Establish dread and isolation.
Utilize sensory details for a chilling atmosphere.
Employ symbolism and foreshadowing to deepen the horror.

Pacing and Tension

To craft a horror story that truly terrifies, it’s essential to master the art of pacing and tension. Use rising action to steadily increase the tension, making readers never feel safe, unsure of what’s going to happen next. This plays directly into their fears and anxieties, keeping them hooked and terrified throughout your story.

Exploring Universal Fears

After mastering the art of pacing and tension, it’s essential you now focus on tapping into universal fears to truly unsettle your readers. Integrating these key elements into your horror fiction ensures a good horror story that resonates deeply.

Fear of the unknown
Loss of control
Death and the afterlife

These universal fears will evoke strong emotions in anyone reading your story.

Utilizing Horror Tropes

Leveraging classic horror tropes can significantly amplify your story’s creep factor, making the spine of your readers tingle with anticipation and fear.

When you write horror stories, think of utilizing horror tropes as your horror story generator. Infuse your horror writing with vampires and werewolves to evoke timeless fear.

This approach not only enriches your narrative but also connects with the primal fears of your audience.

Building Suspense

Building suspense in a horror story begins with choosing a setting that instantly evokes a sense of dread and unease.

To evoke emotion in your audience, follow these steps:

Introduce complex characters, hinting at their dark secrets.
Use an AI horror story generator for unexpected plot twists.
Gradually reveal the bad things lurking, keeping readers guessing.
Master pacing to deliver great horror just like the best horror writers.

Creating a Climactic Twist

Often, the key to crafting a memorable horror story lies in introducing a climactic twist that completely overturns readers’ expectations. To make this happen, write a horror plot with escalating events and unexpected turns.

Use characters to make the story resonate and foreshadow to hint at the twist.

In order to create a lasting impact, ensure your climax leaves questions, making creating a climactic twist essential.

Revising Your Story

After crafting a climactic twist that shatters expectations, it’s crucial to revisit your horror story, refining it to ensure every element from pacing to character depth horrifies and captivates.

Follow these steps to evoke emotion in your audience:

Channel Edgar Allan Poe’s mastery of atmosphere.
Let your readers feel every shiver with Stephen King-inspired suspense.
Make sure your descriptions unsettle and mesmerize.
Dive deep into characters’ fears, echoing their darkest nightmares.

Using a Horror Story Generator

If you’re looking for a fresh way to spark your creativity, a horror story generator might be just what you need. These tools can quickly provide you with unique concepts, characters, and plot twists that you mightn’t have thought of on your own.

Let’s explore what a horror story generator is, why you should consider using one, and the steps to incorporate its suggestions into your writing process.

What is a Horror Story Generator?

A horror story generator can be your secret weapon, providing endless prompts and ideas to craft chilling tales that tap into deep-seated fears. Here’s what it offers:

Atmospheric setting inspirations.
Guidance on creating complex characters.
Plot development with unexpected twists.
Techniques for building suspense and unease.

It’s a comprehensive tool that helps explore fears, societal issues, and the psychological aspects of horror.

Why Use a Horror Story Generator?

Exploring the use of a horror story generator can significantly boost your creativity, providing fresh inspiration and overcoming the daunting challenge of writer’s block.

It’ll help you craft unique plot twists, structure your narrative, and develop complex characters.

You’ll also delve into a variety of horror themes, experiment with settings, and master pacing, creating a chilling and unforgettable story.

Steps to Use the Horror Story Generator

To kick off your horror writing journey using a horror story generator, you’ll first need to select a generator that aligns with your creative goals.

Choose a generator that offers diverse horror subgenres.
Input any specific elements you want included.
Click ‘Generate’ to create your unique horror plot.
Use the result as a foundation to develop your terrifying story.

