It should move swiftly and be gone when the protagonist whirls round (one never simply turns in spooky stories).Ī deserted institution. Something seen from the corner of one’s eye, only fleetingly. Some things that ‘go’ when no one has set them off: a television, a gramophone, a slightly manic-looking wind-up toy monkey bashing cymbals together. The protagonist should not be able to locate the room the face appeared in once inside the property. The listener should ideally dash from room to room, with the noise of weeping becoming louder and quieter again at random.Ī face at the window of a house. The distant sound of a weeping woman that can’t be located.
Long corridors (they really should be long, and also shadowy to allow plenty of opportunity for evil to skulk in their corners). A malign-looking, silent one, preferably seen from a distance. Just a little bit too quickly and silently to have been set off by a human.Ī clown. Particularly one with beady eyes or a malformed foot or two.Ī rocking chair that rocks of its own accord.
Characters may pull on it frantically and pointlessly.Ī crow. Scary Elements to add to your story’s sandwich fillingĪn electric light that doesn’t work. No one would ever know he had been there at all. He put the knife back where he had found it. He had run out of petrol…Īnd that would be the last the town saw of those vampires, for now at least. She had thought the house was empty as she pushed open the creaking door…įour hundred years after her death, Esmerelda sat up in her coffin…Ī mile or two into the forest road, Roger Peebles’ car choked to a halt. Simply choose one beginning, one ending and five scary elements from below, string them together with a few verbs and conjunctions and Bob’s your Uncle (and The Bride of Frankenstein’s your Aunt).
If you love a scary tale, especially at this time of year, why not try penning your own? How hard can it be, after all*? To show you just how easy it is, we asked author and creative writing tutor Susan Elliot Wright to help us put together this Spooky Story Kit. Frighten friends and freak out family with your own spooky story