I woke up to find a handprint on the mirror, but I live alone.
I heard a knock at the door. I opened it, but no one was there, yet the knocking continued.
Walking in the forest, I felt watched. I looked up, and a pair of red eyes stared from the trees. It was no animal. There was an intelligence in those eyes that sent a shiver down my spine. I tried to run, but my feet felt like they were stuck in the mud. As I struggled, I could hear the thing getting closer, branches snapping under its weight. I knew that whatever it was, it was coming for me, and there was little I could do to escape.
I woke up to find a handprint on the window, but I live on the 15th floor.
I opened the basement door. A hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed my ankle.
I woke up to a cold hand on my face. It wasn't mine.
My phone took a photo by itself. In the picture, there was a figure behind me.
These stories are scary as they create a contrast. For example, 'I lay down to be tucked in. A cold hand reached from under the covers.' The normal act of getting tucked in is juxtaposed with a very abnormal and frightening event. Our minds are not expecting something bad in that situation, so it catches us off - guard and scares us more easily.
There might be a story of a cursed object. A girl found an old locket in an antique store. After she put it on, she started having nightmares of a shadowy figure. Everywhere she went, she felt a cold presence. She finally threw the locket into a river, and the nightmares stopped.
Walking in the forest, I heard a whisper behind me. I turned, but saw only trees. Then the whisper came again, closer.
One that stands out is 'I heard a child laughing in the empty school at night.' Empty schools at night are already spooky places, and the sound of a child's laughter when there should be no children there adds to the horror. It makes you think about the possible reasons for the laughter. Is it a ghost of a child who met an untimely end? Or is it something even more sinister?