Category: 13. Horror Stories

A young man goes about looking for a place to live in, in the city of New York. Finally, he gets one. When the housekeeper tells him that the room is often occupied by theater people, he asks her if a young woman named Eloise Vashner ever lived there. The housekeeper denies.

The young man has come to the city to find his lady love Eloise. He has spent months inquiring with the theater managers, audiences, et al, but in vain.

Once he gets to the furnished room, he sits in his place and sees the former tenants’ belongings and their traces. Suddenly a waft of sweet scent comes to him. He immediately recognizes it as Eloise’s perfume. He goes mad, he talks to the scent and starts believing that she has been here in the same room. But, he finds nothing. He asks the housekeeper, who again denies knowing anything about her.

Defeated and disappointed, he turns the gas on and awaits death. Meanwhile, the housekeeper tells her friend about him. She says how she did not tell the man that a tenant killed herself in the same room, a week ago, with the gas turned on.

One man called Sergeant Major Morris owns a monkey’s paw that has magical powers. He tells his friend Mr. White and his family, the wife and son, about its powers. It grants its owners any three wishes they ask for; the sergeant-major warns Mr. White that although it grants the wishes, only disaster comes with them. Nevertheless, the family buys the monkey paw from him, and the sergeant leaves.

The son holds the paw and asks for some money. The next day, after the son goes to work, an employee of his company comes and informs Mr. White and his wife about the demise of their son in an accident, and gives them the monetary compensation — the same amount they wished for.

Mrs. White wishes that their son comes back home, alive. A knock at the door is heard, and the knocks get violent slowly as somebody wants to come in and get hold of the paw. Mr. White understands where it is going. He makes a final wish. The wife opens the door, and there is nobody.

Next, another of our spooky short ghost stories for kids, probably best suited for children over ten.

On a cold, winter day, Mr. Sullivan “came to” whilst walking alongside the edge of a road. He walked over to a woman and asked her for some help, only for her to scream loudly at the mere sight of him and run away in fear. Astonished at her response, Mr. Sullivan continued on his way and tried to flag down several passing cars, only for them all to speed up as soon as they saw him. He eventually called a taxi company and when they arrived, they looked at him and they too sped away. The man went back to the same phone booth and called his wife, wanting to know what on Earth was going on and why people seemed to be so afraid of him. A man answered the phone, in a voice he didn’t recognise.

“Unfortunately, Mrs. Sullivan isn’t available at the moment. She’s at her husband’s funeral. He died in a car accident last night.”

Finally, Mr. Sullivan found his way to a public bathroom. He looked in the mirror and found his face bloodied and bruised, his skin a mess, and his bones broken. His skin was pale and his eyes bloodied. He realised why everyone was so reluctant to stop for him. He was dead. He was a ghost.

Children’s ghost stories don’t always have to be scary. In a way, the one below is kind of sweet.

Once upon a time, a man and a boy who had lost their wife and mother moved into a new house. They were told by the locals in the village that the house was haunted, but neither the man nor the boy believed in ghosts, and they moved into the house quite happily. The child went downstairs and asked the maid of the home for a glass of water and some fruit, and she happily obliged. She also told the boy that there could be ghosts.

Later that day, the little boy struck up a conversation with his father. “Daddy, I’ve been thinking. I could believe in ghosts. The maid told me there might be ghosts in the house.”

“Son, we don’t have a maid. We need to leave.”

The Hook isn’t so much a ghost story, but rather an excellent scary story, which is why it has a place on our scary ghost stories for kids countdown. Keep this one for kids age twelve and up.

One night, a teenage boy and his girlfriend headed to their local lover’s lane so that they could spend some time alone together. The girl was a little bit afraid because on that day, she’d heard over the radio of a man who had been released from a local insane asylum, known as the Hook. His hand had been mangled in an accident and he’d had it replaced with a hook, because there were no prosthetics available at the time. The night was dark and the teenagers cuddled up together. Another announcement was made over the radio to warn people about the Hook and to stay vigilant and the young girl pulled away from the boy, scared, asking him if they could go home. Just then, the car started to shake and the doors rattled. The teens peered outside but couldn’t see anyone outside. The car shook vigorously again once more and the boy decided it was time to leave and so they sped away. On the way home from their date, the couple stopped off at a late night diner for some coffee and chicken. Once they got out of the car, what did they see? Long scratches down the sides of the car, and a hook, stuck in the handle of the car door.

This is one of those perfect short ghost stories for kids as they can expand upon it in many, many ways. Enjoy!

A girl in a pretty white dress and embroidered sweater flags down an old man for a ride. He gives her a ride to her great-grandmother’s house and they have a lovely conversation, talking about the old days, and the elderly man shares some great stories with her. He drops her off at her geema’s house and he goes home. The following day when he gets into his car to pick up some milk and the paper, he realises the sweater is still in his car. He swings by the young girl’s geema’s house to drop off the sweater, and her geema answers the door. He explains why he’s there.

“I’m sorry Sir. I think you have the wrong address. My great-granddaughter died many, many years ago, wearing her favourite white dress, after a night out dancing.”

This is probably one of those ghost stories for kids that’s best left for slightly older children, just as an FYI!

A young teen is babysitting for a family that is very, very wealthy, in a large mansion filled with a huge number of rooms and a vast number of interesting antiques and artefacts. Strangely, though, the father mentions to the girl that once the children are put to sleep for the night, the girl should only go to the basement and not spend her time in any other rooms of the house. She could watch television down there and was free to do anything else in the basement, but the rest of the house was off limits.

She goes to the basement once the children are in bed, but quickly notices a large clown statue in the corner of the room. It appears to be staring at her. She continues to watch her show, but can’t shake the feeling that the statue is following her around the room with its eyes. She puts a blanket over the statue eventually in an effort to make herself feel more comfortable, and then telephones the father of the children to ask if she can go and move to another room of the house, because she’s so freaked out by the clown.

“You need to leave NOW. We don’t own a clown statue. The children have been telling us they’ve been seeing a clown in their room in the night, and we thought they were having nightmares. Take the children and get out!”

The young girl hangs up the phone, terrified. She turns around, but the statue is gone, leaving behind only the blanket on the floor.

Age Recommendation: 8 years and above

There was a little girl who lived in a town with her parents. She always told her parents about her imaginary friend named Kelly and that she lived in her closet. She also said that Kelly sat in her chair and watched her while she was asleep. One night, while the family was watching a horror movie on television, the girl remarked, “That looks like Kelly.” When her parents asked her about Kelly, she replied, “You know Kelly, the dead girl who lives inside my closet.”

One late evening, a woman reached home and after settling down, began rummaging through her bag. She realised that she did not have her mobile phone with her and did not remember when she had last used it. Thinking that she had misplaced it, she picked up her home phone and dialled her own number. Someone picked up the phone but she couldn’t hear anyone on the other side, except for heavy breathing. The woman asked, “Can you hear me?” A voice at the other end said, “I hear you.” She kept trying but to no avail. The woman then decided to go to sleep. When she entered her bedroom, she saw her mobile phone on the nightstand. When she checked it, it was on “silent” mode.

Age Recommendation: 8 years and above

One Halloween night, four girls were walking towards their home, when they saw a man dressed as a clown, standing near an old church. He waved out to them and asked them if they would help him in looking for his lost dog. As the girls entered the church, the clown shut the door and locked them in. He tortured them till they died one by one and severed their heads off. When the priest opened the door the next day, he saw the dead girls lying in a pool of blood. The church is still said to be haunted by the spirits of those girls and one can hear those screams till date.