Six Words, Six Feet Under: The 2026 Halloween Horror Contest
Back by popular demand to haunt your nightmares! After bringing back our beloved haiku contest and diving into horror last year, we’re doing it again. Welcome to our 2026 Six Words, Six Feet Under Contest, where we prove that sometimes the shortest stories cut the deepest.
Six words. That’s all you get to craft pure terror. No elaborate setups, no lengthy descriptions, just six perfectly chosen words that will make readers’ blood run cold. Think Hemingway’s famous six-word story, but twisted into something that would make him sleep with the lights on.
We want stories that hit like a punch to the gut. The kind that stick with you long after you’ve read them. Stories that make you check your locks twice and avoid dark corners. This is about distilling horror down to its essence, finding that perfect combination of words that unleashes maximum dread.
The Rules:
- Your horror story must be exactly six words, no more, no less
- Each entry will be judged on pure terror factor
- Enter as many spine-chilling stories as you dare
- Deadline: October 29, 2026
- Post your entries in the comments below
The Prizes:
- Bragging rights
- The terrifying treat of scaring your friends
- Being awarded the Master Writer Award from Every Writer
Examples to get your dark creativity flowing:
- “Baby shoes for sale, never worn.” (Hemingway’s original)
- “She smiled back from the mirror.”
- “My reflection blinked without me blinking.”
Drop your most hair-raising six-word horror stories in the comments below. Remember, every single word counts in this battle for horror supremacy. The clock is ticking, and darkness gathers.
Let the nightmares begin!
Leave your 6-word stories in the comments. Enter as many times as you like.
- Six Words of Halloween Nostalgia: The 2026 Contest - August 31, 2026
- Six Words, Six Feet Under: The 2026 Halloween Horror Contest - August 31, 2026
- THE VAMPIRE by Rudyard Kipling - August 31, 2026
“Who opened the gate? They’re coming!
She froze. The thing saw her.
Inside, the coffin smelled…like me.
Never answer the second knock. Knock.
— Niklas Pettersson
Footsteps behind me…closer…breath held.
Hands over face…no breath…suffocates.
Darkness engulfs…sight lost…mind unhinged.
Body drained. Bloodless veins. Brain senseless.
From the closet…
<>
From the closet…
LET. ME. OUT!!
The planet burst. No more home.
Blood streaked his face. “What happened?”
“The bill is one million dollars!”
The witch ate my heart–poooff!
Detailed torture instruction video by AI.
That thing is not my son.
My reflection has too many teeth.
Why is that disconnected phone ringing?
That’s not Merlot, it’s embalming fluid!
Her mouth widened and teeth sharpened.
Babies never taste good twice baked.
Her angel was born a devil.
Ma’am it’s the police, Charlie’s dead.
She smiled when he was stabbed.
He watched me type this sentence.
She burned him alive and watched.
The voices told her, “Kill him.”
A mute never screams when burnt alive.
Meant to say: “Mutes never scream when burnt alive.”
A deaf person never hears screams.
Let’s turn her flesh inside out.
Staple her eyelids and lips shut.
Sweet scarlet grooves lined his wrinkled face.
Why is the charnal house unlocked?
Typo!
Why is the charnel house unlocked?
Sharp claws grasped my sleeping form.
I saw him today, I’m blind.
Toy knives can still draw blood.
Join the underside of my belly.
Please stop biting me, Grandma.