short horror scary stories

In a small town, there was a cemetery that was said to be haunted. One night, a teenager dared to enter it. As he walked among the tombstones, he felt a cold hand touch his shoulder. He spun around but saw nothing. Then he heard a faint moan that seemed to come from all around him. Terrified, he ran out of the cemetery.

One story could be about a woman who wakes up in the middle of the night and sees a dark figure at the foot of her bed. She tries to scream but no sound comes out. When she finally manages to turn on the light, the figure is gone. But she can still feel an icy cold presence in the room.

They often have a quick build - up of tension. Since they are short, they can't waste time. So they start creating an uneasy feeling almost immediately. For instance, a story might start with a character in a dark and isolated place right away. There's also the use of sudden twists. A story might seem to be going one way, and then suddenly, there's a completely unexpected and terrifying turn of events.

A girl found an old diary in the attic. As she started to read it, she felt a strange presence. The diary told of a girl who had died in the very house decades ago. Every page she turned, the room got colder. Suddenly, the pages of the diary started flipping on their own and she heard a voice whispering her name. She dropped the diary and ran downstairs, never to go back to the attic again.

One common element is the sense of isolation. For example, like the girl alone at home in the first story. Another is the unknown or the mysterious. The figure in the cemetery was very mysterious. And often there is a sense of something being not right in a familiar place, like the attic in the third story.

Most scary horror short stories often have a sense of the unknown. They leave a lot to the imagination. For example, in 'The Tell - Tale Heart', the narrator's madness is not fully explained, and the reader is left to wonder what really drove him to such extremes. Another characteristic is a build - up of suspense. In 'The Monkey's Paw', the wishes are made one by one, and with each wish, the tension rises as the characters don't know what horror will befall them next.

One night, a girl was home alone. She heard a strange scratching at the window. When she looked out, there was a pale face with hollow eyes just inches from the glass, staring at her. She froze in fear. Then, the face slowly disappeared. But the scratching continued all night long.

Isolation is a common theme. For example, in 'The Yellow Wallpaper', the woman is isolated in a room and that isolation drives her to madness. Another theme is the supernatural. In 'The Monkey's Paw', the cursed monkey's paw with its ability to grant wishes in a twisted way represents the supernatural. Revenge can also be a theme, like in 'The Tell - Tale Heart' where the guilt of the murder seems like a form of revenge as the killer is haunted by the victim's heartbeat.

A hiker got lost in the forest at night. He found an abandoned cabin. When he entered, it was freezing cold. As he was looking for something to warm himself, he heard a soft whisper. He couldn't make out the words. Then, he saw a shadow on the wall that looked like a human shape but with long, distorted limbs. The shadow started to move towards him, and he fled into the dark forest, not knowing where he was going.

One true horror story is about a family who moved into an old house. At night, they would hear strange scratching noises coming from the attic. One day, they found old claw marks on the attic floorboards. Turns out, a wild animal had been trapped there decades ago and died, but its spirit seemed to be still lingering, making those spooky sounds.