Additional Tips to Write Good Horror Stories

Diving deeper into crafting compelling horror stories, it’s vital to heed additional tips that refine your narrative’s spine-chilling essence. Here are key strategies to evoke emotion in your audience:

Start with What Scares You : The most effective horror stories tap into universal fears through the lens of personal terror. Begin by exploring what genuinely unsettles you. This authenticity resonates with readers, making the horror more palpable.
Embrace Classic Horror Elements : While innovation is key, don’t shy away from traditional horror tropes and themes. The familiarity of elements like isolation, the supernatural, and gothic settings can be deeply comforting before you introduce your unique twist that leaves readers unnerved.
Craft Complex Characters : Your audience’s investment in your story hinges on well-developed characters. Create protagonists with depth, flaws, and relatable fears. This emotional connection makes every scare more intense as readers are more engaged with the characters’ fates.
Master Pacing for Maximum Impact : The art of suspense is in the pacing. Build tension gradually and balance quiet moments with shocking reveals. This ebb and flow of dread and relief keeps readers on edge, making for a memorable horror experience.

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20 Truly Terrifying Two-Sentence Horror Stories That Gave Us The Creeps

Enjoy a good scary story but don't have the time? These bite-sized stories are perfect for speedy scares. Featuring everything from things that go bump in the night to unique ghost stories, these two-sentence horror stories are perfect for any horror aficionado who loves the genre, but lacks the time. Vote up the best small, scary stories.

'I Can't Believe It'

Posted by u/ stevieqwrites :

“It can’t believe it!” I cry into the phone after the police officer tells me they’ve found my missing daughter alive after all these years.

I hang up the phone and glance into the backyard, making sure the hole I buried her in is still undiscovered before getting in the car and heading to the station.

Goodnight Kiss

Posted by u/ chronoz000 :

Every night my mother would secretly kiss me in the forehead while I pretend to sleep...

I told her on Mother's Day that I loved her for that, but she called me silly and said that she never did.

Terror Tail

Posted by u/ Hugh_Jidiot :

When we finally found food after starving for several days, it only seemed right to let my son have the first bite.

But when he touched the cheese, all I could do was watch in horror as a metal bar slammed down and shattered his neck.

Tearful Goodbye

Posted by u/ SnowflaketheSnowball :

I waved a tearful goodbye as my lover left the bunker, promising he would be back as soon as he could with food for me and our newborn baby.

But his phone fell out of his pocket when he was climbing the ladder to leave, and with how many notifications he's gotten from family and friends in the last hour, I'm starting to wonder if there was ever a nuclear war at all.

Today's Special

Posted by u/ ohnoanotherstory :

Joann was a huge advocate for feeding your animals a vegan diet, always peddling the benefits on Facebook.

Little did she know a simple fall in the shower was all it took for meat to be back on the menu.

'Weekends Are Always So Busy'

Posted by u/ trowzerss :

Another young couple came in through the door, and I hurried to get a table ready, sighing, "Weekends are always so busy!"

Car accidents, murders, drug overdoses; it's always the worst shift in the morgue.

'My Parents Were Deathly Silent...'

Posted by u/ sugar-soad :

My parents were deathly silent in the car ride home as they collected me from the hospital, after my latest suicide attempt

I was stunned when I walked into my bedroom, to discover a "better luck next time" banner and a fresh noose hanging from the rafters.

The Cat Came Back

Posted by u/ GladeRoamer :

Everyone warned me that having an outdoor cat meant that it would bring me dead things.

I got used to it, the occasional bloody gift on my porch...but I expected it to stop when he passed away.

'Serene Beauty Of The Sunrise'

Posted by u/ FireFlavour :

As I dragged my mangled, bloodied body up the steps, I noticed the serene beauty of the sunrise from the bridge.

No matter, I must make sure to land on my head this time.

Dye, Dye My Darling

Posted by u/ IOughtToBeThrownAway :

“The news said you only kill blondes, please let me go!”

He pulled the hair bleach kit out of his work bag and said, “I can’t let you go I have to make you perfect.”

Perfect Copy

Posted by u/ Devilsadvocatepolicy :

Gripping the gun in his bloodied right hand, Malcolm walked into the room and informed me that he'd killed the creature, but that the others were dead.

