The old cemetery was silent. A man went there at midnight. He felt a chill in the air. Then he saw a ghostly figure floating above a grave. He ran away as fast as he could.
She entered the old house. Every step on the creaking floorboards echoed. The portraits on the wall seemed to follow her with their eyes. A cold hand touched her shoulder. She turned around but saw nothing.
Playing on common fears. A sentence like 'In the dark basement, I heard the scurrying of a thousand tiny feet.' Taps into the fear of the unknown and things like bugs or rodents which many people are afraid of. It gives the reader or listener a quick jolt of horror.