hooks to start a very spooky scary story

A good hook for a scary story might be 'She opened the attic door, not knowing that the moment she stepped inside, she would be plunged into a nightmare world. The air was thick with a musty smell and an unidentifiable sense of foreboding. As her foot touched the dusty floorboards, she heard a soft whisper that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.'

There was a graveyard where strange things happened. A young boy once walked through it at dusk. He saw the tombstones trembling and heard a deep voice whispering his name. He ran as fast as he could. Later, when he told his friends, they didn't believe him until one of them also had a similar encounter.

A surprising statement can be a great hook. For example, 'The day the sun didn't rise was the day everything changed.' It immediately grabs the reader's attention and makes them wonder what could possibly cause such a strange event. Another good hook is starting with a question like 'Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a world without colors?' This engages the reader's curiosity as they start to think about their own answer and are eager to see how the story will address it. Also, beginning with an interesting action like 'She ran through the dark forest, branches scratching at her face, not daring to look back.' This creates suspense and makes the reader want to know who she is, what she's running from, and why.

The mystery in spooky stories is a big part of the allure. We don't know exactly what the ghost or monster is thinking or planning. For example, in the story of the haunted house, we don't know why the woman in white is there. It makes us want to keep thinking about it.

One great hook could be starting with a strange sound in the dead of night, like 'In the pitch - black night, a shrill scream pierced through the silence, making every hair on my body stand on end.' It immediately grabs the reader's attention.

A mysterious figure that appears briefly and then vanishes can be a great hook. Such as, 'Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadowy figure, tall and gaunt. But when she turned to look fully, it was gone, leaving only a chill in the air.'

Once upon a time, in an old, abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town, there lived a ghost. People said that at midnight, you could see a faint figure in the attic window. A young girl named Lily was dared by her friends to spend a night there. As she entered the mansion, the door creaked shut behind her. Every step she took on the creaky floorboards echoed through the empty halls. In the middle of the night, she heard a strange wailing sound. She tried to run, but the doors seemed locked. Then, she saw a cold, white hand reaching out from under the bed.

A story can be spooky but not scary when it has elements of mystery. For example, a story about a strange light in the forest at night. It creates a spooky mood as we don't know what the light is immediately. But if it turns out to be a lost camper's flashlight, it's not scary. It's the unknown factor that gives the spookiness without the real threat of danger.

You could begin with a creepy setting, like an abandoned house on a stormy night.

A spooky story for kids could be about a ghostly cat. In an old alley, there was a black cat that was said to be a ghost. One night, a young boy named Jack was walking home. He saw the cat sitting on a fence, its eyes glowing red. As he got closer, the cat disappeared. But then he heard meowing all around him. Jack started running and when he looked back, he saw the cat floating in the air. He ran into his house and hid under his blanket until morning.