I sighed in relief and turned to get the first-aid kit, only to suddenly remember that Malcolm was left-handed.

The Persistence Of Memory

Posted by u/ duterium :

Everyone celebrated Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins when they returned from the moon.

Why am I the only one that remembers there were only two astronauts on the mission when they left?

Family Outing

Posted by u/ justadair :

He grabbed at the twine, but his daughter's balloon quickly flew beyond reach.

He flailed through the air while years of abusive memories flashed through his mind, leaving no doubt as to why she had pushed him from the basket.

'Amazing Voice'

Posted by u/ silverrose654 :

"You have an amazing voice" he gasped, pulling back the curtain to reveal the hidden performer.

Maria screamed, distinctly remembering locking the bathroom door.

Posted by u/ Burranburrito :

This is my 27th suicide.

I'm getting really good at hypnosis.

Stranger Danger

Posted by u/ bewildered_forks :

She crouched, hidden, motionless as a statue and barely breathing, hoping he wouldn't find her.

Mommy had always taught her not to leave with a stranger, and these men in helmets with hoses calling her name were strangers.

Bad To Worse

Posted by u/ MisterSkulk :

I thought wading through a pile of bones was bad.

I soon realized wading through a pile of everything BUT the bones was worse.

Posted by u/ auburndream :

“Let me go!” I cried, wrenching my arm out of his grip.

I don’t care that doctor says he can’t find a pulse, I just want to go home already.

Posted by u/ TirNanOgBand :

I was surprised by the metallic taste when I almost finished my ice cream.

The pain in my cut tongue didn't start until I saw the large amount of blood and the razor blade sticking out the cone.

Posted by u/ Vice-Monkey:

There once was a necromancer named Mai, who could raise nothing larger than a fly.

Each townsfolk and hero, thought her a zero, til her undead swarms drained their blood dry.

Graveyard Shift

Terrifying two-sentence horror stories that shivered our timbers.

20 Super Creepy Two-Sentence Horror Stories For...

Micro horror story creator

Creates two to three sentence short horror stories from a topic input.

Example input

Topic: Breakfast Two-Sentence Horror Story: He always stops crying when I pour the milk on his cereal. I just have to remember not to let him see his face on the carton. Topic: Wind Two-Sentence Horror Story:

Example real generated results

His mother is going out of control, and she has no idea why. She tries to stop her husband from drinking too much beer but he won't listen. No spoilers please... Topics are: Baby food Childhood story Crying Father daughter Father child Forgiveness Parenting Parental conflict Parents

We are being blown away by strong winds, and our tent is coming off. My phone can't even pick up a signal. """ """ Two-Paragraph Horror Story: After losing my camera in Hong Kong, it was very hard for me to find another one because there aren't any shops selling

We all get seasick in this car, even though it's so quiet that there is hardly any wind at all. I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight.... Two-Sentence Horror Story: My husband keeps staring out of the window because he can't sleep and he's looking

When my sister and brother-in-law first moved in, we were so lucky they had a front door with two wind breaks Two Sentences - No Thumbs Up or Down Stories: None of these seem interesting enough for me. There are more? No. No. Yes. Yes.

try it yourself: Text Generator Playground - Micro horror story creator

Man up for parole more than 2 decades after Dartmouth professor stabbing deaths

CONCORD, N.H. — A man who has served more than half of his life in prison for his role in the 2001 stabbing deaths of two married Dartmouth College professors as part of a plan to rob and kill people before fleeing overseas is getting his first chance at parole.

James Parker was 16 when he was part of a conspiracy with his best friend that resulted in the deaths of Half and Susanne Zantop in Hanover, New Hampshire. Now just shy of 40, he’s scheduled for a state parole board hearing Thursday, years after pleading guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder.

Parker has served nearly the minimum term of his 25-years-to-life sentence.

“I’m sorry,” Parker said, crying at a brief hearing in 2002. “There’s not much more I can say than that. I’m just really sorry.”

