Tales of Horror

Short tales of horror and the supernatural. Read bloodcurdling stories of classic suspense, murder, mystery and the macabre.

Tales of Horror – Hot Summer Night

One beautiful, hot summer night, a teenage girl named Julie was swimming with her boyfriend in the family pool. They decided to go skinny-dipping. Her boyfriend stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her shoulder as they gazed at the night sky and dreamed of their future together. A few minutes later, they heard strange noises that seemed to be coming from the bushes, but they were not paying much attention. They were so comfortable together.

Just then, Julie turned her head to kiss her boyfriend, but she didn’t see anything behind her. She twirled around and realized that her boyfriend’s head was missing. It had been cut off. She screamed and his headless corpse sank to the bottom of the pool.

In a panic, she scrambled out of the pool and ran inside the house to warn her parents. When she got to the kitchen, she came face to face with her stepfather who was washing his bloody hands in the sink.

Tales of Horror – The Masked Man

A woman kept having recurring dreams in which a masked man was trying to kill her. The mask was very distinctive. It was spiked at the top, with no eyeholes and it had a large zipper across the mouth. The mask was made of leather. One night, she had another nightmare. In the dream, she looked out her bedroom window and saw the masked man walking up her garden path and towards her front door. She awoke from the nightmare, trembling with fear. Suddenly, she heard the doorbell ring. She grabbed her nightgown and ran downstairs. Cautiously, she opened the front door. There was nobody there. She looked down and saw the leather mask lying on the doorstep.

Tales of Horror – Monster in the Closet

There was a little boy who was afriad of everything. He had an intense fear of his bedroom closet. Every night, when he went to bed, he was terrified. His parents asked him what was wrong and he told them he was afraid that there was a monster living in his closet. The boy’s older brother decided to prove that nothing to fear in the closet.

One night, he got into the closet and shut the door behind him. A few seconds later, the young boy heard terrible cries and screams coming from the closet. At first, he was frightened, but then he realized that his older brother was just playing a prank on him. A minute later, the cries ceased and the room was filled by an eerie silence. Cautiously, the boy approached the closet and slowly opened the door. There was nobody inside.

Tales of Horror – Woman of the Gap

This is a Japanese urban legend: A college student decided to visit one of his friends. He was excited because he hadn’t seen his friend in a while. When he got to his friend’s house, he found the young man lying in bed, hiding beneath the covers. They talked for a while and the student found his friend’s behavior very strange. After a while, he stood up to leave and his friend suddenly said, “you can’t go!” his voice was urgent and his face was deadly serious.

“Why not?” asked the student.

“She won’t let you leave,” replied his friend in a fearful voice.

“She?” asked the student, looking around the room curiously. “Who’s she?” He couldn’t see anyone else in the room.

“If you go, she will follow you and kill you,” said his friend.

The student stared at his friend incredulously. He saw his friend glance toward the chest of drawers in the corner of the room. He followed his friend’s eyes, looking at the chest of drawers and a chill ran down his spine.

There, in shadows of the narrow 5cm gap between the wall and chest of drawers, he saw a paper-thin woman staring back at him. In her hand, she was clutching an ice pick.

Tales of Horror – The Football

This happened in one elementary school in Japan. It was 8:00 pm, time to close the school. One teacher, who worked long hours in the staff room, packed his bags and left. He was about to lock the gate, when he saw a group of dark figures in the distance. They were on the football pitch. It looked as though it was a group of boys kicking a ball back and forth.

“Hey, what are you doing there?” shouted the teacher. “Come on, it’s time to go home! I have to lock up!”

The boys continued playing and paid no attention to him.

“Don’t pretend you can’t hear me!” shouted the teacher angrily. “The school is closed! Quickly now! Go out the gate!”

Just then, one of the figures kicked the football high into the air. It landed on the grass and came rolling over to the teacher. When it stopped at his feet, he looked down and the blood suddenly drained from his face. He was overcome with horror. It wasn’t a football, it was a young boy’s severed head.