Dreadful Horror Stories
Browse dreadful horror stories from the Horror Story Archive.
Part 7 - Mirror Mirror
A motel guest sees something moving inside his wall, but the tapping doesn't stop when he leaves.
Part 8 - NAPS
Two paranormal investigators arrive at the Wayfarer Motel, but their equipment detects something that shouldn't be there.
He Didn't Stay In The Photos
A final visit to Grandma's attic reveals the truth about the boy who has haunted the family photographs for generations.
I Found A Photo Album In Her Attic
An old family photo album reveals a figure that has been watching her relatives for decades.
I Traded My Son For A Better One, And I Hate Myself For Not Regretting It
A grieving father is offered a way to finally see his son without seeing the dead wife he can never escape.
I Wish I Never Read My Relative's Journal
A forgotten family journal reveals something deeply wrong with the relative who wrote it.
Nana’s banana bread turned my parents inside out
Nana's baked goods always brought warmth and happiness, but this time they left something far more horrifying behind.
The Time-Out Room
A childhood punishment reveals a darkness that was never meant to be disturbed.
Hidden Rooms
A recurring dream of hidden rooms becomes a nightmare when forgotten memories begin to surface.
I Clean Crime Scenes, Decrepit Houses, and Evicted Residences and Every House Is a Surprise
Every filthy house hides something different, but some jobs leave more than a mess behind.
Just Don’t Go Camping
A wounded survivor reaches a remote cabin, but the creatures hunting him are far more intelligent than anyone realizes.
Something Is Wrong with the Ghost Haunting My Husband
After losing their daughter, a grieving mother begins to suspect the ghost haunting her husband is hiding something far more disturbing.
The mask killed you not I
A mysterious mask follows a grieving couple wherever they try to escape it.
The story of why I have no bones
A childhood experiment leaves one patient trapped in a body that can no longer support itself.
Hide and Seek
A deadly game of hide and seek gives Terra one final chance to escape the monsters that have haunted her life.
I Always Thought the End of the World Would Be Loud, I Was Wrong
As the world falls silent, two sisters must escape the undead and carry on without the parents who sacrificed themselves for them.
I made a friend with the girl in the shed, and she shares the same freckle I have
A lonely girl finds a sister in the darkness of her grandmother's shed, but the girl waiting there may have known her family for much longer than she realizes.
I survived drowning as a child and now The Drowned Mother wants me back
After surviving a childhood drowning, a woman discovers that the entity who pulled her under has never stopped waiting for her.
I Used to Work as a Mortician and There Is Something Funeral Homes Don’t Tell You
A former mortician reveals the secret behind what happens to some bodies on the third day after death.
If you find a hacienda in the middle of nowhere, leave before sunset
A hidden hacienda offers paradise by day, but its true caretakers emerge when the sun begins to set.
My bird keeps calling out my husband’s name, but he died a year ago
A grieving widow begins receiving impossible anniversary gifts from the husband she lost, but each gift grows more disturbing.
Never Stop for a Stranger in the Desert
A stranded traveler breaks a warning she grew up hearing and discovers something is very wrong with the stranger waiting in the desert.
The purple hat kept us safe from the trees
A purple hat protects two siblings from the voices calling them into the forest.
My child is being ERASED in fifteen minutes.
A mother receives a terrifying warning that her children are being erased, but what disappears may be more than she ever imagined.
My Aunt Collected People's Last Moments, and Now I Think She's Haunting Me
My aunt left behind tapes of dying strangers. Now something from those recordings may have followed me home.
My Aunt Recorded People's Last Moments, and I Have No Idea Why
Her tapes captured something that should never have spoken again.
The flea market sells strange things at night.
A strange mirror offers a doorway into a dark ocean... and something enormous is waiting below.
Fully Charged
When the factory lights go out, the workers discover something inside them that was never meant to glow.
Public Safety Notice
A harmless emergency alert becomes something far worse when people discover their bodies aren't entirely under their control.
You'll Never Believe Who My Sleep Paralysis Demon Is
Recurring sleep paralysis becomes terrifyingly real as a man's girlfriend behaves impossibly during each episode, leading him to uncover an experiment that should never have involved them.