Years later, he’s earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in prison and created paintings that are displayed in the building, according to a 2018 motion filed by his lawyer. He’s been a part of theatrical, musical and sports activities and has helped develop inmate education guides. Parker received earned time credits toward his sentence and he lives in a transitional housing unit, which is usually the final placement for a resident prior to their release from incarceration, said a Department of Corrections spokesperson.

Parker sought a sentence reduction in 2018 , his accomplishments praised by corrections staff at the time. Under the law, he was eligible to do so because he had served two-thirds of his term, but he withdrew the petition in 2019 after the Zantops’ two daughters objected.

“The Zantops were not killed in self-defense or in the heat of the moment,” prosecutors said in the objection. “Instead, their deaths were the result of months of detailed criminal planning that included the purchase of weapons and failed attempts to rob and kill others.”

Parker’s lawyer, Cathy Green, said Parker remains deeply sorry for his actions.

“He has spent his time in prison very constructively with dedication not only to his own rehabilitation, but to making it a better place for others,” she said in a recent statement.

Parker and then-17-year-old Robert Tulloch, bored with their lives in nearby Chelsea, Vermont, wanted to move to Australia and estimated they needed $10,000 for the trip. They eventually decided they would knock on homeowners’ doors under the pretext of conducting a survey on environmental issues, then tie up their victims and steal their credit cards and ATM information. They planned to make their captives provide the pin numbers before killing them.

For about six months, they had tried to talk their way into four other homes in Vermont and New Hampshire, but were turned away or found no one home.

Parker, who cooperated with prosecutors, said they picked the Zantop house the morning of Jan. 27, 2001, because it looked expensive and it was surrounded by trees. Half Zantop let them in. Parker told police the interview lasted at least 10 minutes before Tulloch stabbed Zantop and then directed him to attack Susanne Zantop. Tulloch also stabbed her.

They fled with Half Zantop’s wallet, which contained about $340 and a list of numbers, but then realized they had left sheaths to their knives at the house. They attempted to go back but saw a police officer was in the driveway. Fingerprints on a knife sheath and a bloody boot print linked them to the crime, but after being questioned by police, they fled and hitchhiked west. They were arrested at an Indiana truck stop weeks later.

In his interviews with police, Parker said he and Tulloch developed a different sense of morality.

“We thought, you know, what everybody was doing was silly. Like going to school and like wasting half your life with education that you’re not ever going to use,” he had said at the time.

Parker agreed to testify against Tulloch, who had planned to use an insanity defense at his trial. But Tulloch abruptly changed his mind and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He got the mandatory sentence of life without parole.

Now 40, Tulloch is scheduled for a resentencing hearing in June. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 2012 that it is unconstitutional to sentence juvenile offenders to mandatory life imprisonment without parole and the state Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that Tulloch and four other men who received such sentences for murders they committed as teenagers should be re-sentenced.

Susanne Zantop, 55 and Half Zantop, 62, were born in Germany. She was head of Dartmouth’s German studies department. He taught Earth sciences. Respected in their fields, the professors were beloved by colleagues and students, many of whom had an open invitation to their home a few miles from the Dartmouth campus.

A campus memorial garden in their name has trees, perennial flowers and ferns. The college also holds an annual Zantop lecture in Susanne Zantop’s honor on comparative literature.

“There’s no statement in the entire world that can capture the absolute horror, disbelief, pain, sadness and anger that my sister, my family and friends have experienced since the murders,” said Veronika Zantop, a daughter of the victims and a psychiatrist who lives in the Seattle area, had said before Tulloch’s sentencing.

“Rather than focus on the inhumanity and monstrosity and the sheer stupidity of their brutal and senseless deaths, I try to console myself by trying to perpetuate the essence of my parents.”

She did not respond to requests seeking comment before Parker’s parole board hearing.

NCAA sanctions Michigan with probation and recruiting penalties for football violations

Michigan has been placed on probation for the next three years and will face other penalties from the NCAA due to violations during a COVID-19 dead period and for having non-coaching staff members participate in impermissible roles under former football coach Jim Harbaugh .

