Try 'The wind whispered secrets that froze the blood in his veins as he entered the cursed cemetery.' It's short but effective, grabbing the reader's attention right away.
A good hook sentence could be 'In the dead of night, the old mansion on the hill seemed to breathe, its dark windows like malevolent eyes watching every move.'
Just use a really strong sentence starter like 'A blood - curdling scream echoed through the forest...'. This will make the reader want to know who screamed and why. It creates instant intrigue.
Once upon a time, there was a girl who heard a strange scratching at her window after the hook latched. She peeked out but saw nothing. As she lay back in bed, the scratching grew louder. Suddenly, a hand with long, gnarled fingers reached through the window and grabbed her. The last thing she heard was a low, evil laugh.
In a short horror story after the hook, there could be a sudden appearance of a ghost. For example, a character might be in an old, creaky house. After they latch the hook on a door, they turn around to see a transparent figure floating towards them, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly light.
The old house was silent. Then I heard a child's laugh from the attic where no one should be.
He looked in the mirror. His reflection had a sinister smile that he didn't have.
One way is to start with an exciting action scene or a mystery that grabs the reader's attention right away.
I walked into the forest. The trees whispered my darkest secrets.
They walked into the dark forest. Every step they took, they heard something stalking them. It got closer and closer.
I woke up in the middle of the night. There was a figure standing at the foot of my bed.