Compiled by Quinton Wood
The results are in from our scary story contest! We have received an amazing story from you student at SOAR. And, to go along with the 1 entry we received, some of the SOARce editors have decided to make a few stories of our own, to keep you spooked this Halloween. What's more, we also have included some other story recommendations to give you goosebumps!
Halloween's best story ~ "The Terror On a Sunny Day" by Miles Harvey
It all started on a sunny day
A sunny day with no WiFi
No WiFi (Tree Rustle) cell phones (Sun swept) social media (Thunder clap), video games (Dun Dun Duuuunnn lightning strikes), no music (Dramatic Gasp), no hotspot (Teeth Chattering), and no wigs for people’s bald heads (wind howling over cold, bald head), and the most scary part of all, NO SNACKS(crying gasp).
The boogie man said BOOOOO
THE END
Editor Story ~ "Raccoons" by Quinton Charles Wood
I rubbed my forehead, exhausted. A glance at my phone revealed the time to be 2:15 as I closed my textbook began to prepare for bed. The night was silent, the moon barely out. A thick cloud layer suffocated the sky and left the evening in discouraging darkness. To glare out my bedside window was to glare into the abyss. I set my alarm and plugged in my phone, crawling into bed to watch a few episodes of whatever came up on Netflix before going to sleep. I stared at my television screen idly, trying to stay awake for just a few more minutes when I was exhilarated by what peered in the corner of my vision. Just behind the television, I thought I made out something of an eye that was staring directly at me. I immediately focused my vision on what I thought I had seen, but to no avail. I rubbed my eyes though all I could observe from the nearby window was complete and utter darkness. I ultimately thought nothing of it. I noted that I was tired and prone to seeing things, especially with the glare of the television. So, I diverted my attention back to Netflix’s autoplay and slowly lost my consciousness to the grasp of slumber. I was sleeping lightly when I drearily awoke to a familiar sound. “Tap, tap, tap, tap” came the sound of footsteps from the roof. This wasn’t unusual. Raccoons usually got up on the roof at night. I tried to tell myself this, but something was eerie. The raccoons usually scurried across the roof of the loft, whereas these footsteps seemed slower, although just as light-footed. Only now do I realize what this tapping meant. I peered over at my television; Netflix had disconnected and the wifi went out. Groggy as I was, I slapped the power button on my remote and pulled the blankets over myself, trying to use warmth to dissuade the chill down my spine. This sleep was calmer for I was now engulfed in the same darkness that had kidnapped the night.
The next I awoke was to the sound of a long squealing “creeeeeek” and an encompassing cold surrounding me. Wondering the time, I crawled out of bed and slumped over to my phone. But it wouldn’t turn on: no charge. I tried to hit the lights with no success either. I concluded that the power must have gone out. Briefly, I stopped to ponder why would it break so late at night. There was nobody using any electricity. I was stumbling into the living room when I noticed another squeaking “creeeeeek.” I now recognized the sound. It was the parlor window. I ran over to find it ajar, swinging from the evening’s slight breeze. The wind wasn’t nearly strong enough to blow it open and it even had a latch that was difficult to dislodge. I searched the area to see if maybe a rock had hit it and knocked it open, but found nothing. As I grew delirious, my breathing began to increase. Standing next to the window, I noticed the sound of a very nasal breathing pattern that I assumed to be my own. Nonetheless, the power was out so I made headway to the back door to check the breaker. Finally came that wretched thing. While navigating back across my living room, a rustling titillated my ears, originating from the pantry. Then, all the dots connected; the raccoon must have gotten in, messed with some wires, and was now rummaging through my food.
I rushed to open the pantry, nasal breathing growing louder and louder as I approached. Opening the door, I was astonished to see absolutely nothing when I peered my head in to see if there was a raccoon. In an instant, my vision disappeared as some grunting figure had fallen unto my head, grasping like a demon. Covering my face, it had a putrid odor of rotten meat and plague. It felt like it had arms and legs and its hands were clawing at the back of my head and neck to keep its grasp. Tinging in pain, I panicked, slamming my head against anything I could in order to get this abhorrent demon off of my face. As I gasping for any breath not consumed by its repugnant taste, I bashed my head against my refrigerator. Upon which, the being of the darkness let out a heaving grunt. I staggered backward, going to slap my head against the kitchen counter, but the beast remained. I could feel blood dripping down my back but I couldn’t tell if it was mine or not. Away from the counter, I flung my head back with as much force as I could muster and the thing flew off, banging the side of my refrigerator and letting out a nasal and amplified screech. With a thud, it was on the floor. I rushed to see what it was but there no light. Barely confident that it wouldn’t attack me again, I pulled it into the moonlight with a single finger. I had to see what the odd attacker was. This was no raccoon. The sight of it almost made me vomit, a small humanoid figure. It had sickening lime-grey skin and obtuse features. Its nose jutted out of its face, elongated and spanning from its mouth to its forehead. The pot-bellied beast had no hair, aside from what came out of its extended and sharply pointed ears. It was wrapped in what appeared to be tattered leather, wearing a tunic tied at the waist. Its nails scared me the most, each sharped to a point and inches long. Just as sharp were the fangs that extended past its lips. Grabbing my stomach, I could only think to run from the body of whatever demon had come to haunt me this evening. I frantically cornered the staircase and hastily ran down, tripping over my own feet. I lost balance and fell the rest of the flight, violently bumping my head on the tile floor below and losing consciousness for the third time that night. It was a dreamless rest.