The penalties, which also include a fine for Michigan and recruiting penalties, were part of a deal between the NCAA enforcement staff, the University of Michigan, and "five individuals who currently or previously worked for its football program."

According to the release from the NCAA, one former coach did not participate in the agreement, and "that portion of the case will be considered separately by the Committee on Infractions." The coach who did not participate is not named by the NCAA.

Harbaugh served a self-imposed three-game suspension at the start of the 2023 season because of these violations,, which are separate from the sign-stealing saga involving Connor Stalions , which broke in the second half of the year.

“Today’s joint resolution pertains to the University of Michigan Athletic Department and several former and current employees," Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. "We are pleased to reach a resolution on this matter so that our student-athletes and our football program can move forward. We have no additional information and cannot comment further on other aspects of the NCAA’s inquiries.”

Michigan appeared to have a resolution in place with the NCAA last summer that would’ve suspended Harbaugh for four games, along with new head coach Sherrone Moore and new offensive line coach Grant Newsome for one game, but the deal fell apart in August just before the 2023 season.

Michigan first received a draft notice of allegations related to recruiting violations and coaching activities by noncoaching staff members in January 2023. The violations included in-person recruiting contacts and tryouts during the NCAA-mandated COVID-19 dead period and exceeding the number of allowed coaches participating in both “on- and off-field coaching activities”, according to the NCAA.

The violations were labeled as Level II violations which are defined as actions deemed “more than a minimal but less than a substantial or extensive recruiting, competitive or other advantage” according to a description adopted in 2019.

An additional Level I violation was brought against Harbaugh, who told the NCAA he had no recollection of the Level II violations, which the NCAA determined as misleading. A Level I violation is defined as a “severe breach of conduct” that “seriously undermine or threaten the integrity of college sports,”.

When the official notice of allegations was sent in December, just ahead of the Wolverines’ third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff, multiple people told the Free Press Michigan acknowledged the Level II violations while Harbaugh maintained his innocence in the Level I violation.

The Wolverines won the first three games of the season without Harbaugh, who then returned for the next six games before being suspended again by the Big Ten for a different scandal, causing him to miss the final three games of the regular season.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti handed down the second suspension after Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing operation became public in late October. Shortly after the news became public, Stalions was identified as the ringleader, where he would allegedly purchase tickets to games of future Michigan opponents, send associates to attend games and film the opponent's signals on the sideline that weren't available on television.

Harbaugh and Michigan initially filed a court order seeking to stop the three-game suspension from the Big Ten, but dropped the case before it was scheduled to hit court and accepted the suspension, which was handed down to Harbaugh for violating the conference’s sportsmanship policy.

Harbaugh returned for the postseason, where he led Michigan to another Big Ten Championship and the school's first national title since 1997.

In response to Tuesday's news, Harbaugh's lawyer Tom Mars told the Free Press via a text message he submitted a response on behalf of the former Michigan coach, but that ended Harbaugh's involvement.

"I filed a lengthy response to the NOA on behalf of Coach Harbaugh, which unfortunately hasn’t been made public and will probably never see the light of day," Mars said. "That concluded Coach Harbaugh’s participation in the case."

Since winning the national championship over Washington, Harbaugh has left the Michigan program to take the head coaching gig with the Los Angeles Chargers. Moore, who was interim coach during a November suspension of Harbaugh was promoted to head coach after the season.

Harbaugh's move also spurred a wave of staff turnover, including defensive coordinator Jesse Minter joining Harbaugh, among others.

Man handed four death sentences after horror kidnap, rape and murder of girl, 5, from her own home

A man who kidnapped, raped, and murdered a 5 year old girl from her own home in Georgia has been handed four death sentences for the horrific crime.

