Scary Stories to Tell Out Loud

Some stories are for reading alone. These are the other kind. This page collects the scary stories to tell out loud: at a sleepover, around a fire, on a long drive, or at the end of a Halloween party when somebody says, “Okay, who knows a good one?” Every story here is original to QuietDread, so nobody in the room will have heard the ending before.

How to Tell a Scary Story Well

Slow down. Most people rush the ending because they are nervous, and the ending is the only part that matters. Tell the first half like an ordinary story about an ordinary night. Use real-sounding details, a town name, a year, the kind of car. Then, right before the last line, stop. Wait until someone says “what?” and say the last line quietly. Nobody screams at a loud ending. They scream at a quiet one.

Change the names. Move the story to your own town, your own road, the woods behind your school. Scary stories to tell your friends always work better when the place is somewhere they have been.

Scary Stories to Tell at a Sleepover

Short, no gore, with a twist you can deliver in a whisper. Good for a room full of sleeping bags and one flashlight.

• The Trick-or-Treaters Kept Waving at the Upstairs Window
  7 min read

Stories to Tell Around the Campfire

Woods, lakes, and the sound of something just past the light. Our full list is on the campfire stories page.

• Every Morning There Was a New Roasting Stick Carved With One of Our Initials
  6 min read

Stories to Tell on a Late Night Drive

For the car, the bus, or the last stretch home with the radio off. Some of these are QuietDread legends, with rules your listeners will want to remember.

• Never Tell the Man in the Gray Suit What Time It Is
  4 min read

Stories to Tell on Halloween

Masks, pumpkins, hayrides, and the one house on the block that nobody trick-or-treats at.

• There Was One More Actor on the Hayride Than We Hired
  4 min read
• Every Porch in Our Town Lights a Pumpkin for a Man Who Never Came Home
  7 min read
• There Was a Scarecrow at Every Mile Marker on My Drive Home
  5 min read
• A Stranger Sat in Our Spare Chair and Told a Story About Us
  6 min read
• Someone Wore My Handmade Halloween Costume to Three Parties
  6 min read
• The House on Maple Court Was Holding a Halloween Raffle
  6 min read

Want Something Even Shorter?

If you only have ten seconds, try our two sentence horror stories. If you want a real haunting, start with our ghost stories. And if you have a story of your own, you can submit it here.