Short Spooky Stories Novels & Stories

Any act of kindness out here was worth acknowledging. Soon enough, they started to talk. Stories, some funny, others dark. One spoke of a creature that prowled these woods, an ancient spirit that hunted lonely travellers and fed on their voices. Another swore that he once saw a woman in white walking just beyond the trees, her eyes hollow, her fingers covered in blood. The rider shivered and moved closer to me. But I didn’t move. I only listened, watched, and tried to determine whether these stories were meant to entertain us or warn us.

“About the swamp being haunted?” I nod. Even though we hadn’t grown up together, I’m pretty sure that we both had gotten the same tired ghost stories passed around in the hallways about such places around our hometowns. “I know this sounds crazy, but what if the stories are true?” Her tone is fervent, and her eyes shine with a hot certainty. “Not the witches and stuff. But there is something there, and I think…” She draws in a deep, steadying breath. “I think it’s a demon.”

By now, we’ve all had more than a few drinks, and we’re halfway between tipsy and passed out. “Let’s tell scary stories,” Laura, one of my friends, suggests. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kara asks. “These woods are spooky at night. I have to be able to sleep, you know.” “Maybe we should call one of those hunky forest rangers for you,” I suggest with a laugh. “He’d better bring a friend,” Laura says. “Or twelve,” Diana, another friend of mine, adds. We all laugh, and Laura starts in on the first story about night walkers, ghostly figures who march through the forest.

The city of Aethelgard never truly slept, but at 3:00 AM, its pulse slowed to a low, rhythmic hum. For Clara, this was the hour of the "Shadow People." She lived alone in a cramped, third-floor walk-up—a space that always smelled of old cedar and damp plaster. It was the kind of apartment where the floorboards groaned under the weight of nothing at all, and the shadows in the corners seemed to have a depth that defied the laws of light.

One time at work I'd even heard a co-worker called me the-Squidward-from-spongebob. Exactly why I hated them. That morning I'd just gotten up and, traditionally, said my good mornings to Sam triple zero eight, then the story stroke up. We were having a conversation of a book I'd just finished reading, 'No, Mr Harry Botter, do not turn me into a witch.' Believe me, it was a real book alright. The author was named Harry Botter, so he was the main character of his novel. Stories like that, what do they call them again? Paranormal stories, they were always fun to read. Partly because they were stupid, other part, they were nonsense. Nothing but ridiculous lies.

"Most people don't." "Oh, she definitely did." "Why?" "Because she'd light candles everywhere and tell me it was an adventure." She laughed quietly at the memory. "We'd make hot chocolate." "We'd tell stories until the electricity came back." Lucien listened without interrupting. "What kind of stories?" "Bookshop ghosts." He blinked. "Ghosts?" "The friendly kind." She grinned. "They supposedly rearranged books during the night because they got bored." "And you believed that?" "I was seven." "...Fair enough."

I asked. "I've heard the old people here speak of a demon baby which had last been brought to the earth five decades ago and grew up among humans. Draining them of every energy." She explained. "There is no such thing Peggy. Stop believing everything they say. It's not true." I opposed. "Then let me take my bath for St to be on the safe side. They had said that two people had sex without bathing on Halloween night and the woman only gave birth on the next hallo..." She said.

, Uncle Cameron took a long pause. I remember it was the Christmas holidays. All my relatives and cousins had come to our house for the Thanksgiving dinner. One of my uncles, uncle Cameron was very fond of telling horror stories to us. I was seven and my cousins a year or two younger and older. Me, Julie, Michelle, Sammy and Hailey had sat around on the rug in our PJ's listening to uncle Cameron's stories. He used to tell them with such dedication; raspy and spooky voice and all the required background noises; we all believed in his stories.

"See? We're a town of silly jokes and serious secrets. It's a delicate balance." The conversation flowed, a blend of playful banter and cryptic hints. Aurora learned about the annual "Glimmering Night of a Thousand Lanterns," a tradition shrouded in ancient folklore, the legend of the mischievous sprites that inhabited the old mill, and the unsolved mystery of the disappearing scarecrows. Each tale was more peculiar than the last, painting a vivid picture of a town steeped in both the mundane and the magical.

Just remember, if you don’t want things to go bump in the night, don’t tell anyone else about them. Even now the shadows in my room play havoc with my subconscious, so I turn the light on and sleep with one eye open. Also, when my computer starts to go on the fritz just as I write a particularly spooky part of a story, I chuck it up to chance and swallow a little harder before checking to make sure that I have only one shadow. It’s amazing that I still get so scared as an adult. You sure would have thought that for someone who makes a living scaring people, I would know better, right?