Listen — sometimes you don't have time to read a whole-ass horror novel, and you're trying to get scared STAT!
Well, that's where one of my personal favorite corners of the internet — the subreddit r/TwoSentenceHorror — comes in! The subreddit is precisely what it sounds like: people sharing their favorite scary stories that are all precisely two sentences, usually consisting of one set-up sentence and one punchline scare!
So, in the preparation for ~spooky season~, we've compiled just a few of the most popular stories in the r/TwoSentenceHorror subreddit for your viewing pleasure!
Ready? I sure hope so, because to quoth R. L. Stine, "Readers, beware, you're in for a scare!" Here we go:
1. "I knew it must’ve been a mistake when the police said I was involved in aiding a kidnapping, but when they told me they had video proof I became intrigued. I felt myself go from hero to villain as they played the grocery store footage from hours prior, showing me returning a lost girl to who I thought was her dad."
2. "When mother died, we were faced with the monumental task of cleaning out the house she'd been hoarding in for four decades. The roaches and rats and dead pets and piles of animal excrement were bad enough, but when we found out that dad hadn't run out on us all those years ago, we decided to just burn the place down."
3. "I was driving down the foggy highway when I blinked, and all the red taillights of the cars ahead of me suddenly vanished in the mist. I’ve been driving for two hours since then, I haven’t seen a single car or exit ramp, and the fog keeps getting thicker."
4. "All my life, my parents have told me not to open the basement door, but I got curious and disobeyed them. What is that glowing ball in the sky and why does it hurt my eyes?"
5. "My twin and I have always been really close, and people say we're 'joined at the hip.' As the cancer spreads, I really wish we didn't share the same vital organs."
6. "I used to hate the sound of crickets outside the lonely farmhouse. Now every time they go silent, I know that thing is passing by, and I pray for them to chirp again."
7. "I decided to kill off a few characters in the book I’m writing. It should definitely spice up this autobiography a little."
8. "The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long, rotting nails through my chest, her other hand muffling my screams. I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream, but — as I saw my alarm clock read 12:06 — I heard my closet door creak open."
9. "I love to turn up my favorite songs and sing along. It drowns out the screaming from the root cellar."
10. "My family can all remember their past lives, so one day I told my son I was a girl who was murdered. He grinned and responded, 'What are the odds we’d meet again?'"
11. "On the monitor, I can see my husband's cheeky face slowly creeping up to the security cam in an attempt to scare me. I'd laugh, but then I see his torso, arms and legs all separated on the ground in the background."
12. "I finished my final perfect pirouette to thunderous applause. If only I could speak, and tell the little girl who owned my music box of the living hell I was trapped in."
13. "Being buried alive was bad enough. Realizing I wasn't alone in my own grave was worse."
14. "'Remember don’t peek, it’s a surprise,' said my parents coldly. I heard them chuckle as they threw me down the basement steps as food for the Thing."
15. "My blind date texted that he'd finally arrived, and was sorry for being 15 minutes late to pick me up. The issue was, we'd already been driving for 10 minutes."
16. "People always ask how many kids come to my house for trick-or-treating. None of them ever ask how many leave."
17. "I thought I had witnessed a miracle when I saw a mother lifting her car off of her newborn baby today. It wasn't until she dropped it down again, yelling her baby was the devil, that I realized, maybe not."
18. "Another young couple came in through the door, and I hurried to get a table ready, sighing, 'Weekends are always so busy!' Car accidents, murders, drug overdoses; it's always the worst shift in the morgue."
19. "I kept hearing a strange giggle coming from my TV, regardless of what channel or volume it was on. I never thought to check behind the TV."
20. "I can't move, breathe, speak, or hear and it's so dark all the time. If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead."
21. "The pictures I take of others tell a thousand words. Every one of them is 'help.'"
22. "I'm not scared that I’ve been seeing 'missing' posters for myself. It’s the fact that the news is now saying that my body has been found."
23. "I'm tucking my son into bed when he tells me, 'Daddy, check for monsters under my bed!' I look underneath for his amusement, and I see him — another him, under the bed — staring back at me, quivering and whispering, 'Daddy, there’s somebody on my bed.'"
24. "I recently taught myself Morse code, but I wish I hadn't. Now the birds peck at my window, warning me that 'It's coming.'"
25. "'Our son always screams when we cut his hair,' we told the psychiatrist, hoping for guidance. Several tests and doctors later, guilt brought me to my knees when the genetic specialist described what was believed to be unique condition — there were live nerve endings in the boy's hair."
26. "You know, they say once you become a murderer, you can tell who else has murdered. 'He’s innocent,' I announce with the bang of my gavel, dismissing the court."
27. "I woke up, got myself a drink of water, and returned to get back into bed. There I was, still laying there, my face blue and my hollow eyes staring off into the distance."
28. "Out of breath, I sat in the front hall knowing I was safe, as the Fae could not enter my home without an invitation. Imagine my surprise when the creature burst through the door, a sneer on its face and my 'WELCOME' mat in its hands."
29. "Every pet I've owned since I was a kid is buried in my back yard. I've moved eight times and they're always there."
30. "I wake up in pain in a hospital bed; most of my body covered in burns from the fire. A man in a white gown walks in holding a steel wool brush, and I realize this is not a hospital room."