Jeremy Williams was sentenced on Monday by Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson for the brutal murder, rape, and abuse of Kamarie Holland in 2021. Holland's mother reported to police that she woke up at 5:50 a. m. on Dec. 13, 2021, to find her daughter missing and the front door of their Columbus, Georgia, home wide open, according to Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor.

The young girl's body was later discovered that night at an abandoned house in Phoenix City, Alabama, where Williams had previously resided. Williams was found guilty on Friday of four counts of capital murder, among other charges including rape and kidnapping.

At the time of the crime, Williams was a resident of Columbus and had raped and strangled Holland after offering her mother $2,500 for the little girl to perform oral sex on him, as per the testimony given during his trial, reports the Mirror .

The jury was shown video evidence featuring officers discovering Holland's body and footage of Williams sexually assaulting the trafficked girl. The content was so distressing that some jurors began to cry as videos of the assault were played, as reported by the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

The late Kamarie Holland's dad, Corey Holland Sr. , implored those presiding over the case to punish his daughter's murderer, kidnapper and violator accordingly. "His life compares nothing to Kamarie's," he disclosed to the assembled media. This was not a shock to those who knew Williams well.

His ex-spouse referred to him as "soulless", while a woman, now 23-years-old, alleged that Williams molested her at the age of four, terming him a "monster." Sheriff officer Taylor confessed to the Ledger-Enquirer about this being one of their most challenging cases yet, stating: "If there's ever been somebody that's deserving of the death penalty its Jeremy Williams," He further added: "He's another type of evil that we in society just don't need walking around."

Throughout the proceedings, Judge Johnson presented Williams with quadruple death sentences and a lifetime jail sentence for child abuse material creation and human traffic involvement. He also received two decades for conspiracy in human trafficking and a decade long sentence for body desecration.

Presently, Williams resides on the death row of Holman State Prison in Atmore. Given the overflowing prison population, it is expected that William's execution could be several decades away.

Jeremy Williams now resides on death row

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101 Horror Writing Prompts (Scream-worthy prompts for horror stories)
4. On this Halloween night, your guinea pig won't stop running in circles, and your dog keeps staring at the door, emitting a low growl. 5. You run out for candy on Halloween afternoon to find the streets empty and the store abandoned. A single car cruises into the lot and pulls into the spot next to yours. 6.
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Although many horror writing prompts and scary ideas have been written, the following 132 horror writing prompts can spark great creativity in aspiring writers of the horror genre. A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river.
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September 30, 2022. Give yourself the chills with this list of over 110 horror writing prompts. From scary ghost stories to creepy stories about animals and monsters. Now is the time to write your own horror story, just like Goosebumps or The Haunting of Aveline Jones. From the gory to the scary, from the monstrous to the supernatural, from the ...
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A 30-year-old woman learns that a baby with the same name as her died at the local hospital 30 years ago. A bachelor's party ends with two dead people in the pool. Both of them are missing their eyes. A beautiful, but superficial woman promises a demon to give him her virginity in exchange for immortality.
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33. Your husband comes to visit you and the kids every year, on your wedding day. The problem is, he's already been dead for years. 34. You stare at your best friend's face as she lies peacefully in her coffin. Her parents come over, pat you on the shoulder, and whisper, "It had to be done.". 35.
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Horror stories can be found in novels, short stories, movies, comics, video games, and even some poetry. In this section, you will find 61 horror writing prompts to help you get your creative juices flowing or to just have a little fun this Halloween! The house was old and decrepit with peeling paint that seemed to be coming off in flakes.
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Topic: Breakfast Two-Sentence Horror Story: He always stops crying when I pour the milk on his cereal. I just have to remember not to let him see his face on the carton. Topic: Wind Two-Sentence Horror Story: Example real generated results. star. His mother is going out of control, and she has no idea why. She tries to stop her husband from ...
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Generate a horror story in the POV of dogs . Generate a funny short story about a reluctant assassin. ... Write AI story generator has a 500-word output limit, which means your AI-generated text output might get cut off mid-sentence. You may perhaps use the AI story generator to generate certain parts of your novel, but you cannot expect it to ...

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