I edged awake only to feel the cold floor below me. I rubbed my eyes in the glare of the morning light when I noticed a puddle of blood on the floor. Just then, a great pain consumed me from my head and my neck. My first thought was an inquisitive “What happened?” and instantly my memory returned. I vaulted up the stairs to see if the body remained and fell into despair and defeat as I found the kitchen floor to be as clear as the evening before. Horrified, my attention was again diverted by the searing pain emanating from my head. A few minutes later, after driving myself to the emergency room, a startled nurse asked me, “Oh my god, what happened to you?” I thought about this for a moment; what had really happened? The only thing I could think to reply was “raccoons.”
Editor Story ~ "Block Party" by Savannah Graham and Asenath Jimenez
Let me tell you a story. It’s actually more of a dream. Well, to me it was a dream, but it might be better classified as a nightmare. It was Halloween night, and my friends and I were walking down the streets, celebrating one final Halloween before college. As we walked, I noticed that every single house we walked past had the same decorations. The same layout and themes throughout every house on the block, except for one house. That house usually looks abandoned, no goes in or out, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw that it had the most decorations than any of the other houses, almost tying it all together. This left a sour taste in my mouth, but the others didn’t seem to feel what I was feeling, so I chalked it up to my own paranoia. It turns out that that house was hosting a kind of block party. None of us really knew when this happened or who was hosting it, but what I did know was that I did not want to find out. My friends were interested though, and were trying to convince me to go in. As we were debating, we were able to hear more of the music. The music at the party, the costumes people wore, the decorations inside the house, hell, even the candy people were eating… Everything was wrong, but only enough that some people noticed. Everyone was still dancing to the “music” but in reality, that music was just elevator music, if elevator music was made in creepy, abandoned warehouses.
After we all discovered these “oddities” we continued throughout the neighborhood, being too weirded out by the uncanny valley vibes that the party gave us. We walked and walked, until we eventually made it back to the party house, hours later, with the party still raging. My curiosity peaked, we went and explored the outside of the house, starting in the front yard, making our way to the back. All of a sudden, I noticed way too many bugs for a normal backyard to have, even if there was some sort of roach infestation. I kept looking, and I noticed a dead body. Freaking out, I called the rest of my friends over to me, and, once we realize that it looked close enough to a human body (although not looking quite right), we headed over to some adults nearby, and when we got them to where we found the rotting body, they acted like we were crazy. They started eating some rotting cake that looked like pure dirt and called us crazy.
Once we realized we were on our own, we noticed all of the adults we asked for help from started slowly dying, one by one. As we tried to figure out what to do to survive, we saw that there are only a handful of adults left and that the house itself, the same house we had gone inside of hours earlier, was crawling with bugs as it slowly sunk into its rotting self. As we run away from dying adults, I noticed less and less of us are running. I turned around to see the others, only two of them now, realizing that whatever happened to those adults happened to my friends, too. There was only one non-rabid adult left, so we all went out to go find some food, splitting up in twos. The adult went with the youngest friend, and my friend and I went and found canned foods in someone’s house, so we took it and met back with the adult and our friend. When we got back, I noticed that the adult was hunched over my friend, eating to her stomach’s content. This time, however, as all of the canned food in our hands turned to worms and roaches, instead of running away quickly, we join right in.
Other scary story recommendations!
- The Modern Prometheus a.k.a. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The original story with the perspective of the 19th century.
- The Thing on the Doorstep by H.P. Lovecraft. An odd and crude story about witches and fish men with a horrifying twist. Warning, content may be sensitive.
- At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. For fans of alien archeaology, artic isolation, or abhorrent shambling masses. Warning, content may be sensitive.
- The Cask of Amontiallado by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe takes the feeling of suspense to the limit in this very short story about two rival wine collectors.
-The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. A suspenseful psychological thriller with an interesting theme and contrasting story structure. Warning, content may be sensitive.
- Pigeons from Hell by Robert E. Howard. An old classic tale of ghosts and spirits.
And, if you don't feel like reading this halloween, try listening to the Orson Welles War of the Worlds Broadcast, which convinced many across the country that America was being invaded by aliens in 1938.
Whatever you decide to do, have a spooky and safe Halloween. Happy Halloween everybody!
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