31. "After the psychic told Mike that he would 'die of a heart attack,' he picked up biking and would do five mile rides into town every weekend. But — when a car suddenly swerved, coming right at him with an old man slumped over the steering wheel — he realized with final clarity that it wasn’t his heart attack she'd meant."
32. "My mother screamed as I peeled the skin from my face.I knew she would get mad, but I was tired of pretending I was my brother and the staples holding his face to mine were really hurting."
33. "As I felt the knife run down my skin, I felt oddly happy. Well, it wasn’t my skin yet."
34. "My son told me that his mirror image was threatening to replace him in the real world. I thought he was imagining things, until I saw my right handed son write using his left hand."
35. "My daughter won't stop crying and screaming in the middle of the night. I visit her grave and ask her to stop, but it doesn't help."
36. "A guy just ran up to me while screaming that somebody had locked him in a basement, blindfolded him, and starved him for days. You should’ve seen the look of absolute horror on his face when he recognized my voice."
37.
38. "I rage quit after being crushed by the final boss for the ninth time in a row. Just before the monitor went dark, I saw my avatar, pounding on the other side of the screen, screaming 'Don't leave me!'"
39. "My grandmother told me that it was a gift to see the angel of death in front of people's houses, to know that he'd be collecting someone there soon. I thought it was a gift too, up until the day I began to see it in front of every house."
40. "My sister says that mommy killed her. Mommy says that I don't have a sister."
41. "Yesterday my parents told me I was too old for an imaginary friend and that I had to let her go. They found her body this morning."
42. "Don't be scared of the monsters, just look for them. Look to your left, to your right, under your bed, behind your dresser, in your closet but never look up, she hates being seen."
43. "I can't move, breathe, speak or hear and it's so dark all the time. If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead."
44. "I’ve worn a face mask in public my entire life. I just love the feeling of skin on skin."
45. "For years we heard the little voices and footsteps of the ghost children in our old farmhouse, and we got used to them. Then one day they went quiet, which should have been our own cue to leave."
46. "I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I though it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again."
47. "When I finally grabbed her in the darkness, I swam back to the surface. It never occurred to me how fast the ice could freeze over."
48. “'Congratulations, you are our 5th caller and the winner!' the perky voice declares as I hyperventilate into the phone. 'Having won the elusive prize of receiving police, fire or ambulance assistance from 911, what is your emergency?'”
49. "The operation wasn't successful in the traditional sense since my sight didn't return, but it left me with the ability to distinguish heat signatures, at least. Three weeks have passed and I'm still not sure how to politely ask my best friend why he's room temperature."
50. "After so many years living alone in this large house I came to a startling revelation. In this time I had closed far more doors than I had opened."
51. "There was a picture in my phone of me sleeping. I live alone."
52. "You know that weird, full-body twitch you get sometimes when you're falling asleep? If there was a camera pointed at you, and you saw what it captured at that moment, you'd never sleep again."
53. "They delivered the mannequins in bubble wrap. From the main room I begin to hear popping."
54. "She wondered why she was casting two shadows. After all, there was only a single lightbulb."
55. "'Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary,' I whispered into the mirror darkened by the lightless room. I knew it was just a legend, but, after 10 years of being locked down here alone, I was desperate to see another face."
56. "Working the night shift alone tonight. There is a face in the cellar staring at the security camera."
57. "I wake up and everything feels wrong; it's too quiet outside. I look out the window and see everyone standing still, looking at my house."
58. "The grinning face stared at me from the darkness beyond my bedroom window. I live on the 14th floor."
59. "I've only just started reading lips, so my dad knelt down in front of me to make sure I understood him clearly.Very slowly, he mouthed the words, 'If you keep up this behavior, I'll take away your eyes next.'"
60. "They say practicing smiling in front of a mirror makes you feel happier. I wish my reflection would join along."
61. "For my last wish, I wished my dad to be alive again. I stood atop his grave and smiled, imagining him screaming and clawing at his coffin lid as he did the two previous times I wished him back."
62. "Being buried alive was bad enough. Realizing I wasn't alone in my own grave was worse."
63. "I received a text from my husband last night that read 'I hope you burn in hell for what you've done, you bitch!!!' I couldn't comprehend how he managed to send a text without his fingers."
64. "Back against the door, desperately trying to keep the voracious dead out, I looked in the mirror. My reflection raised his hand in goodbye and smiled sadly, never to be needed again."
65. "'Now be careful, that line of rock salt is the only thing keeping them out,' the man said, welcoming my group into his refuge. 'Sea salt,' I clarified, 'sea salt keeps us out.'"
66. "I was having a pleasant dream when what sounded like hammering woke me. After that, I could barely hear the muffled sound of dirt covering the coffin over my own screams."
67. "My daughter won't stop crying and screaming in the middle of the night. I visit her grave and ask her to stop, but it doesn't help."
68. "'Thanks for the gold, kind stranger!' I said. Smiling, I slowly ripped out his dental implant."
69. "I always liked this picture of my great-grandmother. Why does she seem closer to the camera than before?"
Which two-sentence horror story was your favorite? Do you have any micro horror stories of your own? Share all of your thoughts in the comments below!
Some stories were edited for clarity. H/T: Reddit.
This article contains content from Allie Hayes, Kai Kamryn, and Tanner Greenring. It was compiled by Salimah McCullough.