Mind Twisters

Mind Twisters and scary riddles to puzzle your brain, expand your mind and make you think outside the box. Read these short, cryptic stories that are “scary when you understand the meaning” and try to figure out what is really going on.

1. Text Message

This is the last text message I received from my friend.

777728883306330444026022887774443330255544488833

By the time I figured out what it meant, it was already too late.

2. Knocking on the Hotel Door

I was on a business trip and I had to stay the night at an old hotel in the area. I was nervous about staying there because I had heard rumors that the hotel was haunted.

In the middle of the night, I was awoken by a loud noise. It sounded like someone was knocking on my door. I thought it might be room service, so I called out, “Who is it?” There was no reply. I was too scared to open the door, so I got up and looked through the peephole. There was nobody outside.

The knocking continued all night long. I was scared stiff and didn’t get a wink of sleep. The next morning, when the knocking stopped, I dressed quickly, grabbed my suitcase and went downstairs to check out. I complained to the hotel manager about the knocking sound. He admitted that the hotel was haunted.

He told me that, a long time ago, there had been a fire at the hotel. Most of the people managed to make it out alive, but a few were trapped inside their rooms. They died of smoke inhalation or were burned to death. Apparently, it is the ghosts of those people that are haunting the hotel.

After hearing that, I was glad I didn’t open the door. Who knows what would have happened to me if I did?

3. Maths Equation

I was traveling on the bus, gazing out the window at the cars passing by in the next lane. I noticed one car in particluar. There was a little girl sitting in the passenger seat. She was leaning against the window and writing something on the clouded glass with her finger. It looked like a maths equation.

3m qI3 +1

Our eyes met and the little girl waved at me excitedly. I smiled and waved back. Just then, the car turned at an intersection and went a different way.

“What a smart little girl,” I thought.

4. All the Meat

I was unconscious for a long time. When I awoke, I found myself in a strange room. There was a plate in front of me with a huge mound of raw meat on it.

A threatening voice boomed through the loudspeakers overhead.

“If you do not eat all the meat in this room, you will be killed as punishment”

Although it may have sounded like a joke, the dead bodies lying here and there on the floor were all the proof I needed that this was serious.

I had no choice. I started eating.

When the plate was empty, I cried out loud, “I’ve eaten all the meat!”

Again, the booming voice came over the loudspeakers.

“Then, the punishment will begin.”

5. Text Message from my Mom

I still live with my parents. This evening, my mother was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. I was feeling tired, so I went upstairs to take a nap. When I woke up, I decided to write a text message to my girlfriend.

“Can I come over and see you tonight?”

I hit the wrong button and accidentally sent the text message to my mother instead.

A minute later, I got a reply from my mother.

“Sorry, you can’t come over tonight. I’m busy.”

I was puzzled and texted back: “Hey, Mom! Are you kidding around or something?”

“Where are you?” my mom replied immediately.

“I’m at home, of course!” I answered.

Right after that, my phone started ringing. It was my mother. I cancelled the call without answering it. My mom is so stupid. If she wants to talk to me, she can just come upstairs.

6. The Old Man in the Mountains

There was a old man who lived in the mountains, far away from the rest of the world. He lived in a spot so remote that no cars ever passed by. The old man had a grandson who sent him letters every day. The old man always looked forward to the letters. They eased his loneliness.

For several months, his grandson continued to send him a letter every day. Then, one day, the letters suddenly stopped. The old man waited and waited, but after a week, when he still hadn’t received any letters, he became worried.

The old man left the mountains and headed to the city to find out what was wrong. When he got to his grandson’s house, he found out that his grandson had been murdered by someone.

The old man was very sad and tears rolled down his cheeks. He vowed to catch the murderer himself. After thinking for a while, he said, “I already know who did it… Only one person could be the murderer…”

7. English Test

There was a girl who was always causing trouble in class. One day, her teacher made her stay behind after school as punishment. When everyone else had gone home and the school was completely empty, the teacher said, “Here’s what I’m going to do,” and he placed a test paper on the desk in front of her.

Q1. What is in Knight but not in Night?
Q2. What is in Paints but not in Pentacles?
Q3. What is in Learn but not in Yearn?
Q4. What is in Slave but not in Shave?
Q5. What is in Flying but not in Flogging?
Q6. What is in Poem but not in Pendulum?
Q7. What is in Blunder but not in Blonder?

When she finished the test, the girl let out a scream.

8. Strange Painting

One day I was cleaning up in the art room at school when I noticed a strange painting on the wall. It was a portrait of a very beautiful girl. The painting was very detailed and realistic. There was also something vaguely eerie about it. I had the strangest feeling that her eyes were following me as I walked around the room. It scared me so much that quickly finished cleaning up the room and left.

The next day, there was a big fuss at school. The painting in the art room had disappeared. The teacher suspected that it had been stolen. Since I was the last person to see it, the teacher asked me a lot of questions. I told him the painting was still there when I was cleaning up.

“It’s not really worth much,” said the teacher, “but the artist was a friend of mine. It’s called “Sleeping Beauty”. He painted a portrait of his daughter’s face while she was asleep. The painter and his daughter are both dead now.”