Another terrifying short story is 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. A woman is confined to a room with yellow wallpaper for her 'nervous condition'. As time passes, she becomes obsessed with the wallpaper and descends into madness, seeing a woman trapped behind it, which could be a projection of her own trapped self.
Stephen King's 'Survivor Type' is also very scary. It tells the story of a surgeon who is stranded on an island and resorts to extreme measures, like self - mutilation and cannibalism, in order to survive. The vivid descriptions of his actions and his deteriorating mental state are truly horrifying.
One of the most terrifying is 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a man who kills an old man because he can't stand the old man's 'vulture - like' eye. The guilt drives him insane as he imagines he still hears the old man's heart beating even after the murder.
Well, in '20 most terrifying horror stories', there could be a story of a small town haunted by an ancient evil. The townspeople start experiencing unexplainable phenomena like animals acting strangely and people disappearing. There might also be a horror story about a group of friends who go camping in a forest that has a dark history. They encounter something that hunts them down one by one. Additionally, a story about a possessed doll that seems to have a life of its own and causes chaos in a family's home is also a possibility.
In my opinion, 'The Call of Cthulhu' is one of the most terrifying. It involves an ancient, otherworldly being that drives people mad just by the knowledge of its existence. It's a Lovecraftian horror that plays on the fear of the unknown and the cosmos.
In some of the stories, there might be a cursed object. For example, a doll that causes misfortune to whoever owns it. People around the owner start to have bad luck and then worse things start to happen. The doll's eyes seem to follow you around the room, which is really creepy.
Well, there are those 911 horror stories where a person is having a medical emergency like a heart attack. They call 911, but the ambulance gets lost on the way because of incorrect address information provided by the operator. Also, some stories involve prank calls that tie up the 911 lines when there are real emergencies happening elsewhere. It's really a nightmare when the system fails those in need.
One of the most terrifying horror stories is 'The Shining'. The isolation of the Overlook Hotel, combined with the slow descent into madness of Jack Torrance, is truly chilling. The idea of the hotel having a life of its own and influencing the people inside it creates an atmosphere of dread. Another is 'The Exorcist'. The possession of a young girl by a demon and the battle between good and evil during the exorcism is extremely scary. The graphic and disturbing scenes in the movie adaptation also add to its horror factor.
One '7 11 horror story' could be about a late - night shift worker seeing a strange apparition near the drink coolers. It might be a shadowy figure that seems to move on its own and disappears when the worker tries to get a closer look.
In 2020, the fear of getting sick was also a big horror story. With the pandemic spreading, every cough or sneeze made people worried. Hospitals were overcrowded, and there was a lot of misinformation about the virus. People were constantly afraid for their own health and that of their loved ones. It was a year full of fear and horror in many aspects.
Well, in some of the stories, the sudden appearance of a ghostly figure can be really terrifying. For example, a character might turn around and see a pale, translucent figure just standing there, with eyes that seem to pierce through their soul.
Isolation also plays a major role. Take 'The Lighthouse' for instance. The two lighthouse keepers are isolated on a small island, and as strange things start to happen, they have no one to turn to. The sense of being alone in the face of the unknown is very frightening.
The most terrifying element is often the unknown. In many of these stories, like in 'The Tell - Tale Heart', the narrator's unhinged mental state is not fully understood. We don't know exactly why he is so obsessed with the old man's eye, and that mystery adds to the horror. Also, in 'The Monkey's Paw', the power of the paw and how it will exact its price is unknown, which scares us.