The backstory. The scariest part could be the unknown backstory of the girl in the photograph. Maybe she was a victim of a horrible crime and her spirit is trapped in the photo. Or she could be a cursed entity, and the photograph is the only thing that holds her. Not knowing exactly what she is or what she wants creates a sense of dread and fear that lingers in your mind.
Her eyes. In a scary story, the girl's eyes in the photograph could be the scariest thing. They might seem to follow you around the room, or they could be filled with an unearthly glow, like she knows all your secrets and is judging you. It gives a feeling that she's not just a picture but has some sort of power over you.
A familiar place made strange. Say it's a photograph of your own bedroom, but in the photo, there are things that are not right. Maybe the walls are bleeding or there's a dark shadow in a corner where there shouldn't be. It takes something that's supposed to be safe and turns it into a source of fear.
The scariest thing could be seeing something that's not supposed to be there, like a strange face or a menacing figure. It gives a sense of invasion of privacy and immediate danger because it's so close, right on the other side of the door.
Shadows can change shape in a way that defies logic in a scary story. Imagine you're in a room and the shadow on the wall starts to twist and contort into grotesque forms. It could start as a simple human - like shape and then transform into a monster with long claws and a gaping maw. And there's no physical thing that seems to be causing this transformation. It makes you question reality and what could be lurking in the unseen, which is extremely frightening.
There was a photograph on the mantelpiece. The girl in it had this eerie look. One day, I was alone at home and suddenly, the lights began to flicker. I glanced at the photograph and the girl's face seemed to change. Her lips curled into a sinister smile. I heard strange noises like scratching on the walls. I was so scared that I ran out of the house and didn't come back until someone else was with me. I still don't know what was really going on, but that girl in the photograph was definitely spooky.
The scariest thing could be seeing unexplained apparitions. Just imagine seeing a figure that looks like a patient who passed away long ago suddenly appear in front of you in a dim hospital corridor. It gives you the chills.
The scariest thing could be the feeling of being watched when you're all alone in a strange hotel room. It gives you this sense of unease and makes you constantly look over your shoulder.
The fact that it's an inanimate object coming to life. We expect toys like sock monkeys to just sit there, so when it starts to move on its own, it goes against all our normal expectations and is really creepy.
There was this old photograph of a girl. She had a pale face and a strange, fixed smile. One day, I noticed that in the photograph, there were now red drops that looked like blood on her dress. Every time I looked at it, I felt a cold chill. As days passed, the photo started to smell like decay. It was as if the girl in the photo was slowly coming to life in some eerie way, and I was terrified.
Encountering a supernatural being. For example, a ghostly figure that haunts the woods. The hunter might see it out of the corner of his eye at first, thinking it's just his imagination. But as it gets closer and he realizes it defies all logic, like floating above the ground or having no face, it would send chills down his spine. This is something that goes beyond his understanding of the natural world.
The scariest thing could be the feeling of being watched all the time. Even when they were alone in a room, they had this sense that there were eyes on them from every corner of the house.