I will draw you with a thousand words
A photographer's interactive gallery installation begins printing impossible messages, leading to an encounter with something trapped inside a masterpiece.
Welcome Home Lazarus
A first-time homeowner's exhausting workweek is interrupted when the house's former owner breaks in, pursued by armed men searching for something hidden behind the bedroom wall.
My boyfriend talks to someone who isn't there. One day something spoke back.
A woman grows concerned when her boyfriend constantly whispers to someone unseen until she hears a second voice answer.
My father walked out on me twenty years ago. Tonight I found out why.
After twenty years of silence, a man finally meets the father who abandoned him, only to uncover an impossible family secret.
The God In The Corner
A high school teacher dismisses a student's strange stories until a desperate wish forces her to confront the shadow waiting in the corner.
There is a reason why you shouldn't burn witches
The last surviving witch recounts the terrible secret her coven has protected for decades and why the townspeople's hatred will doom them all.
After today, I'll never be celebrating Fathers Day again.
A family prepares a Father's Day breakfast, but hidden fears and dark traditions reveal a celebration no child should endure.
I was raised to BATTLE other children for entertainment.
A fugitive child bred for violent combat is captured again, forcing him into a horrifying world where children are treated as prizes.
Mom, please rest in peace
A grieving child struggles to move on as comforting reminders of a lost mother become something far more unsettling.
My future soulmate is trying to kill me.
A classroom shooting takes a terrifying turn when the gunman claims to know the students' futures, and one of them is his soulmate.
My son HATES me, and I have no idea why.
A mother receives a mysterious gift from her distant son and discovers a horrifying secret hidden inside.
The police finally found my missing wife
After five years of searching, a missing wife is finally found, but the truth behind the disappearance reveals a disturbing secret.
I think my mom is cheating on my dad
A curious boy searching for hidden presents uncovers a family secret that becomes more terrifying with every passing birthday.
I think my wife is hiding something in our freezer
A young father comes home to an unsettling silence and discovers his wife's behavior has taken a horrifying turn that defies explanation.
I wish my daughter hadn’t survived the accident
A devastating crash should have taken everything, but a miraculous recovery leaves one grieving father questioning what really came home.
My daughter keeps asking for her other family
A little girl's strange obsession with another family becomes impossible to ignore after she vanishes without a trace one ordinary night.
My girlfriend keeps forgetting she broke up with me
A man tries to move on after a painful breakup, but his ex keeps returning as though their relationship never actually ended.
My Sister has Been Tweeting From her Coma
A grieving brother notices impossible messages from his sister’s account after her accident, leading to a terrifying final discovery.
My wife keeps asking if I remember the accident
A peaceful family road trip takes a haunting turn as forgotten memories begin resurfacing on a familiar stretch of country road.
According to native legend the mountain is the petrified body of an evil god due to its human-like shape, but the plans to quarry into its 'face' proceeded as planned.
They laughed at the legend until the mountain started bleeding.
Expecting to only see animals I set up a ring camera pointing into the woods behind my house.
I pointed my Ring camera at the woods. It wasn't recording animals.
'I don't care what the labels say, I've always used roman candles like this.'
They ignored the warning label. The third shot proved why it existed.
I wish my girlfriend had been cheating on me
I spent months convincing myself my girlfriend was cheating on me. I would've given anything for that to have been the truth.
The Box I Can't Bring Myself to Open
As long as the bedroom door stays closed, hope is still alive. That's the lie I've built my entire life around.
Before the Hammer
The future never lies. It just doesn't always tell you whose perspective you're seeing.
My Wife Only Looks at Me in Mirrors
I spent months proving I was no longer the man who hurt her. Then my reflection raised its hand before I did.
The last thing that grief takes
Each night the tree grew taller. Each morning, my wife became a little more like a stranger.
White Goes First
The game was simple: white goes first, checkmate means freedom, and every piece on the board remembers someone I forgot.
The Emergency Alert Told Us Not to Look Outside
At 2:13 AM, every phone in town received the same warning: keep your curtains closed and ignore anyone asking to be let in.
There’s a Face in My Ceiling
Every night, it gets a little closer.
The Voice in the Baby Monitor
My son started talking to someone upstairs after midnight.