Short Horror Stories You Can Read In 1 Minute For Bite-Sized Chills

“You look like death,” he said, concern clear on his face. A wide grin crossed my face, flattered to be recognized, as I caught him with my scythe and pulled him down into the abyss.

Last year, a young girl named Emily disappeared. Now, new sidewalks are being poured into my neighborhood, and I’ve found her name in the wet cement — but it was written backward. And from below.

One night, a girl finds herself alone at home, with only her dog to keep her company. The TV news is on, reporting that a serial killer is on the loose. Feeling uneasy, she locks all the doors and windows, accidentally leaving one open.

In the middle of the night, she is awakened by a dripping sound. Scared, she searches for her dog for comfort, feeling him licking her hand. But the dripping sound keeps going, so she checks everything, from the taps in the kitchen to the bathroom, but nothing. She gives up and returns to her dark bedroom, her hand down again for her dog to lick. In the morning, when she opens her closet, she finds her dog dead and hanging upside down. That dripping sound was from his blood. On the closet doors, she sees a message: “Humans can lick too.”

The world was thrilled to hear the first mission to Mars would be led by an all-female crew. A year later, the world was shocked when they all came back pregnant.

As I rolled over in bed, I saw something clearly not human smile at me through the window. My heart almost stopped when I noticed it was my reflection.

Mommy always told me there’s a rule I can’t absolutely break: don’t go in the basement. That place is a total mystery to me. The only thing I know is that there’s often a sound coming from there, like a weeping puppy. And I really wanted to see the puppy! So one day, I opened the basement door and tiptoed downstairs. There was no puppy, and then mommy yanked me out of the room and yelled at me like never before. It made me so sad I started crying. She told me never to go in the basement again and then gave me a cookie. In the end, I never asked her why that boy in the basement was making noises like a puppy, or why he had no hands or feet.

Yesterday I wrote “69” on my wrist as a joke. Today it’s “68,” and I’m even more worried because I can’t wash it off.

Alone in my room, I sneezed softly. “Bless you,” said a voice.

Our daughter spent the day at her friend Sally’s birthday party. Around midnight, when I was asleep after watching the Braves game, she woke me up, tugging my shirt sleeve. “Daddy, guess how old I’m going to be next month.” I decided to follow her lead. “I don’t know, beauty,” I said as I slipped on my glasses. “How old?” She smiled and held up four fingers. It’s 7:30 now. My wife and I have been up with her for almost 8 hours. She still refuses to tell us where she got them.

There’s a girl outside my window. The only problem is that my apartment is on the seventh floor.

“Mommy, my friend is coming over,” my daughter cheerfully told me about her imaginary friend. Then the motion-detecting light turned on.

I came home after a weeklong trip away. I went straight to the bathroom and took a well-deserved shower. As I pressed the towel against my face to dry myself, I discovered it was already wet.

Don’t look behind you. It doesn’t like to be seen.

My twin brother and I often share experiences and sensations. If only he had warned me before getting open heart surgery.

The spiders cocooned their prey in layers of silk. The muffled screams of the man grew fainter with each new layer.

My closet door slid open with a creaking sound, making me jump. I pretended his distraction had worked and that I didn’t see him crouched in the corner of the room.

When I came home from a hard day at work, my daughter’s smiling face greeted me from the driveway. Where’s the rest of her body?

I saw a severed arm poking out of the dumpster. It gave me a thumbs-up when I walked by.

Best friends Meg and Samantha share a room in the college dormitory. One night, Samantha goes out to party with her date while Meg decides to keep studying for the upcoming mid-term exams. When Samantha comes back from the party, the lights are all turned off. She doesn’t switch them on, as her friend is asleep.

Early in the morning, Samantha asks Meg to discuss the exams. As Meg stays silent, Samantha hesitantly uncovers her face to wake her up. Horrified, she looks at Meg’s face, now turned black and blue, and falls to the floor in shock. She sees that Meg’s desk is all messed up, with only a note on the wall. “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the lights?” The murderer must have been in the room when Sam returned the night before.

“It’s just a harmless mask on the wall,” my mom said. She’s right; it is harmless — if not for the fact it suddenly appears in my room every night.